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Hire Slow. Fire Fast.
March 24th, 2015
by Bill Boyajian

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Most of my clients have human resource issues of one kind or another.  Here are seven tips to think about regarding personnel:

  1. Encourage new ideas from staff.  Your people are smart.  And they want to be recognized for it.  But you have to be open to innovative concepts, and you should reward them appropriately.
  2. Insist that salespeople do more listening than talking.  And while listening, teach them to be highly observant.  Customers give signals.  People on the sales floor must be able to pick up on them.
  3. Conduct multiple interviews before hiring.  The more times you see someone, the more comfortable they become.  When they get more comfortable with you, they’ll let their guard down.
  4. Know where your business is going.  The best people want to work for a firm that is going somewhere and for owners who want to grow their business.  If you have no vision, your people will know it.
  5. Terminate people who don’t fit.  It’s amazing what happens to the morale of a team when an irritant is removed.  It’s like a breath of fresh air.  Hire slow.  Fire fast.  The best time to fire is before you hire.
  6. Recruit constantly.  Your best asset is your best people.  Keep your eyes open for amazing personnel.  They’re all around you.  And make sure that a few of your staff agree on your recruits.
  7. Stop fretting about Millennials.  They aren’t entitled.  They just don’t want to work the way their parents toiled with the hopes of building loyalty with a firm for benefits down the road.  They want to work normal hours and have a balanced life.  I’d like that, too, even if it took me 30+ years to achieve it!


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“I needed help orchestrating a succession plan for our business. I had heard that Bill Boyajian specialized in assisting owners to transition their business to the next generation. He knows how to bridge the generation gap and deliver what each needs to hear. I would recommend Bill to any business owner who needs advice on succession planning from a trusted outside professional.”

–Charles Denaburg,
Managing Partner,
Levy’s Fine Jewelry
Birmingham, AL

"Our family needed some guidance on business transition and succession planning. We asked Bill Boyajian to help us because we knew we could trust him to tell us what we needed to hear. Bill became a valuable resource for our company and our entire family. He has the ability to meet each of us where we’re at and it has served us very well."

–Ceylon Leitzel
Leitzel Fine Jewelry
Hershey & Myerstown, PA

“We needed a plan to transition our business to a non-family member and we asked Bill Boyajian to help us. His experience in the area has really paid off, but we didn’t expect the added value of putting us together with a financial planner who helped organize our retirement needs. We now have the fundamentals to transition our business successfully, and we have Bill to thank for it.”

–Ernie & Debbie Cummings
Kizer-Cummings Jewelers
Lawrence, KS