Your ‘Ick’ List Might Be Your Best Hiring Strategy Yet

Recruiting the right talent into your business can mean the difference between future growth or stagnation, systems that are efficient or ineffective and running your enterprise as a savvy owner or as an “in the weeds” operator. The right way to audit your business is to conduct a need’s analysis and define the role you need as part of your future steps. Defining your role and a need’s analysis will bring transparency to the hiring process which will attract the right candidates, make your expectations clear from the outset and develop a strategic vision for the kind of organization you’re building. Your soon-to-be employees will thank you for the clarity and guidance that comes from having the role well defined. A little bit of work up front will save you the potential for serious headaches that I see many entrepreneurs make when they fail to do the work before the work. When you don’t do your homework up front, you dramatically increase the odds that you’ll hire the wrong person and that’s part of the reason statistically why 50% of hires fail in the first six months which I discussed last time.

Most entrepreneurs decide to make a hire because they are in pain from too many responsibilities or the business isn’t functioning in an optimal way. You can use this discomfort to your advantage by creating what we call a “I hate-to-do” list. If you’re a killer salesperson but lack organizational skills, hire an operation person that has that ability and loves that kind of work. That way, you can channel your focus instead on building relationships, driving goals and the business development side of things. If you’re a more introverted, data-head type leader that loves getting lost in the numbers, find a star promoter to deliver your message. No one is good at everything and this is an easy way to find that opposites will attract. When you leverage each other’s strengths and minimize your weaknesses, you develop a high performing team and the sum your parts together lead to a more powerful organization than you could create by yourself. A “hate-to-do” list is exactly what it sounds like and it’s the first step toward getting more clarity in defining the role for your next hire. 

Building teams and hiring is about leveraging each other’s strengths and this list means you get to think of all the things that you have no passion, interest or maybe even skill for in your business. The business starts to become an entity that stands for much more than your individual skillset and it means you will have the ability to help more people and get closer to the big vision of why you started your endeavor in the first place. Make sure this list contains all the things that drain you and the more specific you are, the more this will help to find someone that compliments your weaknesses. An example I hate to do list for a successful realtor would look like the following:

Example of Realtor “I Hate To Do” List

• Writing remarks and/or reviewing them in MLS
• Verifying listing is accurate
• Pick up lockboxes drop off
• Print listing appt paperwork
• Verify the appt
• Mail ABSOLUTELY Anything!!! Hate it
• Drop checks off to the brokerage
• Answer questions on my listings to coop agents when it’s listed in the MLS.
• Unlock doors for unlicensed people (inspectors, contractors etc)
• Talk to appraisers about entry access who do not use showing time gift

• Put together closing packages
• Scan docs
• Make copies
• Organize client events
• Doing buyers agency docs
• Doing referral docs 
• Getting builder forms 
• Saving training courses into Google Drive
• Creating a training site 
• Moving DTD2 Letters throughout each room of office
• Creating Eventbrites / FB Events
• Collecting additional docs or info from clients, vendors or co-ops

• Updating MLS if an extension is needed on a deal
• Assisting new construction buyers to pick out color selections
• Providing color selection info to Buddy + John 
• Brainstorming gifts for referral partners
• Ideas, pricing, logistics
• Client gift/Prize planning
• Ideas, connecting with vendors to contribute-etc
• Paying attention when supplies are running out
• Onboarding team members in CRM, email, dot loop, brokerage, etc.

• Get updates on progression of new builds and share info w/ proper people
• Remembering team members Birthdays to plan lunch, present or something
• Setting up training room TV or pamphlets when I am going to teach
• Including making sure things are charged, extension cords needed, etc.
• Picking up closing check from attorney
• Picking up earnest money from buyers who don’t close with an attorney that does it electronically and can’t drop off

Besides bringing clarity to your next hire, your hate-to-do list will also show the path toward many future areas of your business development. Using the example above, you can see this business owner dislikes the little details around planning, organization and logistics. This becomes the blueprint of the next hire in the business and these tasks could easily fit into the job description of an executive assistant, administrative assistant or transaction coordinator. More than just a list of tasks, the ‘hate to do’ list shows your current pain points and what’s stifling your growth as you consider scalability. As you generate all your roles, responsibilities and pain points, you’ll be amazed at how much relief you’ll experience just by getting these thoughts out of your head. But your “hate to do list” is just the first step in defining the role and thinking more strategically about your hiring decision.