Want to attract the best talent? Be the best

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If a shop owner wants to draw in the best talent they can, then they need to show that they can be the best leader.

It’s a classic lead-by-example mantra. People come to work for people, not companies, pointed out Darrin Barney, president of coaching company Elite Worldwide.

“We want to make sure that we be the people that we want to attract and keep,” he said during AutoLeap’s virtual conference Amplify. “So we want to be that high-level person that’s pushing ourselves to be the best and we’ll find a way to attract those people to us.”

You can show off how you’re being the best by using social media. Candidates are going to gather as much information as they can by checking out your profiles to see what you’re all about.

“You’re ignorant if you think that they don’t look at that, because I can tell you that if somebody I’m looking at hiring or somebody that I’m looking at [to be] working with a shop, you better believe I go and I check them out,” he said. “I want to know what kind of person I’m going to be involved with. And they do that for you, too.”

Barney emphasized the need to “watch over our flock.” That means having a strong culture in your shop where your staff know that you make it your job and responsibility to take care of them.

“[If] you see starting to go astray, you got to take care of them and you help nurture them and take care of them,” Barney said.

Some managers will point out the bad things employees do so Barney encouraged catching them doing the right things. “They want to know when they’re doing things right,” he said.

If you like the way someone handled a customer or the way they did a job, talk to them. Tell them that you noticed it.

“And you have to do it right away. You’ve got to do it and not let it get by,” Barney said. “Don’t let it set; don’t wait until the next day, the next morning, whatever. Go talk to them, let them know right away that they did something so very important.”

And avoid being a “sniper manager.” That means when you see something wrong or the numbers aren’t where they need to be, you do out there and start attacking your staff, in essence, sniping them.

“You got to think differently. We can’t be a sniper manager. You need to be able to go out and actually water the flowers, as they say. Give him a little bit of love and nurturing,” Barney said. “Because to just go out when you’re mad or when things need to be addressed, your people will be afraid of you and they’re not going to want to work with you. It’s not going to be a good work environment.”