Now Available

My new book “Hiring 3.0 New Rules For The New Economy” is now available.  In this book you learn how to adjust your recruiting and hiring processes to best take advantage of the new economic realities.  New competition and a glut of applicants are just two of the challenges being encountered.  You learn how to integrate all of the Selecting Winners tools and techniques to form a successful staffing process.

I spent a considerable amount of time making this book as readable as possible.  Rather than present a lot of theory, the book gets right to the point with usable strategies, techniques and tools.  It is a quick read with each concept presented in short manageable sections.  However, I did not leave out any of the important information.

Please take a minute and check it out at: http://www.Hirng3.0.com You can read excerpts from the book and see the table of contents.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out!

It doesn’t need to be mystery.

Here are six questions that need to be asked before the process begins to help ensure the right outcome.

1. Are the performance objectives clearly identified?

The reason a salesperson is hired is to satisfy a business need. It may be revenue, it may be margin it may be account management. Whatever the desired result, it needs to be clearly identified. Think about defining success before the person comes on board.

Develop a list of short, medium and long-term results the person needs to deliver to earn the label of success. Knowing the “performance expectations” puts you in a position to clearly define the specific knowledge, skills and abilities the person needs to bring to the job.

2. Are the desired behaviors mapped to your sales process?

A deep understanding of the sales process helps to identify the behaviors necessary for success. Begin by mapping the typical sales process.

Are there multiple steps? How many people are involved? How long does it typically take? What is the profile of the person being sold? How much writing is involved? How many presentations are required?

These are just a few of the questions that need to be answered prior to putting together the profile of the salesperson. The answers to the questions identify the specific behaviors necessary for success. Creating the template of the successful salesperson is straightforward when armed with the performance expectation and the sales process.

3. Has a recruiting strategy including budget and resources been created?

More time, effort and money are wasted on recruiting mostly because there is no plan. It is vital to the success of the business that recruiting is treated like any other strategic business activity. That means there needs to be a plan. There needs to be a budget. Resources need to be allocated and most importantly, results need to be tracked.

Who is going to do the work? Will it be done in house? How much money is budgeted for the recruiting? What sources will be used to attract candidates? What is our Unique Hiring Proposition (why should someone work for us)?

Every step of the process should show a positive ROI. Like any other investment, evaluate the variables and decide on the best course of action whether using a recruiting service, posting ads or working your own network.

4. Is the selection process defined?

A sloppy approach to selecting salespeople leads to poor results. Use a proven selection process to get the best results.

Start with a system to screen candidates. This allows you to spend time with those people who have the highest probability of being successful on your job. This may include phone screens, phone interviews and possibly the use of an assessment tool.

Next, have a proven interview system. The “I’ll know it when I see it” model is guaranteed to result in failure. Use a system designed to predict success. A behavioral interview system like Selecting Winners helps get the right data that predicts success.

5. Is there an evaluation and decision criteria?

Don’t leave the hiring decision to chance. Don’t rely on your gut-feel to make the decision. The first two steps above resulted in a profile of the target person that includes both the performance expectations and the necessary skills and behaviors.

In step 4 a proven interview system was used to get specific data that helps predict success. The last step is to map the person’s skills and behaviors to the success criteria. This sounds simple and obvious. However, this is where gut-feel and impressions often lead down the wrong path.

Of course creating a good first impression is important but it is not predictive of success on the job. Enthusiasm is important but once again is not predictive of success. It is very easy to be swayed during the interview by factors that are not the best predictors of success.

Past behavior is a much better predictor than interview behavior. Everyone is going to be on his or her best behavior during the interview. But the use of a thorough interview process results in large quantities of data when the focus is past behavior.

Rather than making decisions based on a few impressions, the goal needs to be to gather as much factual data as possible.

6. Is the table set for the new salesperson to succeed?

The first step in success is bringing the right salesperson on board. The second step is to make certain the person has the tools necessary to be successful. What resources will the salesperson need to succeed?

Is product training needed? Is specialized sale training required? Will the new person need a mentor? These are some of the questions requiring answers. The way to get the best return on the investment in the new salesperson is to give the person the tools required to succeed.

Hiring new salespeople can be a great investment. Be certain to view the process like any other strategic business process. Apply the right resources, use the right tools and the return on the investment can be tremendous.

I do my best to monitor my marketplace.  I get dozens of Google Alerts daily on various hiring terms.  This is just one of the tools I use to stay on top of my subject and marketplace.

Today I received an alert about an article on how to select winning employees.  The article boils down to 2 pieces of advice.

1. Ignore experience

2. Interview for personality

The author contended that experience didn’t matter and that personality was the driving force behind success.  He said to identify 8 personality traits, ask questions to see if the person had them.  And if they did not have at least 5 of the 8, eliminate the candidate.

Thanks for nothing!

Even if this advice was correct which it most definitely is not, nowhere in the article did the author explain what to ask or how to determine if the person had the personality traits.  On other words, he told you what to do without telling you how.  Not much help.

I could spend the rest of this post explaining why the advice is wrong but I won’t.  You can get volumes of quality advice on my <a href=”http://selectingwinners.com/blog”>Selecting Winners Blog</a>.   The purpose of this post is to help you evaluate the the advice based on the source.

After reading the article, I spent some time researching the author.  It turns out the person who wrote the article is a financial adviser.  I am not quite sure why this person was writing an article about hiring employees but it is a huge red flag.

The source of the advice you pay attention to is critical.

It is not a good idea to look for advice on your investments from your golf instructor.  It is also not a good idea to look for hiring advice from your investment adviser. Remember, everyone has an opinion.

Hiring is one of the most important jobs you have as a manager or business owner and cannot be left to chance.

The advice you follow needs to be from a reliable, proven source.  Try to evaluate the source of any advice before you put it into practice.

As always, I would love to hear your comments!

Just recently I ran across a white paper that listed the top 100 questions you should ask a sales candidate.  In the intro, it was suggested to use these as the standard questions asked of every candidate.  The reasoning was this approach empowers you to compare candidates.This is a prime example of advice that has been around for years that is not effective.  Let me explain.

On the surface it seems logical if you ask everyone the same questions you can compare answers.  The problem is if you ask everyone the same questions, by definition, the questions need to be general generic questions.  As a result, you get general, generic answers that do little to predict success on the job.

Here is an example from the list.  “Do you feel sales is a team sport or an individual sport?  Why?”

The first problem is the question is asking for the person’s feelings.  How are you supposed to evaluate feelings?

The second problem is how are you supposed to compare one person’s feelings to the next?  It just doesn’t make sense.

Here is another example form the list.  “Which has a greater impact on sales results … sales process or sales people?”  Just as a side note, the correct answer is, “It depends.”  Here is another question where you are asking the person for their opinion.  Opinions are of very little use in predicting success on the job.

Also, how can you compare one person’s opinion to the next?  The idea that these types of questions help you compare candidates is just false.

A list of 20, 50, 100 standard questions seems like a good idea but quickly fails in the real world.

The fix is really straightforward.  Step one is to have a list of critical requirements for the position.  This list acts as the standard.  Next develop questions specifically for each candidate designed to determine their strength or weakness against each specific requirement.

Finally, make certain your questions are behavioral in nature.  An effective interview question requires the candidate to provide data (not feelings or opinions) that helps you predict success in the position.  Behavioral examples of how they handled the same or similar situations to those they face on your job are best.

Here is an example of an effective, candidate-specific question: “How did you overcome the price objection during the ABC sale?”  The answer to this question gets you specific, behavioral data that allows you to predict success on your job.  For the next candidate you might ask: “How did you handle the delivery schedule issue during the XYZ sale?”

In both cases you are getting specific about how the candidate handles problems during a sale.

The goal is not have each candidate answer the same questions,  Your goal is to have each candidate demonstrate knowledge, skills and abilities as relates to specific job requirements.

For more than 35 years I have been studying the subject and teaching companies how to hire top employees.  I try to read most everything that is being written.  Some from experts.  Some from amateurs.  Some from practitioners.

Some of what I have read adds real value.  Some is interesting but not actually effective.  And some is just plain wrong.

This past weekend I was reading the Inc 500 report and in the middle of the report was a page titled, “Words of Wisdom”.  It had 10 ideas put forth by CEO’s from the list.  And at number 4 was the phrase I have railed against for years.

“Hire Slow, Fire Fast”

Just so we can limit the conversation, I have no problem with the second half of the phrase.  Fire fast is good advice.  However, the better job you do of hiring the less likely you will face the problem of firing.

It is the first half of the phrase I have the problem with.

On the surface, this seems like such good advice.  Take your time, be considerate, don’t rush into a decision.  It just sounds right.  And as a result, the uninformed and the mis-informed have been repeating it like it was the gospel for years.

To understand why this phrase makes no sense we have to go back to the beginning.  Why do you hire employees?

This is not a rhetorical question!

The answer to this question is at the heart of my argument.  Many people think you hire to fill a position.  How often do you rush to fill a position when someone leaves your organization?  How often do you let your organization be driven by “headcount” or some other measure of how many employees you have?

There is only one reason to hire employees.  That reason is to satisfy a business need.  That’s it.

Now you might be thinking that this is not a very profound revelation.  But let’s look a little closer.  Think about the last person you hired.  How well did you frame the business problem the new person was going to address?  And I am not talking about a generic job description.

Did you have very specific, time-bound and measurable results the person needed to deliver to satisfy your business need?  Whether you wrote these down or not, I can guarantee in your conscious our unconscious mind you had very specific results you wanted from this new employee.

If your new employee delivered these results, you were probably quite happy and had a successful, prosperous business.  If the new person did not deliver the results, you were most likely unhappy, your business suffered and you were forced to employ the second half of the phrase.

Employees prime purpose is to satisfy business needs.  And that is the only reason you should hire an employee.

Now let’s go back and explore the first half of the phrase, “Hire slowly”.

If I was to profess that your best course of action was to satisfy your business needs slowly, how much credibility would you assign to the advice?  Anyone who tells you to hire slowly does not understand why you are hiring.  They don’t realize that every day you have a business need not being addressed you are either losing money or wasting money.

You have to hire as fast as possible once you have identified a business need and then determined to satisfy that need with a new employee.

One of my long-time clients has monetized the process.  They hire many direct sales reps.  They calculated exactly what it costs on daily basis to NOT have a salesperson in the field selling.  Armed with that number, they can make very informed decisions about what strategy to use and how much to spend in their recruiting activities.

Before you get the wrong idea, I am NOT advocating rushing into decisions.

What I am advocating is to move through your recruiting and hiring process as swiftly as possible … without violating your due diligence process.  You need a proven and thorough selection process but that doesn’t mean it needs to take a long time.

One other myth while we are on the subject.  Market conditions have no effect on this argument.  Many people are taking much longer in the selection process due to the fact that there happen to be so many candidates currently available.  Market conditions do not change the fact you have a business need.

Everyday you have that position open you are losing or wasting money.

From now on -

Hire Fast and Fire Fast

I welcome your comments!

The burden have reversed from not being able to find candidates to having too many to deal with.  Many people have never faced this problem before and are looking for solutions.  This 22 minute video gives you the model I have used successfully for many years to deal with this specific problem.  The ideas can be put to use immediately and don’t cost any money.  As always, I welcome your comments.

Unfortunately, the mob mentality is not good when it comes to choosing employees.

Many of you will defend the practice of group interviews (although I hope no one will defend 25 people at once) insisting on the real benefits.  Let’s look at your arguments.

“”We get more information” is one argument I hear all the time.  My response is that you still only have one questions being asked at a time.  There is only one answer being given at a time.  If anything, you have opened the door for multiple interpretations of the same information.  It really is an opportunity to create ambiguity instead of clarity.  You are NOT getting more information by having multiple people in the room.

“The more opinions we have, the better our decisions” is another argument.  The problem once again is “more opinions”.  You really don’t want opinions.  You want informed judgments based on data.  But, you are not getting more data by having multiple people in the room.  It is much better to have a few informed judgments from individuals who have had the opportunity to go “deep” in their questioning to get real data.  This is accomplished with a series of one-on-one interviews.

“Others can observe body language and reactions while someone else is questioning” is still another argument.  There is certainly merit to the fact that you are so busy figuring out what you are going to ask next that you do miss some reactions.  This problem goes away, if you are prepared with your questions and trained to ask them in a way that allows you to listen.  And, how many of us are trained to effectively interpret body language?  It is way too easy to get off track and make a mistake with this approach.

Now let’s look at a few of my “downside” arguments for not conducting group interviews.  First, you put the candidate under extreme pressure.  How many of you would like to be grilled by 25 people at the same time?  Increasing a candidate’s anxiety level never improves the quality of data you get.

Trying to control multiple people’s input is very difficult.  Who takes the lead?  Who follows up?  When is it OK to interrupt with a follow-up questions?  Who decides when a subject has been exhausted an it is time to move on?  What are the politics between the people in the room?  Should you interrupt the boss?  I could go on but hopefully you get the point.

Finally. what happens if 24 people vote yest and 1 person votes no?  How do you resolve this situation.  Hiring is not a democracy.

It makes so much more sense to have 2-3-4 well-trained interviewers with over-lapping focus conduct a series of one-on-one interviews.  Afterward, they can compare notes about the data each uncovered helping to make an informed decision.

Although group interview might seem like a good idea on the surface, once you understand the dynamics of an effective hiring process it is simple to see they are not very effective.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Please visit our main page to learn about the variety of custom solution we have for your hiring issues.

Just yesterday I read the feature article in a major business publication titled, “The Hiring Game, New Times, New Rules.”  (The fact that they use “game” in the title should be your first clue that they don’t get it.)  The article outlined that, due to the current economic conditions, the power in the has shifted from candidates to the hiring managers.  Idiots!!!

There is no power in this relationship.  A good hire has to be win-win.  It cannot be anything but and expect to survive.  If either side loses, everyone loses.  For years there have been dozens of books written about how to win the employment game (either hire better employees or outsmart the employer).  When you stop and think about this, it just doesn’t make any sense.

Let’s assume a person applies for your job and is sparkling in the interview.  You are overwhelmed by the person’s personality, energy and enthusiasm.  And, you hire them on the spot.  But, what you are unaware of is that the person just finished reading a book on how to ace the interview and what you witnessed was a great act and not reality.  This happens all too often.

Now the person reports for work and the real story is told.  It doesn’t take long for you to be disappointed.  Now you are faced with the unpleasant task of firing the person and having to repeat the process.  Not a lot of fun in anyone’s book.  This represents the classic case of a candidate playing a game and winning the interview.  Unfortunately, you both lose in the long run.  You can NOT have a winner and a loser when it comes to hiring employees.

The article went on to talk about  how employers are really putting candidates through their paces now that they were in charge.  Let’s assume that “putting them through their paces” means they are now doing a thorough job of selection.  My question is, “What were they doing before?”  Doing a thorough job of selection should never be an option?

On the other hand, if putting them through their paces means playing games and trying to gain advantage then this is just as unproductive as the candidate playing games.  An interview needs to be an opportunity for both sides to gain enough information to determine if there is a good match.  Think of it as a sales call.  The sales person needs to find out if the prospect needs and wants their product and the prospect needs to determine if the salesperson has a product or service that satisfies their need.  If either side fools the other, both will ultimately be unhappy.

Let me put this employment relationship in a different light that will hopefully simplify everyone’s thinking.  A job is simply a “Behavior Rental Agreement”.  That’s it.  Nothing more.  We enter into a contract with a person and both parties have to hold up their end of the agreement.

You don’t hire a person because you like them or they look good in a suit.  You hire someone because you want something in return.  You have a job that needs to be done.  You need a business need satisfied.  You hire someone to accomplish these tasks.  And in return, you will offer compensation.  It’s really a simple contract.

Now, if you entered into a contract with someone and they did not hold up their end, you would take action.  The exact same principle holds true in the behavior rental agreement.  The contract has been violated if the person does not deliver the behavior necessary to satisfy your needs.  The contract has been violated if you do not deliver an environment where the person can be successful and the compensation agreed upon.

This really is a simple situation.  Going back to the selection process, it is not an opportunity for either party to exert their will on the other, it is a simple data gathering process to determine if the parties can satisfy each other’s needs.

How many of you have ever bought a tool or piece of equipment because it was pretty or you liked it?  Then why would you hire someone for similar reasons?  The same logic and evaluation has to take place when you go through the selection process.  Hire someone because you are absolutely convinced they will deliver on their end of the agreement and satisfy your business need.  Apply the same evaluation to the person that you would to a piece of equipment.

One more quick rant.  A person recently told me she could tell quickly if someone will fit in her company because she looks for midwestern values.  I am from the Midwest (born and raised in Cleveland … Go Browns!) and I will bet you this person would not hire me!  Please do not put yourself in the foolish position of believing you can figure out other people.

You are much better off using a proven selection system (like my Selecting Winners System) designed to get you the information you need to make an informed decision.  The bottom line is that you are much better off using a proven structured process rather than relying on gut-feel and other less effective techniques.

When you read or hear about one of these latest and greatest hiring methods, my advice is to always run it by your common sense test.  Does this seem too good to be true? (I once read about the 3 questions interview)  Does the techniques describes seem like it would get you information that will help you predict success on the job?  Are you going to be comfortable using the technique?  You will be amazed how far a little common sense will take you.

Your UHP simply answers the question, “Why should I work for you?” Think of it as the driving force, your mission statement for all your recruiting activity. People need a reason to work for you and your UHP supplies that reason. As a side note, your UHP also helps identify those people who should NOT work for you.

With your UHP in hand, you need to view attracting candidates as a sales problem. How do you go about attracting prospects for your product or service? First, you identify what a good prospect looks like. What interests them? Where do they live? What do they read? What do they do for fun? Where do they congregate? Once you know all this, then you can determine the best way of raising their interest. Finally you present your product in an appealing way and try to close the deal.

Recruiting is no different.

You can start to put your strategy in place armed with all the information you know about your prospective candidates. You use this knowledge to decide where to advertise, in what publications or on which sites. More than 50% of the success of any ad is determined by where it is placed. The greatest ad running in the wrong location is not likely to generate a whole lot of response. Industry specific publications, web sites, ezines and discipline specific sites are a much better source than general newspaper classified or generic job-posting boards. Think strategically about where you will place your ad.

Next, you have to attract attention. This is done with the headline. Forget the boring “Tax Preparer” headline. You need to use the right words to attract just the right types of people. Remember, you must break the person’s pre-occupation and get them to read the copy. The purpose of the headline is simply to get them to read the ad copy. Here are some great words for your headlines:

Imagine
You
Amazing
New
Introducing
How would
Discover
Life
Do you
Now
Join

The best way to get the person’s attention is to appeal to something important to them … NOT YOU! If you have the word “we” in your headline, get rid of it. Remember, the focus of the ad must be on the candidate not you or your company. Candidates want to know what is in it for them.

In the body of your ad, you must appeal to the person’s interest or they will not read the ad. Once again, what’s in it for them? Talk about how they will benefit instead of features of your company. Solve their problem!

View this situation just like a marketing document. How do you stimulate interest in the prospect to learn more? You will not hire someone with an ad alone, but you will get the person to take the next step.

Finally, here is the most important technique you can use in creating a good recruitment ad: “Use Plain Language!” Write you ad as if you were talking to a prospect. After you write your ad, read it out loud. Does it read like a conversation or does it sound like an ad?

Your results will be significantly better when you use these techniques.

Samples Headlines

1. Join the fastest growing sales team in Cleveland
2. Join the #1 sales team in Seattle
3. Do you enjoy being on a winning team?
4. Imagine being surrounded by the best team in the industry?
5. Your life will never be the same
6. Now is the time to discover a winning opportunity
7. Do you want to help us grow in the fastest growing industry?
8. You have an amazing opportunity with our breakthrough
9. Discover and amazing opportunity
10. If fast growth and opportunity appeal to you, come talk to us
11. Want to sell the #1 product in the market?
12. Help us solve real problems for our customers
13. You will make a difference when you represent out product
14. Are you a quick study? There is an opportunity waiting for you
15. State of the art products require state of the art salespeople
16. Come grow with us
17. Your sales skills + our products = success!
18. Controlling your future is not an option, it is part of the job
19. Read on to find out why our salespeople are ranked #1
20. How would you like to write your own ticket?

One final thought, make it easy for them to respond. Give them as many options as possible. You don’t want to seem like a difficult place to do business with. You wouldn’t make it difficult for a prospect to get in touch with so don’t make it difficult for a candidate to get in touch with you.

The answer is extremely predictable.  The company that gets the business is the one with the best sales people.  Good sales people win more business regardless of the circumstances.  Are you going to win the next time you find yourself in this position?

The best opportunity you have to impact the productivity of your organization is every time you make a hiring decision.  Good hiring decisions propel you to success.  And, all the managing, coaching, systems, training and technology CANNOT help you recover from a hiring mistake.

Over and over again we see examples of companies with inferior products; over-priced products and poor reputations win the business.  Why?  Because they have the best people.  Today’s market is as competitive a market as you are going to find.  If you want the edge in this battle, upgrade your work force and you have the best chance of succeeding.

Most organizations suffer from the 80-20 rule.  You get 80% of your productivity from 20% of your people.  This applies to hiring as well. For years I have listened to Business Owners talk about hiring five and keeping one good person.  This is a terrifically costly way to do business.  Let’s translate some of the costs so you can see just how much this flawed strategy is costing you.  Here’s an example:

You hire John in your Seattle office.  After a month it doesn’t look good.  After 90 days it is really bad. At six months you give up and let John go.  This problem is even worse when John worked with some of your best clients.

This all too familiar scenario happens time and time again.  Unfortunately, you get lulled into believing that all you lost was six months of salary and benefits.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In addition to salary and benefits you have the following hidden costs; opportunity costs, administrative costs, training costs, vacancy costs and separation costs.  And for a small business, these costs could be fatal!

Let’s look at a CPA with a $75,000 base salary.  Salary and benefits for six months cost $48,750.  It cost you $10,000 to recruit the person.  You spent $5000 on training classes and materials.  And those are just the hard dollar costs.

Your soft costs begin with lost opportunity.  If John alienated you top client, what is the life-time value of that client? (Cost $200,000)

How about your time?  Would you have been more productive using your time working with someone who was more productive?  (Cost 15% of your annual compensation ($45,000) Make sure you add separation and administrative costs.  (Cost = $60,000)

Another intangible in this equation is employee morale.  Your good employees resent having a non-performer on the staff.  It makes them look bad and they have to work harder as a result.  (Cost: What is the cost of losing one top employee?)

Your cost of one hiring mistake is roughly $308,750 without counting the cost of losing one of your top employees.  And here is the really sad part, if you do make this hiring mistake; you have to do it all over again doubling all the numbers!  How does $617,500 sound for a $75K CPA?

Now you can see why the “hire a bunch and keep a few” staffing strategy is a mistake.  The good news is you are on your way to fixing the situation as we speak.  The first step in upgrading your work force is to recognize the problem.  Next, you have to put a great recruiting and hiring process in place that gives you the highest probability of hiring top talent.

A great way to get started is to invest in your education.  The more you know about recruiting and hiring good people, the better chance you have of building a winning team.  Reading books and attending workshops will help you expand your knowledge base. If you are not expanding your knowledge base, when you compete against someone who is, the outcome is fairly certain.

You have to start by knowing what you are looking for.  This sounds so simple but is at the heart of most hiring mistakes.  Begin by outlining your work process.  Understanding the mechanics of your business cycle is crucial to understanding the type of person who will be successful.  Just because a person was successful at another company (even a direct competitor) does not mean they will be successful on your job.

At each step of your business cycle, identify what behaviors are necessary for success?  How do your successful people behave?  The answer to this question is the key to building an effective performance-based success profile.  Build a list of all the behaviors necessary for success on your job.

Now the question that I am sure is swimming through your mind is, “How do I figure out if the person sitting across the desk from me behaves this way.  Let me start by saying if you rely on gut feel, interview behavior and the person’s track record you are doomed to fail.  That’s right; these typical measures are not the best way to predict success on your job.

You need a proven system of gathering and evaluating data if you are going to make good hiring decisions.  The more you know about a person, the easier it is to predict success on your job.

Once you realize the economic impact recruiting and hiring has on your business, you’re ready to take the steps necessary to get on track.  You just can’t leave your recruiting and hiring to chance.  Recruiting and hiring top talent has to be your top priority.

Typical Costs of a Bad Hire

Separation Costs:
$ Termination administrative costs
$ Costs for exit interview
$ Severance/separation pay
$ Unemployment compensation

Vacancy Costs
$ Additional overtime
$ Temporary help
$ Missed deadlines

Replacement Costs
$ Recruiting costs
$ Selection interviews
$ Testing
$ Travel/moving expenses
$ Pre-employment administrative expenses
$ Acquisition and dissemination of information

Training Costs

download chronicles of an exorcism online

$ Formal training
$ Informal/OTJ training

Opportunity Costs
$ Lost sales
$ Missed opportunities
$ Management time
$ Dissatisfied customers
$ Low employee morale
$ Cost of mistakes made by poor employee