Really great article by Eban Pagan of GetAltitude.com… i’m going to make this required reading for anyone looking to build their team. Enjoy!
You can successfully delegate almost EVERYTHING in your business.
Really.
And I can teach you exactly how to do it… in a way that will truly free up your time and energy to focus on higher and higher value efforts.
But if you get “addicted” to delegating things, or you delegate ONE thing that you shouldn’t, you can find yourself in a very expensive situation.
You see, we entrepreneurs who have started our own businesses just LOVE the idea of having others “working for us”… so that we can sit behind our desk and let the money just flow into our bank accounts.
It’s a great, inspiring image.
I’d like to teach you five things that you should NEVER delegate (not entirely, anyway).
Delegate these at your own risk and peril.
NEVER DELEGATE YOUR MARKETING
If you want to build a business, then you’re going to need to get used to the idea that you’re not in business, you’re in MARKETING.
And, in my view, marketing is everything from designing products that people are LOOKING FOR… to creating names and “tag lines” that make people want to BUY THEM RIGHT NOW.
Marketing is VERY easy to delegate.
Why?
Because EVERYONE wants to do the marketing.
Try this quick test:
Call up ANYONE you know, whether they work with you or not, and say this to them:
“Hey, will you help me come up with some marketing ideas right now?”
YES! Yes, I can!
Or write an ad, and ask the next three people you talk to what they THINK of it.
You’re going to love the answers…
“I wouldn’t respond to that ad”
“I think women will like the pink headline”
“I think it needs a picture of a puppy”
It’s incredible.
It’s possibly the most important area of business, and EVERYONE wants to put in their two cents.
You’ll notice that NONE of the people you talk to will say “I’m not a trained marketing expert, so I recommend that you find an experienced professional,
and ask them.”
The most DANGEROUS person to ask?
Someone who is a DESIGNER. I’m talking about the person who uses the desktop publishing software program to “lay out” the ad, fit it into the right size space, add the correct typeface, etc.
Designers just LOVE to give free advice about what makes a “good ad.”
I remember about 5 or 6 years ago when I was first growing my current business, and I’d get emails from graphic designers that would say “Hey, I’ll redesign your website if you’ll give me some of your products for free.”
I would write back:
“Great! Here’s the deal. I’ve been studying Direct Response Marketing for about seven or eight years now, and I’ve been testing all of the elements of this website to optimize the conversion. I’ve probably tested fifty combinations of copy, design,
typeface, etc. but if you think you can beat it, then take a shot. I’ll test anything!”
No takers.
Next time someone wants to “take over” your marketing, just say “Great, let’s figure out how to measure the conversion of everything you do, and let’s shoot for
a return of at least 100% on every marketing dollar we spend on the front end, OK?”
Get ready for the typical “Well, I’ve heard that you have to get your name out there, and that people don’t buy until they’ve seen an ad at least seven to
ten times…” answers.
My point: Get people to HELP you with your marketing, but NEVER delegate it 100%. That’s when your response will start to drop.
NEVER DELEGATE YOUR MONEY
As it turns out, we entrepreneurs have something in common…
We LIKE to make money, but we HATE to actually “deal with” the money on the way to “making” it.
How much did we spend on that advertisement, and how much did we make in return?
What percentage of our monthly cash flow are we investing in our team of employees?
What is our profit margin on a monthly basis?
These sound like questions for ACCOUNTANTS, don’t they?
Well they’re not.
These are questions for YOU.
These are the things YOU need to know if you ever want to have a prayer of growing a huge, strong company.
Just like delegating your marketing to a designer, you can very easily delegate your cash flow and your budget to a bookkeeper.
They’ll gladly accept the responsibility!
Why? Because that puts their hand on the wheel of YOUR BUSINESS.
If you want to delegate something in this area, then delegate the COUNTING of the money and the TRACKING and REPORTING of the money.
Never the spending of it.
When your business has 50 people working for it, and you have four departments… with experienced business experts running each department… THEN you can consider delegating some of the spending and budgeting.
Until then, YOU WATCH YOUR MONEY LIKE A HAWK.
Oh, and sign ALL of your own checks.
I still do it to this day.
NEVER DELEGATE LEADERSHIP
Quickly, let me cover the difference between “management” and “leadership”…
Management is planning the details of how to do a project, overseeing the details of every part of it, and making sure each piece is done on time.
It’s MANAGING the project.
Leadership is saying “I am looking into the future, and I think we’re going to need to do a project. Here’s what it is, and what it will look like when it’s finished. Can you take this project and MANAGE it to completion?”
Leadership is looking into the future, seeing what’s coming, telling your team about it, making sure everyone is going in the right direction, and keeping ALIGNMENT in your business.
Management is making sure that everything gets done when and how it’s supposed to get done, that projects are being reported on and updated regularly, and that
everyone knows what’s going on.
Once you start delegating the management of projects and tasks, it’s VERY easy to get lazy and want to delegate EVERYTHING.
“You figure it out, and call me if you need me.”
Every entrepreneur’s ultimate fantasy, isn’t it?
If you walk into your business one day, and you find that no one cares what you think anymore, it’s probably a sign that you’ve been either consciously or unconsciously delegating leadership. You’ve been trying to get other people to figure out what needs to be done.
It will freak you out if and when it happens.
Leadership isn’t something that takes a lot of TIME, but it’s something that, if you DON’T do it yourself, will cause a loss of confidence in YOU, and a loss of focus in your business.
Remember, delegate management, but don’t delegate leadership.
HINT: I heard a great saying a few years ago. It went something like this…
“Hire people that need leadership, not management.”
Think about it. Doing that one thing will make you a TON of money.
NEVER DELEGATE DEVELOPMENT
Here’s a distinction:
It’s the difference between TRAINING and DEVELOPMENT.
If you follow the advice that I give, then you are already on the lookout for “Star” employees.
One of the things you’re going to notice when you start hiring and working with high-caliber people is that they want to EVOLVE. They want to develop. To them, what they LEARN is more important than the MONEY that they make.
Really.
When these people come to work with you, you’re going to need to both TRAIN them and DEVELOP them.
Training is teaching them what they need to learn in order to work the systems in your business.
Development is what they need to evolve THEMSELVES on a personal and professional level, so that they can do the NEXT LEVEL job later on.
It doesn’t matter who TRAINS them (as long as the training is good, of course).
But your Stars want development feedback from YOU PERSONALLY. They want to know what you think of their work, their style, their strengths, their weaknesses, and everything else.
NEVER DELEGATE “CULTURE”
The “culture” of your business is the combination of values, attitude, and “vibe” of your team.
It’s important that you ALWAYS stay involved, and keep making sure that everyone knows that you care, that you’re committed to delivering high-quality products and services, and that you stand for integrity.
Here’s a phrase to write on a post-it note to put on your computer for a week or two:
“Delegate the organization of your people, but never the inspiration of your people.”
That one is mine.
So there’s a list of things you should NEVER delegate 100%. Delegate them at your own risk!
But the truth is that these things are actually the FUN part of doing business, as far as I’m concerned.
If you come to Altitude, I’ll show you some of my own personal techniques for delegating the time-consuming parts of these important areas of business, as well as the right way to delegate ANYTHING you want to get off your plate… as well as several dozen other key techniques for doing everything inside your business from interviewing and hiring “Stars”… to installing systems that free up your personal time and energy – so you can focus on GROWING your business.
I wrote you a detailed letter explaining how I learned many of the valuable business lessons I’ve used to grow my business (including one key insight I had that actually allowed me to triple my business every year for the first five years in a row).
You can read it all, plus get the details about the Altitude training program here:
http://www.GetAltitude.com/10035/
I hope to see you there!
Eben
P.S. I want to hear your success stories – and I want to hear your questions. If you’ve used any of our techniques to improve your marketing, hire a great person, install systems in your business, or partner with a big company… then drop me a line. I want to know what’s on your mind. Email me at:
SuccessStories@GetAltitude.com