5 Unwritten Rules That Will Kill Your Business

MANAGEMENT TIPS THE 5 UNWRITTEN RULES THAT WILL KILL YOUR BUSINESS Here are five common unwritten rules that almost every business follows with the best of intentions. The outcomes, though, might be disastrous. The customer is always right CLIENT Often the most unreasonable demands are made by the most unfit customers. The most successful companies actively filter out those customers who are not a fit- even referring them to alternative vendors. Add this rule to your corporate guidelines: "The right customer is always right." Put new hires on automatic probation You hire that new employee and welcome them on board-with an automatic 90-day probation. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot! A new employee should be welcomed with "show us what you can do," instead of "prove to me l didn't make a mistake hiring you." NEWBIE Promote top performers to managers PROMOTION Your top sales rep is crushing it, outperforming all the other sales reps combined. So you follow the unwritten rule of promoting her into a management position. She fails miserably in the new role. Just because people are great in one role does not mean they will be great in another, more senior one. SUCCESS It's all about the bottom line PROFIT While the bottom line is important, it does not alone define success. What impact kind of impact did the business have on its customers and community? What innovations did the company bring about? Create a new rule of measuring success through overall impact, not just the money you made. RÉSUMÉ REALITY Hire experienced "A" players Shockingly you can't find values, attitude and energy in a resume (or even in an interview). Experience is a tricky way to gauge the success of a future employee. Start recruiting your employees on the intangibles, and teach them the experience part. PUBLISHED ON OPENFORUM.COM OPEN Forum DESIGN BY PAPERCUT.FR TEXT BY MIKE MICHALOWICZ