When you have employees, inevitably some of them will strike out on their own. This can be frustrating. You’ve invested a lot of time and money into training them, only to watch them become your competition.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Instead of simply wishing my employees well, I help them do well. This may sound counterintuitive, but I’ve found a solution where both parties benefit from this scenario.
Paying it forward
I’ve had the pleasure of watching four employees launch very successful businesses of their own.
Yes, they are pool-service companies, but I don’t consider them competition. I think of them as colleagues. The way I see it, if an employee gives you four to five years, has worked very hard, and helped your company prosper, there shouldn’t be any ill will toward them if they want to depart. It’s actually the perfect time to support them.
Look at it from the perspective of the employee. He or she wants to make a go of it on their own, be their own boss and control their own destiny. In most cases, they can only do that using the skills and trade secrets you taught them. This is a big, risky and aggressive move.
It could be an aggressive move toward you if you’re not strategic.
Here’s the way I’ve handled these situations: When an employee tells me he wants to start his own company, I present him an opportunity to buy a small route. Why not? As the owner of the company, I’m always consolidating routes to make them more efficient.
I’d rather sell a route to someone I know and trust and who I know will do right by my customers.
I offer these routes for a fair price. They can pay me back in small monthly installments over a long period. Not one of them has failed to pay me back in full.
I also give them referrals. You see, my company is a little unusual in that my services cost $330 to $350 a month. I serve a very high-end clientele. For prospective customers who don’t want to pay that much, I’ll recommend one of my former employees who’ll charge around $200.
Sometimes my colleagues will offer $100 for the referral. I always decline.
When I tell other people in the industry that Pure Swim sometimes works as an incubator of sorts for other pool service companies, it’s usually met with skepticism. “Why would you do that?”they inevitably ask.
I do this because, in many cases, these are men with wives and young kids. I want to give their fledgling businesses a good start. I don’t want to see them fail. And, as I mentioned, they’re not going to be competition because they’re serving a different customer base.
Plus, it’s for the betterment of the industry. Aggressively undercutting one another does not look good to the customer. In my opinion, these low, low prices only lower the bar for service.
Anyway, I’m a believer in the law of reciprocity. My father, a pool builder, helped me get into the pool and spa industry, where I’ve prospered for 27 years. I’m simply paying it forward.
To this day, I’m good friends with a couple of the business owners who got their start at Pure Swim. It’s exciting to watch them succeed.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll pay it forward one day, too.
