There is specialization and detail to be mastered in any business, but the failure to master all the detail associated with recruiting and selecting District Managers when I started the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, almost closed us down.
It was November, 1971, and our cash ran out. We were still bringing in $1200 a week instead of the $2000 needed to break even. We just could not seem to hire District Managers who could make a living. So this sent me out into the field selling memberships on Fridays, for almost six months, just so I could cover my mortgage and groceries. It was a difficult time.
There was a moment when I wondered if the concept of the CFIB was not viable in Canada, utilizing a membership sales system developed by the National Federation of Independent Business in the US. But we had one District Manager, who was hired through a friend, and doing everything his own way that brought in $600 every week. His name was Bob Brouse and he was our first DM. He is honoured in our hall of fame at the head office. He convinced me that we were doing something wrong.
We would begin the process by placing an ad in one of the Toronto newspapers and this brought in 20-30 candidates. We would then explain the nature of the job which was a pure commission sales position, and that we had openings for six people. This reduced the first interview crowd to about ten. But those we hired just couldn't make it in the field. And after a week or so they would all quit.
We tried everything we could think of, and then decided to call Wilson Johnson at the NFIB. He suggested we join his Division Manager in Cleveland, Ivo Marsak, in a hiring campaign to see what we were doing wrong. We did that and discovered that our mistake was telling the prospects we were looking for six salespeople instead of just one or two persons. We learned that making it tougher to get the job appealed to the most aggressive and competitive prospects. Up to then, the best people never showed up for a second interview.
Returning home, we put the new detail into our selection process and to our joy and delight, the quality of our DMs improved almost overnight. Within two weeks we broke even and never looked back.
From the scary lesson of mastering the detail of recruiting and selecting sales personnel, the next 25 years were spent taking details that top salespeople had mastered and then promoting these detailed techniques to the rest of the sales team. And that is how the field operation of the CFIB today is so detailed, that no one can copy it without blowing their brains out. Our detailed systems are our competitive edge.