Dan Martell - How To Hire C-Level Talent using The Ikea Effect

00:00:00.200 We have an Ikea guy in our town that you pay him

00:00:04.120 and he'll go pick up stuff

00:00:06.680 because we don't have an Ikea.

00:00:08.280 And that's his business.

00:00:17.320 How do you hire C-level talent?

00:00:19.640 Very different video.

00:00:20.800 If you've ever struggled with the fact

00:00:22.800 that your company's growing really fast,

00:00:24.280 now you gotta bring in some really talented people

00:00:26.440 that actually have been there, done that,

00:00:27.960 are gonna come in and install systems.

00:00:30.260 Or maybe you gotta network to find those contacts

00:00:35.260 because it's not natural that you would know

00:00:37.600 those kind of people,

00:00:38.440 because I'm talking like high-level VPs and C-levels.

00:00:41.800 Those folks, especially in the software space,

00:00:43.940 they're taken.

00:00:45.420 You have to kind of go grab them from somebody else.

00:00:49.040 But I think that there's a simple way,

00:00:50.640 and I'm gonna share this video,

00:00:51.620 where you can build a very structured and ongoing process

00:00:56.160 to recruit and attract high level talent

00:00:58.760 and even if you're not ready to hire,

00:01:00.900 I'm gonna show you how to have that leverage

00:01:05.240 and those conversations add value to your business

00:01:07.600 and to your peer group in the market.

00:01:10.040 I've been fortunate enough to have supported

00:01:12.400 and helped hundreds of entrepreneurs at this point

00:01:14.740 scaling their companies in one of the roles

00:01:17.380 and it's not something like I do, I don't get paid for this,

00:01:20.280 it's just I get to meet a lot of really talented folks.

00:01:24.460 Sometimes it's entrepreneurs in between transitions,

00:01:26.720 you know, and I've usually leveraged those people

00:01:30.560 to add value to some of my coaching clients.

00:01:32.660 So helping one of my clients like Ryan hire a VP of product

00:01:36.240 or my buddy John hire a CFO.

00:01:39.980 Or recently, I had a conversation with a VP of marketing

00:01:43.780 from a company that went from three million to 10 million

00:01:46.340 in ARR, annual recurring revenue,

00:01:48.620 and you know, he was looking for a new opportunity.

00:01:51.320 So I introduced them to probably 15 different companies

00:01:54.340 that were all a perfect fit for him

00:01:56.340 because that's my network and value add.

00:01:59.880 So I just think it's good karma.

00:02:01.820 And the reason why I call this the IKEA effect

00:02:04.380 is because I'm gonna teach you

00:02:05.700 how to approach those people, interact with them,

00:02:08.060 and really get them to sell them to you in a reverse way.

00:02:13.200 You know, there's this great line in a Pitbull song

00:02:15.240 called, ask for money, get advice,

00:02:16.920 ask for advice, get money twice.

00:02:19.080 Yeah, I just quoted Pitbull.

00:02:21.060 It's a real thing.

00:02:22.280 So there's three steps to really do this right.

00:02:25.040 The first one is source.

00:02:26.100 And I think the best way to source quality talent

00:02:29.040 is to deputize other people,

00:02:30.880 is to think about folks that you know interact

00:02:34.100 and go to events and have access

00:02:36.840 to a certain caliber of people.

00:02:38.240 I have friends like my buddy Evan,

00:02:40.160 who is one of the top directors of sales

00:02:43.180 and he's worked at several SaaS companies.

00:02:45.680 And he's the guy I recently just pinged

00:02:47.960 because I have one of my clients

00:02:49.020 looking for a VP of sales and said,

00:02:50.640 who's the best VP of sales you've ever worked with?

00:02:52.940 And I think allowing those people to know in your network

00:02:56.760 and say, hey, if you ever come across this type of role,

00:02:58.660 let me know.

00:02:59.040 If you ever come across this type of person, let me know.

00:03:00.740 If you've ever come across just an individual

00:03:03.340 that blows your mind, I just wanna know.

00:03:05.020 I can always decide if I move forward or not,

00:03:07.440 but I can't move forward with a candidate

00:03:09.720 I've never been presented.

00:03:11.420 So the idea of sourcing through mechanism of deputizing

00:03:15.720 is a powerful one that everybody watching this video

00:03:18.100 can adopt the other one is strategizing so once you have a candidate let's say I was hiring a VP

00:03:23.520 of marketing what I want to do is reach out to them and say hey I would just love to get together

00:03:27.020 and jam on a problem we're having you know maybe it's top of funnel maybe you have an issue

00:03:31.700 generating consistent leads top of your funnel to to get you know qualified demos scheduled for

00:03:36.540 your account execs if that's the case then just sit down and schedule a two-hour zoom session or

00:03:42.500 or a Skype session or a video chat or an in-person

00:03:45.260 and just show them your cards and show them the data

00:03:48.260 and say, how would you approach this?

00:03:50.180 What information would you need?

00:03:51.520 And maybe they wanna prep before.

00:03:53.160 I sometimes just offer to pay them.

00:03:55.560 I say, look, I know you don't consult,

00:03:57.240 I know you work at this other company,

00:03:59.200 but you're the type of person that knows exactly

00:04:01.520 how to solve this problem and I would love

00:04:03.480 to just get your advice on this challenge.

00:04:06.420 And that's powerful because what happens is

00:04:08.980 when people get involved in a business

00:04:11.260 and they start giving you ideas and feedback.

00:04:13.600 They feel invested in the outcome.

00:04:16.600 And there's not a big departure from that initial conversation

00:04:20.740 with them to a moment or a feeling or an agreement that,

00:04:25.200 you know what, maybe you guys work together

00:04:27.040 and it's worth doing.

00:04:28.240 So two hours is kind of cool because it gives you enough time

00:04:31.080 to kind of assess each other.

00:04:32.140 You could do it over a lunch and then kind of make it

00:04:36.560 a working lunch.

00:04:37.160 I've done that as well.

00:04:38.260 You know, I hired a CTO for my company Flowtown

00:04:41.140 and it was through this process

00:04:43.140 and that individual is one of the primary reasons

00:04:47.520 that company went on to, you know,

00:04:50.000 50,000 customers eventually get acquired

00:04:51.680 because they built the technology,

00:04:54.160 the hard stuff, the super hard stuff

00:04:56.280 that made the company work.

00:04:58.900 And I just think the right CTO,

00:05:01.700 the right VP of sales,

00:05:02.940 the right VP of marketing can transform your business.

00:05:05.860 We're talking 3X growth in a 12 month period.

00:05:08.260 and it requires you to get to know them

00:05:11.060 and really strategize as a way of getting advice

00:05:14.360 and having them sell themselves on you and get committed.

00:05:17.800 And that's why it's called the IKEA effect.

00:05:19.760 You know, when you build the furniture for IKEA,

00:05:22.720 there's been this proven stat that people are more committed

00:05:25.620 or have a higher perceived value to the furniture,

00:05:29.360 not because of the price,

00:05:30.440 but because they actually were involved

00:05:32.100 in putting it together.

00:05:33.880 And that's what happens when you ask for advice

00:05:35.960 through these really senior people

00:05:37.480 is they're committed and involved in the business

00:05:40.720 at that point and it's not much more to ask them,

00:05:44.120 hey, is this something you see maybe moving over to

00:05:47.640 and making it part of your life

00:05:49.140 for the next three to five years

00:05:50.100 because I think we can create something special

00:05:51.580 and that's kind of the language

00:05:52.640 and the conversation that I have.

00:05:54.500 And then finally, the third area is select.

00:05:58.140 Everybody talks about vision and values and mission

00:06:00.460 and KPIs and all that fun stuff

00:06:02.620 and those are all important

00:06:03.460 but to me when you hire somebody

00:06:05.540 and you select the right candidate,

00:06:06.780 You know, assuming skill and experience

00:06:10.060 and all these things and comp structure

00:06:11.460 and all that stuff is on the same level.

00:06:13.020 It's really about values, you know?

00:06:15.340 And this is what I tell people that I coach

00:06:16.920 is that your values are there

00:06:19.180 to help you hire and fire people.

00:06:21.620 And it's your responsibility in the interview process

00:06:24.200 to test for those values.

00:06:25.800 And you know it in your soul.

00:06:27.460 Nobody's ever said the words,

00:06:29.440 I wish I wouldn't have listened to my gut.

00:06:31.580 Those words have never been uttered

00:06:33.100 in the history of human existence

00:06:34.260 because we all know in the early days

00:06:37.260 and sometimes you have a void to fill

00:06:39.000 and you're eager to get somebody on board

00:06:40.720 but you know there's something there

00:06:42.560 and you have no proof.

00:06:43.740 This is the crazy part.

00:06:44.480 You have no proof.

00:06:45.360 You can't put your finger on it.

00:06:47.240 You just know they're not a good fit

00:06:48.900 and usually within six to 12 months,

00:06:51.080 they're gone because the values were disconnected.

00:06:54.460 The way they like to work,

00:06:55.460 the way your team works.

00:06:56.600 You know, I had a good friend of mine,

00:06:58.040 Mike, who hired a VP of sales

00:06:59.520 and he knew when he hired them,

00:07:01.520 This guy was super driven, cutthroat, aggressive,

00:07:05.580 verbally abusive in his approach.

00:07:08.040 And he knew in the early days

00:07:09.040 he probably should have let him go.

00:07:10.540 And instead he didn't.

00:07:12.080 And it was a really tough conversation nine months in

00:07:14.680 when they thought they were rocking

00:07:16.360 and they started building up the sales org

00:07:17.920 and all this stuff to then come in

00:07:19.240 and swap him out with somebody else.

00:07:20.840 I mean, at scale, these are really tough decisions.

00:07:23.700 But those are the three strategies.

00:07:25.700 Now, I wanna give you a tip.

00:07:27.680 Because really, you gotta do three things.

00:07:29.500 You gotta source, you've gotta strategize,

00:07:31.520 and you've got to select the right candidate

00:07:33.420 and it could feel overwhelming

00:07:35.300 but the most important thing I could share with you

00:07:37.700 is hire a recruiter.

00:07:39.540 Now, don't hire a recruiter to send you a bunch of resumes

00:07:42.620 that you then have to filter

00:07:43.700 and they're a bunch of ding-dongs and unqualified people. 0.61

00:07:47.100 Hire a recruiter to run that process,

00:07:49.260 to source people, to identify, to go on your LinkedIn,

00:07:52.580 to make a lead list, to reach out, get them interested,

00:07:56.880 get them connected, schedule the calls with you,

00:07:59.040 reach out and see if there's a fit just to get advice

00:08:02.840 to maybe even take care of payment for consulting

00:08:05.440 or whatever it is.

00:08:06.480 I think that so many companies don't realize

00:08:08.860 there's a skill and an art to recruiting.

00:08:10.900 Great recruiters know how to do that.

00:08:12.660 They can play third party,

00:08:14.380 boasting how incredible you are as a company and a founder.

00:08:17.280 You don't have to do that.

00:08:18.480 It sets a really great frame for that conversation

00:08:20.640 when they come in and get introduced to you.

00:08:22.740 And they can run the pipeline in the process

00:08:25.480 without you as the CEO having to do that.

00:08:27.460 and I think that is huge leverage in your business.

00:08:30.440 So that is my tip for you to do.

00:08:32.340 As you use the IKEA effect to hire C-level talent,

00:08:36.460 you wanna find somebody that can actually run, manage,

00:08:38.900 be accountable for the process to give you more bandwidth.

00:08:41.340 As per usual, I want to challenge you to live a bigger life

00:08:43.880 and a bigger business.

00:08:45.260 I'll see you guys next Monday.

00:08:46.980 If you like this video, be sure to subscribe to my channel

00:08:49.400 for other tips and strategies on how to grow and scale

00:08:51.700 your software company.

00:08:52.940 I'd also encourage you to join my newsletter

00:08:54.880 where I send out invites to contests,

00:08:57.780 exclusive events, and other free training.

00:09:01.020 And if you want to get going, I got two more videos

00:09:02.820 queued up for you right there.

00:09:04.160 I will see you next Monday.

Dan Martell - January 08, 2018

How To Hire C-Level Talent using The Ikea Effect

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