Business Services

Jerry Crawford

By Kristy J. O’Hara

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"Keeping nonperformers on board can hurt a company. If you let one person sit and read a magazine, why can’t they all sit and read a magazine?" - Jerry Crawford, President, Jani-King International

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When the 2002 Olympic committee approached Jani-King International Inc. and asked it to bid on the cleaning job for the games, President Jerry Crawford knew that it was a job meant for his firm. The cleaning franchise company — with 700 corporate employees and tens of thousands who work for his franchisees — won the bid for the Salt Lake City games and produced outstanding results. Crawford has hired passionate people who take pride in their work, and the Olympic committee was so impressed with the results that it sent him a letter saying it had never had any company clean as well as Jani-King. Smart Business spoke with Crawford about how he hires and why hiring someone with a little bit of an ego can be a good thing.

Take your time hiring. There’s good people out there; we just have to not be lax in finding them.

We have to do our due diligence and take the steps internally to recruit and train better people. Some people get busy, so they’re just anxious to get someone hired and fill the void, but we can’t do that. We have to make sure we find the right person that we feel the best about, that will take on this position and be accountable for it.

Don’t get in a hurry. Be aggressive and find the right person for the position. I think we take the easy way out sometimes and just hire someone that maybe isn’t the right person for that position. Then you have to go through it again and again.

Hire good attitudes. That’s really key, and they’re able to be responsible, accountable and make a commitment to your program, your concept.

Some people will do some research about your company before they ever come to the interview, and that’s an indicator that they at least took some time to study about your company. Secondly, I like to hear from somebody sitting across from me that they believe they’re the best person for the job, and if you don’t hire them, you’re going to miss out hiring the best person for the job.

Generally, we don’t mind a little bit of ego or cockiness as long as it fits in to our team atmosphere and is constructive rather than destructive. It’s a leader who can generate more from those around them and can help others grow. We’re looking for people that have coaching and leadership abilities.

We have to check their references and get background checks and all those things, but you’re looking for someone who can walk the talk and has a proven track record and [can] be accountable.

Set expectations upfront. Before they’re employed, we have a pre-employment checklist that tells them what we expect on a day-to-day basis, what the important priorities are, and we can go back in when it’s not happening and say, ‘Remember when you came here and interviewed, and we said, “These are the most important things for you to do,” and the numbers aren’t there. What have you been doing with your time all day?’

Monitor performance. When you get someone and put them in position, you can tell quickly if they lead by example or if they’re all talk and no walk. It’s just a lack of performance.

You’ll hear someone say, ‘I’ve done this, and I’ve done that,’ and they talk a big track record, but when we put them in — our business isn’t rocket science. We know our numbers. We know how many proposals should be delivered by a regional director or salesperson every month.

If you see that’s just not happening, why? It’s because someone has said, ‘I will get out and do these things,’ but then they’re not doing it.

Let nonperformers go. Keeping nonperformers on board can hurt a company. The hardest thing in the world is to take someone, you’ve met their family and you employed them, and they’re just not getting it done, and you leave them in place, and other people, they see that management is keeping someone who doesn’t perform.

It creates this lackadaisical attitude in your office. It spreads. If you let one person sit and read a magazine, why can’t they all sit and read a magazine?

Review goals regularly. If you don’t have goals, shame on us. If you do have goals, and you’re not serious every day about knowing where you are at, and you’re not passionate about meeting or exceeding the goals, shame on us as business owners and leaders.

Look at the industry you’re in, and know your competition and what they do. Then you have to perform and recruit better people to meet or exceed your goals, and you don’t look at them monthly or annually — you look at them every day.

There’s an old saying that, ‘Inch by inch, it’s a cinch. Yard by yard, it’s hard.’ There’s a lot of truth to that. You have to look at your goals every day to see if you’re on pace to meet or exceed your goals.

Communicate. It’s the key in any company. The more you can communicate with your people and make your people a part of any innovative or new updates, the better they can accept it and want to be a part of it.

If you help plan something, you understand it and want it to be a lot more successful than if somebody says, ‘Here it is, just do it.’

You have to be honest and passionate. You earn the integrity and respect in the system — you can’t demand it.

Celebrate people’s success. It’s very important in recognizing and congratulating people as they meet and exceed goals. Everybody sees, and likes to see, people becoming part of success. That’s how [Founder] Jim Cavanaugh built this company.

He congratulated them, both financially and by putting them up in front of other people, speaking positively and congratulating them openly in front of their peers as to their accomplishments. Surround yourself by great people who perform well, and then congratulate them in front of others. Hopefully, everybody wants to have that feeling. We say, ‘If you haven’t tasted the honey yet, you ought to ’cause it sure is sweet.’

HOW TO REACH: Jani-King International Inc., (972) 991-0900, (800) JANIKING or www.janiking.com