Today I’m going to share why it’s important to create a brand to attract the right people, to represent an organization so you can create longevity and be successful for years to come. I want to share an experience I had more than a decade ago. I was a new coach and there was a company in our immediate area that was almost 100 years old. They’re in the music industry, a pioneer out of New York. As a new coach, I am curious about learning as I believe success leaves clues. I decided to pay a visit to their local store because I was certain I was going to learn some things. I visited this store in Coconut Creek, Florida, and will tell you I was in for a lesson, however, not the lesson I was looking for.
I walked in the front door and the manager was sitting at the front desk with his feet up while on the phone, and he didn’t even acknowledge me. Okay, well, that’s interesting. I next ventured on to a special room they have for wooden guitars. Like a humidor for cigars, it’s a humidor-like room for guitars. I walked in and I asked this young lady working there, “Could you tell me more about this room, and your qualifications to be working in this particular part of this store?” Her reply, “Well, I know what I’m doing.” Wow, I thought, sorry to ask. Safe to say that the conversation didn’t last very long. I then walked out on the floor where the sales guy was, and I started talking to him. I said, “Could I ask you a question.” I said, “This company’s been around for 90 years. It’s a pioneer in the music industry. You must be so proud to be representing this brand. Why is it that you want to work for this company?” His reply was, “I needed a job.” Holy crap. Three for three, and they all struck out.
As a new coach, I left, bewildered, because there were no clues of success in that particular location. I later had a conversation with my coach about it. She asks, “Well, did you call the head office?” My reply was, “No, they’ve been around for 90 years. I’ve been a coach for a year and a half. What do I know?” She shares, “You need to make the call.” I’ll tell you that it took me two and a half months to get the courage to make the call.
I finally spoke to the head at the New York office, second in line, because the originator passed away. I told him about my experience. His reply was, “Oh, yeah. What are you going to do?” My reply, “I’m sorry. What are you going to do?” He replies, “Listen, this is probably the answer you don’t want to hear, but sometimes finding the right people is difficult, so sometimes you just have to fill a spot and hire whoever you can.” My reply was, “Are you kidding me? You’re a pioneer in the music industry. You’ve been around for almost 100 years and your strategy to find the right people to represent your brand is to hire fast to fill a spot?” He became silent.
I’m now fast-forwarding, the name of that company was Sam Ash. They were established in New York City in 1924. They had 42 stores in 16 states. I was never able to get to the next step with this organization. They didn’t want to pursue any type of training or coaching. So that was a conversation that ended 10+ years ago. Sam Ash in May of 2024 filed for Chapter 11 after 100 years in business. There was an auction on June 20, of this year where a Mexican-based retailer came in and bought them at an auction for 15.2 million.
I share this story because a client of mine told me as I didn’t know they filed for Chapter 11, or that their assets were bought. He remembered when I told him the story about what happened 10 years ago and shared, “Coach, Sam Ash should have engaged with you 10 years ago.”
Ten years ago as a coach, I went to find answers, and the answers I found were not the answers I was looking for. They’ve been around for so long, they lost sight of what they were all about. They no longer innovated forward to successfully stay in the game. I’m sure they had a lot of reasons and a lot of excuses for why they couldn’t represent the brand or find the right people, whatever it may have been, but because of that, some Mexican company has bought the assets for 15.2 million at an auction.
I hope you will take this as a warning sign to get clear on your organization’s brand, culture, and purpose. To understand that people don’t get hired or fired. They either qualify or disqualify from representing your brand, culture, and organization.
If any of you have a challenge addressing any of these issues in your organization, please reach out and give me a call because this is where I specialize, in aligning teams, building leaders, and helping grow the bottom line. Hopefully, this has not only been valuable but comes as a little bit of a warning sign on what to do and what not to do in business.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com