Spend the money

By Lora Benson | Jul 14, 2016
I was working with a firm recently and things were under pressure. After some discussion it became clear they needed a super-administrator to bolster the skills of the existing team. They had someone in mind who they knew was great, but they were concerned about how much they might cost. Here’s the thing, good people sometimes cost a bit more, but you need to put this in perspective. A good quality person is worth 200% - 300% more to you than an average performer. Why?

Tips From The Coalface, July 2016

I was working with a firm recently and things were under pressure. After some discussion it became clear they needed a super-administrator to bolster the skills of the existing team.

They had someone in mind who they knew was great, but they were concerned about how much they might cost.

Here’s the thing, good people sometimes cost a bit more, but you need to put this in perspective. A good quality person is worth 200% - 300% more to you than an average performer.

Why?

  • Poorly performing staff don’t do what they’re told.
  • Average performing staff only do what they’re told.
  • High performing staff don’t need to be told.

High performers receive the work from you or other team members and not only do it perfectly, but do two other things you forgot to ask for. They’re experts in their position.

Let’s say an ordinary administrator costs £25k pa and a great one costs £35k pa. I’d go for the great one every time. We’re talking only £10k pa. If they are great and can free you and the rest of your team up to do their jobs brilliantly, how much more capacity could you release? (i.e. how much more new business could you do?). It’s a no brainer.

In reality the difference in cost could be even smaller than in my extreme example.

Spend the money.