Why 'Just Trust Me' Doesn’t Work in Business

You can escape this hell, but you must follow a few rules regarding your team and management.

In the last issue of Scale Chronicles, I covered the behavior of some of the “brokest” businesses I’ve encountered and how their teams, their teams' excuses, and patterns in the business drive low ROAS.

If you haven’t read it yet, go do so now. 

The manager’s or biz owner’s time mutates into chasing and digging through ad platforms, spreadsheets, redundant meetings, and being strung along via Slack, Voxer, or Telegram instead of high-leverage production or enjoyment.

Imagine ordering at a restaurant and receiving the same level of service you’re currently getting from your team. Would you tip your server? Would you come back? 

The last time I had an issue at a restaurant, I stayed too long. If I were alone, I would’ve just paid and walked out without food.

I don’t mind paying once; I won’t pay twice.
I’ll pay with my money, I won’t pay with my time, and I certainly won’t come back again.
I won’t stay and argue. I won’t waste time with a bad review or sending my food back. 

I stuck around this time because my kids, wife, and mother-in-law were hungry. We stayed at a state park, and there weren't many restaurants in this small town. I was served a well-done burnt to a crisp filet mignon. It was so bad it felt like an intentional insult. Having been a firecracker powerhouse entrepreneur most of her adult years, my mother-in-law scolded the waitress in a fiery exchange, who made excuses and blamed us for the burnt steak and poor service. The chef refused even to come out.

It was kind of funny because this is how it goes between a manager or owner and underperforming employees. 

I avoid most of this mess by laying out a clear set of rules for myself and the people I work with. Maybe you have already done this in other areas, but you’d like to know how this works with A Player client acquisition teams.

I’m about to share how I can sleep at night, write this newsletter, and engage in higher-leverage activities that make my clients millions of dollars. Sometimes, those activities are specifically in the business; other times, they are exercising, hiking, reading, and thinking.

The last few are very underrated and have very high returns for me, especially in problem-solving, strategy, or behavior change.

My major rule regarding media buyers and sales reps is that reporting must be done in a clear, closed-loop fashion. I’ll give an example below.

If they're a vendor, I need transparency around what is being tested, why, and where we’re trending. For any position, I jot down all of the things I’m going to want to know daily and weekly. I consider what those things might be when shit hits the fan or when I am going to be on a trip and need a glance to keep my sanity in check. I also include things I want to ensure that this person is paying attention to, even if they’re not things I care to see. I just want proof they’re watching like a hawk.

I won’t chase, and I won’t argue on these reports. I won’t let my clients do this with their teams, either.

If I get pushback on reporting, this person is automatically fired.

If I hear blame about a poor outcome instead of what is being done and what is recommended to get things back on track, I strike it down immediately.

If it continues, that person is gone. I absolutely reject shoulder shrugs and lazy responses.

I do this because one of the biggest mistakes I've made in hiring is saying yes too fast without having a management or reporting system and then keeping c players too long.

It stole from my wife, five kids and clients who depend on me. I view wasting time as stealing, and when it takes time from my wife, kids, or a client’s legacy, it is stealing more than someone could ever repay. I see this same mistake in many businesses. 

Every hire is critical and risky, but a media buyer manages your money and, most of the time, remotely. It’s not like they’re at the bank down the road with managers and cameras watching them 8 hours a day. They’re logging into your account somewhere else in the world, maybe from a room in their house not far from the fridge and television. They’re spending your money on media placements online. 

So, wanting to know what’s happening with your money isn’t a reach or overbearing. Just don’t waste their time or yours. Everyone should be producing, not chatting back and forth in slack or getting on hourly meetings. Unless you just enjoy it so much, you’re willing to pay for it through the sacrifice of profit that could have been produced during that time wasted. 

Here’s what I like to know daily:

• What did they read, and what quote stood out? Leaders are readers, and they have a positive outlook daily. This tells me a lot of what I need to know about a person. At the very least, if they’re faking it, it still forces them to read something.

• Some tests they’ve run, the theory behind them, and how they’re working out. I want to see the ball moving forward proactively. They could also just link asana tasks so I can take a look.

• Is 10% of the budget always going to testing? This is just a no-brainer. If it’s not happening, eventually, your ads will fatigue, and your team will be scrambling to fix it. This is where a lot of bad decisions are made, solving the wrong issue.

• What is the weekly plan, and does it need to change today? if so why

• Targets

• 7 and 3-day trend on these targets.

• % of the sales reps calendar filled out the following 48-72 hours minimum if it’s a call funnel.

• MTD numbers

• Projections

Depending on the situation, some of it can be manually typed, and other parts of the report can be screenshots of an automated spreadsheet.

You don’t need to be an expert media buyer to know what to look for or how to handle it. Just like I don’t need to be a world champion basketball player to understand what's happening in a basketball game, the plays being run, and what the team should probably do next.

Just give me the rules of the game, some basic plays, and a scoreboard to help me understand whether the team is doing the right thing or not. That’s all you need for sales and marketing. Every company is different, so there’s definitely some customization with clients. 

It’s also ok to update it as you go. If you repeat a question often or experience a recurring anxiety or headache, then add it to the reporting. If I worry that the reporting is too much, I look at time trackers to see how much time is spent on it and how much it costs the business.

I may simplify the reporting or keep it the same and pay the price of an hour as insurance that the right things are being worked on. Most won’t do this because they can’t truly appreciate what it does until things go wrong. By then, it’s too late to learn this, so do it now.

It’s cheaper than a meeting because even if it takes them an hour, it only takes you a few minutes to read it. You’ve also avoided costly things such as the wrong people being at the meeting, the meeting going off the rails and wasting time, and involving yourself in troubleshooting that should be done without you.

Sorry, but “just trust me” will never work for sales and marketing. If someone in one of those seats uses the ol’ “it feels like you don’t trust me” because you want transparent reporting then let them go.

I’ve never encountered a situation in which someone who avoids and deflects turns out to be a high performer. However, I’ve caught people lying, sharing secrets with competitors, stealing clients and intellectual property, sleeping during their work hours, and working for other companies—all kinds of stuff.

Decide what you want, put yourself on the receiving end of your requests mentally to make sure they’re feasible, and then demand it. Your biz will move much faster with a lot less resentment and frustration for it and the people inside. 

Build the business you want and do not compromise. 

You’ve gotten this far for a reason. 

While you may need to upgrade in multiple areas of your decision-making and behavior, you know a thing or two about growing a business. 

Besides, there’s no point in building something you hate with people who annoy the hell out of you.

–Lance C. Greenberg