A big apology to Mr. Steve Toburen

[Cameron1]

During the Hot seat segment on wed. night I inadvertently mis-spelled Mr. Toburens name, and failed to mention the name of the cassette programs that I use for training purposes.

Out of respect for Mr. Toburen and his intellectual property I would like to clear this up.

The question from Mikey P was: How much training do your Techs get before they are on their own?

My answer was: not enough, that's my biggest problem. I train using Steve Torrens., cassette programs, and talking and showing and letting them work with my top ace.


My answer should have been: Not enough, that is my biggest problem. I train my new people using Steve Toburen's, "Winning on the Home Front" line of audio cassette customer service programs. In addition to that we do alot of role playing in the shop. I also will put them with my top ace for a couple of weeks


Thank you and please excuse my mistake.

 

[Blue Monarch]

Toburen is the man. Now, if I would just implement the things he says.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

This is a classy thing for you to do, Steve.

Those of us who know Steve Toburen can say that he is far to gracious a man to be offended by your wording or misspelling, though.

Thanks for sharing your experiences on the Hot Seat, by the way. I had two of my clients join Mikeysboard just to learn your story.

 

[Mikey P]

damn....

And here I went and bought some How to tune your Shakras 8 tracks I found on eBay from this Steve Torrens guy ..

 

[Derek]

Steave's a great guy. but we all misspell from time too thyme.

thanx --- Derek.

 

[Steve Toburen]

OK, Cameron, now I AM offended. I could live with the "Torrens" mistake. (Actually like it better than Toburen. Do you know how many times I have spelled my name over the last fifty years?)

But I'm not a "Mr." to anybody except the IRS!

Good to hear from you and sorry to have missed your Hot Seat, Steve. You done good.

"Just Steve" Toburen CR
Director of Training
Jon-Don Strategies for Success

PS Seriously, Steve is one of the smartest people in this industry and eats, sleeps and breathes marketing. He has a true love for it. Now that he is going to focus with the same intensity on surrounding himself with quality, long term employees I think his business will really take off.

NOTE I think a lot of us "felt Steve's pain" with employees. I would submit this is our biggest challenge facing our industry. Most of us think the problem is getting the phone to ring. But Steve and others have shown that marketing is doable, even easy. But employees? If you want your business to grow finding the right people will always be your most important mission as a leader and manager. They ARE out there but ya' gotta dig deep and treasure them when you find them. (Actually I feel our biggest problem is "settling" and putting up with marginal performers due to fear of having to search for/ train other employees that might be even worse!)

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Great point, Steve.

I don't think any of us "solve" the problem of dealing with employees, but only when we learn the fine art of hiring slow and firing fast can any our businesses grow.

When I am given credit for anything our business has accomplished, I indicate that alone I could not have achieved anything we've been given praise for. In fact, our business simply could not exist without hard working, motivated employees who feel like they are a part of a team.

By the way, you first audio program traveled with me wherever I drove when it first came out. Those fundamentals that you shared then helped me, and continue to help me, immensely.

Thanks Steve!