“I’m not looking for the best players, Craig. I’m looking for the right ones.”

Herb Brooks, Coach 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team

This is simply one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies.

I’m not looking for the best players, I’m looking for the right ones.

Each day as we sit and consider our business and all that we have to do to get ready for peach season, I’m constantly thinking about how we’re going to give more people the opportunity to taste and purchase the best peaches in America. We’ve got to reach so many people. People in Nashville and all the surrounding areas, small towns throughout Tennessee, Kentucky and beyond. Students, Parents, Grandparents, Singles, Toddlers. . . It’s a huge undertaking!

As I consider all of this, it always brings me back to what I have learned to be the #1 value I can add to a company. Whatever I may be leading, I can think of no more important contribution I can make than finding great people. At the end of the day I am only as good as the people I can enlist and motivate to do work with me day in and day out.

I love our little company, The Peach Truck. I have the best product and get to work with 2 great people everyday. When I first visited the farm, I saw all the opportunities of this business. I immediately began thinking of how to grow the business (I can’t help myself) and 2 names popped into my head. I stepped out on the porch and called one of those people that night.

His name is Rick Haley.

I’ve known Rick and his family for a little over 3 years. Rick has always had his day job and excelled in that but I knew him b/c he always would take extra work as our handyman. Anything we needed done. Rick would do it. He worked really hard, made himself available to us, showed up on time, did what he was supposed to do and did it with excellence. . . Everytime. Rick is honest and trustworthy. He’s also hungry. Devouring books that I would recommend.

As we talked about people that we needed on board, I immediately thought of Rick. We needed people that needed little supervision who we could 100% trust and would value the opportunities of a commissioned sales job. I knew he’d get the vision. I literally stepped out on the porch and called him that evening. Rick is now on board, committing any available time he has to The Peach Truck and will be a huge reason for our growth this year.

Another reason I love having Rick on our team is that he figures out a way to make something happen. He’s a plain old, blue collar hustler. I always prefer working with people like this. Rick is one of the best people I know at building relationships and serving those relationships by offering our product to them. I needed a great salesperson so I called Rick.

BTW, while this isn’t a post about salespeople, I want to take a second to remind you of this tip. . .

You know what the best thing you can do with a great saleperson? Give them a few (very few) boundaries and LET THEM RUN! I would much rather have to pull the reigns than kick them in the butt to get them going. Let those dogs RUN! Guys. . . show your team the goal and then let them go get it. Period. The worst thing you can do as a leader is to try and make them all look, sell and sound just the same. You’ll destroy them. Get out of their way and support them when needed.

Ok. . .rant over. . .back to the main point of this post.

I needed a great team member who could catch the vision and sell. Whose integrity I would never question. I knew who to call. I called Rick.

As a leader do you have those people in your life? The ones that you know you’ll call when the right need presents itself? If not, get looking! Your success depends upon finding the right people.

I told you earlier that I immediately thought of 2 people. I’ve told you about Rick. The other person deserves a post all of her own so I’ll save that for another time. I haven’t figured out a way to get her on board yet but I can assure you, the moment I do I’ll be calling. It’s all about assembling the right team.