Most business owners are looking for employees who don’t exist.
The mythical “unicorn” who can sell like Jordan Belfort AND run operations like a Navy Seal.
Here’s the truth: People are either good at sales or operations.
Never both.
I learned this the hard way.
The Sales-Heavy Mistake:
Hired a bunch of salespeople to run my auto repair shops.
Revenue went up but everything else fell apart.
Why? Because they could sell work but couldn’t manage the backend.
Parts orders got missed. Customers weren’t updated. Tickets stayed open.
Operations chaos while we chased more sales.
The Operations-Heavy Mistake:
Swung the other direction. Hired operations-focused managers.
They kept everything running smoothly but revenue tanked.
Great at ordering parts, managing schedules, and closing tickets.
Perfect backend operations with no money coming in.
Not good.
The Winning Strategy:
Stop looking for unicorns. Start building pairs.
Find someone great at sales. Pair them with someone great at operations.
In some of my shops, the store manager leads sales, and the assistant is ops.
It’s reverse at other locations.
The titles don’t matter.
What matters is having clear responsibilities to ensure everything gets done.
The Result:
Revenue grows while quality stays high.
Each person plays to their strengths instead of struggling with their weaknesses.
The business runs smoother because people operate in their element.
Cheers!
Brian
