Whose Fault is it When A New Hire Doesn’t Work Out? Crafting a Winning PR Strategy - Tactician #0066

"If a new hire doesn’t work out, some say it’s the manager’s fault. Others blame the team. I think it was the door. It said ‘Pull’ but it should’ve said ‘Push’. That’s a tough first day obstacle."

27/02/2024

Whose Fault is it When A New Hire Doesn’t Work Out?

Jason M. Lemkin, SaaStr Founder, highlights the importance of building a thorough hiring processes and reminds leaders that the responsibility for a new hire not working out ultimately falls on them in “Remember, When A New Hire Doesn’t Work Out — It’s Always Your Fault”

• Core Thesis:

  • "If a new hire doesn’t work out, it’s always 100% your fault.”

• Common Oversights in Hiring:

  • "Did you really do reference checks? Did you do good ones? Were you really sure they could do the job? Or did you more love their LinkedIn and experience? Did the hire really meet the bar? Or did you sort of get tired and settle, even just a bit?"

• The Importance of Rigorous Evaluation:

  • "Did you test the hire for real before they started? Did you make them do a real 60-day plan? Did you make the SDR, AE or CSM do a real demo? Did you really make them sell you this pen? Did you truly believe they’d crush it?"

• Actionable Advice for Founders:

  • "So if you’re frustrated when a new hire doesn’t work out, take a pause. Realize it’s on you. And upgrade your hiring processes. That’s what’s actionable. Not being frustrated."

Crafting a Winning PR Strategy

Kevan Lee, Co-Founder at Bonfire, shares insights and strategies for running an effective PR and communications program, drawing from his experience in marketing and co-founding a brand storytelling business in “509. PR & Comms Playbook”

• Understanding the Principles of Effective PR & Comms:

  • "PR will not be successful if you are purely self-promotional. You should not undertake a PR strategy if you simply want to see your company name in the news. You should do PR because you have a meaningful, relevant story to tell and believe that people will benefit the more this story gets told."

  • "Align your PR strategy to brand narratives... Your narratives should be timely, compelling stories that speak to some tangible benefit for your customers or some notable tension in the market."

  • "The more connected you are to the zeitgeist, the better... Your best odds of getting a story picked up is if you are addressing something that people are thinking about and talking about right now."

• Diversifying PR Tactics with a Mix of Strategies:

  • "Here are my three favorite things to add to a PR mix:

    • Bylines... You can get an executive byline in a place like a Forbes Tech Council or Ad Age contributor fairly easily. This then ensures that you can talk about a topic that’s relevant to you in a publication with a lot of clout (and backlink power!).

    • Syndication... Take existing content that has worked really well for you — perhaps industry-relevant blog posts or how-we-work content — and pitch it to be reposted on content websites like Huffington Post or others.

    • HARO (Help A Reporter Out)... On this website, journalists will post topics and questions, looking for subject matter experts who can respond. It’s the most wonderful two-sided marketplace for anyone who wants to easily get going with PR."

• Leveraging Data for Media Engagement:

  • "The media looooves data. It’s what they use to validate stories and prove their points. And the good news is that businesses are full of data! You can share proprietary data from how your users are using your product (anonymized, of course).

  • Like, if you were a photo editing app, you could pull data on how many AI-edited images are being made now versus six months ago. Or, you can come up with original research by running a poll or survey among your core persona.

  • We did this at Buffer with a State of Social Media report. To make it even better, we did it every year, and we partnered with other companies to co-market and boost the amplification of each report."

• Identifying Noteworthy Milestones for PR:

  • "Identify milestones that might be especially noteworthy and that people would care about. Oftentimes this happens around a fundraising announcement or a certain milestone of revenue or users.

  • But don’t just stop at the number. This number should tell a broader story about, maybe, the momentum of your product category overall or the evolving market dynamics that are driving more people to use your particular product or service.

  • Your milestone is obviously about you, but remember that people care more about what’s in it for them, not you."

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