Ильдар Хусаинов – The power of freedom (страница 10)

Or think about investing in a strong brand. What would change if we created a powerful brand but kept our technological processes the same? It’s unlikely that this would yield significant results. This is one of the simplest ways to understand the real effectiveness of various investments. Of course, there are more complex methods that involve mathematical and financial calculations

Human Resources. Even when a business is just starting to grow, it’s important to invest resources where they will yield the greatest results. For instance, when real estate agents join us, we ask them what they’re aimed at. Often, they say they want to close deals and earn money, but it quickly becomes clear that they don’t always realize that it’s much more important to develop the qualities that will lead to those deals. I point out that while the knowledge provided by the company is important, what matters even more is quickly building a client base and finding properties.

Intellectual resources, such as licenses, technologies, and the collective knowledge of employees, fall into a separate category. Although they may seem inexpensive, monetizing these resources requires time and effort. It’s a complex process, but with the right approach, it can yield significant benefits. Intellectual resources often turn out to be more valuable than they appear at first and play a crucial role in the long-term success of a company.

Technological resources include various interaction technologies. They’re not only physical resources but also IT processes, software, and an understanding of all business processes. Technology plays a key role in ensuring the efficiency of a company’s operations.

We might develop powerful technological frameworks that we establish. Eventually, every company contemplates how to effectively utilize its resources.

Different companies manage their resources in different ways. For example, in the real estate business, important resources include the number of agents, the size of the client base, and brand recognition. We assess the efficiency of resource use and accumulation, which is like debits and credits at any time. In other industries, such as hospitality, resources are invested in material assets, service quality, and brand reputation. In service sectors, there’s a greater emphasis on the human factor, while in banking, financial resources take precedence. However, there is always some method for managing these resources effectively.

Let's break down the essence of this concept. An investment mindset is closely tied to understanding value, which is fundamental for a lasting business. When an entrepreneur makes decisions that are beneficial, their business becomes profitable. However, it's crucial to understand who benefits from these decisions. This is where the challenge lies.

A business can only exist and thrive when it provides value not just to investors, but also to employees, customers, and society as a whole. Balancing the interests of all these stakeholders is often quite challenging. Creating systems that are simultaneously beneficial for all four market participants requires significant effort.

Let me give you a simple example. We spent a long time discussing the cost of investing in the training of a single employee. Training is often undervalued in Russia because the focus tends to shift towards tangible assets. For instance, if an employee needs a computer costing 250,000 rubles, no one would object; everyone sees that as reasonable.

But what about employee training? Essentially, it’s about focusing on the customer. Few people realize this because training is usually categorized under employee budgets, when in fact, it should be considered a customer budget. Once we understood this, we increased our investments in our staff. Our strategies became long-term. Training one employee can cost up to 500,000 rubles, but the return on such investments is enormous. This kind of investment yields significant returns: the better trained an employee is, the higher the quality of the products or services they provide. Therefore, such investments are more than justified and highly profitable.

Two years after implementing this strategy, we noticed that our company's average customer satisfaction rating increased from 4.3 to 4.8. Between 2018 and 2021, we actively invested in development, which yielded tangible results: conversion rates improved, performance metrics enhanced, and profitability increased. We launched a comprehensive development program for employees and realtors, investing around 1.5% of our total revenue into their training. These are substantial sums, but the results we achieved in 2021–2022 were impressive.

To achieve these results, the company had to sacrifice short-term profits for two years. Those who don’t recognize the importance of this balance often cut back on development. However, a successful business relies on maintaining a sense of balance. We shifted our focus from short-term gains to long-term employee development, which led to positive outcomes: employee turnover decreased, job satisfaction improved, and customer loyalty increased.

This invisible balance is crucial for business success and plays a key role in achieving positive outcomes for the company. In the early stages of a business career, there’s always a temptation to pursue immediate gains, but that can be a trap. Trust me, when profit comes instantly, it often resembles cheese in a mousetrap. No matter how tempting it seems, it's not worth taking. Your decisions carry significant weight. If a leader makes a strategic decision that yields immediate profit, it could turn out to be a trap for the entire company – potentially even for all thirty thousand partners and employees who share the same vision.

This is why many businesses walk a fine line and ultimately fail. Each year in Russia, up to 450,000 companies close their doors. These figures highlight not only the high level of dynamism in the business environment but also the serious challenges entrepreneurs face. Observing these numbers makes it clear that the market demands constant adaptation and innovation for a company to survive and thrive.

Some leaders focus all their efforts on employee well-being; others prioritize meeting customer needs until funds run out; some extract every possible profit for themselves while neglecting others; and some dedicate everything to the benefit of society, leaving nothing for themselves.

When it comes to the work of "Etagi," we didn’t manage to find that balance right away. In the early stages of my career, I didn’t always pay enough attention to clients. This is a topic worth discussing openly. I didn’t fully realize how important it was. My work felt like a daily routine, and I didn’t think about the bigger picture.

If I could go back to the year 2000, I would have advised myself to start looking for and analyzing patterns back then. Running business is like doing an equation in mathematics. Learning to see and take into account the multiple aspects is like solving a system of equations with several unknowns. It’s challenging but possible, and the right tools help find that balance. Now I have several such tools that allow me to effectively manage all aspects of the business while satisfying stakeholder needs.

The first tool is understanding global flows: customer, financial, human, and others. Over the last 20–25 years, I've realized that the biggest mistake is trying to analyze something in isolation without understanding the overall direction.

For example, when someone is swimming in a river, they don’t think about which way it’s flowing. They only start to realize this when they're swept away by the current or overwhelmed by waves. Not until a situation directly affects them, can they grasp the big picture. Hiring weak employees is like rearranging blocks in a poorly assembled Rubik's cube. No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to solve it; there simply won’t be a chance. Solving such problems can be costly because weak employees won’t achieve the desired results, and no amount of money can fix that.

In the early days of my career, I didn’t understand this and tried to address issues on a case-by-case basis. Now I realize that solutions need to be sought at a different level. I used to enjoy watching the show "Your own game" (Russian version of Jeopardy game). You never know what will happen next. The key isn’t just being the smartest; it’s knowing when you can’t solve a problem and looking for answers at a different level. I always say, “Let’s look higher.” I even have a catchphrase: “Let’s look upstream and downstream.”

At one of our branches, I requested a list of 50 newly hired employees. I personally interviewed each one and discovered that 35 of them were not suitable for their positions. I told the HR specialists, “Guys, this isn’t working; we need to change everything.” I appointed a supervisor to oversee their work. As a result, candidates began to be selected more carefully; this now took more time and significant effort. Five months later, many things had changed in the branch. By simply hiring higher-quality employees, we improved the process chain. Competition increased, conversion rates rose, and we were able to reduce development costs.