We recently connected with Eliot Vancil and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Eliot, thanks for joining us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for over 25 years. I’ve started, run, and now sold over 7 businesses. It’s in my blood, and there’s no going back! I’ve made a lot of mistakes over these years… I’m thankful for each mistake, as it was an opportunity to learn. I’ve learned that business is business, and the numbers are the numbers. All business owners face similar challenges, and most of them revolve around people. Hiring and building effective teams will either make or break your organization. It’s the most important thing we do.

I didn’t understand the importance in the early days. As a result, I was responsible for some truly miserable work environments. I didn’t even enjoy working there. Like most bootstrap startups, it was just me and a buddy in the beginning. I literally did everything in those days. I was the salesman, the bookkeeper, the engineer, and the janitor. I hired my first employee out of desperation in month 6. It was my 18-year-old sister-in-law. Sweet as can be, but certainly not qualified. She was all I could afford. That next year, I hired several engineers. The next year it was a salesman, and then more engineers until we eventually had over 70 employees. We never hired based on the math or some big master plan. We hired on gut feelings, and out of desperation. Most of the time, he hired the first person through the door. Being extremely cautious, and overly conservative, I found myself looking for cheap people also. I always made the decision on who to hire myself without input. We turned people over at an alarming rate, it was a revolving door. I’m surprised we even survived those chaotic times.

I was a chronic micromanager. I had my fingers in everything, and everyone’s business. I was still the main salesman, accounting resource, engineering escalation, and on and on. The crazy thing was that despite all this insanity, we were making pretty good money. It didn’t matter though; it was a horrible place to work. To no surprise of anyone around me, I was ready to give up at year 5. We lost one of our main lead sources for new clients and suffered a mass exodus of employees. I cracked under the pressure and just went on hiatus for two years, leaving a couple of loyal dedicated people in charge. I literally only checked in a couple of times a week by phone. Luckily, we had sold a lot of residual commission-based products over those years, or it would’ve all ended. That’s what I refer to as the ugliest chapter of my career.

Chapter 2, Would the Leader Please Show Himself. I finally decided it was time to get back to work and start rebuilding at square 1. At this time, we still had about 15 employees. The two dedicated people that had kept the wheels on were encouraging me to join an industry peer group. Luckily, I listened to them. The group focused on accountability. Collectively, these 13 business owners would serve as my board of directors in business, and life. The focus areas of the group revolved around Legacy, Life, Leadership, and Business. It didn’t take this group long to figure me out. I clearly remember the comment that changed everything. “Individually, you are an effective, hardworking, overachiever type. As good as you are, you are STUCK because you don’t develop leaders around you. Until you learn, you’ll never get any further”. Well, that hit me squarely in the jaw. My deficiencies as a leader had been exposed. It was finally clear, and I knew where I had to grow and evolve. Success for me is really about the growth of those around me. It’s about building a culture of accountability. It wasn’t overnight, but 15 years of hard work later, I can honestly say that we play on a completely different level now. My businesses have great leadership, great people that care about each other, and wonderful culture. It’s never been about the money for me but when you play the game well, financial success just happens.

So, what did we learn that changed everything? It’s hard to point at any one thing but I’ll try to lay out some basic principles and sources that I attribute to our growth. The first was DiSC profiling. DiSC is a behavior assessment tool that aims to help you understand your leadership style and to help improve workplace teamwork. The basic premise is that we are all made up of four dominant personality types. (D)ominance (I)nfluence (S)teadiness and (C)onscientiousness. It takes all types to run a successful organization. There are strengths, and weaknesses associated with each personality type. I had surrounded myself with people just like me. We all had the same strengths with the same weakness. Your natural tendency is to surround yourself with similar personalities. The tool also helps you understand how people need to be communicated with. D’s need direct and to the point, where this communication style would probably offend the S style.

Next, my peer group introduced me to EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). It’s a simple set of concepts, and practical tools used to clarify, simplify, and achieve your vision. EOS begins with this concept of Vision. Where are you going, why are you going there, and how are you going to get there? What are your Core Values? Next is to focus on people, your greatest asset. You must get the right people on the bus. You use your Core Values to help you identify the right people. Spend a lot of time making sure that the prospective hire shares your Core Values. Once you’re sure they share these Values, ask yourself if they Get It, Want It, and have the Capacity to do the job? We’ve determined they are a good value and culture fit, now we must find the right seat for them to succeed. We use DiSC to ensure that their strengths align with the seat we are asking them to occupy. Most importantly, to create leaders and nurture a culture of accountability, no micromanagement! Stay out of their seat and hold them accountable. Celebrate their success and contribution to the organization.

Culture is crucial to developing a healthy team. Team and culture are at the top of the list for me. You can’t work for me if you’re a not a team builder. EOS introduces the concept of strengthening the team by solving issues through IDS (Identify Discuss Solve). So many issues are never resolved because we’re working on a symptom instead of identifying the real issue. Once identified, you discuss being open, honest, and professionally awkward when necessary. Resolution should result in To-do’s for someone that should be completed before you meet again the next week. A culture of accountability will ensure that tasks are completed and this results in traction.

I could go on forever, but these techniques and principles will get your organization in the right direction for success. To recap, know your core values and hire around them. Take your time qualifying candidates and seek the opinions of your team. If you make a bad hire, be quick to cut the cancer from the company. Pay your people for performance. When the company is winning, make sure everyone wins. Review your people and bonus them quarterly. Have same page meetings monthly to make sure they have every opportunity to correct course. Annual reviews are too long and often not effective. Develop leaders at all costs! The mark of your success is ultimately the growth and success of those around you! Now that’s a legacy!

Eliot, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve operated many businesses focusing on team and culture. A happy team tends to lead to happy customers. Fuel Logic works with fleet operators and helps solve the logistical challenges faced in procuring fuel. We evaluate the unique needs of the client and design custom fueling solutions that meet these needs, We work to educate the client on the intangible costs associated with fueling at the gas station. Quantifying these costs is crucial to understanding what you’re really spending. We solve theft, labor, and many other intangible expenses. Fuel Logic is one of the only national providers with diesel, DEF, and gasoline solutions.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses

Over the years I’ve purchased and sold several companies. When I was new in business, I thought the only way to grow was through selling my way to success. I never thought buying a company would be an option for me. I just thought it would be too expensive, and risky. The truth is, there’s likely less risk. Building out a sales team is expensive and results are not guaranteed. It also takes a long time to see any real return. Many times, you’ll find that you go through several sales reps just trying to find a good one. That’s an expensive proposition when you really study the cost.

Let’s look a the acquisition opportunity. There are many reasons people sell their businesses. In my situation, I found owners that started a business by chance. They were computer engineers that took on a client and then another, and another. Before they knew it, they were in business. They just didn’t know how to operatie a good business. They were stressed and just wanted to be engineers. Depending on the situation, many times you can roll businesses like this directly into your organization with little if any cash. They call it creative financing.

You get the immediate injection of revenue and hopefully some good talent to support this revenue. You get to cut all expenses that are duplicated. In many cases, they are under charging and there may be an opportunity to raise rates. If you play your cards right, you can finance the purchase with the profits derived from the company you purchased. This is true even if you are leveraging with a bank.

You can grow as an organization much faster using M&A technique.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I have read many books on business and team building.

The first one I recommend is Great by Choice by Jim Collins. There are several profound concepts that have guided me to success over the years in several organizations. These include Fanatical Discipline, Empirical Evidence, and Productive Paranoia. All of that leads to Level 5 Ambition. Every employee in my organization has to read this book.

The second is Get a Grip by Gino Wickman. Gino introduces EOS or the Entrepreneurial Operating System. He discusses the principles and tools that every entrepreneur needs in order to run a successful business. It’s literally Business for Dummies. It’s the Play by Play book of instructions. I run this system in every organization that I operate.

The best leadership book is Good to Great by Jim Collins. It’s all about level 5 leadership.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fuellogic.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fuellogic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fuellogic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-logic-llc