E26 - Team Building with Dannon

In this episode of the Mobile Bev. Pros podcast Dawn is chatting with Dannon from Tap The Coast. Dannon has been a long-term member of MB.P and has scaled her mobile business to the place where she needed far more hands on deck than just her own. So we brought Dannon in to tell us all about hiring, training and retaining a rockstar staff that executes every event to the highest standard without needing Dannon to be onsite with them. Dannon talks all about standards, expectations, and investing in your team. If you've ever wondered how to build a team so you can work ON your business and not just IN your business, this episode is for you!

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Transcript

Team Building with Dannon from Tap The Coast

Dawn: Hey guys. And welcome. Oh my goodness. I am so excited about today's episode. For those of you who don't know. I am Dawn, the COO and chief Alchemist for mobile Bev pros. And today I am interviewing Danon from tap the coast based out of Pensacola, Florida, servicing the entire Florida panhandle as well as south Alabama.

We are gonna be talking about one of my favorite topics today, team building. Specifically, we are gonna be diving into everything from hiring and training, all the way through to retaining the right people. So, Dannon, thank you so much for hanging out with me today and I'm so excited to talk with you.

Dannon: Thank you for having me. I'm excited too.

Dawn: Dannon, when we met on our alignment call for this podcast, I was really inspired by the way that you lead. And I guess to start it off, I really wanted to dive into the initial stages, so we're hiring right. Hiring of course comes before training and then retaining and so I think we can just start there. Can you tell me a little bit about your hiring process and what's important to you? 

Dannon: Yeah, we have a couple of different steps. The question is always; where do you find talent? That's where you have to start so I will just say word of mouth has always been the best option for me in finding the right people. I have a real conversation with people who are saying, Hey, my friend, so and so, or, I know somebody who I think would be great and you have to have real conversations and set expectations from the get-go.

I think a lot of people think this is a dream job where you just show up and you make lots of money and it's super fun. Well, there's a lot of work and it's serious as well so you have to set those expectations. Once we get to that process where somebody reaches out or applies for a position with us I do a quick phone interview with them, set something up so then we can meet in person and if things go well with that, then I actually have a follow-up and I bring my team in and it's like a panel, a team meeting because I want to see how they interact with each other. Teamwork is a huge part of what we do. If you're going to be spending eight hours or ten hours a day on a shift with one other person I wanna make sure that they're gonna work well together.

I think part of finding the right people to add to our team is getting that input and buy-in from our seasoned employees.

It's super important and I really take their feedback seriously. Once we go through that process, get their feedback and input on the interviews, then I'll give 'em a callback, and a lot of times, if the opportunity is there, we will do an on-the-job interview. Let them come and see what an event is and give that time for them to decide, okay, this is more than I expected, not what I wanna do or yes, I absolutely love it. And I'm in, I'm committed and I want to be part of this team or we decide maybe they're not the right fit. Maybe they're showing up late to their on-the-job interview or they're just not a good fit cuz we're lifting heavy things, whatever the case may be. The on-the-job interview is a good opportunity to really feel things out and from there we go to their probation period.

Dawn: so you have a probation period. I love that so much. Can you tell me more about that? 

Dannon: I say probation period, it's really a 'get to know you' time. You've passed that on the job training interview, you're still in the honeymoon phase, but I really wanna see how serious you are about this and so the next 30 days for us is a probationary period where we still get to decide whether this is a good fit for everyone.

Dawn: Yeah, I really love that. Earlier you mentioned your application process. Is that something that they only have access to it through word of mouth? Or is it something that you have posted on your site? If I wanted to apply to work for you, how would I do that?

Dannon: I actually do have a hidden page on our website. That is a link for people to fill out applications. I've done Facebook job posts, and I've done all the online job postings, but as I said, word of mouth really, has been a great source of talent for us it's just going through that vetting process first. 

Dawn: That's awesome. So when you're hiring, I really love that you are giving a voice to your team because I think a lot of times people hire just to fill, they want warm bodies, I guess, is the term. 

My background's in retail and I've seen that do really terrible things where you have an awesome team and you bring somebody in who is not a good fit maybe they're a good fit for the role, but they're not a great fit for the team as well. Then it actually just ends up tearing that team apart and then, of course, that blows your retention out of the water so I love that you give a voice to your team in the decision-making process. 

Dannon: Yes. Hard skills and soft skills, right? Both are important to be able to do the job, you really have to have those people skills to work as a team. We'll talk more about this in a little bit.

I don't necessarily hire for experience. If I'm not there on-site at a job, I want to know that this team has the ability to hook up the kegs and pour the drinks and do all of the things, but personalities and the team mentality are not always something that can be taught.

Dawn: Tell me about when you're hiring, what are you looking for? What are some key giveaways that this person is just not gonna be right for the team, or they're not gonna be right for the job? And then what are some key giveaways that we really love this person, and we want more of them?

Dannon: I think you just have to sometimes go with your gut. Honestly, you have that initial feeling about a person when you meet them face to face. When you hear them talk and you can see whether things are genuine. most importantly I do ask about their past experience and if they have worked in the hospitality industry, what they think this job will require of them and how it may be different than what their experience has already been. What they loved about it, what they hated about it. Serving a beer is not something that is super difficult to do, right?

I'm not gonna say there's not a skill to it, but at the same time, you don't necessarily have to have ten years of experience working in high-end resorts to be able to come and do an event for me. I don't necessarily hire people for their experience in the food and beverage industry, and some people out there may be shaking their heads and slapping their forehead and she's crazy, this is completely wrong or different than what they do. 

This is just what has worked for my business. I don't necessarily hire for experience. I hire looking for the right personality and people who have work ethics, which is hard to come by these days. People who actually wanna show up and work are going to be committed to working as a team and have the ability to put in the time for an all-day event.

Dawn: There were always two questions that I really loved when I was hiring in retail. One was to tell me about your prior experience with your team or with a previous boss. Because you can tell really quickly someone's disposition by how they respond to that. So if they immediately go into slamming a previous team or slamming previous leadership then that person's probably not gonna be the most positive fit for the role. Whereas if they go in and they're like, you know what? I really loved how so and so led me to do X, Y, and Z and they start talking about positive experiences that they've had, I really love that. 

Not to say that they can't give me some negative feedback on previous roles as well. If they had a hard time and they left a job, but people tell us with their words exactly what's going on and so it's important I think to listen to that.

The other question that I really loved was what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? Because right there, in that question, I have seen people, first of all, display a level of vulnerability and transparency that I'm looking for that is really gonna be healthy for having them on my team.

I've also had people say they don't have any weaknesses. And that is a red flag. So I love those two questions because I think they give you a little bit of a deeper insight into the personality and the demeanor of the person that you're bringing on without them really knowing.

Because they're like, oh, she just wants to know what my strengths and weaknesses are while I'm really great at X, Y, and Z. And I'm having a really hard time thinking of what my weaknesses are. 

And in that I've seen on my end, some people who have been brought onto the team who think that they're better than the others, they're just in it for promotion. They're willing to step on their toes to get where they need to go. That's not something that's gonna be conducive to the team environment and so those two questions I think, are pivotal in the hiring process. 

Dannon: Absolutely. Yep. 

Dawn: Moving into the training section of this, I think training is so important. And like you said, hard skills versus soft skills. We're really hiring someone who has a positive outlook, they wanna do the job, they wanna be a part of your team. And so once you've found the right fit, what happens with training? 

Dannon: Training is a little difficult without making someone feel overwhelmed, because how do you take someone who has no event experience or hasn't worked in the food and beverage industry before but trained them in a way that they feel comfortable? And you can really test their abilities without really just throwing them into the fire. 

 I think the training for us is not so much about the event and how to set up the bar and execute. The training is more behind the scenes of this is our process, this is what it takes to build up to an actual event day. Showing them all the work that is done behind the scenes and more of like the culture that we have in building those relationships with our clients even before we show up. So for me, the training is, more about who Tap The Coast is, and what we have done. I want them to know and be able to speak about the company if a guest were to come up to the bar at an event and say, oh well, I have an event, my, daughter's getting married next year, and how much is it? How much do you guys charge?

I want them to have those like key messages and I want it to be consistent. For them to have that kind of training, not necessarily, here's how you hook up a keg line, this is the process for cleaning up at the end of the night kind of thing.

Those things, sometimes just have to be taught under pressure, which is always a good test to see how they perform. And it's also a requirement for us as their leader, to have proper preparation so that they're not overwhelmed. And so the training for us is more about the company and the culture.

Dawn: Absolutely. I love that you focus on culture cuz that's gonna bleed us right into retention. But before we get there, I want to really focus on your training. Do you have an SOP manual, do you have any training materials that are like, this is the process? I really wanna know about your back-end stuff. Does it look like SOP manuals or does it look like we just throw 'em in and then we teach 'em about culture? 

Dannon: I did draft an SOP or an employee handbook and spent some time with an HR professional to kind of go through some things and she was incredibly helpful.

Things that I never would've even thought about putting in there about harassment policies and all of those things, all of the HR stuff, which is just not my background. It certainly needs to be updated, I think it's one of those things that every now and then you need to go back and take a look and go, okay, well, let's cross through this, and let's change that now.

So I do have one, but it's not something that I admittedly utilized to the level that maybe I should. I like spending that one-on-one time with employees and getting to know them during that training time. I'm sure somebody out there, probably on the MBP membership site, there probably is some sort of resource that would be a good supplement to someone who's looking to start a handbook or an SOP for what that may look like. 

Dawn: You can breed consistency in your team by spending that one-to-one time and I think that's even more important than having them read mindlessly through a manual because. I think there are studies done that people only retain like 20% of what they read anyway.

Whereas I think having a one-on-one experience with your leader and having hands-on training experience, right? You didn't just throw 'em to the wolves, you're actually there and you care. I think that's so important in team building, showing people that you care about their success because that gives them a reason to follow you to the ends of the earth.

Dannon: This past season in spring, I had two employees who we knew at the end of the season were moving on and for great reasons, that felt good as their leader to know that they were leaving to go onto better opportunities. For everyone that works for me it's a part-time job and so whether they're in school, whether they have another full-time position, or whatever the case may be, to know that they were moving on to great opportunities felt good. However, what I was so proud of is the fact that they finished the season with me, they could have put in a notice and said, hey I'm out, I've got other things that I need to handle and I'm moving on. But they were so bought into the tap team culture that they didn't want to let, not just me, but they didn't wanna let each other down in leaving the events unmanned, they knew those were events that they were scheduled for.

The fact that they didn't let their team members down, our clients down, and me, it was incredible to finish out that year and be so, so proud to know that they felt like it was important enough to them to still finish out the season. Truly incredible, a great feeling. 

Dawn: that's beautiful and I think that takes us right into retention because you sent me a meme it says, "build a team so strong you don't know who the boss is". I was really inspired when we spoke on our alignment call by how important it was to you to pass on your company culture so that people were so bought in that they did it because they loved it. They showed up for you and they showed up for each other because it was really a team environment.

And that's way different than hiring from a temp service to fill a need and then never seeing that person again.

This is just an entirely different level of hiring and training. Can you tell me a little bit more about why retention is so important then we'll talk more about the methods you use to retain your staff?

Dannon: Retention is important from an operation standpoint because it's time-consuming to invest in seeking out applications, the investment of time in the interview process, the training, it's a huge investment. So you wanna make sure that you are spending the necessary amount of time to find the right person. The retention part of it comes through that process.

You're definitely going to reduce your turnover by finding the right people that you feel are going to invest in your company and believe in what you're doing. Not just viewing it as parties and, whatnot, the real work of what you do. I tell people all the time, what we do is serve beer and cocktails and what have you, but really what it's about is the people.

And that's from the client's perspective, but also from my staff's perspective. I want them to know that I have their back if somebody makes a complaint or whatever, I'm going to them to get their side of the story and I'm going to back my team a hundred percent.

Dawn: I really love everything that you've mentioned about why it's important to retain staff and the detriment that it creates to the business and to you as the leader, for having to retrain constantly versus retaining staff.

When we spoke on our alignment call, you mentioned how important it is to breed trust in the relationship with your teammates, and you told me this wonderful story about how you had clients who would request your teammates to be on staff as opposed to requesting you. One thing that we hear a lot from people who are trying to branch out and they're trying to hire staff, whether it be a general manager or it is a bartender, an assistant, whatever that looks like, one thing we hear a lot is if I'm not there to do it, then it won't be perfect. How can I pass on what I'm doing to other people? And so I was really inspired by hearing you say that you were actually getting requests for your teammates to be there before you were getting requests for you to be on site.

Dannon: True story. That's such a great compliment to receive as the leader of this business. To know that my clients love and connect with my team. Whether that's through social media or through other events that they may have met them at, or just in the planning process. I have a teammate, whose title is our client experience specialist and she works on a lot of that behind-the-scenes planning to make sure all those details are in line and to reassure our clients that every detail is important, that we're gonna make sure we have it right for them. They'll be like, hey, is Alexa gonna be my bartender or is Tanner gonna be at my wedding?

And at first, I was like, well, what about me? And I thought, God they don't even need me. They have connected with my staff and they have trust in these people to show up and do a great job I just thought that was incredibly powerful that our team is doing such a great job. My team doesn't need me and my clients don't expect me to be there. They know that whoever's showing up is gonna do a great job. 

Dawn: Well, that's freedom, right? That's the reason we all started this job.

 I think Sarah had just mentioned that her husband told her entrepreneurs are the only people in the world who will quit a 40-hour job just to work 80 hours for themselves. The freedom comes when you can expand your team and you can start delegating those tasks.

And creating that sense of ownership for each person that they want to do a really good job and they want to participate in this beautiful like team network that I just see is functioning so deliciously and so I can absolutely see why this is huge for our listeners when they're having these moments, probably right now, where they're going, oh, I can scale and I can get to a place where I'm hiring and training in a way that enables me to take a Saturday off, even if I have several events, right? 

Dannon: Yes. there are times when you have three or four events going in one day and I physically cannot be at all of them. There are also times when I have one event on a weekend, but it would be so nice to have that time with my daughter or for me to have a chance to go out of town.

It's not a matter of, I cannot be there. It's that my team doesn't need me, they have all the logistics handled. And I now feel confident that I can go and enjoy my weekend with family or friends or whatnot and know that the job is still being done. It is still hard to turn over the reigns and let go a little bit.

I promise you, it wasn't something that I was comfortable with at first, it's taken me several seasons to kind of work to get to where I am. So if they're just starting out, know that, again, it's finding the right people, but also giving them the freedom to take over.

What I've learned is, I was setting up my own obstacles. What I mean by that is I was telling myself, oh, I'm never gonna find somebody who just wants to give me their weekend. Oh, I'm never gonna find somebody who is gonna do it the way I want it done.

Everything may not be exactly the way that I would do it, but it's done well. And you have to become a little bit comfortable with letting everybody have their own freedom to do things and know that it is going to be done well. And just because this little decoration isn't placed here or the glasses on the back bar aren't set up the way that I would necessarily do it, it still works, and it's fine. They don't need me to tell them how to set up glasses. So letting the reigns go is definitely difficult but the freedom that you gain as a business owner to either have more quality time away from work or the time that it frees you up to work on the business, not in the business. It's all positive.

Dawn: I just recorded a webinar for the members of the academy. We're not releasing it until November but about delegation and how important it is to give people ownership over what they're doing. If they feel like you're micromanaging and you're like, the glasses have to be set up exactly this way or the whole thing comes crashing down, people don't perform well that way, especially because we work in a world full of adults, right, and adults want to have ownership. They will take responsibility, they want to perform well. It's a matter of giving them a little bit of creative freedom. Giving them the ability to do what works best for them, because they may be lefthanded and you're right-handed and they need the glasses set up in a totally different way so that they can grab them faster from the opposite arm, whatever it is.

Dannon: I think it comes down to I'm going to tell you what my standard is and what my expectations are and then you handle it. What's here for you is not the same necessarily what is in my mind.

But it doesn't mean that just because we do it differently that it's wrong, I'm just going to expect it to be done. Things have to be clean, they have to be neat, they have to be aesthetically pleasing and all of those things but however works for you. 

Dawn: I love setting standards and expectations.

That's so pivotal, even in the training phase but also maintaining those as things go along, and knowing your standards and expectations makes it easier for your team to perform. You even mentioned that times they'll send you home, that you'll show up to an event and they'll be like, Dannon, we don't need you, you go home. And I love that they want that work-life balance for you. I love that you have a team that it feels so supported that they then are able to reciprocate that support and give you support when you need it. 

Dannon: And that is exactly what that meme that I sent you, that is exactly what I mean by that.

Build a team so strong that no one knows who the boss is. When they start sending you home, they're the boss. It's seamless though, and I love that.

Dawn: This has been really wonderful. Are there any last-minute tips or tricks that you have around hiring training or retaining that you want maybe somebody who's new to the industry or maybe they're not new, but they've gone a couple of seasons and they're burnt out? They can't do it all themselves. Is there anything else that you really want them to know? 

Dannon: I think what's most important is being transparent with your team. But also showing them that you are going to work as hard as you expect them to work.

There are days that I will show up to work and I'm going to sweat just as much as you. 

I promise you, I won't expect you to work any harder than I do or any longer than I do. Just showing them that you are willing to put in just as much effort and work alongside them, whatever that may be.

I think that's important for your team to see that you're not just sitting in the office and making phone calls, sending emails, and setting expectations for them to go out and do all the work. You're gonna show up too. I think that whenever you show them that they see you as a true leader and are transparent about hey guys, here's where we're at and what we need to do. Giving them the ability to give you feedback even as your boss. Hey, what am I doing right? This is a question that's on all of our event forms, after each event when they turn in their time, there's a question on the form that says, did you have all of the tools you needed to do your job well?

I wanna know if there's something that we can change in our process to make your job easier. We meet every Tuesday to go over events and those are always questions we recap what went right and what didn't go right from the previous events. So, being transparent with them gives them the ability to give you feedback.

And like I said, showing up to show them that you're gonna work just as hard as you expect them to. Those are key to success. 

Dawn: Yeah. I think it's so important to give people the opportunity to give you feedback. I think everything that you just said, there could be its own podcast and maybe one day it will be, around being a boss versus being a leader.

Because those two words for me carry very different energies. Being someone's boss is, we've all seen the memes on LinkedIn. The one who points his finger, telling them where to go versus the leader who is pulling with his team. That again gives people such a sense of belonging to the team. When they're not just being told what to do, they're being shown what to do. They're being shown that you're not afraid to get dirty and take the trash out, just like they have to get dirty and take the trash out. That's part of what you're doing. And you're so right when you're just sitting in the office, sending the emails, that creates a distance between boss and employees, and then there's no sense of ownership, there's no sense of teamwork. And those people will not follow you to the ends of the earth and do whatever you need because those people are probably starting to resent you and the air conditioner, especially since you guys are in Florida, so it's probably really hot out there. 

Real quick as we're in this like ending stage here, you had mentioned on our alignment call about investing in your team, even though they're part-time. Can you tell me more about that?

Dannon: Yes, one of the things that I truly believe in is personal and professional development and one of the ways I think you can be a great leader is by investing in your team without selfish intentions. What I mean by that is, I know, for example, my client experience specialist, Alexa, is a part-time employee. This is not a career for her. This is where she is right now, but she's willing to give her all importance to Tap the Coast. And so I want to make her the best that she can be now, but also believe in her ability to be better in the future. We've gone to leadership conferences together. I've given her opportunities to attend personal and professional development meetings and brought her into shadow along with me at entrepreneur round table meetings that we have. I give her every single opportunity and I would do the same for any of my employees that had an interest in it. I give them every opportunity to develop themselves as future leaders because I believe that they are worth it.

Even though they're here for me right now, just part-time, that's something I believe in investment that you get an ROI on that is immeasurable. 

Dawn: This gives me butterflies in my belly as somebody who has led so many teams, I cannot tell you the level of appreciation I have for you right now, voicing and I hope our listeners can feel this as well, voicing how important it is to invest in your staff and invest in your team and invest more so cuz it's not just buying them swag oh, here's a t-shirt right, investing in them and their development.

The words that are coming are like buy-in, right? For the listeners, can you imagine how invested someone on your team is to perform well for you, for the rest of the team, and for your brand, by knowing that you've invested in their success in ways that may not even impact the role that they currently have, but are gonna impact them for their entire lifetime?

So Alexa's gonna be able to walk away with leadership training that will impact her in future endeavors. And like you said, it's about being selfless and developing your team in a way that benefits them. I just see you as the epitome right now of leadership because leaders don't create followers, leaders create more leaders.

And I think that's exactly what you're doing when you're giving Alexa opportunities like this or other people on your team. 

Dannon: Yep. Absolutely. If there is an opportunity for someone to spend an hour with one of your staff members at a local, entrepreneurial conference or leadership conference, or whatever that opportunity may be, take it. Invest in them because whenever I see her posting on social media, I love my job. I, love what I do, just enjoying the experience and the exposure that she has through me to be able to attend those types of events your return on investment there is tenfold, it really is immeasurable, and it makes you so proud. 

Dawn: Ah, that's delicious.

Dannon: I love it. 

Dawn: Well, Dannon, it has been wonderful having you on today, and I'm so thankful that you took some time out of your busy schedule to hang out with us and to pass along your knowledge to new and upcoming mobile bar owners or potentially people who have been in the industry for a while and are looking for tips on hiring training and retaining. And I hope to have you back again. 

Dannon: Thanks so much for having me. This is a great conversation. It makes me feel really proud of what we have here. I hope it does help other folks who are building their team and want to find that balance and find the right people. So thanks for having me. Fun to talk about.

Dawn: Yeah. Thank you so much, Dannon, we'll talk to you soon.