It’s all about the bottom line

I’ve been driving my car now for a hundred and twenty-five thousand miles. I’m going to ride it till it dies and may rebuild the engine just to keep going. But I thought about what kind of vehicle would be a good idea to go with next. One of the vehicles that I considered is a commercial van. Hear me out. When you think of commercial van, at least if you lived through the 90s, there’s an impression that it’s that kind of vehicle creepers drive. Yet those vans are used for business. Those vans are used for work. They are in a commercial class for a reason — because they’re intended for commercial purposes.

The companies creating commercial vehicles have specific ways that they trying to convince somebody to make a purchase. To whom are they selling? Typically these are fleet vehicles. Typically these are vehicles that are being used for commercial purposes. This is different from when you go into a standard car dealership. One of the things that they always start off with is: “hey let me get that driver’s license of yours scanned. Let me get you in the system and then let’s do a test drive.” One of the reasons for that is for you to sit in that vehicle for an initial impression. You sit down. Oh, this is nice. This is very nice. It’s comfort. It’s the luxury. That initial quality is meant to convince you that you need this. A consumer vehicle, a consumer-grade vehicle, is marketed according. It’s marketed and it’s built for that initial sitdown — that initial moment where you get in the car.

Additionally, it is marketed to be a personal statement. If you buy this vehicle, this must be the kind of person you are. You must have this lifestyle. You’re adventurous, right? Get a 4x4. You go to the beach, right? Get a soft-top Jeep

But when it comes to a commercial vehicle, what’s going to convince somebody running a business to purchase a fleet of those vehicles? What question are they thinking about most of all when they’re crunching the numbers to see what to purchase? It’s their bottom line. That’s the question that they ask. The manufacturers of these commercial vehicles, these brands, these companies, they recognize this — and so they not only market, but they also build these vehicles in order to be more competitive in the category of “what’s my bottom line.”

That’s what has me interested in a commercial vehicle. It’s because their reputation is based on the dependability of that vehicle and ultimately how it affects the bottom line. That’s what you’re asking when you’re in a management position in a company or you’re the owner of a company or you’re working with the finances of a company. What’s the bottom line? I’m trying to shape my thinking around that instead of what kind of feeling do I want to have or what kind of person do I want the world to know that I am. Instead of that, I’m thinking about what’s going to affect my bottom line. Commercial vehicles do that very thing.

The bottom line in getting hired

This reminds me of a young man who I mentor. He’s in high school and we were talking about getting an internship as opposed to continuing to work a job as a server. So, I had a mock interview with him. I said we’re going to get into the mindset of the person who’s hiring you.

“I’m going to run some questions by you. Let’s start with this. This will be the central thing that you need to answer. Here’s the question of the manager, the owner, or the person who is interviewing you to see if they want to bring you on as an intern. Here it goes: ‘Young man, why should I hire you?’”

I asked that question and he responded by describing his dependability, his work ethic, how he is eager to learn. He expanded on that and gave a pretty concise response. So I replied, “nope.” Wrong answer. He’s wondering why; what was wrong with his answer? The reason why his answer was wrong was that he was answering the wrong question.

He thought that he was answering the question that was literally asked, “why should I hire you?” He’s trying to answer this question. But though this person asked that question, there’s a question behind the question, the question that you actually need to answer:

“How are you going to make me money? How are you, as an intern, going to affect my bottom line? Because it’s going to take six months before you’ve been trained enough to be able to do anything. That’s going to cost me time and money. Why should I invest that in you? What’s it going to do for me? What’s it going to do for my bottom line?” That was the underlying question that he needed to answer.

I bring this up not to go into interview tactics or tips, only to discuss getting into the mindset when interacting with an employer, salespersons, brands, or companies that are looking to sell you something: think like a manager. What’s their bottom line?

The bottom line in getting accepted

I had a similar conversation with a family member, talking about what it takes to convince a university to admit you. What convinces a university to say we want this person there? You need to pay them, and there are two ways. You pay them with money or you pay them in reputation. One or the other, or a combination of the two. Because if they get one, it will be used for the sake of the other.

This goes back to the bottom line: how are you going to earn us money? Plenty of education systems may be not-for-profit, but that doesn’t mean that there is no money being passed around. Not-for-profit doesn’t mean that people work for free.

Reshape your thinking

This has reshaped how I think about employment. This has reshaped how I think about the conversation with my current employer and potential future employers instead of thinking in terms of my desire to work, my excitement for the company or for the brand, or my eagerness and enthusiasm. Instead, I’m reshaping how I think about conversations with a hiring manager or a boss or a stakeholder. I reshape it to being about how I affect their bottom line. That’s what the owner is concerned with. That’s what the managers are concerned with. The higher up in management you get, the more you find people concerned about the bottom line. If you can have that concern, if you can show consideration for that wherever you are in that chain of management, wherever you are in a company, wherever you are in an institution, you’re already ahead. You’re already thinking like a leader.

You begin to behave in a way that corresponds with these higher-ups in the company or an organization. This applies to asking for a raise. What you need to do in order to justify a pay raise comes down to what you do for the bottom line, because if you’re not earning the company more value now compared to a year ago, why would they have any inclination to negotiate a raise?

Take a moment to step back or step outside yourself and step into the shoes of the person who’s hiring you, the person who’s trying to sell to you, the person who is considering accepting your application, or offering you acceptance into anything. Look at it from the perspective of their bottom line. What does being accepted or hired or promoted do for that person? How does it contribute to their bottom line, their reputation, or what they are looking to accomplish? Think that way, and then watch what you’ll accomplish.