How to Grow Sales Without Rushing to Hire a Sales Manager
Is It Time to Bring in a “Pinch-Hitter” to Scale Your Midsize Homebuilding Company?
Midsize production home builders often get stuck on a sales plateau at a certain point. They want to grow, but they don’t yet have the resources to hire a full-time sales manager.
Making the leap from their current sales volume to a higher level becomes a real challenge.
Worse, their sales simply aren’t consistent or predictable enough to confidently make decisions that will give them the headroom to grow.
And the real problem is, there’s danger in stagnation.
In business today you can’t stand still. You either grow or get left behind.
So how do you grow when sales is the bottleneck but you don’t have the time or expertise to manage a sales team — or the resources to bring on a full-time sales manager?
Fortunately, there’s a simple 3-part solution.
In fact, several companies I’ve worked with have made the leap very successfully.
For instance, Clarity Homes in Fort Worth, Texas found themselves stuck on a plateau.
For several years, they’d been trying to grow, but just couldn’t break out of a range well under 100 homes per year.
In 2018, they sold a mere 54, less than the year before.
But then, by making a simple shift, they sold 92 homes the following year.
That’s a 170% increase!
As of this writing, they’re well on their way to another record year in 2020, finally breaking through that 100 mark.
Let’s look at how Clarity and other savvy home builders get past the sales plateau…
And how you can too!
Escape From Captivity
Many of the production builders I work with feel held captive to the local Realtor community.
They worry that if they try to build their own sales team, their local traffic will dry up as local agents direct their prospects elsewhere.
There may be truth in that perception.
However, the key to success lies in skillfully managing the situation.
Of course, you absolutely want to roll out the red carpet for local agents.
By building relationships with key players in your community, your own sales team is strengthened.
And when you do that that everybody wins — your sales team, local agents and, most important of all, new homeowners.
So first of all, don’t abandon your relationship with the local Realtor community. You can build and maintain a strong relationship with them as you’re building your own sales team.
Don’t Jump Into Bed With a Stranger
You may feel pressed to hire a sales VP ASAP to make all your sales headaches go away.
Unfortunately, rushing a hire like that can be disastrous.
The average cost of a bad hire is up to 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
However, one report from the CEO of Link Humans put the average cost of a bad hire as high as $240,000.
And that doesn’t even take into account the opportunity cost of sales missed.
The lesson here is, be patient. Give the process the time it requires, or you may find yourself taking one step forward and two steps back.
Bring in a “Pinch-Hitter”
Where most midsize home builders miss the mark is they don’t see past their own box of conventional thinking.
They see the big players with sales directors, VPs and managers, and try to act like them.
On the surface, this seems like a good idea.
But trying to recruit an A-player without sufficient resources, or worse, settling for a B or C is just putting a band-aid on the problem.
Of course driving yourself crazy trying to wear all hats for your company — especially sales management, if that’s not in your wheelhouse — can be a real problem too.
Let’s face it, as the leader of a growing enterprise you have greater challenges to tackle.
The solution?
Clarity Homes successfully broke through to the next level by bringing in a temporary “pinch-hitter” — a sales management consulting team.
This allowed them to bridge that crucial gap from their plateau to having a highly effective sales force pulling in consistent and predictable revenues.
You’ve Got This!
When your company hits a sales plateau, it can be extremely frustrating.
As the owner, CEO or top executive, you’ve already got your hands full.
Sales management may or may not be your strong suit or the best use of your time.
Fortunately, there’s a way through.
Today, you can bring in a professional sales management team like Sales Solve Everything.
It’s like having a powerful pinch-hitter on your bench.
And as dozens of companies have found, it’s the secret to hitting that next level.
Want to know more?
Or call our office at 888-738-4020 to schedule a free consultation.