Sales Managers - Who's on Your Bus?

The recent years have been a very transitional time in our industry. Frankly, we saw success be reasonably easy for a period of time, and then reality came crashing in.

As many salespeople realized they were not as good as they once thought they left the industry. Most went looking for more easy success, or back to the typical retail position they were plucked from... blaming the market all the way. As expected, the industry was fine. Maybe it even celebrated a bit. Many (albeit not all) of the early ship jumpers were dead wood. People that we knew deep down were not right for the position.

As times continue to change, incomes continue to fall, and total number of communities continues to shrink, Sales Managers are faced with ever harder decisions. To retain the best people, you need to be able to offer them a place where they can earn. Not an easy sale, but a community with enough land in front of them that you can let your race horse run. However, you're now confronted with dwindling communities, and there are not a lot of grand openings these days.

Most teams have already trimmed the fat. If it hasn't started already, we're about to make ourselves bleed. As an industry, I suspect that we're beginning to lose good people. So when confronted with a personnel decision where there are no easy answers (no fat to trim), I'm reminded of the book Good to Great.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins describes how to build a winning team by getting the "right people on the bus" and the "wrong people off the bus." Easier said than done, yes, but consider the following quote from the book that discusses a suggestion for determining when its time to ask someone to leave the bus.

"Two key questions can help. First, if it were a hiring decision (rather than a 'should this person get off the bus?' decision), would you hire that person again? Second, if the person came to tell you that he or she is leaving to pursue an exciting new opportunity, would you feel disappointed or secretly relieved?"

Tough but revealing questions to ask yourself if you're forced to make the decision.

Dennis O'Neil leads ONeil Interactive LLC, an online marketing strategy company for the new home industry. Dennis specializes in targeted and measurable marketing using experience in both the technical fields and new home sales and marketing. You can learn more by visiting Dennis' profile.