There is a recent movement happening across our industry: Owners are stepping up to “shake the trees.”
It’s due to two separate trends. Let me explain.
Earlier this year, everyone focused on “increasing recruiting” and “maximizing production.”
Many contractors in my community had achieved such high levels (of both staffing and producing) that they had become shining examples for the industry.
Careful What You Wish For:
Production efficiencies has increased so significantly that backlogs for many companies are now being eaten up.
At the same time, there is also a new hesitation in many markets.
Both trends are resulting in concern about sales! For this reason, I am seeing company owners making a sudden pivot.
It’s Time To Shake The Trees!
- Sean Baxter (Lawn and Landscape Solutions, KS), who spoke at my Summer Growth Summit, shared the following: He was fully staffed and had become super efficient (and profitable) over the past 12 months. And then, suddenly, sales became harder to close for his team. So he stepped in to help shake the trees, and a seven-figure of sales fell out.
- Sam Bauman (Earthscape, ON), a Canadian client, had emailed me that after six hours of networking with local builders, he uncovered $1M of construction revenue. His team still gets the credit, and he can sleep better at night. The recent ’stay at home’ boom had made him complacent, but with a quick pivot to shake the trees, he turned things around.
- Shanna Scordo (Earthcraft Landscape, PA), who also spoke at my Summit, reminded me that her production team became very efficient after she hired the right leader. Suddenly sales became an issue. She realized that her marketing wasn’t producing the right types of leads, and her close rates and revenue were suffering as a result. So she totally revamped her marketing strategy to target the higher-budget clients, and has learned that when the right leads are in the hopper, the sales are much easier to close.
Ironically, I recently wrote about owners not always making the best salespeople when it comes to pricing. I stand by that article.
But when it’s all hands on deck, owners can often move mountains like they did in the early days.
If your sales team needs a helping hand, now’s the time to give it.
Pivot To Recruiting?
On the other hand, for those who do not have a sales issue, you will find this is a good time to step up recruiting to acquire good production people.
Your Challenge: Take Advantage Of The Pivotal Times
If sales and production are both doing well, don’t sit on your laurels—take advantage of the changes in the marketplace.
But if you have a gap in sales or production, you better jump on that now.
So where is your focus right now: Is it sales? Production? or is it something completely different?
E-mail me and let me know.
Regards, Jeffrey!
