Manage your Managers!
Manage your managers! Seems straight forward, right? WRONG. Its not easy. Its hard. Its time consuming. It gets complicated. It can be uncomfortable. But, It has to be done. Goals, accountability, reporting, timelines, budgets etc don’t just happen if not managed. Chris Bounds, Austin, Texas offers the following:
#1 Ethical Sales will cure most other issues. To be clear, its all about sales. Sure, someone has to decide when to order more copier paper & yes, it is sad that Rick’s father is dying from cancer & that the swim up bar at the pool has a cracked mirror; yeah those things must be dealt with BUT don’t let life’s distractions cloud your vision of what the goal is. Don’t stay busy all day doing things that don’t show up on the bottom line of the quarterly sales report. AND, don’t let your managers do it either. Dos Mundos Developments has actually studied this. Is it coincidental that record setting sales figures seem to make it much easier & more pleasant to deal with life’s issues? They think not! SO & THEREFOR, never, ever let your management team get bogged down in stuff that has nothing to do with sales. NO!, no excuses; just don’t let them do it. Try the following for 3 months & watch what happens.
#2 Shift the focus of the time you spend with managers. With sales reps, you’d (hopefully) spend your time digging into the details of their sales production. But with your sales managers, you must dig into the details of their management. For example; In a review with an individual salesman (Bob), you might say, “Lets review your 30 day sales efficiency on X”. But with a sales manager, you would say, “How are you working with Bob, given his 30 day sales efficiency report, about his X sales”. Or rather than asking, “How could Bob have done Y better?” you instead should ask, “How could you have managed Bob to do Y better?” Make your managers answer these questions. Make them study & be accountable for their answers. This will bind the team & give them ownership of the process.
# 3 Know that you’ll teach by example, whether you want to or not. When you’re managing all phases of a project or development, you’re probably not real concerned that the kitchen staff sees you out of your professional dress when you snitch a cup of coffee on your day off. But when you’re managing managers, you & your behaviors, dress, habits, language etc., matter 24/7. REALLY. What they see, & so perceive of you, is what you are going to get back – that can be good or bad. If you’re delegating effectively, providing useful, regular feedback, conducting surprise check-ins, hiring wisely, & fairly holding all staff accountable, that’s what your management team will do. Conversely, if you tell one of your mangers that he can hold a pender over & close it the next month so he gets his Christmas bonus.. YOU just told him (& his piers) that cheating/ breaking policies is ok.
#4 Feed the tigers, ride the horses & shoot the dogs. It is very important that the sales mangers you manage understand that while all staff are governed by the exact same policies & handbook of rules, that at the end of the day SALES is what we do. We do them ethically, straight forward & do not cut corners or skip any procedures, BUT our job is to sell. When managing a fast paced, high energy sales organization fairly and according to stated goals & budgets, your managers’ recipe must call for: #1. FEED THE TIGERS: give more leads, tours or prospects to the #1 salesman/manager/team. The first seed in a tourney gets the #8 seed for first game. That’s just how it is. Make your rules & policies match. #2 RIDE THE HORSES: We don’t ride pigs or cows. No, we want horses & when you have a horse why would you keep a pig or cow in the stable for riding. Horses are for riding, so when your salesman/manager/team is selling well, do not quit riding. Big mistakes are made when the top team is broken up because of promotions, lateral moves or reassignments. #3 SHOOT THE DOGS: we don’t want dogs in our stable; it creates chaos. When a team/manager/salesman is just not performing & not performing consistently, despite your focused efforts, then you must train your management team to get the dogs out of the stable.
#5 Quick, fair & public trials: Nothing quite like a public hanging to get your attention & help you understand that rules must be followed & that the results of actions will not be dealt with in secrecy or privacy. Not withstanding proper adherence to employment & privacy laws, your mangers should see, know & understand that all matters, good & bad, will be dealt with immediately & in a fair and open forum. Showing managers that it is OK to post the weekly sales reports & comment openly on efficiency numbers is a good thing. There are no secrets in sales numbers. They are exactly what they are. No excuses, no what ifs & nowhere to hide. If you are second place by $0.50 then you are second place. Your management team must have the confidence to openly admonish wrong behavior & reward good behavior. Actively treating managers with this same philosophy will trickle down.
#6 Take it outside. Conference table meetings in the sales room or board room are great. But not really. Want to really get a manger talking or thinking freely & efficiently. Take him (team) outside for a walk or a sit down under a tree. You will be surprised. They will open up, speak more freely, be more honest and be more creative. Humans evolved, over millions of years, by making it happen OUTSIDE. We rose to the very top of the food chain OUTSIDE. It’s a human nature, DNA thing. Being outside lowers stress, it actually loosens you up and it is calming. This is especially true for what will be tense, confrontational or otherwise stress full meeting or conversation.
For more NO BS sales management stuff, contact Chris Bounds directly.
Tiny Resort Cabins! Huh??
So this Tiny House thing keeps growing. Started out as an efficient way to stack in resort or campground lodging facilities cheaply and quickly. Then the man-bun wearing minimalists who don’t were shoes to work got into the deal with their hipster buddies and the whole Glamping thing evolved. Like life, evolution continues.
Enter Resort Mini Cabins, vacation rental tiny units and Luxury tiny condos. Wow? The evolution continues. As the Gen X and Millennials age into peek buying years, they are driving the market like they did with Segways, Ride Sharing and grab n go scooter rentals. The new look and concept is also catching on with the old folks..40+ folks who are a bit more thrifty than they once were.
So resort, campground, timeshare, hotel and glamping companies are cashing in. It is estimated that there are over 20,000 tiny homes in the Continental US as of 2018, that were build and sold by “Certified” manufacturers. This does not count the non-certified and privately held company units. As the 20+ crowd grows into prime spending years, this number will mushroom.
Chris Bounds of Dos Mundos Developments, when asked about the tiny resort unit craze, had this to say, “Well it looks an smells alot like the Condo & Timeshare craze of the 80s, when a good idea met up with favorable demographic trends and a good economy.” This is going to be really, really big and large players will jump in soon according to Bounds.
We are already seeing large “glamping” companies add this product to their mix as well as some of the largest timeshare companies, such as Bluegreen, ad a “tiny lodge” to their inventory at selected resorts. It is here to stay and will only get bigger. Aside from business travel lodging, many 30 somethings prefer to stay at more earthy and simple lodging and resort locations versus the traditional All inclusive, luxury resorts.
Don’t forget that developers love this concept. They can increase density dramatically, build for much less per square foot and have a much, much broader market to sell to. One developer in the Blue Ridge Mountains has disclosed that one Tiny Lodge, witch cost $60,000 to have delivered and set up, has produced over $1,000,000 in fraction sales and rental income. With numbers like these you can guess what is going to happen.
For more no-nonsense resort development sales stuff, contact Chris Bounds directly at 512-five six five-2616
Cost of Amenities!
Amenities-Don’t think about ROI
Ok, so the latest studies show that a private golf course closes (net closings) every 9 hours. On average, private golf course cost $375,000 per year to maintain + staff, insurance etc. You might get 20,000 rounds played in a year and so net $200,000. BUT….
Think about how many golf course lots you sold and how many garden homes with a fairway view you sold and how many interior lots you sold and how many weeks of timeshare you sold to people who don’t know anything about golf but know, and so want, the allure and “prestige” of living in a golf course resort or community. Golf courses drive sales and that’s about it these day. Golf is, sadly, a dying sport.
Like swimming pools, marinas, fountains, tennis courts and parks, amenities drive sales and hold values. Without them a resort development is immediately labeled “B Team” and can quickly descend to “C Team” status. So, don’t try to line item an amenity as a profit center. You will be sad. They are an expense….like the light bill and new carpet. Now, nothing says (excluding HOA Nazis) you can’t shrink some fairways, reduce the size of the driving range or even cut off 9 holes and then redevelop more lots, fractionals and resort lodging but having a well maintained course can be very profitable when considering other, related sales activity.
Lake side, riverfront and ocean front resorts face the same questions when dealing with marinas. They can be costly to maintain. They add liability. They are always to big or to small for certain water craft. So, on a spread sheet all you see is debits….but ad back the value of all the added activity at your resort. Add back how many condo and timeshare sales were made because a couple stopped and had dinner and wine at the floating bar.
So, don’t go cheap on amenities. First impressions count. Its hard to sell when everything is perfect….buyers are looking for objections and reasons not to buy. Plus, you competitor has nice amenities.
For more no-nonsense resort sales stuff call Chris Bounds directly.
February 23, 2017 33 Comments/in Blog /by terrychristopherbounds.com
Manage your managers! Seems straight forward, right? WRONG. Its not easy. Its hard. Its time consuming. It gets complicated. It has to be done. Goals, accountability, reporting, timelines, budgets etc don’t just get done if not managed. Chris Bounds, Austin, Texas offers the following:
#1 Ethical Sales will cure most other issues. Lets be clear, its all about sales. Sure, someone has to decide when to order more copier paper and yes, it is sad that Rick’s father is dying from cancer and that the swim up bar at the adult pool has a cracked mirror; yeah those things must be dealt with BUT don’t let life’s distractions cloud your vision of what the goal is. Don’t stay busy all day doing things that don’t show up on the bottom line of the quarterly sales report. AND, don’t let your managers do it either. Is it coincidental that record setting sales figures seem to make it much easier and more pleasant to deal with life’s issues? I think not! SO & THEREFOR, never, ever let your management team get bogged down in stuff that has nothing to do with sales. NO, no excuses; just don’t let them do it. Try this for 3 months and watch what happens.
#2 Shift the focus of the time you spend with managers. With sales reps, you’d (hopefully) spend your time digging into the details of their sales production. But with your sales managers, you must dig into the details of their management. For example, in a review with an individual salesman (Bob), you might say, “Lets review your 30 day sales efficiency on X”. But with a sales manager, you would say, “How are you working with Bob given his 30 day sales efficiency report for X” Or rather than asking, “How could Bob have done Z better?” you instead should ask, “How could you have managed Bob to do Z better?” Make your managers answer these questions. Make them study and be accountable for their answers. This will bind the team and give them ownership of the process.
# 3 Know that you’ll teach by example, whether you want to or not. When you’re managing all phases of a project or development, you’re probably not real concerned that the kitchen staff sees you out of your professional dress when you snitch a cup of coffee on your day off. But when you’re managing managers, you and your behaviors, dress, habits, language etc., matter 24/7. REALLY. What they see, and so perceive of you, is what you are going to get back – and that can be good or bad. If you’re delegating effectively, providing useful and regular feedback, conducting useful check-ins, hiring wisely, and fairly holding all staff accountable, that’s what your management team will do. Conversely, if you tell one of your mangers that he can hold a pender over and close it the next month so he can get his Christmas bonus, then you just told him (and his piers) that cheating and breaking the policies is ok.
#4 Feed the tigers, ride the horses & shoot the dogs. It is very important that the sales mangers you manage, although operating fairly, for everyone, by the exact same policies and handbook of rules, understand that at the end of the day SALES is what we do. We do them ethically, straight forward and do not cut corners or skip any procedures, BUT our job is to sell. When managing a fast paced, high energy sales organization fairly and according to stated goals and budgets, your managers’ recipe must call for: #1. Feeding the tigers: give more leads, tours, and prospects to the #1 salesman/manager/team. The #1 seed in a tourney gets the #8 seed for first game. That’s just how it is. Make your rules and policies match. #2 Riding the horses: We don’t ride pigs or cows. No, we want horses and when you have a horse why would you keep a pig or cow in the stable for riding. Horses are for riding, so when your salesman/manager/team is selling well, do not quit riding. Big mistakes are made when the top team is broken up because of promotions, lateral moves or reassignments. #3 Shoot the dogs: we don’t want dogs in our stable; it creates chaos. When a team/manager/salesman is just not performing and not performing consistently, despite your focused efforts, then you must train your management team to get the dogs out of the stable.
#5 Quick, fair & public trials: Nothing quite like a public hanging to get your attention and help you understand that rules must be followed and that the results of actions will not be dealt with in secrecy or privacy. Not withstanding proper adherence to employment and privacy laws, your mangers should see, know and understand that all matters, good and bad, will be dealt with immediately and in a fair and open forum. Showing managers that it is OK to post the weekly sales reports and comment openly on efficiency numbers is a good thing. There are no secrets in sales numbers. They are exactly what they are. No excuses, no what ifs and no where to hide. If you are second place by $0.50 then you are second place. Your management team must have the confidence to openly admonish wrong behavior and reward good behavior. Actively treating managers with this same philosophy will trickle down.
For more NO BS sales management stuff, feel free to contact Chris Bounds, Austin, Texas.