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Salespeople at B&E General Contractors also design and oversee construction on a project, simplifying communication and personalizing the process for the client.
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By Craig A. Shutt
Want to be sure to establish a close association between your staff people and your clients? B&E General Contractors in Glendale, Wis., accomplishes this feat by hiring triple-threat salespeople and turning the whole job, from start to finish, over to them.
B&E salespeople not only sell the job, but they also design the project and manage its construction. These sell-design-build managers earn a salary plus design fees and have kept steady business flowing into the company for many years.
"We like to make sure that the project is personalized for the client," says Mark Brick, president. "And 'personalized' means there is one person the client can always fall back on when they have concerns, want feedback or need to communicate anything." By having the entire project flow through one person, he says, all notes, changes and product orders are coordinated and performed efficiently, since there's no lost communication between functions.
Focusing total responsibility for a project on one person maintains a close staff/buyer relationship and creates an efficient project, Mark explains. The salesperson isn't overselling, the designer isn't creating projects that will be difficult to build, and the project manager knows exactly what the salesperson has promised to the client. The four salesperson/designers work with two Certified Kitchen Designers to plan details on kitchen projects. B&E's designs seem to work very well; few clients who start the design process decide to stop the project.
Three salespeople (plus Mark) follow up on individual sales leads personally. Each focuses on specialties; the clients are matched to the best salesperson/designer for their needs. "We try to create good chemistry that keeps the client satisfied," Mark says.
At the initial meeting, the salesperson explains that all design work will be charged at $65 per hour. The salesperson receives about 50 percent of that design fee in addition to a salary, which rises through the years based on performance.
By focusing designers' compensation on salaries and design fees, rather than a percentage of the cost of the project, Mark ensures that salespeople aren't boosting commissions by overselling features or at the expense of the client's best interest. "How much the designer makes depends on how ambitious he is and how good of a salesman he is," Mark says. Most earn in excess of $50,000.
Sticking with success
The sales/designers have diverse backgrounds, including some with architectural or accounting experience. There has been little turnover since the system began nearly 15 years ago. Only two designers have left in all that time -- one to start his own business using the same system. Recruiting replacements hasn't been difficult. "The industry knows us; we're like a magnet for good people, who come to us," Mark notes. "We don't have to search for them."
The program has proven successful, giving Mark an opportunity to focus on refining his company's business. He wants to hold at his current sales level of about $4.6 million, a level he's maintained for about five years, by doing larger but fewer projects in the future.
"We get a lot of repeat and referral clients, so we can pick and choose our projects to retain that level of business," he says. "I'm comfortable working at this size, my margins are in the black, and we receive good feedback."
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