ARTICLES

A well-trained manager is key to a successful installed sales program. But don’t overlook the importance of an effective assistant to help make it happen.

This month we want to divert your thoughts from the mechanics of an installed sales program and focus on some of the administrative and management issues that are crucial, too. After being around the installed sales arena for quite a few years, we have identified a most important position that is often overlooked when staffing for installed sales. That pivotal position is the installed sales administrative assistant.

This post is far more than serving as "secretary" to the installed sales manager. When properly positioned and staffed, this individual acts as an inside manager, coordinating all the housekeeping tasks associated with a successful program—tasks such as insuring that the material is ordered for each job, coordinating with the installers, maintaining a job schedule, contacting customers both before and after the job, handling customer complaints and a myriad of other duties—far more important than many dealers imagine. In the recently published book, Key Issues for Installed Sales (available from your Federated Association, BMA, Guardian Fiberglass or through NLBMDA), this issue is addressed and includes a comprehensive job description for this position.

Some of the most successful installed sales programs in the country have paid particular attention to hiring the right person for this job, realizing that a manager, regardless of how good he may be, cannot run this type of program on his own. For a short period, one person can handle things pretty well. However, to take an installed operation to a meaningful level, an administrative assist-ant or inside manager is essential. That person will make your installed sales manager far more productive by freeing his time to address the more mission-critical activities like sales, daily program operations and customer satisfaction issues. You don’t want your key person, the installed sales manager, performing administrative functions while there are customers to sell and service.

What qualities make up a good assistant? We look for drive, determination, strength and organizational ability. You need someone who isn’t afraid to stay after a contractor/installer, someone who will call customers and follow up for payments—a person who can also negotiate with the yard personnel to insure timely deliveries, while insuring that the product was ordered correctly in the first place. The administrative assistant should also have some quantitative and bookkeeping skills and not be afraid of a computer. Eventually this individual must gain some knowledge of the industry (both building materials and construction). Does he need it to start? No; however, it would shorten the training curve.

Obviously, you need to provide some training for all your employees, and this position is no exception. In most cases, one of the existing administrative staff can fill in for one to two hours a day during the initial stages of the installed program. Then, as the program begins to develop, more time, obviously, will be required. Now you have a decision to make: Do you hire a new person for this position, or should you look to replace the person who has been working elsewhere all along? If the person you have filling in on the job has become well-versed in the program, gets along well with the contractors/installers and understands the priorities of the job, it’s easier to hire someone new for the office instead.

Don’t take this position or person for granted. Pay a respectable wage and understand that the administrative assistant is performing a critical mission, helping manage and coordinate jobs, contracts, paperwork flow, ordering, payables and receivables. He or she will be responsible for selling jobs in some cases, contacting customers and providing that extra level of customer service on which this program is predicated.

An interesting article in a recent magazine dedicated to builders and renovators focused on why they should align themselves with a progressive building material retailer who is actively pursuing installed sales. One of the core issues discussed was the preference for working with a dealer who had a dedicated installed sales staff at the store. Central to this was "one person who gets all your calls and handles all your problems." Those are pretty strong words for a contractor to use, especially when he’s talking about a position that is often overlooked by the store owner. They want this central communication point, to be secure in the knowledge that there will be someone there for them to contact when they have issues to resolve or questions that need answering.