Hiring a building service contractor sales team is a big step in growing your company.
You probably aren’t thinking too much about hiring a sales team when you start a building service contractor company. It may even be years before the idea crosses your mind, especially if your company is growing steadily with you in control of sales and operations.
At some point, however, you’re going to top out. There are only so many contracts you can take on before reaching your limit. Building service contractor sales isn’t just about meeting people and signing contracts. You still need to maintain those relationships, renew contracts, deal with any issues that come up, make on-site visits, and keep up with the administrative duties that come with sales. And if you’re really doing most of the company management and sales on your own, you still have to attend to things like hiring, scheduling, bidding, equipment maintenance, payroll, and more.
On a small scale, this is certainly doable, especially if you use modern janitorial or BSC software to help you stay organized (like Janitorial Manager). Eventually, though, you need to decide if you’re done growing as a company or if you’re ready to hand off some duties so you can expand your business.
Keep track of inventory, work orders, and more with Janitorial Manager. Learn more today with a free discovery call!
What to know about managing and compensating your building service contractor sales team
Whether your sales team is one person or a dozen, they are the face of your business. Their success is your success. So, if you haven’t hired someone already, think about the impression you want potential clients to have of your company. You may or may not want an experienced salesperson or someone already familiar with the building service contractor industry. There’s no right or wrong answer here. It all depends on how much training you want to do or where you see the potential for growth.
Even with that in mind, however, it’s always important to offer ongoing training to your sales team. As an experienced building service contractor, you know how often new techniques, products, or knowledge come out. Even in the past couple of years, we’ve learned a lot about how the cleaning industry can help prevent the spread of viruses.
In fact, one of the best ways to manage a sales team is to make sure they have the knowledge to help your company stand out. That helps you and them when customers have questions or concerns. Here are a few other ways to manage a sales team that are proven to work.
Be Clear With Your Expectations. In reality, this statement is just true for sales teams as it is for anyone in your organization. Part of your job in managing a sales team is to make sure they know what their job is. Are they maintaining accounts? Just making the sale then handing things off? Attempting to hit specific numbers?
Guide Them, But Give Them Space. No one on your sales team will do things the same way you do. But if you want your team to be successful, you have to get out of the way and let them do their job. This won’t always be easy. But if your building service contractor business is at a point where you need to hire people, micromanaging your sales team means your own duties aren’t getting done. You don’t need to be entirely hands-off, but you have to trust the people you’ve hired.
Prioritize Communication. Good communication benefits everyone, but it’s vital for your sales team, since they interact with clients and need to know the ins and outs of the company operations.
What about compensation, though? That can be a tricky thing to figure out, especially given how many factors are involved. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the “median annual wage for sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products was $62,070.”
Of course, that’s the median, so salaries can be much higher – or lower. It’s often not an issue of a particular number, however. One significant factor in paying a sales team is the pay structure. Some salespeople work on 100% commission, while others have a base salary with percentages.
Something to consider as a building service contractor, however, is that you need to not only win new contracts, but you need to keep the ones you have. So if your sales team works mainly on a commission from that first sale, there’s an incentive to win new contracts and give less attention to current customers.
Similarly, bigger contracts that generate more income can take precedence over smaller contracts when salaries are heavy on commission.
One approach you can try is a higher base salary with a bonus based on both new contracts and retaining clients. Some companies offer a base salary and then a decreasing commission percentage to help even out the higher commission from higher-dollar sales. So, for example, your sales team might earn 10% on sales up to $5,000, 8% on anything from $5,000 to $10,000, and so on. That makes it just as compelling to go after those smaller accounts as it does the big ones.
Bear in mind that when it comes to retaining good salespeople, you aren’t just competing with other building service contractor companies. Every company in your area that relies on a sales team could potentially recruit your salespeople.
That means you still need to take all the steps you would typically take to retain good employees. Money is important, and you can retain good people by paying them well. However, there are other factors, such as work/life balance, creating a positive company culture, and having a great team and excellent customers.
And if the salary is a sticking point, remember there are ways to negotiate that, as well. For example, increased vacation time, Fridays off in the summer, and profit-sharing can make up some of the ground if you can’t compete with higher salaries elsewhere.
One last thing! To help you manage your team of salespeople and everyone else, be sure to keep yourself organized and on track. We’d be happy to help!
Start winning more cleaning contracts. Schedule a free call with Janitorial Manager to see how our software make’s it easy for your business to grow!