The decision to hire your first sales designer, or to add another, is a big one…quite possibly among the biggest decisions that you may make in your business career. Kitchen and bath business owners must honestly evaluate their readiness – in terms of opportunity, capability and desire – to take on this responsibility.

Contrary to popular opinion, adding a salesperson does not automatically translate into additional profit to your bottom line.

The more projects that are sold, the greater the cost of goods sold, thereby creating a greater risk of error. That’s why so many kitchen and bath firms discover the hard way that their gross margins frequently fall as their sales increase. It’s also why so many owners soon find themselves in a position in which they don’t want to be – namely, working harder to produce more sales, but not getting any more personal income out of the business.

Additionally, contrary to popular opinion, “experienced” salespeople are frequently not as productive as expected. It seems owners always advertise for certified kitchen designers. Yet that credential by itself is no guarantee of securing a real sales producer. “Experienced” industry salespeople also often carry baggage that hinders them from producing big numbers in your operation. Rather than buying into your corporate culture, they may constantly refer to the way they did things at their last place of employment.

Readiness Test

Before you commence recruitment for a sales designer, consider the importance of passing a company readiness test to measure opportunity, capability and desire. Consider the following 10 questions:

1. Do you have more than enough leads to support another sales designer (at least 10-12 leads per month)?
   
2. To furnish capital for the sales expansion, is your firm in a position to raise its Price Formulas Multipliers by 3-5%?
   
3. Are there new markets that can be entered, both of a product or geographic nature, to support the sales expansion?
   
4. Do you have a staff design assistant to do all the CAD drawings, cabinet estimating, cabinet acknowledgements and job-site binders so the sales designer can maximize his/her time selling?
   
5. Do you have a staff project manager to check the orders, buy materials, schedule jobs, coordinate deliveries and manage the trades onsite?