The right time to hire new team members
I’m often asked, “When is the right time to hire new team members?” While every business is different, the general answer, for me, is that it’s time to hire when you aren’t able to maximize your sales efforts, or revenue generating activities because you are too busy doing other things. The lifeblood for any business is revenue generation. If you aren’t bringing in the bucks, then you certainly won’t be able to hire anyone new.
I’ve trained many stagers in my years in business. Most people are concerned far too early about pushing off responsibilities onto someone else. This is because they haven’t quite figured out the systems they need to have implemented in their business to be strategically efficient and profitable.
The right time to hire new team members
When you find that you are working late into the nights on a regular basis, when key components of your business, particularly marketing and sale events or processes, are being overlooked, or when you find you simply can’t make deadlines anymore because there is too much to do in your day, this is when it’s time to hire someone new.
In order to calcluate if hiring someone new makes sense, you’ll need to examine how much more revenue you’ll be able to produce by freeing up the hours in your schedule. Example: If you hate invoicing and accounting, determine what you’ll spend on handing that job off to someone else. Next, determine how many more hours you’ll have to increase revenue producing activities, and whether you can, not only pay for that service, but actually make more money, creating a profit.
What position should you hire for first, or next?
The key to making a good decision here is to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are. You should not hire out your strengths, at least not in the beginning. Look for the weak points in your business. What are the jobs not currently getting done, look at the parts you hate to do, and look for the jobs that will make you more efficient.
For most home stagers, the first hire should be a staging assistant. This is because it will make you more efficient, on the job. You’ll be able to do more staging work, in less time, allowing you to book more appointments.
Afterwards, it often makes sense to hire someone who can manage the day to day paperwork, sending emails to clients, posting photos on social media, etc. Be careful about handing off the sales and client relationship part of the job too early, however. This can create a decrease in revenue activities. As an entrepreneur and business professional, revenue generation will always be your primary focus and responsibility.
Related Article: Hiring Employees or Independent Contractors.
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