As a design center manager, your plate is full. No doubt you are having to 'do more with less'; manage your team, achieve challenging financial results, represent consistent customer service experiences in your design center, and ensure you are true to the brand of the builder. Oh yes, all the while while working with fewer staff, unhappy manufacturers, and a very tough (and competitive) housing market that will probably continue for a while longer.
You can't do it alone. The most important decision and responsibility you have that will support achieving all your objectives is to hire well. Let's talk about how you build your team.
Recruiting, screening and selecting great design center staff candidates takes a great deal of time. It cannot be a 'quick fix', rather a weekly focus. It is important that this not fall to the bottom of your list, as the right key members on your team will support you achieving all of your objectives.
Qualities to Look For:
A great design center sales person has strong communication skills; verbal, written, and most important, the ability to listen. They show a high level of initiative, can solve problems, and can influence others without authority. They must be organized, creative, and flexible. They must be able to thrive in a sometimes stressful environment, be a team player, show creativity, and have some interest in design. They need to be comfortable with technology, whether using a selection tool like Envision or an Excel spreadsheet. Most of all, the salesperson must be results oriented, motivated, and genuinely interested in helping create solutions and satisfy your consumer. Someone who thrives on positive feedback, a pleaser. Sound impossible to find? They are out there!
Where to start?
Consider this: A great team builder is "always accepting applications". Set a consistent hour on your calendar each week when you review resume's for a superstar. In addition, take a page from retail, and "always be recruiting". Great customer service people can be found in restaurants, the malls, and places you visit every day. You can always teach a service and sales oriented person about product, but you can never teach a non service oriented designer how to listen to what the customer wants and needs. Have your business cards ready, and hand them out when you see great sales and service. You never know when someone might be ripe for a career change.
Screening Resumes:
Look for progressive growth in responsibility and leadership, job progression, and pride in achievements displayed on the resume. Great candidates could possibly show a mid-career change or consistent self development and enrichment such as classes. Look for stability, extracurricular activities, honors and awards. Ensure your salary falls in the range, although some candidates may consider a pay reduction to get in the door, but be realistic and honest about the job responsibilities and pay. Don't 'over sell' the position. Call the best candidates for an 'informational interview', even when you have no current openings. Start building your back-ups.
The Interview:
The informational interview can be held in an individual, group setting, or round robins. Ask your best design staff members to help. This is an opportunity to put a face with a name, get more detail about their background, and get a sense for communication style and 'fit'. It is also a great opportunity for the candidate to observe the design center selling process in action, learn more about your company, and 'break the ice'. Informational interviews provide information to both parties about the possible fit for a position.
Preparation for the second interview is key. Based on what you have learned from the candidate and their resume, there will be some skills or experiences that you want to learn more about. Prepare your questions in advance, and practice some follow up questions to probe further into their answers. Second interviews allow you a chance to pass by some of the nerves that both parties have going into the interview. The ice has been broken, the candidate has met the team and experienced the environment.
Behavioral Interviewing:
Many human resource experts and industrial psychologists encourage the use of 'behavioral' interview questions to get the best sense of a candidate and their abilities. The thinking is: If a person has behaved in a certain way in the past, it is very likely that they will tend to behave the same way in the future. It is a different style of interviewing, that many candidates will not be accustomed to, so it is important to brief the candidate about what to expect as the interview gets rolling.
As an interviewer, first review the experience and education of a candidate, then let them know you will next ask some situational questions. It is common to take a few minutes to remember specific examples, let the candidate know this is fine. They should take the time they need, as you will be seeking a specific example that has happened in the past. Also let them know you will be writing down their answers for your reference.
Your goal as an interviewer is to help the candidate tell the whole story. The S.T.A.R. technique reminds you to probe for the specific: Situation, Tactic, Action and Result of their answer. Behavioral interview questions very often start "Can you tell me about a time..." and may finish with "...what did you learn from this situation?". Yes or no questions will undoubtedly give you the answer you want to hear, but won't necessarily be reflective of past experiences. Ensure that the questions you ask cover all the desired qualities a designer needs to excel in your design center.
Some examples:
Communication:
Tell me about a time you were misunderstood by a customer. What was the situation, What did you do? What do you think the problem was? What happened? What was the end result? Did you change anything as a result?
Tell me about a time you had to communicate with someone who had difficulty speaking or understanding your language. What was the situation, what did you do. How was that received? How did you get across or get the information you needed? How could you tell you were successful?
Selling Skills:
Describe a selling situation where you failed to persuade a customer to accept your suggestion. What approach did you try? In hindsight, why didn't it work? What tactic did you change? Have you had an opportunity to test it? What happened as a result?
Service:
Tell me about a time when you were caught short with a customer's changing needs? What was the situation? Why were you caught by surprise? What did you do? How did you redefine the customer's need? How did everything turn out? What did you change as a result of this situation?
Tell me about a customer you satisfied that was 'hard to please'? Why were they hard to please? What tactics did you apply to meet their needs? How do you know if your customers are satisfied?
Problem solving and Decision Making:
Tell me about a time when you had to make a fast decision, without all the information you would have wanted. What was the situation, the decision What things did you take into account? What did you do, and what happened? In hindsight, what would you change? Why?
Stress Management and Flexibility:
Tell me about a very stressful situation you have been through at work? What did you do to manage your stress?
Tell me about a time you had to make a fast change in your approach. What was the situation, and what did you change? What was the result?
Tell me about a time that you championed a change that improved the work environment, processes or results, and others weren't supportive. What was the change, and how did you get others behind your plan?
Role playing:
Role playing is another great way to test the potential of a potential sales team member. Put the candidate out on the floor, in a mock sales situation. Measure their ability to 'think on their feet'. Ask them to pull together 3 recommended combinations of granite, cabinet and flooring to see their design thinking. Have them work with another designer for an hour, and ask for your team's input on their abilities.
Reference Checks:
Many companies are limited in the detail they can provide in reference checks. Some good questions to ask: Would you hire the candidate again? What is their key strength? What is one thing they could improve? What kind of results did the candidate deliver? What motivates them? How do they work with others?
Recruiting, screening and selecting great candidates is one of the most important aspects of your role as a leader. Only a sales focused design team will deliver for you in driving options and upgrades. With the right team, you will be well positioned in this tough business cycle, and very well poised as the market improves. Please contact me for more information or example interview questions on this topic.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The Design Minds at Hearth and Home Blog is geared to support design center staff and new construction industry in selling options and upgrades to the new home consumer. Subscribe for updates. Contact Krisann Parker-Brown for merchandising or marketing support of your design center.
Krisann Parker-Brown is the merchandising manager for Hearth and Home Technologies, the leading manufacturer and retailer of fireplaces and hearth systems. Krisann supports design centers and new construction builders in presenting Heat & Glo, Heatilator and Quadra-Fire hearth systems, and consulting on design center merchandising, point of sale and the consumer experience. Contact her at brownkr@hearthnhome.com or 952-985-6537
You can't do it alone. The most important decision and responsibility you have that will support achieving all your objectives is to hire well. Let's talk about how you build your team.
Recruiting, screening and selecting great design center staff candidates takes a great deal of time. It cannot be a 'quick fix', rather a weekly focus. It is important that this not fall to the bottom of your list, as the right key members on your team will support you achieving all of your objectives.
Qualities to Look For:
A great design center sales person has strong communication skills; verbal, written, and most important, the ability to listen. They show a high level of initiative, can solve problems, and can influence others without authority. They must be organized, creative, and flexible. They must be able to thrive in a sometimes stressful environment, be a team player, show creativity, and have some interest in design. They need to be comfortable with technology, whether using a selection tool like Envision or an Excel spreadsheet. Most of all, the salesperson must be results oriented, motivated, and genuinely interested in helping create solutions and satisfy your consumer. Someone who thrives on positive feedback, a pleaser. Sound impossible to find? They are out there!
Where to start?
Consider this: A great team builder is "always accepting applications". Set a consistent hour on your calendar each week when you review resume's for a superstar. In addition, take a page from retail, and "always be recruiting". Great customer service people can be found in restaurants, the malls, and places you visit every day. You can always teach a service and sales oriented person about product, but you can never teach a non service oriented designer how to listen to what the customer wants and needs. Have your business cards ready, and hand them out when you see great sales and service. You never know when someone might be ripe for a career change.
Screening Resumes:
Look for progressive growth in responsibility and leadership, job progression, and pride in achievements displayed on the resume. Great candidates could possibly show a mid-career change or consistent self development and enrichment such as classes. Look for stability, extracurricular activities, honors and awards. Ensure your salary falls in the range, although some candidates may consider a pay reduction to get in the door, but be realistic and honest about the job responsibilities and pay. Don't 'over sell' the position. Call the best candidates for an 'informational interview', even when you have no current openings. Start building your back-ups.
The Interview:
The informational interview can be held in an individual, group setting, or round robins. Ask your best design staff members to help. This is an opportunity to put a face with a name, get more detail about their background, and get a sense for communication style and 'fit'. It is also a great opportunity for the candidate to observe the design center selling process in action, learn more about your company, and 'break the ice'. Informational interviews provide information to both parties about the possible fit for a position.
Preparation for the second interview is key. Based on what you have learned from the candidate and their resume, there will be some skills or experiences that you want to learn more about. Prepare your questions in advance, and practice some follow up questions to probe further into their answers. Second interviews allow you a chance to pass by some of the nerves that both parties have going into the interview. The ice has been broken, the candidate has met the team and experienced the environment.
Behavioral Interviewing:
Many human resource experts and industrial psychologists encourage the use of 'behavioral' interview questions to get the best sense of a candidate and their abilities. The thinking is: If a person has behaved in a certain way in the past, it is very likely that they will tend to behave the same way in the future. It is a different style of interviewing, that many candidates will not be accustomed to, so it is important to brief the candidate about what to expect as the interview gets rolling.
As an interviewer, first review the experience and education of a candidate, then let them know you will next ask some situational questions. It is common to take a few minutes to remember specific examples, let the candidate know this is fine. They should take the time they need, as you will be seeking a specific example that has happened in the past. Also let them know you will be writing down their answers for your reference.
Your goal as an interviewer is to help the candidate tell the whole story. The S.T.A.R. technique reminds you to probe for the specific: Situation, Tactic, Action and Result of their answer. Behavioral interview questions very often start "Can you tell me about a time..." and may finish with "...what did you learn from this situation?". Yes or no questions will undoubtedly give you the answer you want to hear, but won't necessarily be reflective of past experiences. Ensure that the questions you ask cover all the desired qualities a designer needs to excel in your design center.
Some examples:
Communication:
Tell me about a time you were misunderstood by a customer. What was the situation, What did you do? What do you think the problem was? What happened? What was the end result? Did you change anything as a result?
Tell me about a time you had to communicate with someone who had difficulty speaking or understanding your language. What was the situation, what did you do. How was that received? How did you get across or get the information you needed? How could you tell you were successful?
Selling Skills:
Describe a selling situation where you failed to persuade a customer to accept your suggestion. What approach did you try? In hindsight, why didn't it work? What tactic did you change? Have you had an opportunity to test it? What happened as a result?
Service:
Tell me about a time when you were caught short with a customer's changing needs? What was the situation? Why were you caught by surprise? What did you do? How did you redefine the customer's need? How did everything turn out? What did you change as a result of this situation?
Tell me about a customer you satisfied that was 'hard to please'? Why were they hard to please? What tactics did you apply to meet their needs? How do you know if your customers are satisfied?
Problem solving and Decision Making:
Tell me about a time when you had to make a fast decision, without all the information you would have wanted. What was the situation, the decision What things did you take into account? What did you do, and what happened? In hindsight, what would you change? Why?
Stress Management and Flexibility:
Tell me about a very stressful situation you have been through at work? What did you do to manage your stress?
Tell me about a time you had to make a fast change in your approach. What was the situation, and what did you change? What was the result?
Tell me about a time that you championed a change that improved the work environment, processes or results, and others weren't supportive. What was the change, and how did you get others behind your plan?
Role playing:
Role playing is another great way to test the potential of a potential sales team member. Put the candidate out on the floor, in a mock sales situation. Measure their ability to 'think on their feet'. Ask them to pull together 3 recommended combinations of granite, cabinet and flooring to see their design thinking. Have them work with another designer for an hour, and ask for your team's input on their abilities.
Reference Checks:
Many companies are limited in the detail they can provide in reference checks. Some good questions to ask: Would you hire the candidate again? What is their key strength? What is one thing they could improve? What kind of results did the candidate deliver? What motivates them? How do they work with others?
Recruiting, screening and selecting great candidates is one of the most important aspects of your role as a leader. Only a sales focused design team will deliver for you in driving options and upgrades. With the right team, you will be well positioned in this tough business cycle, and very well poised as the market improves. Please contact me for more information or example interview questions on this topic.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The Design Minds at Hearth and Home Blog is geared to support design center staff and new construction industry in selling options and upgrades to the new home consumer. Subscribe for updates. Contact Krisann Parker-Brown for merchandising or marketing support of your design center.
Krisann Parker-Brown is the merchandising manager for Hearth and Home Technologies, the leading manufacturer and retailer of fireplaces and hearth systems. Krisann supports design centers and new construction builders in presenting Heat & Glo, Heatilator and Quadra-Fire hearth systems, and consulting on design center merchandising, point of sale and the consumer experience. Contact her at brownkr@hearthnhome.com or 952-985-6537
