Hiring a Showroom Manager Is Not Easy

Half of the sales managers hired by the 100 largest manufacturing companies do not last more than three years. For large companies with dedicated HR teams and well-defined recruitment processes, that statistic points to one of two reasons. Either effective sales managers are difficult to hire or the hiring process for sales managers is broken (or maybe this is due to a combination of both). 

 

Most decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms don’t have dedicated HR teams that are responsible for attracting, vetting and retaining best-in-class talent. The hiring process is typically delegated to the owner. If you have a sales team, they need to be managed and that responsibility is typically assigned to the showroom manager. 

 

The key to hiring an effective showroom manager or sales manager involves the following:

 

• Profiling: identifying the characteristics and skill sets the showroom manager needs.
• Selecting: properly vetting candidates and selecting the person who best fits the corporate culture and profile.
• Attracting: making offers that qualified candidates can’t refuse.
• Integrating: Avoid throwing your new manager in the deep end. Help your new manager get off to a strong start.

 

Developing the profile should include an evaluation of a candidate’s ability to learn, grow and adapt to a new position and situations. These abilities are actually more important than experience and skill set.

 

If you hire an entrepreneurial showroom manager to operate a business that is process driven and autocratic in its decision making, you will be mixing oil with water. It just won’t work. The hiring process needs to account for your corporate culture and whether or not the person retained to run your day-to-day operations will fit in that culture.

 

Ed Ryan told DPHA members at a past Conference they should never hire the tallest pygmy. Don’t settle for anyone except the ideal candidate. And the way to ensure that your candidate is ideal is through a rigorous interviewing and vetting process. Remember, you are not the only one doing the evaluating. Your candidate is evaluating your showroom and determining if it is the right fit for them as well. You can’t determine if a candidate is the right fit from just one interview. 

 

The final piece of the successful hiring puzzle is to effectively onboard your new showroom manager. Integrating the new manager into your showroom operations is a multi-tasked effort that needs to include introductions to the entire team, key clients and others in your organization who can help the new manager learn the ropes of the business.