“Hey Marty, how much revenue should we be at before we hire another salesperson?”

This has, quite possibly, been the most-asked question this year, its only competition being “What are you doing to keep your crews staffed?” As companies around the country have grown rapidly, many owners and leaders have found themselves in uncharted territory.

Often, this question then becomes an issue of the chicken or the egg: Do you hire someone and then expect them to help you grow to the next level, or do you wait until you have the revenue to support that position and then hire someone to take pressure off your existing team members?

Find the right person

In my opinion, for sales positions especially, it’s most important to find the right person for the role and then hire them, whether that is before or after you see growth. With added firepower, if they’re the right hire, they’ll help you grow and quickly make the investment worth it for the whole team. If you’ve already grown, they’ll immediately add value by taking some work off your existing team’s plate.

Either way, set your new salespeople up for success by properly onboarding and having realistic expectations. Even an experienced salesperson will need some time and training to understand the processes and expectations at your company.

This year at Grunder Landscaping, we added salespeople to our team months before we were forecasted to need them, then we found the work for them. This allowed the salesperson to get up to speed on our company culture, the work we do and to shadow other salespeople before we needed them to be out meeting with clients and building their own book of clients.

Outsource when necessary

Outside of sales, if you’re looking to add overhead positions and wondering if it’s time yet, the situation is a little different. For these business functions, there are options to outsource the work and rely on subcontractors that can help you get the work done without adding a full-time employee. At Grunder Landscaping, we will do about $9 million in revenue this year. This is what our in-house office team looks like:

• A talent acquisition manager who primarily focuses on recruiting, job functions and HR compliance.
• An accounting manager who manages daily and monthly financial transactions.
• An administrative assistant who answers the phone, manages the office and assists with keeping our efforts organized internally and externally.

Aside from our in-house team, we also rely on our other company, The Grow Group, to fill needs. Vince Torchia, vice president, plays a role in overseeing the financial performance and coaching our leadership team, while Emily Lindley does our marketing. Just like we do on the production side of our business, we rely on subcontractors to help us get everything done.

At GROW! 2023 in San Antonio, Texas, from Feb. 28 to March 2, we’ll have a breakout session where we’ll talk in-depth about what a company’s org chart should look like and the next hire you should make. Have you signed up to join us yet? I would love to see you in Texas. Learn more about what we have planned and register at: GrowGroupInc.com/Grow-2023.