In the world of sales, there are often no right answers. What would you do in this tough sales situation? Make the call below, and see instantly how your judgment compares. Final results will appear in LBM Journal. Be sure to check back next month for a fresh Tough Call.

Tough Call - Dangerously lean

It seems obvious to you that you need to start to staff-up, but Jeb has made clear that he’s the boss— and he intends to stay lean as long as possible. What would you do?

As your employer’s name implies, Generations Lumberis the exact opposite of anunderfunded startup. In fact, when Jebediah Generations established a sawmill and lumberyard on the company’s existing site back in 1880, that business served as the cornerstone for the community that grew up around it. In the years that have passed, Generations Lumber has stood the test of time. Thanks in art to conservative management from the Generations family, there were always ample financial reserves to make it through economic challenges—including the Great Depression.

Having spent your career at Generations Lumber, climbing your way fromyard worker to operations, then inside and finally outside sales, you’ve always appreciated the family’s approach to business, and never doubted that the company would be going until long after you retired.  Until recently, that is.

When homebuilding in your market took a real hit, your company stayed the course. “It’s just a blip on the radar,” said Jebediah the fourth (aka Jeb). “This’ll pass, and everything will continue along.”  That was 2008. By 2010, and the market still hadn’t rebounded, Jeb took a fresh look and decided that it might be good to trim some fat. The cuts that followed focused on personnel—mostly inside support positions. This made sense at the time, because there were few sales to support. But as time rolled on and as business started picking up, chairs for the support personnel have stayed vacant. 

As Jeb knew it would, your market is finally experiencing a solid rebound.  This is great…but it’d be that much better if your company had the support staff in place to support your sales efforts. In a scenario that’s happening more and more, you’re coming in earlier to coordinate deliveries, and staying later to work on take-offs. You don’t begrudge Jeb wanting to save the company money, but you believe that running so lean when demand is picking up has become counter-productive—for you and for the company’s bottom line.

In fact, since one competitor shut their doors at the end of 2010, you think that Generations Lumber has a golden opportunity right now to grab market share—but that won’t happen without the necessary staff in place. Meanwhile, Jeb is applauding you and your fellow associates for delivering higher sales per employee than he’s ever seen. You don’t see this changing anytime soon—despite the fact that a new competitor has made no secret of their plan to relieve you of some key accounts. It seems obvious to you that you need to start to staff-up, but Jeb has made clear that he’s the boss— and he intends to stay lean as long as possible. What would you do?

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