With the frenzy for new construction having abated for a while, it's a good time to stop and rethink our mission as sales managers. Sure, the builder wants more sales. So do you. But is that the mission or the by-product of the mission?

What can you do today to be certain that every sale possible is being attained?

Focus on the six basics:

1. Understand your job.

2. Get the best people and never stop looking for more.

3. Help them define their personal goals and endeavors and link those to concrete performance objectives.

4. Set a plan together to facilitate their personal growth.

5. Hold them accountable to that plan every week.

6. Provide training every week.

What is your job?

Is it to manage the sales? Manage the salespeople? Manage the compliance and paperwork? Where do you spend your time and energy?

I believe that in business, the most important function of any supervisor is the growth and development of her subordinates. The relationship is one in which the job becomes the arena through which the individual is developed in the direction of their full potential.

This is important because it should strongly determine the type of individual you seek and how you relate to them after the hire.

Get the best people

New homes sales isn't a job, it's an opportunity, a mini business. Just because there are models and builder-generated traffic doesn't relieve the onsite salesperson of the responsibility to develop additional buyers.

So what do you look for? There will be evidence of their prior achievements. You need people who can set a plan, prepare for it, and implement it. You cannot afford to have passive personalities in these critical positions. They must be on their "A" game everyday by nature or you can't help them.

You won't be in the sales office all of the time, so you want people who do what they are supposed to do when no one is looking because they are internally driven.

Visualize the guy drawing up a football play in the dirt. "Bob, run a deep post-pattern, Larry go down ten yards behind Bob's left hip and cut back across the middle. If Bob isn't open deep, I'm going to you, Larry. On three. Ready! Break!"

Or the nurse in the emergency room after a bad accident, directing triage, calling in staff, and making critical decisions under fire. Law enforcement personnel and emergency responders are in the same league.

Military background is especially conducive. They value training, are conditioned to follow directions yet are highly self-reliant and motivated to succeed.

Never stop raising the bar. The best people want to work in an environment that supports them rising to their full potential. Losers tell you about the obstacles to their success. Winners thrive on obstacles, because they understand that there are no rewards without obstacles and they welcome the challenge of overcoming them.

Always have a list of future candidates who meet your criteria. Don't lower your standard just because you have a slot to fill. Don't be in that position to begin with. Get rid of your worst person every month. They set your standard, not your best.

Devote ample time to your own personal growth and development. You need to set an example of personal growth and effectiveness to lead others there.

Help them define their personal goals

This is a process, not an event. As people grow, their goals change. What motivated them five years ago may not really matter anymore. Going the extra mile, staying an another hour, and calling on a resale office on the way to the site are behaviors that need to be linked to what the salesperson needs and wants from their career and their life.

Some part of every coaching session should be devoted to what is important to the salesperson.

Plan forward for results

Large corporations tend to evaluate their performance at the end of each fiscal year. From this information they chart a new course for the coming year. Neither you nor the salesperson can afford to wait a year. Weekly planning and review allows for 52 course corrections rather than one per year.

Have a weekly accountability session

What gets measured gets done. There is no point having weekly targets and objectives if there is no review. The questions are simple: What did we set out to do? What happened? Why? What should we do about it in the week ahead?

Train every week

You do not need a three hour PowerPoint presentation. Start to collect articles that reflect the message you want your salespeople to experience over and over again. Distribute them via email with the understanding that they will be discussed at the next meeting.

Do they understand equity repositioning, the benefits of second homeownership, 1031 fundamentals, current and future demographics?

Have them each take a topic and break it down for your other salespeople. These are tools that will help them identify more potential buyers and further maximize their potential and create more closings.

Sales managers wind up with a lot of fires to put out. It's easy to get caught up in the urgency of it all. Remember what former President Dwight Eisenhower said, "The urgent is seldom important and the important is seldom urgent."

Always do what is important first and you will have fewer urgencies to deal with. If you get the best people you will have better results with less effort. But if you fail to help them grow through their relationship with you, you won't keep them.