No one saw it coming. Last summer’s build up to the
referendum saw a happy, healthy and profitable market, with new homes sales
ticking over and targets being broken on a weekly basis. Pipelines organically
increased and many developers continued plans of rapid growth.
The morning of 24th June came as a huge political and
economic thud and with this, the house building industry crashed to a dramatic
standstill. PLC’s shares plummeted, Stirling fell and purchasers began to get
nervous. Many investors pulled out of bulk deals and our clients saw sales
pipelines come tumbling apart. Boards went into panic mode and plans to grow
were put on hold for the foreseeable future. However, amidst the uncertainly
and chaos within the market, the reality of the job never disappeared -
developers still had to sell and the pressure was on sales staff to make up
numbers in what was potentially the biggest market scare since 2008.
I’ve always felt the role of a Sales Manager is somewhat
overlooked and simplified at times to ‘someone who just sells houses’. This
couldn’t be further from the reality – sales is so much more than what the
title suggests. Without sales staff, the end goal of a developer would not be
achieved.
A regional MD of Redrow once told me ‘sales staff are arguably
the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to profitability’. They
are the face of the company and are expected to consistently deliver and uphold
exceptionally high levels of service at all times. They act as the lynch pin
internally between departments, often keeping boards and senior management
aware of sales activity on site, delivering market research and producing high
level reports. Sales Managers are often tasked with leading and motivating
large teams of site sales staff across diverse and large regions (with no one
site posing the same challenge!). Externally, they manage relationships with
agents, marketing, and PR firms and probably, most importantly, on-board and
see the customer through from initial enquiry to completion.
Naturally, there were casualties over the summer period, but
the majority of housebuilders rolled their sleeves up and got on with the task
at hand. Sales Managers had to think on their feet – how do we make up for the
deficit after the summers losses, whilst continuing to secure business for the
future? Many saw the weak pound as an opportunity to attract a different type
of overseas investor, whilst others focused more on home grown sales as a route
to profit. ‘We had a very difficult summer’ one Sales Manager at Barratt told
me ‘London had come to a halt and deals were dropping out left right and center. We had to change strategy and quickly adapt for something we had no
plans for’. The gamble paid off, however and brilliantly, after the initial
disruption of the referendum, many of our clients managed to claw back sales,
with some actually managing to increase the profit margins on the unit sales
initially lost. By Christmas it was business as usual - share prices slowly
crept back up and buyers returned to the market.
The general consensus has been that time really is the
greatest healer. ‘Once the economy proved its resilience and Stirling regained
its strength post-Brexit, faith was once again restored and purchasers flooded
back’ a Sales Director from Crest Nicholson commented. ‘This, of course,
coupled with sales staff staying positive, committed and focused; and by
adapting to the sudden change as well as managing customer and client
expectations, developers yielded some excellent end of year results’.
The market only appears to be going from strength to
strength and 2017 looks to be a very positive year. Its only mid-January and
clients are reporting pipelines have been rebuilt, completions are at record
high for some and many are still looking to grow in the next 12 months, opening
new regions with plans to attract the industries best talent. ‘We have learnt a
lot from last summer and if anything, have improved our internal operations as
a result of Brexit’ a source from Berkeley Homes, told me ‘most importantly,
our staff showed great loyalty through a time of uncertainty and sales team
continued to give a best in class service, even when the sky began to fall
around them’.
Of course, I have a great bias towards sales staff (after
all, they are who I recruit day in day out!), but the industry as a whole
should be exceptionally proud of the resilience and determination shown during
a period of instability. The results from 2016 prove that construction is one
of the strongest and most robust industries in the UK market and long may its
growth continue.