Turning Chaos into Harmony: The Rolling Stones’ Lessons for Stone Fabricators

By Tim Saddoris, president of Grand Onyx

OK, my stone fabricator friends, let’s start with a story about the Rolling Stones.

It was the summer of 1971 in the basement of Keith Richards’ villa in France. The Stones were recording their double album, “Exile on Main Street,” and Mick Jagger was managing the sessions. The studio itself — if you could call it that — was a mess. Cables everywhere, equipment that wasn’t functioning properly and general confusion among the group. Mick handled the scheduling, but it was like herding cats.

In his book Exile on Main St.: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones, Robert Greenfield wrote that as much as Mick tried to keep things on track, the situation quickly got out of hand. Besides ongoing tech problems, the band members were wandering in and out, celebrities and others interrupted constantly and planned sessions turned into jam parties. More than a few drugs may have been involved. Mick Jagger may be one of the greatest showmen in rock ’n’ roll history, but he struggled mightily with project management.

What’s this got to do with the stone fabrication business?

Consider this: you’ve got a great salesperson who can drive sales. But you’ve got them doing project management, which may or may not be in their skill set. Even if it is, is it really the best use of their time to manage aspects of projects, rather than selling?

In many fab shops, we find sales teams chasing customers for faucet details or when cabinets will be installed. They’re chasing cabinet install dates when they should be chasing sales!

Salespeople Are Your Rock Stars

Salespeople need to close the deal, get a signed contract and deposit and make sure that the project dimensions are correct. Let them do what they do best. Your business cannot afford to tie up your rock stars on the details if you want to supercharge your revenue.

Like lead singers, some of your salespeople will have a bit of an ego. It’s often that ego that drives them to succeed. They typically thrive on building personal relationships and leveraging emotions. It’s these skills that guide customers and build trust, ultimately allowing them to close deals. On the flip side, some of the best sales stars are not detail oriented. They’ll often overlook the fine details in pursuit of the next sale and make emotional decisions that impact your efficiency and profitability.

Here’s the real problem: Sales is a special skill and not everybody can do it. That’s why your best salespeople are among your most valuable assets. True superstars are hard to find.

The Chaos of Role Switching

As Jim Collins said in his book “Good to Great,” the key to success in business is “getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats.”

When you align employees with their skills, you get the best results. To do otherwise can not only cost you sales, but it can cost you employees.

Back to the Stones: During the 1980s, Mick Jagger decided to focus more on his solo career. According to Keith Richards’ book “Life,” Mick’s managerial decisions had led to significant friction. Keith felt that Mick was neglecting the Stones and causing a rift that almost destroyed the band.

People playing out of position often create chaos. Salespeople, trying to ensure happy customers, may run in and try to change up the saw schedule for one of their customers, without understanding the impact it has on other projects and creating confusion and frustration for other team members.

Chaos impacts everyone downstream. It produces burnout and turnover. For a high-performing team, chaos is a surefire way to shift the focus from delivering results to updating a resume.

Project Managers Bring Order to the Madness

Behind the scenes, project managers are the unsung heroes who keep things running smoothly and enable your sales team to do what they do best: sell.

The band manager is the one to worry about scheduling, logistics, coordination, and problem-solving so the band can just show up and play. Now, I’m sure that Mick and the boys convinced their band manager to make concessions to visit a special girl or two (or plug-in-any-number-you-want) but leave that part up to the salesperson and the project manager to work out on their own.

In stone fabrication, project managers standardize processes, collect the critical information you need and maintain order amid the chaos. They create the consistency you need, solve problems as they arise and focus on meeting your goals. Their decisions are not made emotionally. They operate methodically to ensure jobs go well and balance workflow to prioritize efficiency and profitability — eliminating chaos and reducing the burden on sales teams.

Key Steps to Building Rock-Solid Project Management

So, how do we get from where we are today to accelerate growth? Start with these three steps.

1. Assess and Acknowledge the Issue

The first step in solving any problem is to recognize it. Business owners should evaluate their current processes to identify system bottlenecks that hurt efficiency. You need to evaluate whether your salespeople are overextended and whether they are spending the right amount of time with sales activities rather than logistics.

A time audit can help. Have your salespeople track their activities for a week or two. You might be shocked at how little time they’re spending actually pursuing leads or selling. If they’re spending more time on non-sales-related activities, it’s time for a change.

Another telltale sign is when orders go to production without adequate information. This creates additional work for everyone and just adds to the chaos. If you see this consistently, it’s definitely time for a project manager.

2. Implement Project Management Systems

If you don’t already have a system like Moraware, Stone App or ActionFlow, now is when you need it the most. These tools help you streamline estimates and operations, build quotes, create accurate estimates and track jobs.

The Project Manager is the perfect person to take on this role, step up your systems and manage the process for you. They can also take the lead on any training you need to make sure everyone knows their roles and what they need to do at each step in the process.

3. Align Roles with Strengths

By letting the project manager focus on the logistics, you’re letting your salespeople focus on sales. They can spend time building trust, understanding customer needs and closing deals. A focused approach can generate increased sales and happier customers. Guess what? Your salespeople will be happier, too. They’ll have less worry about the details (and they’ll be making more money on commissions).

Your project manager will also handle the logistics more efficiently and ensure nothing gets overlooked. This efficient workflow keeps everything on schedule and eliminates many of the problems that impact jobs.

When you do these three steps and implement them, you will see significant benefits:

• Increased lead-nurturing and closed deals.

• Smoother project execution, reducing delays and errors.

• Enhanced customer satisfaction.

• Reduced stress, burnout and turnover.

A More Harmonious Business

Just as the band manager keeps the band on stage and earning, project managers help sales teams shine, creating a more harmonious business. A well-run business can be like that legendary band that delivers flawless performances night after night and creates loyal fans.

The Rolling Stones may not get any satisfaction, but you can. We can help.

Tim Saddoris is the president of Grand Onyx. a firm dedicated to helping stone fabricators increase their revenue by 30% to 300% using proven techniques and a World Class Blueprint System to help you build a more profitable, scalable business. They help companies refine their sales process, uncover insights about better ways to sell and coach sales teams for greater success. Learn how Grand Onyx can help your business grow at www.grandonyx.pro.