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Office Manager Myths
As I write this (just in case the economy fails before it is published!), money in remodeling is easy to come by. If you are not making money now, you don't know how to. It is time that is in critically short supply for company owners. Yet many owners overlook — or underutilize — a staff person who can be of major assistance in maximizing their time. That person is an Office Manager.
Some remodelers are victims of certain myths about the Office Manager function. Here are three of the ways I see remodelers negate the potential impact this person could have on their own time management:
The "Why would I need office help?" myth: Some remodelers just refuse to hire an office manager. After all, this is an overhead person and why would you add to your overhead? Take my experienced advice. If your company is over $400,000 in volume, you need someone helping you in the office. Otherwise you are doing $7 an hour work (running to the office supply store for copy paper or copies), $12 an hour work (word processing the contract you plan to present tonight), along with your $50 an hour work (estimating and selling the next project). And you are shorting the $50 an hour work.
The "My spouse has volunteered to help me when not busy with his/her job and taking care of the four kids we have" myth: This scenario also leaves you doing work valued at $7-$50 an hour. If a professional Office Manager would free you for more hours in which to sell, to production manage, couldn't you earn more than enough for a professional office manager's salary while doing work you enjoy? And wouldn't you prefer to have someone work for you with a true employer/employee relationship? And wouldn't your spouse prefer to use their time differently? Often, your spouse cannot commit to the right number of hours that you need when you need them and often they don't have the right skills to be a top office manager. So drop the masquerade and hire a real manager.
The "What does the office girl need to know anyway? Why not hire cheap?" approach to office management. If you routinely use the word "girl" to describe anyone over 18, please stop now. You want a professional who can write up requests for insurance proposals, choose your next accounting software, find a great subcontractor agreement form, take your ideas to the next level and return to you with even more than you thought you wanted. Why are you settling for less?
As your company grows into a need for its first Office Manager, I recommend that you combine the job with the concept of Executive Assistant. This hire can act as your sales and production assistant when there is time left from bookkeeping and answering phones, and managing all the details that act to hold the company together in an organized form. Then, as your company grows, your Office Manager will need more and more time for their prime function and will have less time to be your assistant.
At a recent meeting of a number of successful remodelers, there was much talk of the benefits of the best of the Office Managers and the pitfalls of having poor aptitude, or worse poor attitude, in this position. One word that kept coming up was "disciplinarian."
In many companies, the successful Office Manager is an enforcer who monitors that the agreed-upon systems are followed. These systems may involve when and how time cards are filled out, the paperwork that must be transferred from sales to production, the proper handling of lead tracking, setting up and following up on sales appointments, and much, much more.
So if you see yourself in any of the above myths, rethink this valuable staff position. A top Office Manager might be the top solution for which you've been searching.
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Official Charity of 2008
Remodelers Advantage Inc.
535 Main Street, Suite 211
Laurel, MD 20707
ofc: 301-490-5620
fax: 301-498-6869
Info@RemodelersAdvantage.com