Justin Shaw

Stone Fabricator Elite

As a shop owner or sales manager, you know that having a team of effective salespeople is crucial to your business’s success. However, not all salespeople are created equal, and some may struggle to move beyond simply taking orders and into more proactive, results-driven sales roles. 

In this article, we will explore how stone fabricators can turn order takers into effective salespeople, highlighting a few of the proven strategies we regularly use with our stone fab clients.

Before we begin, let’s discuss the real problem. People often end up in a sales role without formal or comprehensive training. This issue worsens when these salespeople join a new company and receive limited onboarding, education, or development to support their new role.

Without proper training and support, salespeople may struggle to understand the expectations and goals of their role. They may not possess the habits or discipline to effectively manage their time, and close deals that require more effort and persistence.

Having ineffective salespeople or order takers on the team can have a significant (negative) impact on a stone fabrication business. Some potential consequences include:


GrowthReduced revenue: Underperforming salespeople may struggle to close deals and generate new business, leading to reduced revenue and missed sales targets for the company. It’s hard to scale shop sales with a team of order takers.


Increased cost: Besides being a burden on the company’s payroll, these reps can add costs in other areas. For example, there’s a drain on your bottom line when salespeople can’t close deals at a high rate. This can cause an increase in marketing and advertising costs as the company tries to fill the sales gap with more opportunities and leads.


Decreased efficiency: Order takers typically underutilize their time and poorly execute tasks, reducing efficiency and productivity. If you’re in this situation, you know all too well how your business ends up taking the hit from this.

Here are three proven strategies you can use to turn an “order taker” into a more effective sales pro.


1. Focus on the Biggest Levers and “Low-Hanging Fruit”

Running a shop requires a massive amount of oversight. With that in mind, we recommend focusing on the biggest levers and low-hanging fruit in sales—because it allows you to make the most impact while requiring little time, energy, and resources. By zeroing in on these activities, you can maximize your results and achieve your goals more efficiently.

 To do this, start by identifying the main weaknesses of your team. Make a short list of the top three areas that will impact your business and sales most when improved. These might be things like turning around bids/quotes in less time, increasing your win rate on these quotes, or enhancing prospect engagement frequency or quality.

Once you have identified these key areas, start with the low-hanging fruit – the things that are easiest to solve. These simple fixes can have a big impact, like improving the follow-up process after a quote is sent out. Your team can significantly increase their win rate and boost revenue by consistently following up with potential customers, even with just an extra two touches.

Remember, starting with the low-hanging fruit is important so your team can build momentum and see quick wins. These wins can boost their confidence and drive them to tackle more challenging issues in the future. Focusing on the biggest levers and low-hanging fruit can make the most impact and drive real results for your business.


2. Put Simple Systems in Place

Putting simple systems in place to ensure your high-impact sales activities are consistently executed is the key to success here. Systems may vary from shop to shop, but we recommend, at a minimum, you have: 

  • A proper CRM to organize your sales pipeline

  • Clearly outlined and tracked daily sales activities

  • Basic accountability measures


Getting all of these items in place will take a bit of time and effort. But I want to share an example of the type of tactics you can implement quickly and easily.


Here’s a simple system—Weekly Sales Sprint—that we use with our clients to address the issue of poor follow-up and deal nurturing:

Every Tuesday morning, we host a sales sprint, which is a short intensive session where we focus on activities to maintain a healthy sales pipeline and guarantee follow-up happens consistently.

To start the session, reps audit their sales pipeline, making sure nothing slips through the cracks.

Then the reps set tasks for the week to nurture and move deals forward.

To wrap the sprint, all reps hit the phones for 20 minutes to follow up with potential customers.

Our clients have gained a substantial improvement in their overall win rate using this method. Sales are up, and the sales reps feel more capable and motivated.

How can you implement systems like this?


3. Use Time Blocking

Time blocking is one of the most effective ways to bring consistency to your sales activities. By dividing your day into blocks of time and allocating specific tasks or activities to each block, you can stay focused and avoid distractions, prioritize your tasks, and manage your team’s time more effectively.

Here are three steps to implement a time block for follow-up.

  • Block off time in your calendar (daily, at the same time) Block off time for follow-up with your team, starting at 30 minutes per day.

  • Lead the sessions: Being present and leading this session will demonstrate your investment in your team’s success and encourage them to adopt other successful practices.

  • Be consistent: The habit of setting aside this time will lead to significant improvements and compounded results. The small investment of time and effort will pay off with outsized returns for you and your team. Through consistency, your sales team will also experience how these simple strategies make such a difference, and will be more receptive to other practices you want the team to adopt.


Finally, I’ll leave you with this: aim for progress, NOT perfection. Your first goal should be to develop the habits that create the behaviors needed to perform at a high level.

Here’s to your continued success!

P.S. If you’re thinking, “This all makes sense, but Justin, I am way too busy to implement something like this,” you may be interested in learning about the Stone Fabricator Elite Sales Sidekick Program. Through this breakthrough program, we help stone fabricators take their businesses to the next level by providing managed business development, sales support, and oversight.


Justin Shaw is the Founder of Stone Fabricator Elite. Through their flagship program and dedicated team of Sales Sidekicks, they help fabricators systemize their sales and grow their businesses more easily. To learn more, visit stonefabricatorelite.com, or email the author at justin@stonefabricatorelite.com .