Job Description

About the Company

Todd’s Services Inc. (TSI) is seeking a dynamic, strategic, and hands-on Design and Sales Manager to lead our landscape design and sales departments. This critical leadership role sits at the intersection of business growth, client experience, design integrity, and operational excellence. The ideal candidate is a team-oriented leader who excels in mentoring sales personnel, optimizing team performance, navigating complex client relationships, and establishing high standards in design and site solutions that prioritize integrity, longevity, and aesthetics, alongside accurate site diagnostics.

About the Role

As the Design and Sales Manager, you will be responsible for driving departmental success across five core pillars: people leadership, business strategy and forecasting, customer relations, sales coaching, and construction/estimating oversight.

Responsibilities

People Leadership & Team Management

Team Development: Direct, support, and supervise the design and sales teams, fostering a highly collaborative and supportive culture where team members are motivated to succeed.
Conflict Resolution & Mediation: Act as a uniter, not a divider, when resolving internal and external conflicts. Take a "people-first" approach to mediate team dynamics and address performance challenges, including cross-departmental collaboration with field staff and other operational teams.
Time Management & Process Efficiency: Support sales representatives in mastering time management, optimizing daily workflows, and overcoming process bottlenecks to maximize productivity. Review Design and Sales related SOP’s to ensure maximum productivity, making adjustments when needed.
Design/Sales Meetings: Regularly facilitate and lead productive design and sales meetings to align the team on current priorities, specific team growth needs, and share key insights.
1-on-1 Check-ins: Conduct weekly 1-on-1 meetings with each team member to support their ongoing development and performance.
Weekly Manager Meetings: Attend weekly manager meetings to report team updates, identify big-picture needs, and contribute to the company's overall goals and strategy.

Business Strategy, Marketing, and Forecasting

Sales Forecasting & Planning: Develop and execute strategic sales plans, analyzing historical trends to provide accurate business forecasting and volume goals.
Market Alignment: Collaborate with marketing teams to align lead generation campaigns with sales goals, ensuring a steady pipeline of high-quality opportunities.
Operational Performance Review: Regularly assess departmental metrics to identify areas of improvement and ensure alignment with the company’s big-picture financial objectives.
Lead Screening Oversight: Oversee administrative screening of incoming leads to ensure maximum capture of qualified opportunities while efficiently filtering out unfit leads. Work closely with admins to coach and adjust SOP’s as needed.
Gross Margin Performance Review: Regularly review and identify gross margin results for each team member to track positive trends and proactively address and improve any underperforming trends identified.

Client Relations & Escalation Management

Client Advocacy: Ensure client satisfaction by managing communication transparently, establishing clear expectations, and serving as the primary point of contact for complex escalations.
Boundary Enforcement: Serve as a key liaison for client communication and manage project escalations as needed, while maintaining an environment where direct communication between clients and field crews is generally encouraged.
Dispute Resolution: Handle difficult customer conversations with professionalism, maintaining brand integrity while reaching mutually beneficial solutions.

Sales Coaching & Mentorship

Skill Mentoring: Conduct ongoing coaching sessions with sales representatives, focusing on lead qualification, value-based selling, and confidence in presenting high-value estimates and designs.
Client Qualification Training: Teach sales representatives how to effectively qualify leads, helping the team discern which opportunities fit our ideal client profile and which should be respectfully declined.
Performance Diagnostics: Analyze representative sales funnels (e.g., lead quality, pricing structure, design workload) to diagnose and address individual performance gaps.
Design Fee & Sales Strategy: Track, oversee, and train the team on design fees, including how and when to sell designs, pricing strategies, and determining when to charge versus when to go straight to quoting
Performance Analytics: Conduct deep dive analytics to evaluate each team member's performance, specifically identifying individual strengths, weaknesses, and development opportunities.
Personalized Coaching & Motivation: Proactively discover each team member's personal goals and understand their unique personality traits to tailor motivational tools and leadership approaches that maximize their individual success.

Construction, Estimating, & Technical Operations

Estimating & Bid Accuracy: Review estimates, proposals, and contracts to ensure accurate pricing, site condition considerations, and scope definitions.
On-Site Engagement: Encourage and guide sales representatives to spend meaningful time on-site, improving their practical understanding of site conditions, construction techniques, and project feasibility.
Operations & Field Collaboration: Establish trust and seamless communication between sales/design teams and field production crews. Lead initiatives to ensure that projects are bid accurately and constructed to standard.
Product & Material Lifecycle Management: Stay on top of new and discontinued products, ensuring literature, samples, and display materials are continuously updated to reflect these changes.
CAD Department Alignment & Design Oversight: Collaborate with the CAD department to maintain strong design oversight alignment, refine SOPs as needed, enforce consistent design basics, enhance deliverable quality, and implement up-to-date software solutions to maximize team efficiencies and the overall customer experience.
Sales Quota: Assist with sales overflow and meet/exceed agreed upon annual quota.
Miscellaneous: Additional tasks as assigned by the VP of Sales and Design.

Key Training Initiatives

Cross-Departmental Training: Design and execute structured joint training programs during the winter season to align the sales team and production crews, ensuring both sides understand each other's processes and constraints while ensuring consistent practices with all other branches.
Special Training Events: Identify and select budget-approved industry training opportunities for design and sales team members to support continuing education and product knowledge development.
Annual In-House Events: Organize at least one major internal training event annually focused on advanced product training, subcontractor presentations, and team development alongside regular training meetings.

Qualifications

Experience: 5+ years of experience in landscape construction, design, or estimating, with at least 2–3 years in a direct sales management or team leadership role.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture, Horticulture, Business Management, or a related field (preferred but not required; equivalent practical experience valued).
Leadership Style: A "team-first" leader who derives satisfaction from seeing others succeed.
High emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and resilience in high-pressure or financially sensitive situations.
Technical Skills: Deep understanding of landscape estimating, design principles, site conditions, and commercial bidding processes
Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a proven ability to coordinate between diverse internal teams and external clients.

Todd's Services Inc

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