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Traveling for work recently, I had dinner with a friend in Houston.
He’s a builder.
His wife is a marketing exec.
They’re managing a family circus.
Four kids.
Six sports.
None old enough to drive.
One young enough to be in diapers.
And a puppy.
The dinner was phenomenal.
I asked how they found time to cook like this.
Meal-kit service, I was told.
Ingredients arrive in a box.
Detailed directions included.
Hmmm.
The Hartmanns of Texas have only one kid left at home, and we’re questioning whether it would be cheaper to apply for a Chick-fil-A franchise.
“Would you recommend it to a friend?” I asked.
Hell no.
Most of the food goes to waste or ends up in scrambled eggs. Between work, sports, and church, they rarely have time to cook.
The good intentions are there.
The time and energy aren’t.
Cooking is still work.
Last week, two sales leaders, roughly 2,000 miles apart, shared the same complaint: AI helped them collect and distribute leads faster.
Converting them into business?
This is where the complaining came in.
“I got one guy sitting on 40 new leads right now,” one said. “I’m ready to kill him.”
I called the rep.
Talk to me, Goose.
What’s happening back there?
“Bro, if he calls me one more time about the leads, I’m gonna egg his house. I’m buried right now. There’s more re-bids now and more haggling. I’m working from 6 am to 9 pm every day just trying to keep up with my existing accounts.”
The leader is ticked.
The salesperson is annoyed.
Meanwhile, a builder is buying from their competitor.
Like the food in my buddy’s fridge, leads have an expiration date.
The job moves forward with or without you.
Leads represent potential sales.
Selling is still work.
The DAM Problem: the Drift to Account Management
When salespeople are confronted with money managementand time management, they reliably choose account management. It’s the fastest, most rejection-free path to getting paid.
This is human nature.
Reps worked hard to land their customers, and they feel obligated to serve them. In doing so, sales reps generate gross profit dollars and commissions.
Neglect those relationships, and customers could leave.
But say a rep does chase a new lead.
He drives 30 minutes out of the way.
And what does the rep see?
Dammit!
They’re already setting first-floor walls.
Can’t get that time back . . .
Lesson learned: Focus on existing customers.
Here’s the tricky part: the DAM Problem—the Drift to Account Management—won’t look like neglect.
It will look like work.
Sellers can stay busy all day without developing tomorrow’s business. So, investigate where your reps’ time goes before forwarding on more leads.
Every week falls into four buckets:
1. Intentional selling
Putting yourself in the path to hear “no.” Converting non-customers or expanding wallet share with existing customers.
2. Account management
Maintaining relationships and existing business. Processing orders. Taking care of what you’ve earned.
3. Customer service
Something went wrong. Whether we caused it or the customer did, we’re investing capital, talent, and time to fix it.
4. ATOS: All The Other Stuff
Literally anything else. I’ll confirm what you already suspect: the ATOS bucket is overflowing. It’s occupying nearly the entire To-Do list.
Time to build a Not-To-Do list.
In doing so, following up on leads becomes an activity that replaces something else, not just one more thing piled on top of everything else.
Three places to start:
1. Examine the week.
Track time across the buckets. What can you stop, simplify, or reassign? Protect time for future prospecting efforts. Need a system? Our Weekly Game Plan gives LBM sales reps a 12-month system, live training every 60 days, and a community of sellers on the same journey.
2. Agree on capacity.
How many leads can this rep actively pursue each week? One? Three? Five? Agree on the commitment and protect the time. Have this conversation long before the count reaches 40.
3. Define follow-through.
Agree on the next step, the deadline, and when an untouched lead gets reassigned. A rep can’t ignore a lead for 30 days, then complain that reassignment takes money out of their pocket.
Psychologists call this loss aversion.
Also human nature.
Prospecting needs consistent attention. If you wait until you need new revenue, you’ve waited too long.
Now, should you use AI to find and distribute leads faster?
Yes.
Absolutely.
If you’re on the GenetiQ ERP platform, this is a snap. Our friends at SalesJack can help too. Hell, you can vibe code your way into Construction Monitor with Claude.
But faster delivery won’t solve the DAM Problem.
My friends wanted better dinners.
Your salespeople want more sales.
Good intentions are the most wasted resource on earth.
Before ordering another box of steak sous vide with shallots—or distributing another batch of cherry leads—make sure someone has time to cook.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll see you back here next week.
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Bradley Hartmann & Co.
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Contact Bradley Hartmann:
bradley@bradleyhartmannandco.com
