Sales Manager reveals her tips to succeed as International Women's Day approaches
7 March 2018No two days are the same for Diana Stowers, Sales Manager at local independent house builder Devonshire Homes. With over 20 year’s experience in the housing and construction industry, Diana has worked her way up the ladder in what is often considered a heavily male dominated industry.
“I’ve always had an interest in houses and one of my ambitions was to become a manager” said Diana. “I started out as an Occupational Hygienist in the industry. After the birth of my first child, I spotted a part time Sales Executive role near to my home with a national house builder. I had bought and sold a house by then so knew the basic process and thought, I could do that!”.
Diana has achieved career progression through hard work and dedication. “Luckily, I had a fantastic childminder who I trusted completely, allowing me to focus on the job in hand” said Diana. “Whilst working part-time, I was head-hunted to be a full-time Sales Executive. After a few years, I was promoted to Sales Manager. Having worked with large, national housebuilders, a role with Devonshire Homes stood out for me as I like the fact that they are a small local builder with a great product and fantastic customer service at their core.”
“There is no typical day for a Sales Manager in the housing industry” continued Diana who has been in the position at Devonshire Homes for just over 18 months. “The main aim is to enable the team of Sales Executives at Devonshire Homes’ developments to achieve their sales and legal completion targets whilst maintaining excellent customer service. At Devonshire Homes, I assist with enquiries from the Sales Executives, problem solve, amend websites, review legal progressing, liaise with estate agents, lead school visits, quality inspect our new homes and help set up new sales areas and show homes or move finished ones.”
The variety of a sales role always keeps Diana on her toes. Her tips to someone looking to start a career in the housing and construction industry? “Work hard, plan ahead, think carefully about the task at hand, listen well and talk to people! Always do what you say you’re going to do.”
Diana’s tips come just in time for International Women’s Day on Thursday 8th March 2018. The theme for this year is Press for Progress and the day will see people from around the world celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day will also mark a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
“Even though construction is a male dominated industry, there are a huge number of occupations across the sector for women” said Diana. “If she wants to and if she is good enough, there’s no reason why any woman can’t get a job in the construction business.”