You Can Skyrocket Your Organization’s Revenue by Mastering These Concepts

The following is adapted from Building an Elite Organization by Don Wenner.

The first time we told our team members we were targeting a 28 percent increase in productivity for the year, they thought we were crazy. Management was bombarded with questions from team members:

How can we become 28 percent more productive?

I’m already working fifty or sixty hours a week. How am I possibly going to become almost 30 percent more productive?

We understood this reaction, but we also believed that together we could make this happen. And you can do it too. Sure, you may choose a different goal, but the point is you can skyrocket your organization’s productivity, or revenue, using the same concepts we did: training every one of our team members to consider how they can drive revenue and increase productivity and incentivizing them to do so.

Understanding How to Drive Revenue and Productivity

Every one of our team members — from our service techs to our receptionists to our accountants — understand how they can help drive revenue, find opportunities, garner repeat business, and collect money due to us. In addition, we teach every team member how they can cut expenses.

We also measure productivity per person (PPP), then show them how their roles are directly tied to increasing PPP. We encourage team members to continuously consider how finding new vendors, renegotiating with vendors, cutting waste, and getting more done with less people can help with efficiency and execution.

By rallying our team members behind increasing productivity and faithfully tracking it every month, increasing productivity now drives each team member’s individual decisions. It literally has changed the way our team members view and perform in their jobs.

Focus on Increasing PPP

For example, let’s say every member of a five-person team feels overworked and overwhelmed. The typical response in most organizations is for those five team members to lobby for the hiring of a sixth team member to help ease the pressure.

But if you have a culture where the focus is on increasing the company’s overall PPP, that team’s going to be thinking, “Well, if we add another person, that’s going to decrease our productivity by 15 or 20 percent.” Instead, they’re going to work to find ways to increase their efficiencies. They will look for ways to drive the process better, to leverage technology, to maximize effort in more effective ways.

Boost Productivity Using Incentives Beyond Money

We have found ways to tie increased productivity to more money for our team members. But that’s not the only incentive we use to encourage them to increase productivity. We also found ways to enhance team member engagement while appealing to their good hearts and desire to give back to the community.

Our company, DLP Real Estate Capital, runs a nonprofit foundation called the DLP Positive Returns Foundation. We focus on helping people dream bigger, live better, and choose prosperity. The focus is centered on education, jobs, and affordable housing.

Many of our team members and I share a passion for these causes. When thinking about how to get team members excited about productivity while also promoting better overall team member engagement, we came up with the idea of layering in contributions to the foundation on behalf of the team members.

Depending on the percentage of PPP realized, the company increases its donation to the foundation on behalf of our team members. The closer we get to the goal, the more money we donate to the foundation.

If we hit the goal I described above of a 28 percent PPP increase, at the end of the year, the company will donate an additional $50,000 to the foundation on behalf of our team members. This is in addition to DLP’s giving policy, which is 1 percent of our time, ¼ percent of all of our net revenue, and ¼ percent of all capital we raise.

Make Productivity a Source of Pride

Increasing the company’s productivity has become a source of pride for our team members. Their commitment truly makes an impact on the lives of many who are in need of a hand up.

Interested team members can even join a charity committee to help run the foundation and direct where the money goes. Coming together to pursue the greater good motivates our team members and propels us all to do our best to reach our goals.

When you can get your organization behind and focused on driving productivity and it enters your collective consciousness, your team can accomplish tremendous feats. The compounding effect can be mind-boggling.

For more advice on increasing productivity and revenue in your organization, you can find ​Building an Elite Organization on Amazon.

Don Wenner is the Founder and CEO of DLP Real Estate Capital, a leader in real estate investing, private direct lending, construction, management, and sales. DLP has been ranked as an Inc. 5,000 Fastest-Growing US company for eight consecutive years, with an average three-year-growth rate exceeding 400 percent and more than $1 billion in assets. Named one of the top fifteen real estate professionals by REAL Trends and The Wall Street Journal​ for seven years straight, Don has closed more than $4 billion in real estate transactions. He resides in St. Augustine, Florida, with his wife and two sons.