Building Materials Sales & Marketing

I interview Shane Parr, Managing Director of TGP Investments about what investors look for when they invest in building materials companies. Shane has successfully invested in and grown a number of building materials companies including DaVinci Roofing.

Brian Baker and I discuss what we have learned about dealer locators and how they can help or hurt your sales.

I interview Scott Richardson, President and CEO of RevBase a digital asset management software company. I learned a lot about how building materials companies are using digital asset management to grow their business, save employee time and reduce costs.

The dealer locators that most building materials companies are using are not keeping up with demands of today's customers. Learn how new locator technologies can grow your business.

The pandemic has put a lot of stress on the building materials industry. Many manufacturers are not handling that stress very well. This is creating an opportunity for competitors to gain new customers when they have product to sell.

Melanie Towey an EOS consultant and coach joins me to discuss how EOS can help small to medium sized building materials companies outperform the competition. You can learn more about her at https://www.bymelanieanne.com/  

This is the third in a series of podcasts I did with Mark Allen Roberts from OTB Sales Solutions on selling. There are four types of sales people in building materials, the Hunter, the Fisherman, the Farmer and the Babysitter. In this episode we describe the Farmer and the Babysitter.

Kevin Dean of Manobyte joins me in a discussion on the importance of selling your customer's customers. We also discuss how digital marketing and data can help you to reach your customer's customers.

There are different roles in building materials sales. There is the Hunter, the Farmer, the Fisherman and the Babysitter. The last episode was about the newest type of sales person, the Fisherman. This week is about the Hunter. Mark Allen Roberts of OTB Solutions joins me again to discuss the role of the Hunter.

We are used to thinking of building materials sales people as hunters or farmers. We now have two more types of sales people, the babysitter and the fisherman. Mark Allen Roberts from OTB Solutions joins me to discuss the fisherman.

Mark Mitchell interviews Brad Rollo, CEO and Co-founder of GoFor Delivers, a leading provider of delivery services to the building materials industry. We discuss the benefits of outsourcing jobsite deliveries as a way to create a better customer experience and lower costs.

Carolina Albano of howtojobsite.com and industruct.com takes us through the importance of jobiste visits and how to do them correctly.  Jobsite visits can help you to grow your sales and to keep you from losing sales to value engineering.

I interview Alison Raes, founder of the ILA Marketing Group and Katabatic Manufacturing. ILA is an independent rep firm that represents a number of US manufacturers in Canada. Katabatic is a Canadian based manufacturer of construction adhesives. Alison has helped a number of building materials companies to grow their sales in Canada. In this episode, Alison shares the most important things you need to do to be successful in Canada.

Building materials dealers and distributors should consider the real costs of operating their own delivery service. To reduce unnecessary costs and keep them focused on the most important parts of their business, they should explore outsourcing their delivery. Go Four Delivers has the experience and capabilities to meet the needs of the building materials industry.

Successfully launching new is very difficult. Even the best companies don't always succeed. The building materials industry is not very good at launching new products because they develop new products very often. I interview David Daniels from Brainkraft, an expert in new product launches about what it takes to successfully launch a new building materials product.

I interview Brian Baker, who was previously Senior Manager for Digital Strategy at GAF We discuss the history and future of digital marketing. We also discuss how building materials companies can make best use of digital marketing.

I interview Chris Jarvis, Director of Logistics, GoFor Delivers that has been improving the delivery experience of building materials dealers and distributors while lowering their costs.

I interview, Simon The Uneducated Economist who works in a lumber yard. He shares his experiences on how building materials companies can be more successful with lumber dealers.

If you have thought about having a podcast for your company, this is the podcast for you.

Another example of how the building materials industry is years behind other industries is the over reliance on outbound sales. The sales person identifies a prospect and pursues them. In the worst case it's a cold call. While outbound sales can be an effective way to grow, companies who have focused on growing their inbound leads are outperforming companies who focus on outbound. Ideally there is a balance of outbound and inbound sales opportunities.

A podcast of a live stream event, I did with 5 other sales and marketing experts that I respect. This is the fourth of a four part series. I learned a lot from the others that you also can learn from. I hope you enjoy it.

A podcast of a live stream event, I did with 5 other sales and marketing experts that I respect. This is the third of a four part series. I learned a lot from the others that you also can learn from. I hope you enjoy it.

A podcast of a live stream event, I did with 5 other sales and marketing experts that I respect. This is the second of a four part series. I learned a lot from the others that you also can learn from. I hope you enjoy it.

A podcast of a live stream event, I did with 5 other sales and marketing experts that I respect. This is the first of a four part series. I learned a lot from the others that you also can learn from. I hope you enjoy it.

Making customers feel important is a very smart way to build stronger relationships with them.

If you are losing sales to value engineering, this episode is for you.

With the growth of digital media, CRM and marketing automation, the building materials sales person needs to develop some new skills in order to stay successful.

Many building materials companies approach their sales and marketing as if they are following a rule book. The most successful companies make their own rules.

LinkedIn is the best social media program for the business of building materials.  Find out why and learn how to grow your business with LinkedIn on this podcast.

Testimonials from customers are a very effective way to grow your business that is often overlooked in building materials.

Building materials companies who nurture their leads or inquiries are turning more of them into sales or new customers.

Most building materials people have product knowledge but they don't have enough customer knowledge. The more customer knowledge you have, the easier it will be to sell your customer.

If you want to grow the sales of your commercial building product, in new construction, may be you should stop calling on architects. If you are having trouble getting in the spec perhaps you should focus on the owner or contractor. They have more power today and can change products.

The levels of customer service and support that building materials companies are declining. As their sales go up they are not investing in the areas that affect their customers such as customer service, technical support, shipping, and accounts receivable. Contractors, builders, dealers and distributors are all seeing how companies make it harder to do business with them. The companies who make it easy on their customers will grow faster.

If you are not active on LinkedIn and Twitter you are making it harder on yourself and your building materials company to grow your sales. There are a large number of architects, builders, contractors, dealers and distributor companies and employees who are very active on LinkedIn and Twitter. There are many social media channels but I find that LinkedIn and Twitter are the leaders in reaching business to business customers.

The building materials industry is traditionally resistent and slow to change. This is now changing making it a great time to convert customers to your products. New products are being accepted faster than ever before. Builders, contractors, architects, and owners are all looking for how to reduce waste and inefficiency. If you can show them how your products improve productivity, they want to hear from you.

I found three key messages in Warren Buffet's 2019 letter to shareholders that building materials companies can learn from.

I learned a lot at the IBS show about how the needs of builders and other customers are changing. Too many manufacturers are stuck in the past by promoting how their product is better, when the customer is not looking for a better product.

If you want to be viewed by your customers as the best company to deal with, you want to help them to be more successful. One way to do this is to remind them that, at some point, there will be another recession and to provide them with some advice on how to be prepared.

The marketing departments of many building materials companies do not perform as well as they should. They function more as art studios who do what they are told instead of leading the marketing efforts with more effective programs.

Learn how to get more traffic and more sales at the IBS builders show or at any other building materials trade show.

The more you focus your sales on a type of building or customer, the more your sales will grow as the customer will view you as the best solution.

The 8 keys to successful sales growth in building materials sales.

If you want to grow your sales, you need to work a little harder at your sales pitch than "Make More Money" . In this episode you'll learn the importance of helping your customer out by doing their homework.

At my most recent Whizard Summit, I learned that these are the biggest challenges that building materials companies are facing today.

Every building materials company needs a CRM program. Unfortunately for most building materials companies their first attempt at CRM is a failure. On this podcast I cover the reasons why and how be successful with CRM

Learn the four most common problems with the sales messages of building materials companies 1. Your product is seen by the customer as having more benefit for his customer than for his business 2. While the customer believes that your product is better, they don’t see it as enough better to justify the cost, hassle and risk of changing. 3. Your product is only presented as a way for the customer to be more successful when it is more effective to also present the risk the customer will face by not buying your product. 4. Changing to your product will not solve any of their most important issues.

The concept of System Thinking was first introduced in 2008. Since that time, many of it's important lessons have been forgotten. It is just as important today as it was in 2008.

Many building materials companies are growing faster than their operations can keep up. The result is a drop off in customer support and service. Companies in this situation are at risk of losing more of their current business as they pursue new customers and more sales. In this episode, I tell you how to recognize this and how to deal with it.

Most building materials companies do not take the time to train their new employees properly. The result is that it takes them over a year until they really understand their job and can add value to your company.

Local dealers and contractors can have more control of local customers than manufacturers. Learn how and why to support your local customers to grow your sales faster.