Sales Force
While the one-stop-shop factor is a key detail for PC Building Materials, it’s the employee team that may truly be the selling point, according to customers like Bill Burns, president of Aristocrat Builders in Jeffersonville, Ind. “It’s the professionalism of the people there. The organization is very organized, and the deliveries are great,” Burns says. “So it goes beyond the showroom. It goes to the employees; it goes to the entire operation.”
Still, Burns enjoys having one place to send customers that he knows will give them the knowledge he can depend on. “It’s unique that you can have one showroom that has so many products under one roof that you’re actually going to use,” he says.
“They have great service, they have competitive pricing, and the people that I’m dealing with are customer-oriented as far as service,” agrees Pat Lilly, president and owner of Sellersburg, Ind.-based Pat Lilly Construction and a customer for eight years. What’s more, “It’s like [having] a whole employee. Basically, my time is freed up so much more to do other things because I have all those different sales reps pretty much doing a lot of the work that I would have been doing. It’s really great.”
Like the showroom itself, the structure of PC’s showroom sales staff is unique: Rather than assigning an individual salesperson to each account, salespeople are dedicated to one or two product areas. “Instead of bringing something in and having another line for them to try to sell, you bring in people that have experience selling that product and that are really detailed in that,” says Cox.
Naturally, inter-department communication is key. Salespeople pass customers to each other and coordinate appointments and sales calls. Most of the staff are former pros, have experience selling the particular category, or have a design degree or background. For each new product category, at least one expert is brought in before setup and product decisions begin. The dealer also consults with vendors when deciding on displays and inventory. “Where some people may sit down and tell the vendor what they want when they’re setting up a new product, we’ll ask them, ‘What are your top 100 items? You tell me what’s going to sell in this area,'” Cox says.
Smart strategies like these have become integral to PC’s success as it continues to tackle new product niches with gusto. Building on a foundation of experienced, dedicated staff and committed to approaching each venture with an all-or-nothing attitude, PC Building Materials’ continued evolution has become a one-stop revolution for its pro customers and home buyers alike.
Vital Statistics
- Company: PC Building Materials
- Year founded: 1975
- Headquarters: New Albany, Ind.
- Number of locations: 3
- Pro sales percentage: 80 percent
