Kastein takes that attitude to heart at Barker Building Supply. Ten years ago, he streamlined his inventory by eliminating housewares and lawn and garden products to attract pros more so than walk-up consumers. “Our motto is ‘Go where the pros go,’” he says. “That means keeping updated on what they’re looking for and hiring appropriately to create the perception that we’re knowledgeable and serious.”
In addition to an experienced and loyal staff, Barker Building Supply offers its account holders free estimating and materials delivery, co-op dollars for advertising, and individual business and financial consulting. The dealer also supplies updated prices every week and offers a contractor’s room stocked with displays and samples for pros to use with their clients. “It’s their store,” Kastein says. “We’re business partners.”
Like Barker Building Supply, Stebnitz’s primary window and door supplier, Window Design Center, a single-location, $6 million operation in Madison, Wis., delivers more than just the products he needs for his remodeling jobs. “Small-volume customers value personal attention, the ability to make a single phone call from start to finish, and someone who knows what they’re talking about,” says the Center’s project manager Chas Vaughan.
Stebnitz also values the fact that Vaughan makes the one-hour drive to Delavan twice a month (at least) and is otherwise readily accessible by cell phone and e-mail to answer his questions and check his specs. “We get great communication and great follow-through,” says Stebnitz, such as sticking to his schedule for delivery and offering sales and installation training off site at Stebnitz’s shop. “It’s important to us that our suppliers invest as much into our company as we do in theirs.”
Dealers and suppliers also can assist their small-volume accounts by offering installed sales or showrooms. “We tend to use [showrooms] offered by specialty dealers,” says Storrs, who sends clients to his plumbing, flooring, and window and door suppliers’ shops for a peek at what he’s selected on their behalf or a chance to swap the specification for something else.
As for installed sales, Storrs relies on his contractors to bring both materials and labor to the jobsite. “I let my subcontractors bring the brands they’re most comfortable with, as long as it meets my specifications for quality and warranty.”
Perhaps most important to Scott, however, is a dealer who hears him regardless of his lumber ticket. “The good ones listen to what I have to say, good or bad,” he says. He notes that the number of yards who still serve small-volume pros in his market has dwindled from a dozen to four in the last decade, limiting his leverage to shop around but girding his loyalty to those who earn his business. “If I complain too loud, I’ll end up at The Home Depot,” where, he says, he already spends six figures a year for materials. “I have to be reasonably loyal to a lumberyard to get good service.”
Like in the Washington, D.C., market where Scott and other remodelers and small-volume builders have witnessed a 10-year exodus or gobbling up of small, independent dealers to serve them, Kastein is keeping an eye on tract builders beginning to buy large parcels of land in his area, as well as big box retailers moving in, to understand—and sell—the differences between them and his operation to small-volume customers.
“We’re not too foolish not to look at how we might service and benefit a large-volume builder, but not at the expense of our core business,” Kastein says. “The most important square footage you can sell is between you and your customer, making sure they feel comfortable working with you and that they’re satisfied.”—Rich Binsacca is a contributing editor for PROSALES.
Tips for Serving Small-Volume Accounts Consider the following intricacies between small-volume builders and remodelers—both their differences and how they vary from large-volume accounts:
