As distributors and retailers of quality building materials throughout the West, one of your primary goals is to keep your customers up to speed on current trends and products.

This is the number one complaint I hear: “I can’t get the buyer on the phone.” Here’s how to change that:

The push to more eco-friendly behavior is changing how we live. It’s affecting our choices in small, incidental actions like using re-fillable coffee cups and recycling plastic bags, to larger life milestones such as the kind of cars we drive or the materials our homes are made of.

Despite an increasing percentage of decks being built of pricey composites, plastics and exotic hardwoods, the vast majority of deck framing systems continue to be constructed of standard dimensional lumber.

Overcoming objections is the highest level of technical sales skills. Most sellers don’t ask for the order in the first place, so they never have to overcome objections. Just asking for the order puts us in the top 10% of sellers. Overcoming objections will put us in the top 1%!

The building materials sector has so much to offer working professionals but, sometimes, figuring out where exactly you’re meant to be is half the journey.

Bruce Jacobson, a contractor in Yuma, Az., who worked on residential and commercial building with a side of engineering, had a problem: how to get what he needed, and when. The answer came in a light bulb moment: form his own company.

American homeowners annually spend anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars to build new decks, fix older ones, and enhance the livability of outdoor areas. However, all the renovations have at least one thing in common despite the price tag—the desire to achieve long-lasting results.

Danny Baumstark, 65, is about to retire as head of Hermann Lumber, the yard he owns, in Hermann, Mo., pop. 2,700. But not to worry: The succession plan has been in place for, oh, ever since his daughters were old enough to sweep out the driveway.

There are many reasons that people don’t succeed in sales. The number one reason by a large margin is the lack of work ethic.

Global demand for fiber cement siding will climb an average of 2.5% annually over the next four years, to reach 22.1 million squares by 2023, according to a new report by the Freedonia Group.

As a new year begins, things are looking up for the southern pine lumber industry. Between steep tariffs and a slumping housing market, 2019 presented many challenges for southern pine.

Timber Products, Springfield, Or.,  will install a state-of-the-art Meinan lathe at its Yreka, Ca., facility, further improving veneer and plywood production as part of an ongoing strategy to modernize its plywood business.

Based on Builder and Consumer Practices Survey data, there are more than 4 billion sq. ft. of home exterior covered with housewrap annually.

I had no experience even remotely related to the wood industry; but when friends of my mom and dad came calling about a potential receptionist job at a hardwood lumber company, I jumped at the opportunity.

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, window and sliding glass door shoppers have spoken—and they want vinyl. Lots of vinyl. They also want bigger, greener, stronger and darker products.

In an effort to make online education more dynamic, the Western Wood Preservers Institute has released a new narrated version of its preserved wood training course.

No one wants to push a bag of rocks up a hill or jump off a bridge with us. Unfortunately, many sellers sound like this is what they’re doing or getting ready to do while they’re on a call with a customer.

Most composite decking manufacturers now offer a capstock line, covering their wood-plastic-composite core with an all-plastic outer layer. Tiva Building Products has gone one better—capping its PVC core with ASA (acrylic-styrene-acrylonitrile), a tough, rigid plastic known for its heat resistance, color retention, and weatherability.

Hooten’s Hardware LLC proves that the guy who promised, “If you build it, they will come” gave pretty good advice.

Not only does a good fence frame the yard and add to a home’s curb appeal, but it also can provide an element of privacy and safety, including noise reduction.

Safe drivers and properly maintained vehicles allow for efficient product deliveries and happy customers. Unfortunately, without proper attention to fleet safety, that same fleet can also be responsible for draining company profitability—or even injuring a team member or bystander.

Research shows that since the turn of the last century, the trend in cost of sales has increased substantially for more than half of the largest companies in the U.S. Previously, scale economies in sales were almost a given, in that most companies were growing revenue at an annual rate that was much higher than the associated sales and marketing expenses.

This is not a how-to story. It works better as a cautionary tale: one of those “What was he thinking?” accounts that warns of a deep financial failure when a newbie, with more confidence than smarts or experience, takes over an unfamiliar business and runs it into the ground.

Doing sales, the right way is still a challenge, but we make four times as much money and often more doing sales the right way. Below are common sales mistakes and their better way counterpart.

I was in Beverly Hills last week keynoting two events in the financial industry. At both sessions, the audiences were financial advisors who sold insurance products. Feedback was extremely positive, as it tends to be for my live work, but one person’s comments stood out.

Lumber isn’t glamorous, they say. I’ve had a taste of that life, and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. At the start of my college years, I aspired to a career in fashion—it doesn’t get more glamorous than that, right? I thought so, too, until I entered a fashion merchandising degree program and found myself surrounded by superficiality.

“There’s a shortage of housing out here in the West, so there’s a healthy amount of new-home construction,” says the fourth-generation owner of Orofino Builders Supply, founded by his great-grandfather in 1924.

The fact that the lumber market moves is one of the things that makes working in the lumber industry interesting and exciting. I worked on a trading floor that owned hundreds of cars and trucks of lumber daily. We were always on one side of the market or the other—and sometimes both at the same time.

Despite a clever disguise as owner of Wood Shed Lumber & Hardware Supply, Sharona Eiserer is really Wonder Woman.

A Special Series from NAWLA

I’ve worked with thousands of salespeople, helping them improve and sell more. My typical clients add 10 to 20% to their company sales, but individual salespeople often increase their performance by 50%, 100%, even 200% (yes, tripling their sales) in a single year.

"In 2000, Dad started building ready-to-move homes, enabling him to buy lumber wholesale. His salesman talked him into offering the lumber to the retail trade, too, so we built a warehouse open to the public."

A Special Series from NAWLA

Imported plywood panels continue to appear in U.S. markets from Brazil, China and other countries. Many of these panels bear trademarks that state compliance with U.S. Voluntary Product Standard PS 1, Structural Plywood.

Most of us are standoffish and/or shy with strangers. It is natural, but it causes us to make rapport-breaking mistakes and makes us forget our natural rapport building skills.

Small to mid-sized LBM stores, or independent retailers, should take a tip from their counterparts if they want to avoid being lumped into the 0.3% of stores that closed in recent years.

It wasn’t too long ago that it was inconceivable to imagine Canadian companies would be selling southern pine. But today three of the five largest producers of southern lumber are headquartered in Vancouver, B.C.

The Eighties,” intones Trico Lumber’s Kyle Morgan in his easy-listenin’ Texas drawl, “were not good times. The oil fields went south, plus our biggest employer (here in the northeastern corner of the state), Lone Star Steel, shut down.”

Everyone says your business should be on social media, so you made an account. But now what?

The highest level of sales on the emotional side of the skill set is the positively assumptive attitude (without arrogance). A relaxed and professional approach puts the customer at ease and makes them want to buy from us.

Even lumberyards are switching to electric forklifts, after discovering that energy-efficient, environmentally friendly machines can do virtually anything emission-producing internal combustion (IC) forklifts do.

A home is a compilation of hundreds of decisions and thousands of products. So when it comes to the exterior, focusing your sales approaches on the whole cohesive package—and showing builders, remodelers, and their homeowners what those packages look like—may improve your opportunities to increase upgrades, boost efficiencies, and further satisfy customers.

We’re moving homes, and my wife has been on a shredding mission. While reviewing file boxes that have not been opened in many years, she came across my first business head shots, taken about 20 years ago.

The majority of sellers are too nervous, under-prepared, or just don’t now how to control sales conversations. Most don’t even think they should.

What do you get when you combine YellaWood brand pressure treated pine with a mischievous band of beavers driven to create their own oasis at the lodge? “The Woodland’s Most Wanted.”

Today, many building products boast about their environmental benefits. Relatively few, however, back up such claims with scientific evidence. For decades, the California redwood industry has supported its claims with scientific data.

Natural hardwoods offer sustainability, authenticity and comforting natural beauty. The added bonus? They are all derived from a material straight from the soil.

As anyone working in the softwood industry would agree, 2018 was a predictable and uneventful year.

When it comes to interior home designs, trends are constantly changing. But if there’s one thing that never seems to go out of style, it’s natural wood.

For manufacturers, dealers and distributors, demonstration events for builder and contractor customers are an important part of a marketing schedule.

To succeed in sales, we must control the conversations we are in.

Three things will affect our success. We apply Pareto’s Principle to all three. If we don’t we will be part of the bottom 80% fighting over 20% of the pie. 

When it comes to decks, much thought is given to the planks, the colors, the layout, and even the railings and balusters. But even the most beautiful of outdoor spaces can feel incomplete if the designer and builder neglect the other important accessories: the trim.

Retailers and distributors can get a leg up on expanding treated wood sales by educating employees with a popular new online course developed by Western Wood Preservers Institute.

This isn’t going to be one of those “beloved, third-generation hometown yard builds on its legacy” stories. Nope. McCabe Lumber, of Lovelace, Oh.—20 miles from the Cincinnati metro area and serving Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana as well—didn’t even exist in the 20th century. Today, it’s a blockbuster, both in market share and innovation.

Building our sales book of business is challenging. For many of us, it will be the most challenging thing we will do in our careers. Building trust with new customers is a test. When we do break through and they start to give us business, it feels fantastic!

Many of the old tried and true methods still work for us—as they do for others. However, like many, we have jumped on the digital bandwagon to explore new horizons and capture the Millennial market, in particular.

In May 1951, young Robert Arnold, fresh from college, snagged his first job, working for his stepmom’s boss. That job was selling feed in upstate New York in a small town called Malone. But that didn’t last long. The older gent was in a hurry to retire. He approached the Arnolds. Young Bob voted “no.” His dad, however, voted “yes”—and “yes” prevailed. Ironically, Dad passed away two years later, leaving Bob to run the show.    

The building and construction industry is booming—and has been growing steadily since 2011. Much of this growth can be attributed to the residential sector, led primarily by single-family construction, which is projected to see a 9% growth, while multi-family construction, which hit its peak in 2017, is expected to decrease slightly.

If you’re still categorizing OSB as a commodity or treating it as an afterthought, it’s time to rethink your approach. Thanks to advances in manufacturing, OSB has evolved into a category where dealers can sell panels based on builders’ specific needs, from budget to functionality to labor concerns. Options abound, with some premium panels offering performance like never before.

The Western Red Cedar Lumber Association represents a significant portion of North America’s WRC manufacturers, distributors and retailers, and supports their members’ business through programs including advocacy, education, and advertising and marketing; of which social media has been playing an increasingly bigger role.

Decks, patios and porches have long been popular for relaxing and entertaining guests, but today’s homeowners are increasingly requesting spaces that are even more functional—outdoor rooms. To meet these needs, design professionals and builders are relying on products, such as cypress, that offer good looks, durable performance, and versatility for indoor and outdoor use.

Here are five examples

The challenge most contracting companies face is ensuring these decisions are based on financial and operational facts rather than being clouded by unanswered theoretical questions.

There’s a long list of incentives that can be used for leverage when companies jockey for a favored relationship with carriers, but those that want a better shot at moving to the front of the line will want to focus on the following elements

Study after study shows that grateful people outperform ungrateful, or cynical ones. They’re more successful. They’re happier. They persevere more. 

What do you get when you plant a lumber company named Lacrosse (a town on Wisconsin’s bank of the Mississippi) into a community called Louisiana?

Exterior trim is often overlooked as an essential point for curb appeal when building or remodeling.

World Millwork Alliance is partnering with Keystone Certifications to introduce a new product certification program.

Traveling children's museum allows kids to interact with the lumber and construction industry.

Homebuilders are increasingly using decorative glass privacy windows as upgrade options for their clients 

The fear of rejection has cost you a lot of money. There’s a lot of business you haven’t asked for, or followed up on, because of fear. There are a lot of referrals you haven’t asked for because of fear.

By holding back the price on the first part of the offering we force the customer to engage with us. Humans want to know what’s behind the curtain; we can’t help ourselves.

National Hardwood Lumber Association members will vote this fall on proposed hardwood rules changes that could significantly affect the industry.

A Special Series from North American Wholesale Lumber Association

Holmquist Lumber Co., Grove City, Mn., shut down March 31 with the retirement of Charlie Holmqvist.

Weakley-Watson Hardware, Brownwood, Tx., was preparing to shut its doors after 140 years.

Archbold, a tiny town tucked into the northwest corner of Ohio.

What is your sales approach or style?