Sales-i's top 7 tips for managing growth in the building supplies industry. Read more top tips and blogs at http://www.sales-i.com

1. IntroductionGuide produced
by sales-i
70percent
The building and construction industry was hit particularly hard during the
recession. Throughout the downturn, projects were left half completed and
the stunning cityscapes we all envisaged became desolate wastelands of
untouched properties, office blocks and commercial buildings. Plans and
blueprints were tossed to the wayside and even the most established of
building supply companies and retail chains encountered tough times.
But with every downturn comes a recovery and the industry has made a
stellar comeback. Today, the building supplies industry in the United States
alone is worth a staggering $60bn and the construction industry as a whole
is forecast to grow over 70% in the next decade. With global construction
output set to double to almost $15 trillion by 2025, the industry is predicted
to grow at an incredible rate in the future. So there is little doubt that the
industry has suffered but the resulting period of recovery has made it one
of the strongest and most profitable.
So your turnover, sales and profits are at an all time high and your customers
are happy with competitive pricing. It’s all win-win right? Wrong. Growth
means profits, expansion, change and more business to deal with. While
this may seem positive, growth can mark the start of the end for many
businesses that simply struggle to cope.
Rather than leaving you to frantically scramble to maintain control when
you find yourself in a growth spurt, our top tips will help you to manage it
effectively and efficiently.
The construction industry as a whole
is forecast to grow over 70% in the
next decade.
growth
7 TIPSTO MANAGE GROWTH
IN THE BUILDING
SUPPLIES INDUSTRY

2. technology is on hand
Keep calm
and carry on
to streamline every thing you do
You’re growing. You’re closing more business. You have
more customers. More sales are being processed and
you’ve got invoices coming out of your ears. Now would
be the time to get flustered and panic with the amount
of business that is pouring in, but there is absolutely no
need to. Thankfully, technology is on hand to streamline
just about everything you do. From order processing and
stock control to managing customer data and spotting
additional sales opportunities, software can be your
light at the end of the tunnel.
1.
Stepping up your game in the business stakes means
that you will be dealing with more data on a daily basis.
Excel spreadsheets and your trusty email calendar are
no longer enough to cope with the amount of data
you will be handling on a daily basis as business booms.
You will have new customers, more suppliers, additional
product lines; all of which are unmanageable using
traditional methods.
Take the weight off of your (or your IT team’s) shoulders
and share the load with a software solution that will allow
you to analyze your data effectively, track and monitor
sales transactions, spot new opportunities, manage your
pipeline, better serve your customers and stay on top of
business.
What can you do?
Managing growth effectively isn’t the easiest task in the world. But when it is
done correctly, it means you will be light years ahead of your competition
and revenues will be streaming in. When a growth phase in any industry
becomes public knowledge, it doesn’t take long for news to spread and
fresh competition to start popping up here, there and everywhere, all vying
for a portion of the customer wallet. Particularly in a global market such as
building and construction, you will have noticed the steady increase in
competition over the last few years. Companies from all over the world are
now your direct competitors and thanks to the advent of online technology
and e-commerce, your customers are at complete liberty to purchase
from anywhere they choose.
Most of your competitors will cut corners, quality and service as a way of
making money and keeping margins from being squeezed too tightly. But
lets face it; margins WILL be squeezed in any competitive environment.
Customers are incredibly price sensitive in this industry so make sure that
you’re not following the masses and doing the same, but see it as a chance
to do things a bit differently. Take a new approach and offer competitive
pricing but try surpassing your competition with a level of service and
product quality that is second to none. Why not set up a company Twitter
account and take the time to interact with your customers? Engage with
end users on a blog? Or take charge by being proactive and contacting
your customers before any problems may arise. Basically you stay on top
of your accounts and build lasting relationships. Customers will remember
you for going the extra mile, even recommend you to others and your sales
will continue to rocket.
What can you do?
don't follow the crowd
2.

3. you need to keep your
look after
your livelihood
top performing employees
Business moves quickly and so too can your best
employees. Employee turnover can be painfully high
in sales roles, to the point that people are coming and
going on a weekly basis in larger organizations. It’s
sales, it does happen. Such a profitable industry lends
itself to employee poaching though. You’ll have strong
members of your team that hit targets and feed your
profits every month without fail, but you must (and we
stress, must) do your very best to ensure that you keep
hold of them. Short of chaining them to their desk,
the only way to keep employees is to make them feel
rewarded and an integral part of your business rather
than another cog in yet another corporate machine.
Without your top performers, where would you really
be in the competitive race? Sometimes it doesn’t bear
thinking about.
3.
It is worth saying, however, that you will inevitably lose
staff and they will move on, regardless of whether they
are poached or they leave for other reasons. Always be
prepared to handle letters of resignation and have a
clear succession plan in place.
Data is at the very heart of your business, be it customer
information, prospect opportunities or even sensitive
company data, it’s yours and yours only. But what
happens to all of that data when one of your employees
leaves? What methods have you got in place to ensure
that they don’t copy valuable data onto a flash drive
and walk out of the door with it? A good CRM system
will allow your employees the freedom they need, but
ensures data is kept safe when they come to move on
and no sensitive information is taken to your competitors.
What can you do?
A growing market is one of the best chances to set your company apart
from all of the others that are competing for your share of the customer
wallet. While many will see a growth period as an opportunity to rake in
profits and stockpile cash, the smarter ones amongst you will see it as a
time to invest in new processes and tools to ensure growth is not short-lived
and continues into the future.
The building supply business has come a long way in the last few years
and there are a huge amount of tools (no pun intended…) at your disposal
to streamline processes and make those essential but mundane tasks a
breeze. Thinking outside the box and taking the time to review the tools
and technology available to your business during a growth period can be
the simple way to prolong your success for the future.
Your sales team is an integral part of your business. They feed your revenues,
helping to set strategies and interact with your customers and prospects
every single day. Equipping them with the right tools and technology will
not only make them more productive (and thus, more profitable) but it will
also make sure that your customers are served both professionally and
proactively. Not limited to simple customer record management systems,
but there is now software out there that can analyze your sales data in
a flash, instantly identifying trends, falling margins, best selling products,
additional sales opportunities and competitive threats. Make your sales
team something great and take your company to the next level.
What can you do?
think outside the box
4.

4. qualit y is at the
stay true
to who you are
core of many building suppliers
Don’t lose sight of your company’s core values,
especially when business is booming. These values make
your company what it is and make you stand out in a
bustling market. Quality is at the core of many building
supply companies, simply due to the nature of what your
products are used for. Building homes, schools, hospitals,
office blocks and just about everything in between,
many supply companies have their roots firmly set in
outstanding quality and durability.
5.
Growth means more companies, more products on the
market and more cash hungry people looking for fast
wins. This is exactly the point where quality can suffer.
Chasing money to the detriment of product quality will
never work in your favor. You will end up spending more
money in refunds for shoddy products than you’ll be
making.
So if you’ve championed quality since your business
began, don’t let it slip now. Quality instills trust in all of us;
no matter what product or service you sell and will keep
customers coming back and prospects will be flocking
to join them.
What can you do?
We are all guilty of hoarding reams of paper that we don’t really need.
Never ending to do lists, scraps of paper covered in scribbles, hundreds of
business cards and who knows what else are cluttering up desks, drawers
and cupboards across the country. The saying goes “clear desk, clear
mind”…or have I just made that up? But having to sift through dozens of
notepads with a magnifying glass just to find one email address so you can
confirm an order is not ideal when you have a million and one other things
to get done. Organized chaos never really works for anyone.
Get some software that will do it all for you, storing all of your documents,
contact information and customer records in one single place. Even better,
the best customer relationship management systems do more than act as
modern desk tidies; with free mobile applications for your smartphone or
tablet so that everything you need is available to you on the move.
I’m sure you can fondly remember a time you have turned up at a customer
location with the intention of reviewing their recent purchases, only to find
that you’d left their file back at the office? With a mobile business and
customer software tool, there’s absolutely no chance of you forgetting
anything ever again. And what’s more, you can usually do all of your
reporting as you leave a customer meeting, rather than spending hours
collating endless reports at the end of the week. It is all done for you in a
matter of moments.
What can you do?
clear desk, clear mind
6.

5. Find out more
www.sales-i.com
Research shows that an average salesperson costs
companies $500 per day to employ, for $502 (as sales-i costs
$2 per user per day) sales-i provides a profitable focus for
sales activities so that time is not wasted.
Gerry Brown, Senior Analyst
North America
1840 Oak Avenue,
Suite 100,
Evanston,
IL 60201
t: 877-646-8277
Give us a try, just 20 minutes could change the
way you sell.
Contact us for a free, online demonstration
and judge our software for yourself.
UK
Prologis House,
1 Monkspath Hall Road,
Solihull,
B90 4FY
t: 0845 508 7355
e: tellmemore@sales-i.com
protect your hard work
maintain growth
and protect it
should things take a turn for the worse
Growth is something every company strives for. Once
you’ve gone through the difficult period as a start up
and established yourself in the marketplace, serious
growth is the next leap towards success. But once you’ve
encountered it, maintaining and protecting your share
is often difficult. You’re faced with a great opportunity
to cement your place in the industry, so don’t let it slip
away.
It won’t be plain sailing forever and growth can
sometimes be the precursor for a treacherous downhill
slide, so don’t kick back and relax while you have got it
good. Make sure you are able to protect your hard work
should things take a turn for the worse.
7.
Failing to plan is planning fail. Never have these words
of wisdom ever rung truer than during a growth period.
Protect your share of the market with innovative products,
competitive pricing and great service so your customers
never have the need to go elsewhere.
Once you have secured business, you should be
capitalizing on this as growth doesn’t just have to come
from new prospects. Has a customer bought bricks from
you but not mortar? Are they buying their hand tools from
you but not power tools? These are easy opportunities
to sell complementary products into an account; you
may even offer an exclusive promotion. Capitalizing on
your existing customers is often more profitable and cost
effective than finding new business. They have helped
you to build your empire, so take the time to say thanks.
What can you do?