Prosales articles from July 2003

Prosales archives from July 2003

Studies show: builders and, remodelers add value with enhanced entranceways. (Special Advertising Section).
July 1, 2003... Builders and remodelers are always looking for new ways to add value to their construction and renovation projects. Therma-Tru Doors. the most preferred brand of entry door systems, has the solution--high-style, high-performance entryway and...

The golden rule. (Editor's Notes).
July 1, 2003... There is a lot more to a job than money. You hear this all the time, but how many of your managers actually believe that employees feel this way, and do those supervisors really understand what motivates individuals to do a good job? Most...

Perceived value: service is in the eye of the beholder. (New Dimensions).
July 1, 2003... During every step of a transaction with your yard, your customers are measuring the difference between how they expect to be treated and how they perceive they are being treated--a perception of service that then becomes your business reality....

Smart moves: don't focus on short-term tactics at the expense of long-range strategies. (Firing Line).
July 1, 2003... I started playing chess with our hardware manager a few years ago. We'd set the board up in his office, play a few moves in the morning over coffee, and finish during lunch or after we closed the store. Ben almost always beat me. He was a good...

Hot picks: ten technologies that can help streamline your card. (Tech Trends).
July 1, 2003... What are the top 10 technology apps creating a buzz in the building supply industry? To find out, I conducted an informal survey of IT-savvy dealers around the country, and here's what they reported. If you are using more than six of the...

Legends of sales: it's time to debunk the four most common sales compensation myths. (Dispatch).
July 1, 2003... Gather a bunch of dealers together to compare compensation strategies, and you can bet there's going to be a lot of debates over the best ways to motivate reps and boost the bottom line. Unfortunately, many commission plans prove ineffective...

High bidders: with its new business division, internet auctioneer eBay hopes to be the go-to source for pro dealer equipment, product offloads, and even new market expansion. (Pro Watch).
July 1, 2003... After typing a brief product description of some custom-order window returns and an extra pallet of door hardware that the vendor won't take back, your inventory manager clicks a button on the computer screen. Instantly almost 70 million...

Power plays: after a year of relative inactivity, the consolidation game is heating up as top 10 dealers jockey for industry positioning. (Pro Watch).
July 1, 2003... From buyouts of regional independents to store swapping on the national level, the bigwigs of residential construction supply are at it again. Following stalled activity in 2002 due in part to post-September 11 concerns and an overall economic...

Builders supply celebrates 100 years. (Yard Notables).
July 1, 2003... Builders Supply Co. of Petersburg, based in Petersburg, Va., celebrated its 100th anniversary in June. The oldest lumber and building materials supplier in the area, Builders Supply was founded in 1903. The company has weathered a number of...

84 lends support to P.O.W. (Yard Notables).
July 1, 2003... 84 Lumber Co. and its Mineral Wells, W.V., location recently donated more than $12,000 to "Jessi's Home Project," a fundraising effort to support the renovation of returning P.O.W. Jessica Lynch's home in Palestine, W.V. As Lynch recovers from...

Nextel offers nationwide Direct Connect. (Yard Notables).
July 1, 2003... Nextel's Direct Connect service, which allows users to communicate instantly between phones with the touch of a button, will be available as a nationwide service by the end of the summer. Direct Connect users will not only be able to...

Robert Bowden wins Consumers' Choice Award. (Yard Notables).
July 1, 2003... On April 12 Robert Bowden (www.robertbowden.com) received a 2003 Consumers' Choice Award for Business Excellence, which honors large and small companies in Atlanta identified by consumers as outstanding in their industries. Robert Bowden, a...

Clarification.
July 1, 2003... Per the company's request, the following adjustments have been made to the 2003 PROSALES 100, a ranking of the nation's top building materials dealers and distributors featured in the May issue of PROSALES. * In the list of 10 top...

In focus: you can't just pull a Customer Relationship Management program out of a box and plug it in. To truly harness the power of this concept, it must be addressed as a company-wide business process strategy.
July 1, 2003... CRM is definitely one of today's hottest business concepts--but it's also one of the most misunderstood, misused, and misapplied buzzwords in the corporate vocabulary. Short for customer relationship management. CRM often is inaccurately viewed...

Image makers: when purchased to fulfill solid business objectives or to help employees solve problems, focused, project-based software applications for document imaging and storage are resulting in big gains for many pro suppliers. (Profile).
July 1, 2003... Say the word "technology" and some might visualize flip phones, PDAs, and flat-screen high-definition TVs. Others may be reminded of buzzwords like "seamless collaborative synergy providers" being chanted by a lot of young, sharp-looking...

Filling in: while most aspects of an urban infill project are small, your profit margins don't have to be among them. (How To Sell Infill).
July 1, 2003... Imagine a half-acre jobsite set between a 1920s apartment building and a corner grocery store on a busy city street, fenced in and accessed only by a 15-foot-wide gate. By ordinance, your truck can't deliver materials before 8 a.m., block...

Partners & profits streamlining: builder/dealer operations. (ProSales Executive Summit).
July 1, 2003... SUPPLYING THE BUILDER MARKET is more than providing products when they need them at a competitive price. The key today is to partner with your customers, expand your business boundaries. and develop new services that differentiate you from the...

All together now: component fabricators get a boost from whole-house design programs. (Product Info).
July 1, 2003... Engineered wood component fabricators soon will be able to utilize a variety of component design software applications that combine the capabilities of multiple software programs and allow fabricators to deliver entire pre-engineered,...

Natural beauty. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... Boral Bricks' Liberty Classic Stone is a lightweight molded stone product that installs like traditional brick, says the maker. The 3-inch-thick veneer reproduces the shape and texture of natural stone. Liberty Classic Stone can be used indoors...

Expert panel. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... Designed for use in interior spaces, Sheetrock Humitek gypsum panels from U.S. Gypsum are treated to resist moisture and mold front to back. Available in a 5/8-inch thickness, the panels come in 8-, 10-, and 12-foot lengths and have tapered...

Shear cuts. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... The Model 2003 Shingle Shear from Howard Tools cuts shingles on the rooftop and is smaller and lighter than the original model but with a longer 20-inch cutting blade. The tool enables hip and valley cuts of more than 45 degrees, and a...

Under the roof. (Product Info).
July 1, 2003... As the variety of building materials creases each year, dealers need even more space-efficient storage. One way to maximize available space is to install rack-supported buildings custom-designed for each yard's specific needs. "New...

Switch hitter. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... SwitchGrip from PlugGrip is designed to give light switch installers more control over stiff wires and to keep hands away from accidental live wires. SwitchGrip holds on to single-pole or three-way switches with a magnet, leaving the user's...

Helping hand. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... FastCap's 3rd Hand Heavy Duty support system extends from 5 to 12 feet and can be used to support drywall, crown molding, and plastic barriers, or can be used as a load jack in the back of a truck. A custom clip is provided to hold plastic...

Big score. (New Products).
July 1, 2003... Pre-scored snapping lines on FiberTech Polymers' new SmartShim ensure a clean, easy break, reducing waste and installation time, says the maker. SmartShim is made of a 100-percent-recycled wood-plastic composite for leveling and filling in gaps...

Lock down. (Product Info).
July 1, 2003... While common on patio and French doors for several years the United States, multi, point locks are just getting a toe-hold in the entry door category of the American market. The growing popularity of taller entry doors reaching from 8 feet to...

King of the hill: battling your way to no. 1 in a market is just the beginning of a constant fight to fend off the competition eyeing you at the top. (View From Builder).
July 1, 2003... "You can't build for the sake of being the biggest," Greg Hastings, division president of D.R. Horton in San Diego tells Sharon O'Malley in "The Dominators" in the May 2003 issue of BUILDER. "We need to be the best builder." This is a mindset...