#96: Surging Demand for Building Materials

We’ve talked a lot about how manufacturers and dealers have successfully pivoted their business during COVID, but the truth is that not everyone is achieving success. If your business is feeling the pinch, there’s one key strategy you may be missing.

COVID has changed everything, from the way we live, socialize, and shop, the way building materials manufacturers and distributors are reaching their customers. Whereas e-commerce used to be a “nice to have” feature, now it’s expected. But does it work for every part of the building materials sector?

For building materials manufacturers, growth often means getting closer to the customer. But selling direct can create conflict with your channel partners. Today we’re talking to one manufacturer about how they’re managing their channel and growing customer relationships at the same time.

Your brand is becoming more and more important in today's marketplace. There are so many different ways to find products, so creating a brand that's not only memorable, but speaks to your audience's pain points is critical.

One of the ways that you can get closer to your customer, is by using technology that helps them do their job more effectively. A lot of manufacturers find that to be a daunting process and don't know where to get started.

The Amazon Effect is oftentimes thought about as a need to sell direct to the customer. How do we get as close to them as possible? When we say “end customer”, we think about the contractor, the builder, the owner, but many people miss out on thinking about how they sell direct more effectively to the dealer.