Introduction 7 TIPS. 70percent growth TO MANAGE GROWTH IN THE BUILDING SUPPLIES INDUSTRY

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1 Guide produced by sales-i Introduction 7 TIPS TO MANAGE GROWTH 70percent growth The construction industry as a whole is forecast to grow over 70% in the next decade. 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. IN THE BUILDING SUPPLIES INDUSTRY 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.

2 2. don't follow the crowd 1. Keep calm and carry on technology is on hand to streamline everything 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. 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 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. 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.

3 4. think outside the box 3. look after your livelihood you need to keep your 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. 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. 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.

4 6. clear desk, clear mind 5. stay true to who you are quality is at the core of many building suppliers 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 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. 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. 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. 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.

5 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 7. maintain growth and protect it 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. protect your hard work 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. 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. Find out more e: tellmemore@sales-i.com North America 1840 Oak Avenue, Suite 100, Evanston, IL t: UK Prologis House, 1 Monkspath Hall Road, Solihull, B90 4FY t: 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. 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.