Point-of-sale tools sell southern pine

flto Hale TNDEPENDENT lumber dealI ers educate. inform and inspire their customers and their employees, free point-of-sale collateral has been produced by Real Outdoor Living, an educational program managed by the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association.

Nada Edson, of 140-year-old D. Baker & Sons, Grand Haven, Mi., is a big fan of point-of-sale and collateral pieces. Right now a Real Outdoor Living poster is hung for consumers to see, "It's a conversation starter," says Edson. "It allows us to talk with customers about the advantages of real wood."

The poster also hangs on the sales floor of Hedgecock Lumber, Kernersville, N.C., as the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.

"This is exactly what we wanted to accomplish," said Tom Sattler, retail project manager for the Real Outdoor Living campaign. "The objective was to get the independent dealer and con- sumer talking about the advantages of real wood. We developed an informational and inspirational rack card for the consumer, an educational pocket guide of technical specifications for the independent dealer's sales team and their contractor clients, and the poster to tie the two together. It's wonderful that we are initiating conversations about the use ofreal wood."

"Our reputation is based on the quality materials we sell," says Hedgecock's Michelle Ballard. "The rack card and pocket guide both provide good information; it really helps out with the customer. Right now, nearly every single deck package we send out is real wood."

Deck building season is just getting started for Omaha, Ne.-based Millard Lumber. "We've made the collateral available within our deck displays," says Cheri Purdue. "It's been cold and rainy out here, not much fun for decks, yet. But our customers can start planning for their summer fun."

"We'd much rather sell real wood," adds Edson, whose decking sales are predominantly from pressure treated lumber. "The consumers have questions about the chemicals (in the pressure treating process) and safety, and we can answer those. We like to let them know that wood is renewable, recyclable and, if something happens to a board or two on your deck, you can always get your hands on more wood that will match. You can't guarantee that with composites."

"Our contractors generally know what they want before they come in," states Edson, who has ordered the pocket guides for the rest of D. Baker & Son's employees and some to put in with the account statements she mails her contractor customers. "We rely on the sales rep from our distributor to keep us educated and up-to-date, but this pocket guide looks like nice reference material."

"We've relied on our manufacturers to train our sales team, and we have them read the trade publications to keep up to date," adds Hedgecock's Ballard. "We've even hosted seminars for our contractor customers. This pocket guide is nice, it is something you can look at to reinforce what we've talked about or read."

- Real Outdoor Living is an educational program managed by the Southeaslern Lumber Manufacturers Association (www.slma.org). For more info, visit www.realoutdoorliving.com, " Wood" on Facebook, www.youtube.com/ wooditsreal, and @woodaholics on Twitter. Order free Real Outdoor Living point-of-sale collateral at costore.comlrealoutdoorlivinp.