Downsize? Heck, llo. Expand!

fnv SHonr is making lemonade. j When the economy turned sour a few years back, the president/c.e.o. of Tifton, Ga.-based Short & Paulk Supply Co. didn't waste time in wringing hands.

"Sure, it's bad," he acknowledged, then moved on. "Focus on things you can cor,trol. Find something that works. We're aggressively trying to grow, looking for opportunities."

He professes: "When things slow down, you've got two choices. You can considerably downsize your business or you can find sales to keep it going. Study the numbers, the demographics..."

And then, open a new store.

May 4 was the grand opening of the new Dawson. Ga.. location, after

S&P purchased and remodeled a former hardware store as its fourth location. It joins Albany (where Jay picked up a closed yard in 2010), Sylvester (launched by his father in 1985), and headquarters in Tifton, as well as a truss plant and door manufacturing plant.

Now well into its third generation-Jay joined his dad and grandfather in 1989 after graduating from the U. of Georgia and bought his dad out in 2008-the operation originated in l94l with three employees. Back then, its phone number was 97. Today Jay Short V signs paychecks for 55 coworkers and the phone line (10 digits) takes a back seat to the Internet.

But what hasn't changed is the philosophy instilled by Jay's grandfather, which Jay recites: "Sell good products, unite with good, accountable suppliers, and treat folks right. If you do that, they'll come back. We focus on imparting that to our employeesto do what we say we'll do, at a competitive price and with top-notch staff. If there's a problem, it's an opportunity for us to solve it."

Each location serves a slightly different market. Dawson, set amid farmers' fields, is unique in canying feed and seed. Albany's larger footprint of rental units sends S&P a hunk of commercial repair business. Sylvester, a small, rural town, carries 'Just about everything, including coffeemakers," laughs Jay, while Tipton focuses on the new home and remodelins slice of the pie.

Meanwhile, the truss plant, established in the early '70s in Tifton, supplies all four stores, plus other independent dealers beyond a radius that deflects competition. The door operation, relaunched with new equipment in 2008, "is mainly for our customers," Jay explains-"a low-volume shop that gives us control over the quality of the work and a quicker turn-around time. Before, when we dealt with special orders, a six-panel door, with one available hardware style and one style of moulding, took two to five days to reach us. Now, it's a day-and-a-half turnaround, with six different frames, four or five different hardware options, and 10 to 15 door panels. There are some cost savings, too. And, with the trusses, we can offer one-stop shopping.

"We've always concentrated on new construction, and, 10 years ago, it was going at a really good clip. Now, we're going after other avenues: institutions - schools, hospitals; commercial, like the apartment market; the remodeler, and the d-i-y folks. And each of our locations has something a little different to offer."

Add it all up, and you arrive at S&P's potential customer base, which Jay defines as "anyone alive and breathing with a good credit record."

To go after the remodeler, S&P has reset its inventories and showrooms. (They've recently changed to affiliate with Orgill.) "To keep moving positively, we market to new homeowners, not only builders," Jay says. "We want to get our name out to young couples, to have them think of our store first-have an opportunity to show them new products and prove we have quality people. If we get the opportunity to take on a little project, do that little repair-if we take care of that now, do the job right, then we'll build a customer. And five years down the road, when things have turned around and they build a house, they'll think of us."

And how to reach these 20-somethings? Social media, duh! Sure, TV and print ads, but more to the point, YouTube videos, Facebook and Twitter messages, blogs, web offers and instruction. "I do a lot of the marketing myself," says Jay, who appears on talk shows and You Tube features, "but I've got a l4-year-old marketing manager who's very good with computers." Happens to be his son, Jackson.

"Our philosophy hasn't changed, but technology helps us do it better-for instance, inventory control and dispatching," Jay continues. "It makes us more efficient, but still in tune with my grandfather's ideals: Make sure you greet people, stay on top of them. We have a crew in the front of the store for the retail trade, and salesmen in the back office to assist builders. We sell the same commodities as everybody else, but the difference is, we do what we say we'Il do. We really, really focus on service. Plus, we just joined LMC, whose buying power allows us to offer better pricing."

What about the touted green market? Jay Short prefers to take a practical approach. Rather than jumping on the bandwagon of hype, he opts to offer selected services S&P calls Living Smart. "I find so much conflicting information, so much uncertainty and 'greenwashing."'Thus, he's chosen the middle road, aka "helping the customer live better"-light bulbs, air filters. "You might not replace all your windows, but there's weatherstripping, insulation" and the 40-gallon challenge he spotlights on talk shows.

The new Dawson store fits the conservation mode. "The existing store had a lot of opportunity to it. It's in a growing area we already serve, 20 miles from Albany. It could be the feeder store down the road-location, size, everything. What we did is, open it as a pick-up yard, with a pick-up truck. If it sells a roofing job, they'll get a delivery from Albany. But it can also save builders from running 20 miles for a couple of 2x4s. At our grand opening," he chuckles, "we didn't cut a ribbon. That's for jewelry stores. We cut through a l1-7l8-in. joist with a chainsaw!"

In these trying times, efficiencies have kicked in all across the board. "We're working at I 10, l20Vo, and we all change hats every 30 minutes," he laughs (sort o0. "You learn how to do with a lot less."

The results from the new marketing push are in: "One-third of last year's business came from clients we didn't even have three years ago. You try to grow, but very carefully. And," he underscores," we're growing!"

Carla Waldemar

By fames Olsen