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Seruing lumber St building producb retoilers 8), ruholesale distributors

AUGUST

2oo4

voLUME

23. NO. 6

ICedified suc.ess: distributor sells only gleen ploduds

Minnesoto wholesoler speciolizes in proiecf soles of certified fore$ products.

l0 Moulding nelee

Wood retoins fte lorge$ shore of the millwork morket despite on onslought of $urdier substitutes.

lll Green products: Who tores?

(Sislet puiliution me Merchant Magazine seues the West)

PUBLISHER Alan Oakes (ajoakes@aol.com)

PUBLISHER EMERITUS David Cutler

EDIT0R David Koenig (dkoenig@building-products.com)

ASSOC]ATE EDITOR Lisa Maresca (lmaresca@building-products.com)

ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Chuck Casey (ccasey@building-products.com)

ADMINISTRATION DIBECTOR/ SECRETARY Marie Oakes (mf poakes@aol.com)

Competitive intelligence

Debunking the moin myths obout cerilficofion. t5

Deoler excels in employee ond customer relotions.

Proof of perforrnonce

How-ond how not to-constructively meosure employee ond vendor performonce.

A prime opportunity for southern Gypress?

Monufocturers moy be ignoring 0n untopped opporfunity: prefinished cypress siding.

Whofs driving the denond lor ronposite decking?

Convergence of foctors in technology, monufocturing ond morket demond spell dromolic growth for composite decking ond roiling. 5 Ediroriol

CIRCULATION Heather Kelly (hkelly@building-products.com)

How to Advertise

Contact our adveilising otfices for rates:

SOUTH, MIDWEST & WEST: Chuck Casey, 4500 Campus Dr., Sle. 480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92660. Phone (949) 852-1990 Fax 949-8520231 E-mail ccasey@building-products.com

N0RTHEAST: Paul Mummolo, 404 Princeton Ave., Brick, N.J. 08724. Phone (732) 899-8102 Fax 732-899-27 58 E-mail pmummolo@aol.com

INTERNET ADS: Alan Oakes, www.buildingproducts.com. Phone(949)852-1990 Fax949852-0231 E-mail ajoakes@aol.com.

How to Subscribe

Call Heather at (949) 8lt2-1990 or send a check lor the following amount to Building Products Digest,4500 Campus Drive, Suite 480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92560-1 872:

U.S.A.: One year ( 12 issues), $18

Two years, 929

Three years, $39

FOREIGN (per year paid in advance in Us funds): Surlace-Canada or Mexico, $39 Other countries. $50

Air rates also available,

Single copies, $3 + shipping

Back issues (when available), $4.50 + shipping

Vrsr Us Oruunr nr

WWW.BUILDING.PRODUCTS.COM

BUILDING

Don't be fooled by results

I hope you are all having a great busy summer, and sales are as strong as they appear to be. For me, I am always fascinated by the sales process, and, ofcourse, like every businessman, struggle with the challenge of hitting the sales numbers each and every month in both good and bad markets. Often good results in good markets like now can mask the true potential of a company, and sales managers will quickly take credit for nothing more than the current reality of the market-as they sure have to take it in the shorts when times are bad.

As business continues strong across the nation, a sales manager recently told me how much of a hero he was looking compared to last year at the same time with a large increase in sales this year. But then added, "Truthfully, I am, we are doing nothing different than last year."

A recent survey by a leading global sales training company highlighted the unprecedented pressures placed on sales forces to perform and deal with the ongoing trend to commoditization.

ALAN OAKES publisher ajoakes@aol.com

In almost every industry-and of course this one is no different-the issue of differentiation poses increasing challenges. I have never worked in a company-especially the larger ones-where the sales force was not constantly under scrutiny for not performing, and where everyone else in the organization always felt the sales force was underperforming.

Having started my career in sales, it is no surprise to hear or think that everyone else in the organization thinks they can do it better than the sales force. But this research concluded a number of interesting statistics out of the mouths of sales managers themselves. Sixty-seven percent believe their sales teams are not making enough sales calls to continually add new prospects to their sales funnel, and 52Vo believe that their sales reps are not consistently identifying and reaching key decision makers. Six out of 10 believe their sales teams do not qualify leads as well as they should, and 48Vo believe their salespeople struggle to progress to push