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Learn oil 'lffi''.l' have high expectations, and pay close attention to details. Our biggest source is referrals-the happy customers who say great things about us. And from our sales team's relationships. We don't just come to work, we participate in the community, like helping Habitat and local high schools. We put our name out there.

"Why do they like us?" One big reason: Builders listens. "Every year we sit down with our customers and ask for a report card: What are their opinions? Where do we have room for improvement? They told us, for instance, that they wanted a contractor area of their own within the stores, a quick entrance and exit, yet close to the retail shelves-and that's how we remodeled our stores. It's a relationships business, not a transactional one," Chris stresses.

Division managers are rewarded with plenty of autonomy to run the operation as if they owned it. They develop individual business plans to justify added equipment, product lines and sales growth. "Our managers want to demonstrate this! And they make the difference," Chris is convinced.

A prime factor they're accountable for is delivery service. "We're in the transportation business almost more than anything else," Chris insists, noting that Builders will purchase and distribute over 300 cars of lumber this year. "Making deliveries is important. We measure on-time and in-full delivery every day, and the entire company gets a look at it-so if there's a glitch in, say, purchasing or operations, they can get a fix on it.

"We use diverse metrics to deliver on our promise-for instance, customer service: to measure it, to keep ourselves grounded. We're a little tougher on ourselves than our customers are, they tell us," he laughs again-but wouldn't have it any other way.

Case in point: the new truss plant in Denver, a 20-acre location with little walk-in traffic, by design. "And we've got great plans ahead for Colorado in the cabinetry product line: countertops, millwork. We'll provide a good mix and do a good job at it. We had our Grand Island truss operation launch in the mid-'90s, so we were used to the truss business on a smaller scale, and could anticipate the customer mix in Colorado. Our success would depend on relationships with the multi-family business, and 2008-09 was a challenge. Our sales team had to hustle, because familyoriented construction was where the cutbacks were," he reminds us. "And as the market recovered, we've gone after the single family and hotels.

"We made substantial investments, partnering with our vendors, and designed software in-house to measure profitability. We can implant the building plans into the system and derive estimates, then send the information back to the salesmen. After sales, it works as a means to communicate the status of the job to the multitude of people working on a single project.

Builders works to repay this strong customer loyalty (some contractors have been on the books since that 1977 launch). "It has to be mutually beneficial. That loyalty has been a great resource for us, so we strive to show our appreciation. And each market is different, so maybe a golf outing here, a trap and skeet shoot there, or a contractors' night after remodeling the design centers." Builders' personnel also realize the importance of attending industry roundtables to glean do-and-don't pointers from industry allies who've gone the route before them.

Of course, to maintain strong relationships requires a strong staff. And staff training begins with attitude. "We hire people who share our values, our guiding principles. We screen for quality." (However, he adds, the recent recession has taken its toll: "The availability of qualified labor just isn't there today; lots of people left the industry during the recession.") Builders turns to industry associations for training materials, both in product knowledge and customer service. "We try to source out to industry resources to educate, then test them."

Who do they want working here? If they're anything like Chris, the answer is, "a great company with great people who really enjoy coming to work and working with customers. The senior management boasts 25 to 30 years in the industry and shares common values: you've got to like customers,like people, and handling difficult situations."

"Technology," Chris explains, "makes us much more efficient. We document everything we possibly can, including issues and solutions from past projects (such as, what materials were over-shipped) to save time and money on the next project. It puts us in a whole new league in the industry, especially on big jobs like hotels, with the level of communication needed. It's increasingly critical to be on the same page."

And that factor alone should keep Builders ahead of the pack in the future. "In the sales process, we'll enter the design to get an estimate and upload it to our system for a seamless transfer of information throughout the process. And it must happen quicker, faster than in the past: There's demand! Maybe a client wants it by next week-or even tomorrow. We've sot to anticipate the future."

And the future looks... like what? "Our company's next logical move is to introduce a design center in Colorado." Right time, right place.

Carla Waldemar cwaldemar@comcast.net

By Scott Holland, i-lighting