BlueTarp Launches Marketing Services to Dealers' Customers

BlueTarp Financial, Portland, Me., a trade credit and marketing services provider for the building supply industry, has launched a new eMarketing platform to help its business partners increase sales by keeping dealers better connected with their customers.

Offered exclusively to qualified customers, BlueTarp eMarketing Services provides customized emails to the dealer's customers. These regularly distributed emails include direct advertising, exclusive eDeals, and eSurveys that provide customer insights to dealers. The BlueTarp eMarketing Services team will provide analytics, including how many customers opened the email, results of the surveys, and sales trends over time.

"Our field and market research shows the average contractor buys from seven different suppliers on a regular basis and 60Vo of these contractors want direct email communication," said c.e.o. Scott Simpson. "Any time suppliers can get their name in front of contractors-with BlueTarp doing most of the heavy lifting-the better it is for their business. We help our dealers increase sales, while giving them time to focus on providing outstanding customer service and growing their business."

Remodeling Poised to Take Off

Home improvement activity is expected to reach double-digit growth in the first half of 2013, according to a study by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

"After a bump in home improvement activity during the mild winter, there was a bit of a pause this summer," noted managing director Eric S. Belsky. "However, we're now projecting an acceleration in market activity beginning this quarter, and strengthening as we move into the new year."

The study was designed to estimate national homeowner spending on improvements for the current quarter and subsequent three quarters. It provides a short-term outlook of homeowner remodeling activity and is intended to help identify future turning points in the business cycle of the home improvement industry.

"Strong growth in sales of existing homes and housing starts, coupled with historically low financing costs, have typically been associated with an upturn in home remodeling activity some months later," said director Kermit Baker. "While the housing market has faced some unique challenges in recent years, this combination is expected to produce a favorable outlook for home improvement spending over the coming months."

Worker Injured at Oregon Mill

A millworker whose right arm was severed above the elbow in an Oct.22 accident at Mary's River Lumber's mill in Philomath, Or., has had his arm surgically reattached. Doctors said the initial prognosis was favorable.

Jesus "Jessie" Cardonda Gonzalez. 210, was hired through Selectemp, Salem, Or., and had worked for Mary's River off and on fbr a year. At the time of the accidcnt. he was working in the l-encing pl{inl. operating ir hula saw that is used to cut lumber into smaller pieces.

The plant was shut down as state offie ials begrn their invcstigut itrn.

Lumber Dealers Turn Corner

Revenue for LBM retailers is expected to grow J.6c,l to S100.8 million by the end of the year and will continuc to rise over the ncxt five years. according to a ncw report by IBISWorld.

Industry revcnue has declined at an average annual rate of 6.17c over the last five years. u'ith profit declining from about 3.101, in 2007 to about 2.lo/c in 20 12. Falling nrargins have caused many operators to exit the industry or consolidate, with the nurn- ber of retailers declining at an annual rate of 2a/o, frctm 43,00t1 in 2007 to 38.936 in 2012.

Consolidation will increase in the next five years, but should remain modest. An improving cconomy will likely encourage new firms to enter the industry, at an averagc annual rate of 2.3c/c over the next five years.

Since lumber accounts for about 65.4Vo of LBM sales. volatile lurnber prices have also caused problems. "This trend has made it difficult fbr retailers to anticipate future spendin-e and control costs." said IBISWorld analyst Andrea Alegria.

7Tlnnceov cnN strike anyone at anyI. time. In fact. no company or family can escape some crisis at one time or another. First, let's define crisis. It's any unplanned event, occurrence or sequence of events that you have not had to deal with before. It might be external to the business: an economic downturn, hurricane, terrorism, earthquakes. It can also be internal to the business: the death or disability of the founder, workplace violence, product failure, management failure.

Whatever the cause, the key to survival is planning and the ability to take the long view. Traditionally, family businesses have been better able to do this and, as a result, are often more resilient. For example, the owners of a family-owned clothing store in the heart of New Orleans were the first to reopen their business. just seven weeks after Katrina hit. They credit their recovery to a lot of luck, meticulous planning, and a large dose of determination.

Just imagine that you got a call in the middle of the night from the town's fire department telling you that your building was in flames that were spreading quickly. Imagine that you began to suspect your c.f.o. of manipulating the books to pad his own pockets. What are you doing to prepare for any of these?

Too far-fetched? Imagine that on your way to work tomorrow you have a pain in your chest and down your left arm. You ignore it until lunch when your assistant, worried about how you look, insists on calling the doctor. You are rushed to the hospital and, soon after, die in the operating room. What do your family and business do to survive your sudden death?

What have you done to plan for this?

Let's look at some of the things you can do to plan and prepare:

Planning: Obviously, prevention is best. The irony is that the very definition of a crisis is that it is an event that can't be fully planned for. However, there are things you can do.

For example, you can evaluate the ways in which your family or company are most vulnerable to a catastrophe. Try to identify possible risks and what can cause them, evaluating the probability of such an event. Any company should have an internal "alarm system." In the best companies, bad news travels up fast. Pay attention to the warnings about product problems, about fire hazards, about bizarre employee behavior, and employees' concerns about a succession plan for the founder.

Preparation' Put a crisis plan in place before one is needed. One study found that the cost of preparing for a natural disaster was one-seventh the cost incurred without preparation. So, it pays to plan.

(1) Create a crisis management team and identify a spokesperson who is prepared to be the ideal company spokesperson to the stakeholders, public, clients, suppliers, etc.

(2) Develop a manual describing what is done and who does what in the event of a crisis. Keep plans current.

(3) Always keep an up-to-date employee contact list and make sure key executives have copies of that list on their cell phones or in their wallets. Rubenstein laminates a wallet-sized card for each manager with contact information for several employees.

(4) Consider establishing a company phone number outside of the imme- diate area code for employees to contact for updates.

(5) Evaluate your company data and where you back it up. If possible, store important information related to customer records, inventory, accounts payable, sales, insurance and auditing offsite.

(6) If you are forced to evacuate, take as many forms of communication as possible with you. Laptops, PDAs, and cell phones are all valuable tools for getting in touch with employees. The more avenues of communication, the better.

(7) If possible, pay your employees to help retain them. Establish directdeposit payroll accounts for all employees, ideally managed by an offsite payroll.

(8) Make sure you review your insurance policies annually and know what your coverage includes, especially in the event of a catastrophe. Read those policies carefully.

(9) Be accountable to and for all you employees. Plan for methods to reassure employees and to account for missing employees, if necessary. Identify alternative places to work. Counseling may be needed, immediately and longer term.

Death at the Top

As the song says, "Everybody wants to get to heaven but no one wants to die." Death is not a subject that any of us want to dwell on, especially if it's our own. However, founders of companies who don't have a succession plan can create financial as well as emotional chaos in the company they have nurtured and spent their lives on. The risks are high and the problem is real. I

According to a Mass Mutual/ Raymond Foundation survey, of the c.e.o.s 6l years or older who plan to retire in five years, 55Vo had not chosen a successor. In two companies we now work with, the employees are very concerned that there is no succession plan for the founder/president.

Good stewardship is the hallmark of responsible family business ownership. It requires us to protect and care for what has been entrusted to us in our businesses. Others come to rely on owners for many things, not the least of which is their leadership during a crisis. This expectation creates an immense responsibility: to anticipate the needs of the business, especially in the event of the ultimate crisis. an unexpected death.

Create a short-term leadership team who will meet with advisors and stockholders. Decide who will be the spokesperson for the leadership team, to communicate with your customers, banks, and other stakeholders, giving reassurance that it's business as usual. Tell the truth and tell it fast with openness and consistency, being realistically upbeat and reassuring. Be as specific as you can.

Develop a written document-an emergency management letterdescribing who does what and what is done. It should also include:

Guiding philosophy: What overriding principles of your business are important for your successors to continue?

Interim structures: How should the company be managed, the family organized around it, and ownership handled in the interim and the future?

Direction and outside support: Who should be involved in determining key issues related to direction of the company, and how should that input be organized?

Benchmarks: What metrics, or key success factors, need to be monitored-and what should those benchmarks be?

Location ofdocuments; Where do you keep the important personal and business documents that will be needed in handling that transition?

Finally, involve the stockholders, board, executive management team, and family to put into operation the plans that you've made. Keep plans current and review them regularly. Have disaster drills. Meet with your family and board. Begin the meeting with: "You have just had a phone call that I have been hit by a beer truck. I don't survive. Now, what is the plan? Who's going to do what, when?"

How quickly both the company and the employees rebound is directly related to the planning and preparation completed beforehand. Knowing what to do and how to do it, while in the midst of the crisis, gives everyone a sense ofcontrol and security that helps the recovery phase. As the saying goes, "failing to plan is planning to fail."

- Jane Hilburt-Davis is president of family business consulting firm Key Resources, LLC, Boston, Ma., and coauthor of Consulting to Family Businesses. Reach her at (617) 577-0044 or at j .hilburtdavis@ comcast .com.

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