Retailers see opportunity in ll9

the needs of today's construction professionals, whose multi-state buying habits demand increasing flexibility in servicing and supply, according to Scott Bly, v.p. of commercial sales.

Among other components, the division will feature a new independent sales force for reaching unserved markets; a new lelemarketing service for direct-ship orders, and centralized estimating and sales support.

In the area of service improvements, pricing structures will be developed for commercial contractors and large residential builders that better recognize their nationwide volume purchases. There also will be grcater emphasis on serving customers with top management and one point of contact. For example, Wickes Lumber key account managers will work directly with upper level management of commercial customen.

"The 'Direct' in Wickes Direct represents our commitment to driving cost out of the purchasing process for large-scale builders and commercial conmctors," Bly explains.

fIUILDING products retailers

I.lsearching for growth opportunities in a tightening industry are increasingly looking to the industriallcommercial market. Although fragmented, the multi-billion dollar VC market is open for competition.

Don Peet, industrial products manager for Hardware Wholesalers Inc.'s InCom Distributor Supply division, likens the current state of UC to "the home improvement market l0 to 15 years ago when the big boxes first arrived. There's going to be a lot of consolidation and a lot of focusing toward integrated supply."

As property management companies and other I/C customers move toward doing business with a single distributor, manufacturers are realizing that unless their products are carried by that distributor, they will be left out of large scale projects. So, Peet explains, manufacturers are looking to do business with retail distributors whom once they "wouldn't give a second look," and merely bypassed.

Two years ago, HWI retail members with sizable VC businesses convinced the co-op to provide specialized support, which late last year became formalized as InCom. The division helps dealers set up national programs, create catalogs and make other changes.

Next month in the Chicago, Il., area, InCom will hold its first of a series of sales training seminars to teach dealers about the I/C market. concentrating on relationship building and the essential selling skills needed to sell UC products. InCom already has 250 dealer members, and even has a branch for HWI members who want to experiment in I/C sales "without the commitment of putting an outside salesman on the street."

But HWI is far from alone. Scotty's just produced its first commercial catalog and named David Bost as v.p.-cornmercial sales. Home Depot is acquiring Maintenance Warehouse, San Diego, Ca., a leading wholesale mail order supplier to apartment complexes, nursing homes and hotels. Cotter & Co. has allied itself with W.W. Grainger & Co., a catalog wholesaler of commercial hardlines. Last year, Hechinger's hired its first v.p.-commercial sales, a former Grainger executive. Servistar Coast to Coast has its Commercial Sales and InduServe Supply divisions.

Among the more aggressive is Wickes Lumber Co., which has combined its national and commercial sales divisions into a new materials distribution channel for commercial contractors, large residential builders and international customers.

The new division, Wickes Direct, was developed in order to better meet

Services have been rcstructured to better line up with multi-state purchases. "We are expanding our staff geographically and will utilize our Internet capabilities to interface electronically with today's highly mobile builders," he says.

Wickes has yards in 24 states in the South. Northeast and as far west

Story at a Glance

Retailers lockeying for position in the emerging industriaucommercial market.

as Colorado, but is adding outside sales reps in regions outside those service areas. Reprcsentatives will assist customers in procuring goods and services and provide information on how to use Wickes Lumber's Internet or telemarketing services for direct ship orders.

"Our telemarketing and Internet services will create a 'virtual' warehouse. which will allow customen to realize substantial cost savings and improve turnaround time on projects," Bly explains.

Other services will include manufacturing design and support, national builder support teams and site management.

IIJHAT is your business worth?

Y Y Usually, much more than you think. Chances are, you're also protected for less than you think you're worth, and that kind of math will spell trouble if you have a major loss.

A nationwide study in the early '90s found over 50Vo of all businesses suffering a catastrophic loss did not recover. Over 25Vo of the rest were out of business within two years.

One of the big reasons cited was improper insurance programs. It's a fact that most businesses do an inadequate job of protecting their assets, both in loss prevention techniques as well as the insurance products they purchase. In our collective experience, most healthy businesses are not appropriately insured. With good guidance and a fuller involvement by top management (as described below), these companies can redesign their program-often at a savings.

The reasons most buyers give for poorly constructed programs (which hav en' t been profes sionally review ed in years) are:

(1) "Our broker is excellent and takes care of all this for us." (Since when was ignorance a virtue in business? I'll bet this buYer "grills" his doctor, mechanic, and tax man!)

Story at a Glance

Do you have the right insur' ance? ... key is understand' ing your exposures.

(2) "The owner hates insurance and doesn't want to get involved." (He will get involved if the loss is a probIem, and then he will really hqte insurance.)

(3) "We don't need more. We need to keep our costs down." (So does every business, and aPProPriate chnnges should yield more controlled costs overall. Frequently, the premium is saved immediately.)

The bottleneck too often starts in the owner's office. You delegate, you "give it" to a friend, you don't think you know anything about insurance. Your c.f.o. handles the business' financial affairs, but don't you read P&L's, confirm investments, monitor audits, review bank transactions? These are your assets. Why wouldn't you want to know (not think) they're