takes

from Building Products Digest - December 2000

QUIOK OI]OTIIS

TIIME and time again. retailers

I larse and small make the same costly mistakes in marketing. Knowing how to avoid these pitfalls will save energy, disappointmentand money.

By stopping marketing

efforts you set yourself up for additional loss of business, at least six times a year.

MistaLe #J: Putting all your marketing dollars in one area.

If your entire marketing budget is used on just one method of promoting your business, you won't realize the highest return on your investment. Diversifying your efforts will increase the frequency and reach of your messages and stretch your marketing dollars.

Mirtut " #4 z 1|llowing your ego to get in the way of common sense.

Ego can tempt a very bright person to do dumb things. Your marketing decisions should be based on factors that will positively affect some area of your business-usually the bottom line. Buying full-page ads or covers featuring yourself and not focusing on your business' unique offerings may result in money out the window. F

Mirtuk. #J: Not getting help when you need it.

Mi.t"t "

#I : uiminating

marketing efforts when times get tight.

When cash flow slows, advertising, direct mail and other forms of marketing are the easiest expenses to reduce, right? But cut these, and you eliminate the very activities that will bring in new customers to turn your business around. This is the time when you may be spending more time analyzing the results of your marketing efforts. But by stopping marketing efforts you set yourself up for additional loss of business.

Mi.t"L" * 2 : Notmeasuring

results.

Don't wait until times get tight to start measuring the results of your marketing efforts. By constantly analyzing these, you will be able to reinvest in what is working, and drop those that aren't. Ask customers how they found your business, and then track the results. Use in-store or online coupons, or host a focus group of a variety of customers to discover what attracts them to your business.

Businesses can get hooked into one large advertising program with a local newspaper, magazine or radio station, and put the majority of their marketing dollars there. They feel as if they have to advertise with the same media source, just because they always have or fear they will lose ground since their competitors are advertising there as well. Some business owners stay with a marketing vehicle for fear of upsetting its sales associate.

Many business owners only do a few direct-mail programs a year, targeted to their existing customer base. Your customer base and mailine list is gold; make sure you have budgeted a large part of your marketing dollars to advertise to your existing customers. They already love you, so keep them coming in by sending promotional (promotional-not just sale) postcards to them

If you find you're too busy to handle your marketing efforts or that your materials aren't looking as professional as they should, it's time to call in the reinforcements. Hire a full-or part-time employee to allow you more free time to work on the "business end" or hire an independent business consultant to bring in new concepts and fresh ideas.

Rrrrturr

West Building Materials. Atlanta, Ga., is liquidating the unprofitable locations amoilg its chain of 31 a Fort Walton Beach, Fl., woman has sued the local West store, claiming she was struck by improperly stacked mirrors

Window Creations, Birmingham, Al., a subsidiary of Brown Lumber & Supply, Columbiana, Al., has moved to a larger location three miles away ...

Pleasants Hardware, Richmond, Va., is closing its Short Pump, Va., store

Lowe's Cos. opened stores late last month in W. Boca Raton, Fl.; Conyers, Ga.; S. Florence, S.C., and Southlake, Tx. .,.

Lowe's submitted plans for a replacement store in Lynchburg. Va.; is building in Charlotte, N.C., and is fighting to build in Keller, Tx., and Durham, N.C. ... Yale Materials Handling presented a custom-painted forklift to mark the 6,000th supplied to Lowe's ...

Home Depot opens new stores this month in Dacula, Ga.; W. Huntsville, Al.; Fairfax, Va., and St. Augustine, Fl., and a 110,860sq. ft. relocated unit in Jacksonville, Fl. ... after a two-month test in Las Vegas, Nv., Depot is rolling online sales out to Austin and San Antonio, Tx.

Home Depot is seeking permission to build in Frankfort, Ky.; targets an Aug. opening in Tampa, Fl.; is considering a 10.5-acre site in Bearden (Knoxville), Tn.. and is scouting for property for additional stores in the Knoxville area

84 Lumber opened new stores in Tavares. Fl. (mgr. Dan Stinton, comgr. Don Childs); Georgetown, S.C. (mgr. Roy Zimmerrnan, comgr. Donald Tuten, outside sales Dan Miller); Silsbee, Tx. (mgr. Stephen Young, co-mgr. Chance Engle, mgr. trainees Tommy Alexander, Seth Cappen, Brandon Home and Nathaneil Saadon, yard mgr. Derryll McGalin, associates Marites Young, Pamela Fulton and Jessica Creel); Kingsland, Ga. (mgr. Tim Gaffney, co-mgr. Trey Joines, contractor sales rep Jamie Horner, outside sales James Durden, mgr. trainees Mike Ingles, Geoff Bennett, Philip Noll, Neil Sherman, Phillip Rowell and George Kelley), and Commerce, Ga. (mgr. Joe Belden, sales coordinator Betty Redmon, outside sales Joanna Ewing, contractor sales rep Jeff Towles, mgr. trainees Shane Hovatter, Jeremy Prather, Matt Stewart and Terry Luck) ...

Scotty's North Lakeland, Fl., store was closed by sheriff's officials after an employee found a suspicious package wrapped in duct tape and wires; the county bomb squad detonated a device next to the package to destroy it

Smith-Phillips Lumber & Building Supply, Winston-Salem, N.C., was recognized by Triad Business News as one of the area's 25 fastest growing private firms

Snor:srurr/tlrutrcrun:rs lttuisisna- Paciftc is permanently closing its New Waverly, Tx., plywood facility and Bemice, La., lumber mill due to declining plywood deinand and low lumber pnces...

Rolt O. Martin Lumber Co. has added a new 72-ft. CCA treating tube at its treating division in Alexandria, La., including new infeeds, outfeeds and drip pads, all in an enclosed building

Georgia-Pacific Corp. plans to close its Russellville, S.C., plywood mill this month for an indefinite period

SmartWood opened its first regional office outside the U.S., in Indonesia, headed by Asia Pacific coordinator Jeff Hayward

McEwen Lumber closed its High Point, N.C., administrative office and transferred those duties to its Hattiesburg, M$., corporate Hq. ...

Hunt Lumber is permanently closing its Castor, La.. sawmill e-Builder Inc., Boca Raton, Fl., agreed to buy the assets of Collaborative Structures Garden.con, Austin, Tx., is shutting down and seeking a buyer for its assets ...

Anderson-Tully Co.. Memphis, Tn.o has been Farest Stewardship Council certified ...

Dean Luntber has temporarily closed its Gilmer, Tx., sawmill, but continues to run its treating plants, planer and dry kilns ...

Southern Forest Products Association safety awards were presented to ZR. Miller Mill Co., Brewton, Al .; Westvaco Corp., Summerville, S.C.; LouisianaPacffic. Jasper, Tx; Weyerhaeuser Co., Holden, La., and Georgia- Pacific mills in Fayette, Al.; Taylorsville, Ms., and Suffolk and Wakefield, Va.

DMSi agreed to integrate its software with the exchange platform of BuildNet, /nc., R-esearch Triangle Park, N.C.; Texas Plywood & Lurnber, Grand Prairie, Tx., became the first distributor to exehange live transactions from its backend DMSi core business sys- tem with customer Highland Homes via the exchange

Pallet Manufacturing Sy stems has moved from Boca Raton to Coral Springs, Fl. ...

Benjamin Obdyke Inc. has retained an investment banking firm to identify other firms oi product lines for acquisition

Cabinet & Tbp Supply, Naples, Fl., and Mills Distributing, Pensacola, Fl., are now distributing Kerfkore, Timberflex, Flexboard and Ultralite lines for Interior Products,Brunswick, Ga. ...

Builder Marts of America,Greenville, S.C., is promoting BlueTsrpb contractor credit cards ..

Housing starts in Oct. (latest figs.) remained flat at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.532 million ... single family starts held at a 1.227 million rate; multifamily inched up to a rate of 266,000 for 5+ units, 39,000 for 2-4 units ... permits rose IVo to an annual rate of 1.537 million.