BUILDING A LEGEND

One Partner At A Time

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Seruing building products retailers and wholesale distributors in 13 Western states-Since 1922 issue if possible, n€w address and Sdigit ap to addres bM. l4edent laagzme, a500 Campus Dr., Ste. 480, Newpon Beadl, Ca. S266G1$l2. lhe l$erdant Magazine (USPS 79S56000) is publishod monthly at {500 Gar$ls D., $e. 480, tlewort Bsh, Ca. 8ffi1872 by Cuder tuUishirB, Inc. Poriodcab Postags paid al Ne$rport Beach, Ca., and additional posl offies. ft is an indepenenffofirFd rubli:alion tor SE retail, wholesale and distiMbn levsls of the

Serving 13 Weslern stateg

PUBLISHER Alan Oakes (ajoakes@aol.com)

PUBLISHER EMERITUS David Cutler

EDITOR David Koenig (dkoenig@ioc.net)

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Fobert Fay (rfay@ioc.nel)

CONTRIBUTING EOIfOR Dwight Cunan

AD SALES MANAGER Chuck Casey (chuck@ioc.net)

CIRCUIATIoN HeatherKelly

ADIIINISTRATIOTI DIRECTORISECRETARY Marie Oakes (mlpoakes@aol.com)

How to Advertise

Contact our advertising oflices for rates:

U.S.: Chuck Casey, 4500 Campus Dr., Ste. 480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92660-1872; (949) 8521900; Fax 949-852-0231 ; chuck@ioc.net

INTERNET ADS: Alan Oakes, www.buildingproducts.com; (949) 852-1990; Fax 949-8520231; aioakes@aol.com

How to Subscribe

Contact Heather at (949) 852-1990

U.S.: 1 year (12 issues), $15; 2 years, $24; 3 years, $30

FOREIGN (Per year paid in advance in US funds): $35; Air rates also available.

SINGLE COPIES: $3 + shipping; Back issues (when available), $4.50+shipping

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative' program in California

Providing sustainable building products

Ensuring the highest hevels of environmental protection

Managing th e mo st p ro d uc tiv e forests anSnuhere

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) program is based on the premise that responsible environmental protection and sound business practices can be integrated to the benefit of landowners, shareholders, customers and the people they serve.

The SFI@ program is a comprehensive, independently verified system of principles, objectives and performance measures that ensures the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees while protecting wildlife, plants, soil and water quality. The program, developed by the American Forest & Paper Association, involves 3rd party audits of all aspects of a forest landowner's

More than 2.5 million acres of California's private forestland have already been certified under the SFI program . . . because what's good for California's forests is good for our business.

To learn more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program, please visit www.aboutsf.org. To learn more about California's forests visll www. ca lforests. org.

The mark of sustainable forestry in Califomia

Survival of the smartest

A tough economy is the time to take stock and find new ways to reposition your company or brands by evaluating market position, and the cache of your and your competitors' brands. Not easy to do especially for those on the commodity side. However, when we ask what are you doing to redefine or change your business, the answer we often hear is "nothing." Indeed, we hear "we are hunkering down" and "cutting costs." Unfortunately, while you are hunkering down and cutting costs. srror?g competitors (not to imply large competttors) are taking business away by being increasingly aggressive. If lost business ever comes back, it is often at a steep price. While there is nothing wrong with cutting unit costs and increasing productivity, there is everything wrong with cutting sales and marketing efforts, and new product development.

Use bad times to your advantage. Attack competition where and when they are most vulnerable. This can only be done when you understand who your competitors are, what their performance levels are, and where they are vulnerable. Previously, at the manufacturer end of the channel, I used to spend many Saturdays and Sundays at retail points of sale to analyze where we were succeeding and, more importantly. where we were not.

Understanding what new products are in your competitor's pipeline, when and where, and assessing your own company's vulnerability before losing market share, is key to survival. During downturns, I've watched competitors lacking innovation go out of business or survive in a form that made them less dangerous.

When times get tough, you won't capture buyers' attention with the same old products, the same levels of service, or the same ways of doing business. Everyone in the organization should be thinking about innovation. Most of the bright ideas my company dreamed up came only after intensely scrutinizing competition, and understanding what we needed to do to keep one step ahead of them.

Small and medium size companies can benefit from monitoring the best practices and innovations of others, and using their own innovation to kick it up a notch. Larger firms often react slower because no one wants to stick out their neck, and consensus management and political maneuvering paralyzes decision making.

True innovation doesn't always pay. Often, the most successful way to attack a marketplace is to track the competition, and add one or two spokes to their or your wheel instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Small entrepreneurial businesses often pride themselves on originality, but it is a mistake to think that every idea needs to come from within. In larger companies whole departments are set up to track competition, in order to generate new products or to benchmark audit the competition to see how their performance compares against theirs. History is littered with companies whose ideas were taken and improved upon.

However, it shocks me how many companies or salespeople have no real clue what their competitors are doing at the key account, local, regional and national level, and in some cases have no clue who their true competitors are. Many companies are happy with the status quo. They think they are the leaders and are unassailable. That is a dangerous game to play. At your next sales meeting, brainstorm on who your competitors are, and how each one differentiates itself from your company. Such a session will tell you both what you know and what don't know. It might be an eye-opener. At the point of sale do some off the cuff research. Observe customers' selection; don'tjust ring up the sales, ask them their motivation for choosing one product over another (especially when two or three similar products are sitting side by side).

Some of the easier and most cost effective ways of tracking competition include seeking out competitors' collateral materials, much of which is often on their Web site. Track your competitors' advertising and promotion spending. Keep ears to the ground about upcoming new products. At association meetings or trade shows, visit competitors' booths, listen to presentations, and get demonstrations of how they present their products.

How can you outsmart your competition if you don't know what they're doing? This is not unethical. I have purchased from my competitors to learn their strengths and weaknesses. I discovered that one competitor took on average three days to send out a quote. I cut our response time down to, at worst, two days. One competitor had higher freight charges than we did, but offered ber ter discounts. We repositioned our bids accordingly.

Several associations benchmark their membership. Attend events in allied industries to see if there are ideas that can be replicated in your market segment. Subscribe to multiple trade journals, and actually read them. The best info can come from customers and vendors. Develop coaches among your customers who will update you with what they are hearing. Your competition need not be an enemy. Learn from bidding on a job, whether or not you win it. Who won and why? Learning best practices can put you in a better position next time round.