PAII ASIAflC TRADING COilIPANY, INC.

A Buitder Sounds Off

(Cont.inued lrom Pag,c 16) with yorrr salt's representatives or sales agents. Wc'vc been called on by some of the supposedly lretter ones. Nice c]ean-cut college kids coming out with a dand1. kit oI pre.finished paneling.

A company car slides up and thev are u'ell dressed and they give up this friendlr' hello. But he doesn't know what it costs; he doesn't know rvhere I can bu1, it; he doesn't know minimum quantity: he cannot quote a price because he's got a distrilrutor he's representing; and I havr: a whole ctrner iull o{ these dandy little kits whit:h I thought mavtre I'd sell bar:k to tht: manufacturer. I think the biggest danger is not that you fail to sell your produt:t. (becausr, you seem to be doing reasonably rvell at that) rather it is that you're goin.q to get mistaken {eedlrack lrom tht' market plact'.

Mistaken Decisions

You're going to tend to make vour {uture det'isions on whal is lomino lrar.k from your field right now. and if the contacts that arr: bcing madt' with our firm are in any manner representative. you're in trouble. Because they're just not getting to the heart of the matter. I think that as an indu-stry your imagination is very blurred.

Forrrth, I think you seem to be r:ontent to modify rather tharr innolate. An erample I think of is the lumher yard-and this I think again is applicable to a variety of levcls. The lumlx'r r.ard realll" sells houses, but they still think and act and talk like they are selling stit.ks and boards. But I buy houses. This is my product. An innovation can he a change in thinking or it can be a chtrnge in product. One of the results has heen that you've hecn systematically picked off b1. a r.ariety of new industries. Siding is being lost; roofing is gone, and as soon as the FHA approves carpeting, there u'ill not be a stick of hardwood in the floor oI any of my houses. You're getting picked to pieces, and I think {rankly you deserve it. You probablv earned er.err.thing 1,en have coming to vou.

The Smatt Builder

Now it is awfullr. eas) to stand up and just say the negatire and I ft,t'l I havt' some sort of responsibility to leavt. a legacrhere. Ohl.iou,.ly you'r'e got to lrt'c.ome r.ustomer orientate<l. And .\'ou ar(, not. Your job is marketing. Tht' housing field is almost untouched in this. It st't'ms to me that the prize is huge and it's erowing. If you er-aluatc and look r:arefully at the kinds of people that erc doing the buildine you will find the small builder seems to be growinv in predominan,.,,. lf vou l,rok at the rarialrles undcr rvhich thi,q construction must

|edone-the weather, the freezing. the rain-and write the worst possible t'onstruction conditions, then these residential job sites fit them. Now what this ser:ms to me to do is open up an almost incredible opportunity. And I do not see it being attat'ked vigorously and I do not see it being attacked l.rv l'our industrv. and of all industries that havc a grcat deal to lose, 1ou do. lrt'cause 'r'ou're the traditional kcystone of the lruilding indtrstry.

Marketing Ideas

l'r'c sot some suggestions {or vou. One is I'd put more marketing men in the field and I understand that this has been suguestetl. May'[rt.it keeps getting sugge.tcd l,et'aust' it's a good idea. I'd get them out thert'and gct them in overalls and get them onto tht' job site. make them understand u'hat your product goes through. Secondly, I'd put more non-lumber menperhaps elt'n huildersin your produc't or systems or marketing and planning departments. You might even go into the lruilding busine-cs on a test basis jrrst t() see reallr- what happens. The trouble is that vou don't hale to rvorry about capital. If -vou don't hale to worry alrout what is made or lost on that building. you tend to sluff ofi vour dollar lt,ssons. It's easy for vou to alrsorb this and go on. It's not easy for the smaller builder to ahsorb it. I would

Wholesale TIMBERS lobhins

Dougfos Fir in sizes 24" x 24"

Ploner copocily for surfocing io 24" x 24"

Re-Mfg. focif ities for resowing lo 34" x 34" find out how to sell your products by actually doing it. I would go around your rniddlemen, and for gosh sakes send your advertising people. I{ you could just cut the almost incredible waste that this industry has in advertising, at least that portion aimed at the builder, you'd make a significant contribution to your profit and loss statement rieht there. I would think only of your proclucts in place. Do not even consider them until you've discovered what in place means.

Test The Product

Don't put out products until they are really tested and costed. I attend the Home Builders Convention in Chicago and it's not unusual to walk along and find some procluct vcry appealing. This isn't unique to your industry of course. And you walk up to them and ask "how much is it," and find, "well, I don't know. We're just working on it." "Where are your distribution systems?" "Well, we don't have them ready yet." Don't get that stuff out, anything out, until it's really testedl

Do not assume that housing will keep i1,s present format. I don't see how it will or it can. I think economics dictate tl'rat it cannot keep its {ormat. My suggestion would be that if )'ou are not doing some kind of way-clut thinking for your particu- lar position in the market, you had better start because it is going to change.

Don't cling to your old distribution systems. As a primary erample look at the lumber yards, I mean look at them honestly and objectively. If t'ver there is a sick group of businessmen that is 6ns-s1 ths local level in particular. We're from Tacoma, a very traditionally lumber oriented community, and I think we have one truss manu{acturer among all the lumber com. panies. 'W'e have no component manufacturers. We have some pre-{ab's1.s up there. I had to go fifty miles away to find somebody to answer my particular problems. I don't think you're going to change this group so I'd look very, very carcfully at your traditional distribution svstems.

Uttimate Saie

I would view the builder as a retailer. You have not made the ultimate sale wht'n you sell to the huilder. The ultimate salt' is the sale to the home buyer of course, and this is the plum that you're all out after. Everyone is. So when 1'ou approach him recognize that he is just a 'w'ay station to lht' ultimate destination.

Tailor your thinking around that idea. I think you'll have a much healthier approach. Well, l'm going to leave rvhile the Ieaving is good. Thank you r.ery much.