August, 2006

Report to the Shareholders

By Rick Schumacher

Each year public corporations issue an annual report to inform shareholders on initiatives, progress and success. You and your fellow dealers are the closest thing that LBM Journal, as an independent company, has to shareholders. Since serving you is LBM Journal’s reason for being, I like to use this space occasionally to update you on where we’ve been and where we’re going.

With this issue, your magazine is in its fourth year of delivering skills, strategies and profits to the lumber/building material industry. Now that we’re past the early years—when the vast majority of start-up magazines flounder and fail—advertisers are comfortable using LBM Journal to deliver their message. Because of the business philosophy that drives all of our decisions, that’s great news for you. Here’s why:

As an independent company with no corporate parent to serve and no Wall Street investors to feed, we’re free to make different decisions aimed at serving our readers, not based on building short-term profits. For example, many of you have commented that the equal balance between articles and advertising in LBM Journal seems different from that of some other industry magazines. It’s true. We maintain a 50/50 editorial/advertising ratio. It would be more profitable to print 60% ads and 40% editorial, but that’s not good for readers or advertisers. The only winner in that situation is the publisher (and those he serves). Not a smart long-term strategy.

Advertising pages are increasing, which means editorial pages are growing at the exact same rate. In the coming months you’ll see some exciting new articles and features. We’re excited to launch expanded, monthly coverage of several key product categories. Our hope with the expanded coverage is simple: to give you insights to help you sell more, and sell smarter. Even better, the writers we’ve secured are pros with hands-on experience, so you’ll be reading these insights from people who’ve faced the same real-world challenges you face every day.

Last March, in order to provide much-needed information on the exploding area of Installed Sales, we partnered with Lee Resources International and Mike Butts from LBM Solutions to launch the industry’s first Installed Sales Summit. In a few months we’ll be teaming up again to launch a conference focusing on sales skills. Bill Lee, whose sales seminars and workshops are legendary, will lead the event.

LBM Journal will be successful only to the extent that our readers are successful. That’s why each byline is backed by decades of real-world experience. That’s why we invest heavily in original editorial, groundbreaking research, and live events created to meet your needs. Thank you for the opportunity to help you and your company do better business. Here’s to a profitable future together.