In the world of sales, there are often no right answers. What would you do in this tough sales situation? Make the call below, and see instantly how your judgment compares. Final results will appear in LBM Journal. Be sure to check back next month for a fresh Tough Call.

Tough Call - ClearAsDay…Again?

After building a brand in your market, then losing it to a competitor, you have the chance to bring it back.

As an entrepreneur and the founder of a small but growing and profitable lumber/building material yard, you’ve faced a wide variety of challenges building your business over the years.

People thought you were crazy when you hung out your shingle less than a mile from two big box retailers. “My customers are going to shop them anyway,” you replied, “I may as well be close so they don’t have to drive so far back to my store to make their purchase.” At this, people either nodded in agreement or shook their heads in disbelief. And 20 years later, with more employees, more customers, and higher sales than ever, it’s clear that your strategy worked as planned.

The big box stores are successful national companies for a very good reason: they’re good at what they do, and they focus on owning their segment of the market.

That’s why you didn’t go after their strengths. Instead, you studied their product and service offerings and operations, and focused on categories that you believed represented opportunities.

One obvious key to your success has been carrying brands not carried by the boxes.

Thanks to healthy competition among building products manufacturers, you always had plenty of quality-made, aggressively-priced products to choose from.

Often, the fact that you didn’t always get to choose the biggest national brands actually worked in your favor. As it happened, all it took was a little extra personal selling to help your customers realize that sometimes the smaller brands were actually a better fit for their projects.

It was one of these, however, that led to your current dilemma.

While evaluating different window lines, you discovered ClearAsDay Windows, a brand not being carried at any other store in your market. This littleKnown company offered a number of advantages.

Each window in the line easily qualified for the 30% rebate from the federal government. Plus, the styling, colors and price-point offered value to your customers while enabling you to earn a fair profit. Over time, you and your staff got so good at selling ClearAsDay Windows that your distributor took notice.

Apparently, they thought that if your little store could sell $400,000 in ClearAsDay Windows, then imagine how much one of your big box neighbors could sell!

Next thing you knew, the box store closest to you had a big sign out front saying, “Buy your ClearAsDay Windows Here!” Ouch. When you asked the distributor about it, he said, “Hey, business is business. It’s my job to sell as much product as possible.”

Not willing to get into a price war, you sold down your inventory and focused your energy on other brands. Meanwhile, sales of ClearAsDay

Windows in your market ground to a halt—as the box store salespeople kept their focus on the brands they knew.

This morning, your “business is business” distributor came into your office with his tail between his legs, begging you to start carrying ClearAsDay Windows again—on an exclusive basis this time.

You’re torn…you’d had excellent success with the product, but are none too excited about buying from the same shortsighted distributor.
What would you do?

 

	JUST SAY NO.
	A luxury of being an entrepreneur is the freedom to work with who you choose. Why choose to buy from a distributor who doesn’t value your business?
	JUST SAY YES.
	As your distributor said, “business is business.” You know you can sell these windows. Now that you can get an exclusive, it’s a no-brainer.
	JUST SAY MAYBE.
	The new line you’ve been focusing on (from a different distributor, coincidentally) shows promise. Tell him to check back with you later in the year.
	NEGOTIATE.
	Having established your ability to sell this line, don’t just say yes. Ask for more co-op dollars, and promotional allowances for trade shows, displays, etc.

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