Jun 26 2007 7:10AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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My thoughts are still centered on a conversation that took place at one of Builder Partnerships’ recently held roundtable discussions with home builders and building material manufacturers.  The subject was that of how builders and manufacturers can and should build strong, trusting relationships.  The participating builders were small to mid-sized privately-held builders therefore most of the manufacturers did not really know them.  You see, in today’s world of the giant publicly-held builders, manufacturers spend their time and resources focusing on the top 100 builders and haven’t developed relationships with the smaller builders.

Once everyone agreed that it was important to build these relationships, the subject turned to local distributors and vendors.  Everyone said that meetings between builders and manufacturers would be more productive if the local distributors were not involved!!  This kind of blew my mind!  Has it gotten so bad that all members of the supply chain can’t sit down and discuss strategies that provide a “win” for all members of the chain?  Currently most distributors do not want manufacturers calling on “their builders”.  I can only speculate why this condition exists, there is a lack of trust between parties.

It would seem to me that it would be so much more productive for all parties if they would just sit down, lay their cards on the table and develop programs, strategies and pricing that would treat everyone fairly and provide mutual benefits to all.  Maybe you are saying that I am a “dreamer” and that that is not the real world.  Well, I maybe a “dreamer” but I am an optimistic one because I am hoping that this downturn in the market will cause some builders, manufacturers and distributors to look in the mirror and commit to changing the paradigm to include open and honest communications with the goal of having everyone win.