May 22 2008 12:48PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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In my last blog article, I talked about how down times in the market tend to lead to changes and learning for all. Well, I got to thinking about that article and realized that another group, the building material manufacturers, has learned a big lesson during this downturn. They learned not to put “all of their eggs in one basket”. Prior to the down turn the manufacturers focused their sales and marketing efforts with the top public builders. Well, when the bubble burst and the public builders’ starts went down, these manufacturers found that they didn’t really know the privately-held builders.

My company, Builder Partnerships has experienced a tremendous amount of growth over the past few months. Currently we represent over 85 builders in the United States and Canada and our ranks of building material manufacturers has also grown at a tremendous rate as we have 60 manufacturer associates on board as we afford them a direct avenue to this class of builder.

So what is my point? Am I just giving some press to my company? Well, not really, however, press is not a bad thing. The point I am making is that the manufacturers have learned an important lesson in that they must maintain a balanced portfolio of builder customers. I hope that this lesson is one that will stick long after the market turns around.