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Building Materials Sales Training

Unlike retail, which typically involves direct-to-consumer interactions, sales for building materials are complex, high-volume transactions between businesses, often involving negotiation and long-term relationship management.

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 Some companies in the building materials industry create innovative product improvements while others are selling into what their customers perceive as a commodity market. In the former it is important to sell improvements in a consultative manner. For those perceived to be selling commodities it is vital to employ the techniques required to escape the price driven sale. In either case, successful salespeople must adapt to the increasing complexities of their market. Here, the Funnel Clarity team explores why salespeople in the building materials industry need specialized sales training, unique sales strategies for building materials and specific sales techniques for success.

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Why is Specialized Sales Training Important for the Building Materials Sector?

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Key Sales Strategies for Success in the Building Materials Industry

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Sales Techniques That Must Be Included in Specialized Sales Training

Why is Specialized Sales Training Important for the Building Materials Sector?

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Complex Market and Sales Environment

Sales in the building materials sector differ from retail sales in terms of scale, complexity, and the types of customer relationships involved. Sales for building materials companies are typically business-to-business (B2B) transactions that involve large quantities of products, significant negotiation terms and long-term relationship management.

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Lack of Subscription Model

While many industries are shifting to a subscription model, the building materials industry is still reliant on a need-based sales model. For example, SaaS companies offer subscriptions that allow for consistent revenue and provide opportunities to regularly engage with clients. Sellers for the building materials industry, however, need to make a sale and still stay relevant in their prospects’ minds without any guarantee of a subsequent order or sale.

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Difficult to Gain Access

Relationships between building materials vendors and their customers are often complex and involve niche products. Therefore, customers tend to go back to suppliers they have worked with in the past when they have a need. This makes it very challenging for sellers in the building materials sector to get in the door with new potential customers. Even though it is difficult, adding new prospects to the sales funnel is a critical part of success.

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Need to Differentiate Beyond Price

Building materials vendors often operate on lower margins and find themselves competing on price. This has more to do with a failure of sellers at building materials businesses than it does with the products being sold. Sellers in markets where price sensitivity is high can greatly benefit from learning the skills of creating value during the sales process. Many sellers for building materials companies have been shocked at their customers’ willingness to pay higher prices if the salesperson can create value for clients beyond just the product they need.

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Wide Array of Customers

Sellers in the building materials sector can sell to a wide variety of customers. The same product can have many uses in different types of businesses and government projects. As a result, sellers need to be trained on sales approaches and methodologies that can work well across an array of customers and markets.

Key Sales Strategies for Success in the Building Materials Industry

Build and Nurture Relationships by Adding Value

New business development in the building materials industry is difficult. For this reason, sellers must nurture relationships and stay top of mind with their customers. Sellers can’t just be product experts. They have to sell in a consultative manner and create value during each interaction with their potential customers.

Educate Distributors on How to Sell Your Products

The building materials sector is unique because there are direct and indirect customers. Building materials companies typically sell to distributors who ultimately sell the products to end users. Distributors can have multiple building materials relationships for competing products. A critical sales strategy is to educate and equip distributors to ultimately sell your products to their customers. Educate them on what differentiates your products and consult with them on how to sell your specific products to end users.

Get Comfortable with Difficult Conversations

The building materials sector is more prone to disruptions from supply chain issues and global economic conditions. As a result, sellers are likely to encounter disruptions with delivery and routine cost/pricing fluctuations. Therefore, having sellers who have mastered the skill of having difficult conversations is a vital part of keeping current customers.

Continuously Explore Cross-Selling Opportunities

In order to expand their sales funnel and develop new opportunities, sellers in the building materials industry should consistently be seeking cross-selling opportunities. They need to be trained on the skills of developing these cross-selling opportunities in their existing client relationships.

Make Prospecting a Constant Part of the Sales Process

Sellers in the building materials sector need to maintain a robust pipeline of new prospects. It can be difficult to gain access, particularly if a seller is relying on intuition, experience and effort alone. Prospecting for new relationships can be a more successful effort in the building materials sector than most other B2B industries if sellers understand the skills of effective new business development.

Approach Innovative Solutions Differently

Building materials is a legacy industry. Some companies sell solutions that are new to many customers. Skills needed to sell established products are different from the skills needed to sell an innovative solution. Companies with advanced building materials must recognize that and adjust their sales approach to the best practices of introducing innovation.

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Sales Techniques That Must Be Included in Specialized Sales Training

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Identify Winnable Opportunities

Sellers in the building materials sector maintain relationships with a wide network of potential customers. Only a small percentage of these contacts will be actively seeking a new building materials relationship at any given point in time. Knowing how to recognize and nurture new relationships is not a natural skill for most sellers. Sales best practices of knowing what evidence warrants adding an opportunity to a sales funnel has enormous impact on seller performance.

Understand Buyer Roles and Customize Approach

Sellers often need to work with multiple decision makers who seldom have identical views. This means sellers need skills to identify different types of buyer roles. Each buyer role requires a different approach. Effective selling requires tailoring a sales approach to each of three different buyer roles/perspectives.

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Customer Decision Journey©

Most sellers intuitively recognize that decision makers go through a set of stages when considering an important buyer decision. Unfortunately, too few sellers have been trained to fully understand the power of the Customer Decision Journey© as the basis for their ongoing sales strategy. There is no sector where this ability has more impact than in the world of building materials.

Create Curiosity to Break Through Vendor Noise

Few professional sellers are comfortable with prospecting for new relationships. That discomfort is understandable when sellers are left to their intuition and determination as the basis for prospecting efforts. Research has proven that by employing a few best practices it is possible to break through the vendor noise of competitors clamoring for decision maker attention and to be the only seller who earns time and attention from a potential new customer.

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Establish Credibility Through Insightful Questions

It is not enough to be a product expert. Customers can usually learn about products on their own. Sellers add value in the building materials sector if they can ask insightful questions that help their clients think more deeply about important aspects of their business/operations. Sellers need effective questioning skills which provide insights and add value to their customers' business outcomes.

What Our Building Materials Industry Clients Say

Trey L.
Territory Development Representative, Professional Construction Manufacturing Firm

This training has helped me better understand how to get a conversation going with those customers that are tough to get in front of.

Kelly B.
Sales Executive, Commercial Roofing

I learned a lot of new approaches such as how to use pre-call research and a call lead-in to get conversations with new clients.

Greg P.
Strategic Accounts, Commercial Roofing

The training has given me such greater confidence to make cold and warm calls to my clients.

Paul W.
Territory Development Representative, Professional Construction Manufacturing Firm

This course has given me the skills to uncover more information from my architect/specifier clients.

We love our clients because they become long-term partners:
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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is specialized sales training important for the building materials industry?

Specialized sales training equips building materials industry salespeople with the skills to handle complex B2B transactions, negotiate large contracts, and manage long-term customer relationships.

What key skills are covered in sales training for the building materials sector?

Specialized sales training for the building materials industry should include techniques that help sellers identify winnable opportunities, cater to different buyer roles, understand a customer’s decision journey, create curiosity and ask effective questions.

Can specialized sales training improve profit margins?

Yes, specialized training helps salespeople identify opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and offering value-added services, all of which can improve profit margins in building materials deals. Consultative selling can also set sellers apart from their competitors which makes it more likely that the sale won’t be determined solely on price.

How can sales training help advanced building materials companies?

Companies within advanced building materials sell cutting-edge solutions that are still new to most of their potential customers. Sales training can help these companies adopt skills relevant to selling innovative products and solutions. The strategy for selling established products and services is different from the set of skills needed to sell an innovative solution to new adopters.

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