Lumberyards are at a pivotal moment. As competition intensifies and margins tighten, the most successful operators are turning to sales technology to better understand their business, improve customer relationships, and drive growth. The days of relying solely on gut instinct are over. Data-driven insights are key to staying ahead.

Understand What You’re Selling and to Whom

One of the biggest opportunities for lumberyards is to analyze sales at both the project and customer levels. What categories are driving your revenue? Are you overly reliant on lumber sales? Lumber typically carries a 20%-25% margin, while categories like doors, windows, and millwork can deliver 30%-50%. High-performing lumberyards have shifted their sales mix, reducing lumber from ~50% of revenue to ~30%, and growing higher-margin categories.

Ask yourself:

• What percentage of your customers only buy lumber products?

• Are you actively promoting other categories to these customers?

• Do you have visibility into which products are driving the most profit?

Sales technology can help you answer these questions by integrating with your ERP and providing detailed analytics. With the right tools, you can identify cross-sell opportunities and build strategies to increase sales in higher-margin categories.

Don’t Overlook the Mid-Tier Customers

While most lumberyards excel at staying on top of their best 20 customers, the mid-tier, those spending ~$50k-$500k annually, often get neglected. This is where the biggest opportunity lies. These customers may not be spending as much individually, but collectively, they can often represent >50% of a lumberyard’s sales.

Here’s the challenge: many of these mid-tier customers haven’t been contacted in months. When owners and managers follow up with these customers, they often find strong accounts that have been unintentionally ignored. That’s a missed opportunity and one your competitors might be capitalizing on.

Sales technology can help you:

• Segment your customers: Automatically monitor your contractor accounts and flag them for regular follow-ups.

• Set reminders and workflows: Ensure your team is reaching out monthly, whether it’s a call, text, or email.

• Spot trends: Use analytics to see if spending patterns are dropping off for any of these accounts, and intervene before they churn.

By focusing on this mid-tier, you can unlock significant growth without having to acquire new customers. It’s about maximizing the potential of the relationships you already have.

The Power of ERP Integration and AI Automation

Tracking customer interactions and analyzing sales data can be time-consuming and prone to human error. Tools that integrate with your ERP and use AI to automate data input can eliminate much of this manual work. By automating tasks like logging interactions and updating CRM records, your sales team can focus on what really matters: building deeper relationships and driving revenue.

AI also excels at lead management. It can analyze customer data, quote history, and industry data to identify high-propensity leads. By prioritizing leads based on their likelihood to convert, AI ensures your team focuses on the most valuable opportunities.

Build a Culture of Proactive Selling

At the end of the day, technology is only as effective as the team using it. Equip your sales team with the tools and training they need to act on the insights your CRM provides. Make it a priority to review customer data regularly and hold your team accountable for staying in touch with key accounts.

Lumberyards that embrace sales technology are positioning themselves for long-term success. By understanding your business at a deeper level, optimizing your sales mix, and staying connected with both your best and mid-tier customers, you can drive growth and improve margins, even in a competitive market. The question is, do you have the visibility you need to make it happen?  

SalesJack is a modern analytics and CRM platform tailor-made for building materials retailers. Ryan Dempsey is the CEO at SalesJack. He can be reached at ryan@salesjack.com. To learn more about SalesJack, visit www.salesjack.com.