Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
When it comes to knowing where to start with B2B in your business, retailers who have found success in this area suggest starting small to attract these pro customers.
Jay Donnelly, owner of Flanagan Paint & Supply with five locations in the St. Louis Metro area, says posting regularly on LinkedIn has helped bring in new B2B customers. He has had contractors start buying from the stores after seeing posts on LinkedIn.
“These customers are seeing the content we’re putting out on LinkedIn and seeing the value we can offer,” Donnelly says. “I’ll post pictures of our deliveries so they see we are doing volume and that makes a big impact.”
Donnelly also makes a point to call at least one customer a week and thank them for coming in and making a purchase.
Ned Green, owner of Weider’s Paint & Hardware with three locations in western New York, has adopted a four-step program—responding inside, hunting inside, responding outside, hunting outside—to bring in new B2B customers. Hunting inside and outside are those cold calls and other methods to find B2B customers. Responding inside and outside means saying yes to special orders, offering delivery and saying yes when you can, Green says.
“Every time I walk into a business for a delivery, I get to see what they might need that we can provide. That delivery is a warm sales call,” Green says. “When a customer comes in with a business name on their shirt, I’m asking them about their business, an easy opening to future B2B sales.”
Similarly, Ty McClellan, owner of Hardware Sales based in Bellingham, Washington, also trains his hardware sales employees to pay attention to customers wearing business gear and share those with the industrial sales team. He recommends taking a look at your current customer base and see which customers have facilities or businesses and could potentially become B2B customers. Pick a goal—say two a week—and call those customers to ask if you can stop by their shop and see and learn more about their business.
“Next thing you know, you’re there for an hour and offering to send them pricing on items and they are discovering all you can do for them,” McClellan says. “Start small because it doesn’t happen overnight, but it all goes back to relationship building.”
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