Project Selling for Building Material Distributors

We offer three applications to power the digital transformation of project selling. With these simple improvements, you’ll see increased customer satisfaction, higher revenue, and better margins.

#1: The BuildSite database offers product knowledge for you and your reps.

When your customers contact you, they expect to talk to reps who know the technical details of their products.

I have a crack in my slab.
What termination bars do I use below grade?
Polyiso or foam on the roof?
Batts or rigid on the wall?
What’s the difference between urethane and silicone sealants?
What components do I need for a UL 419 wall?

When you know the answers to questions like these, you set yourself apart from Amazon business and big-box retail.

BuildSite product detail page. Technical details, ASTM and MasterFormat category links, Get Quote section, links to product data, SDS, and installation details. Everything you need.

#2: BuildSite Submittal Software on Submittal.com

Submittals lie at the heart of project selling. Do them well, and they will be a value-creation machine for you. Here are the main points:

Submittals are a major value-added service.
Product data submittals let you recommend products that work best for you.
Approved submittals go into the permanent project record, as a resource for facility managers. It can bring you recurring revenue.

The goal: Make it easy for your customers to get their submittals approved and in the project.

Submittal.com uses proprietary tools and templates to tie your product recommendations to specs, fixture schedules, and customer POs.

Selected Project Selling resources for distributors:

“Project Selling: A Vital Part of Creating Value” from Modern Distribution Management discusses how submittals can create competitive advantage for you.

“Selling Products Is Good. Selling Projects Can Be Even Better” from HBR offers another valuable perspective on project selling.

#3: Distributor Finder — Sales Leads and RFQs

Distributors subscribing to the applications shown above are automatically listed in the Finder. You can join it, too! Using your line card and branch location data, the Finder connects you with contractors and facility managers looking for products and quotes. For only $25 per location per month, the Finder brings you:

Access to 130,000+ potential customers searching for products every month
RFQs sent directly to your locations, with contacts, product lists, and quantities
Actionable leads on deals from $100 to over $100,000

All quote requests come with products, quantities, and full customer contact information.

A Proven Platform

The first thing our inside sales and counter reps do in the morning when they get here is pull up BuildSite…

I love…that you can send a URL instead of 19 attachments…

I love the annotation tool. You don’t have to print it, write on it, draw arrows, scan it…

Here is just a small fraction of the tens of thousands of projects where customers have used BuildSite for product selection and submittals.