The direction and development of the building materials industry with Jeff Booth
At BuildDirect, we are often confused with a company called DirectBuy. They spend a ton of money on advertising so I can understand customer confusion. I am frustrated though, because our models, other than promising the best prices, could not be more different. One of the fundemental differences is that: Membership is FREE at BuildDirect. You actually do not even need to be a member to buy. Searching Google for reviews of DirectBuy points to countless customers talking about … [Read more...]
You know those moments when you hear something so compelling, it just sticks with you. Well, about two months ago at a Growth conference, I had one of those moments, and I have been thinking about it since. The moment I am talking about is while listening to a speaker named Aubrey Daniels who is a foremost authority on change management and bringing out the best in people. Aubrey talked about how punishment or penalty was only effective in stopping a behaviour, and how positive reinforcement … [Read more...]
Yesterday I was asked a question that I am often asked and I thought it deserved a blog post. The question I was asked is "Where is your call center?" I always answer the same..... WE DO NOT HAVE A CALL CENTER!!! We have product experts, and that function is handled in our head office. The expertise in our sales department is a core competency. I would put our product experts up against anyone in the business in their deep knowledge of the respective products. They each have incredible … [Read more...]
At the Gazelles growth conference last week, I had the opportunity to see Jim Collins speak. One of the things I liked most about his speech, is the depth of research that he has done to examine what makes companies truly great. Jim has made a life study out of the differences between high performing companies and those who failed to excel. He comes to some interesting conclusions that are often left out of the popular media. One of the things I found most interesting according to his … [Read more...]
I'm leaving today for Verne Harnish's Annual growth conference. It's always a great event but this year looks fantastic. The theme this year is how smart companies are taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity. It's expected that more market share will change hands in the next twelve to eighteen months than did in the last several decades. I'm also looking forward to meeting Jim Collins, who wrote Built to Last, and Good to Great. … [Read more...]
Each day we receive feedback from customers rating their experience with BuildDirect on 3 different criteria. 1) Customer Service 2) Product quality 3) Delivery service. We treat this feedback as crucial to our business. Even though it hurts when the feedback is negative, it uncovers areas that we improve upon. We never hide from it. In fact we share the product quality reviews un-edited for everyone else to see. The vast majority of the responses are not only positive...but extremely … [Read more...]
NEVER GIVE IN! Be willing to change tactics, but never give up on your core purpose. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even shutter big operations you've been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company. Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities, even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the discipline to create your own future. Be willing to embrace loss, to endure pain, to temporarily … [Read more...]
I'm just back home from Turkey, where my wife and I just finished an amazing trip. We started in Istanbul, the only city in the world that sits on two continents. (European and Asian) Because of its importance to trade routes, Istanbul has a long history, being the capital city of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. With this vast history, Istanbul, formally known as Byzantium and Constantinople is an incredible melting pot of heritage and culture. … [Read more...]
I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Zappos months ago. (Prior to the sale to Amazon) There has been a great deal of media discussion on the Zappos values and their focus on customer service that drove their business to grow very quickly to almost a billion dollars in revenue. Most of which I agree with. They do have a fantastic culture and amazing customer service. This post is going to talk about something a little different. A small part of the tour that really struck a chord with … [Read more...]
While at the helm of BuildDirect, Jeff is also an active member of the international Young Presidents’ Organization, and is a frequent speaker to industry groups throughout North America. Jeff also makes time to lecture in business courses at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. [Read More…]
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