Blog/How lumber yards can use contractor referrals to win more of the job

How lumber yards can use contractor referrals to win more of the job

Nov 17 min read

Decide which contractors get homeowner referrals, follow each referred job to a quote and use the results to grow contractor accounts.

Sales Strategy
How lumber yards can use contractor referrals to win more of the job

When a homeowner asks your yard to recommend a contractor, the referral can do more than help the homeowner. Run as a sales process, it sends a job to one of your contractor accounts and gives your rep a reason to ask for that job's materials. That takes four decisions: which contractors qualify, how each request is matched, how the referred job is followed to a quote, and how the results shape the next account conversation.

This guide is for outside and inside reps, counter teams and sales managers at lumber yards and multi-category building materials dealers. Hardware stores with pro accounts that get the same homeowner requests can apply it too. It does not cover how to vet contractors or how to write your yard's referral policy. Those are management decisions, and your yard may want them reviewed by its own advisers.

Why referral requests belong in your sales process

Homeowners already ask lumber yards for help finding a builder. Hancock Lumber says many of its homeowner and online customers ask for a list of contractors to interview, and that builder referral inquiries grew significantly after it launched its online experience (Hancock Lumber). Arnold Lumber runs a contractor referral desk and puts together a list of contractors who fit the homeowner's project from the base it regularly does business with (Arnold Lumber). Deering Lumber gives homeowners a free search by project type and zip code (Deering Lumber).

Manufacturers use the same lever. LP Building Solutions lists homeowner referrals among the benefits of its LP Remodelers Edge loyalty program, and contractors earn points by uploading their SmartSide purchase invoices (LP Building Solutions). The common thread is simple. A contractor who receives work through you has a reason to buy that job's materials from you.

That only pays off if someone on your sales team follows the referral after the name is handed over. Otherwise the yard does the contractor a favor and never learns whether the job's framing package, decking or windows came through its counter.

Decide which contractors qualify for referrals

Published programs tie eligibility to the account relationship.

  • Hancock Lumber requires an active charge account in good standing (Hancock Lumber).
  • Deering Lumber requires an account in good standing, a minimum annual purchase of $50,000, and the insurance, licensing, bonding and certification required in the contractor's county and state. It tells contractors to speak with their Deering sales rep about setting up an account (Deering Lumber).
  • Advantage Lumber says members of its free Advantage Pro contractor program will be considered for customer referrals (Advantage Lumber).

Your own criteria are your yard's decision. Whatever you choose, write it down and apply it the same way across reps. Then check each candidate against the account record. Is the account active? Which product categories has it bought from you over the past year? Does it do the kind of work homeowners ask about?

That review is also a sales conversation. A contractor who buys framing lumber from you but sources decking or windows elsewhere might want referrals for deck or remodeling work. The rep can explain the yard's criteria and ask which jobs the contractor wants more of. Keep it factual. If your program has a purchase threshold, say what it is and let the contractor decide whether to pursue it.

Be careful about what a listing implies. Deering's public contractor listing states that the yard does not endorse or guarantee the listed contractors and strongly recommends that homeowners vet them personally (Deering Lumber contractor listing). Reps should never present a referral as a promise about the contractor's work.

Match each request to contractors who fit the job

Treat each homeowner request as a lead. Record the project type, the jobsite address and any timing the homeowner mentions. Those three details decide which contractors fit and when to follow up.

Then decide who gets the referral. You might give the homeowner a short list of names or rotate requests among qualified contractors who serve that area and type of work. Either way, note which contractors received each referral and which rep owns each of those accounts. Without that record, nobody can tell later whether the program produced any sales.

Here is an illustrative example. A homeowner calls about a new deck and a basement finish. The counter rep records the address and both projects, then passes along two qualified remodelers who do both kinds of work. The request is assigned to the outside rep who manages those accounts, with a follow-up date set for when the homeowner expects to choose a contractor.

Tell the contractor and ask for the materials conversation

The referral gives the rep a natural reason to call. Tell the contractor who asked, what the project is and that the homeowner has their name. Then ask for the next step on the materials side: "When you get to pricing, send me the plans and we'll quote the package." Keep it a request. The homeowner chooses the contractor, and the contractor chooses where to buy.

If the contractor already buys some categories from your yard, the referral is a good time to raise one they buy elsewhere. The deck referral can open a conversation about decking and railing with a framer who has only bought lumber from you. Our guide to cross-selling in lumberyard sales covers how to choose which category to raise.

Follow the referred job to a quote and an order

This is the step that turns a referral into a sales result. When the follow-up date arrives, the rep checks three things:

  1. Did the contractor reach the homeowner?
  2. Did the contractor win the job?
  3. Has a quote or order for that jobsite come through your yard?

The third answer is already in your records if quotes and orders carry the jobsite address. If the contractor won the job and your yard has no quote for it, call about that specific job before the materials are bought. Our guide to winning more of a builder's jobs covers how to ask about a job you are not supplying and how to sort the reasons you hear.

Keep the outcomes separate. A referral passed along, a contractor who contacted the homeowner, a job the contractor won and an order your yard shipped are four different events. Counting all of them as wins makes the program look stronger than it is.

Use referral results in account reviews

After a few months, the referral record shows patterns your reps can act on.

  • Contractors who win referred jobs but buy the materials elsewhere need a direct conversation about why.
  • Contractors who win referred jobs and buy the materials from you are candidates for more referrals and a broader account plan.
  • Referrals that go unanswered may mean the contractor is at capacity, which is worth knowing before you route the next one.

Deering asks participating contractors to respond immediately to inquiries, and it reserves the right to remove contractors who fail to meet its requirements (Deering Lumber). Your yard can set its own expectations, but they only hold if someone reviews the record.

Bring the referral record into the regular account review. A sales manager can ask each rep which referred jobs became orders, which went to another supplier and what the next step is for each open one. That keeps the conversation on revenue rather than on how many names were handed out.

Where connected sales data helps

Referral follow-up depends on connecting three things that usually live in different places: the homeowner request, the contractor's account history, and the quotes and orders for the jobsite. SalesJack's lumber yard CRM brings quotes, orders and permits in from connected sources and matches them, along with email and call history, to the customer and jobsite. Reps can add and update leads from the web or mobile app and use assignments and reminders to plan follow-up, as described on the CRM feature page.

How well a referred job can be matched depends on your connected systems and on quotes carrying the jobsite address. SalesJack does not set referral criteria or vet contractors. Those stay with your yard. If you want to see how your team could follow referred jobs alongside open quotes, you can book a demo.

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