New frontiers: with the right approach, organic expansion strategies can grow new business opportunities. Here are some tips on how to spread new roots from a small independent in Lowe's backyard and a regional Midwestern pro dealer

Prosales, May, 2005 by Joe Bousquin

In the case of the new showroom, Mill Creek's objective has been twofold: The facility highlights specialty products in an installed setting for pros, while driving sales of replacement windows and doors in the remodeling business to existing homeowners. So far, the model has generated a 75 percent/25 percent pro-to-consumer sales split, roughly in line with the 80 percent pro-oriented revenues the company records as a whole. The showroom helps builders learn the specifics of non-commodity items, according to the facility's manager of pro sales James Raffety. "In some cases, a 2x4 is a 2x4," Raffety says. "When you've got a specialty product, you've got to know your ins and outs, and tell the builder why he should buy your fireplace versus the guy's down the street. The showroom helps us do that."

Jim Harbold of Edmond, Okla.--based Harbold Homes, a custom builder of five to 10 homes a year, uses the showroom as a tool to select materials or give homeowners the option to do so. "For doors and windows, I like the quality they offer," says Harbold, who can choose from Mill Creek's selection of Weather Shield and Andersen windows and doors and Heatilator fireplaces. "It's very helpful. I have no qualms sending [clients] down there."

For Mill Creek, whether it's helping a builders' customer select a fireplace at the new showroom or installing carpet, the key to developing any new business is always going to be the people behind the push. "It's the realization that whether it's a green field or an acquisition, employing the right people is absolutely vital to any expansion," Dunn says. "The idea can be great, the product can be great, and the location can be great, but if you don't have the right people, it's not going to fly."