For building product manufacturers, market data can help answer a basic but critical question: Where should the sales team focus its time?
MiTek helps home builders and component manufacturers improve efficiency, increase capacity, and grow their businesses through software, services, structural connectors, and automation solutions.
Phil Harms, Vice President of Building Solutions, explains how his team uses Zonda Enterprise Building Products to track market movement, anticipate demand, and prepare for builders’ changing needs. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: How does MiTek use Zonda Enterprise Building Products?
A: We primarily use Enterprise to keep tabs on the market, who’s moving within the market, both up and down, and who is on the precipice of moving. So, when we use the future lot data and the VDLs [vacant developed lots], we can say, ‘Oh, this builder is on the move.’
Q: What do you do when the data points to a potential growth opportunity?
A: It helps my team to funnel in on which builders to focus on and what markets. So, our sales team can help prioritize their strategic sales initiatives amongst the growing builders and the builders that, on paper, are showing like they may need some assistance from the tools that we offer.
Q: How does the Building Products Outlook support MiTek’s consulting work?
A: As we know, the prices in building materials right now are jumping around day-to-day.
To get the most relevant, up-to-date materials coming from the Building Products Outlook really helps us to refine and adapt our consulting programs to better offer solutions or help builders find solutions that can help them become more efficient in their operations.
Q: How does Enterprise Building Products help with forecasting and operational planning?
A: We look at the permitting data that we can gather. We look at the historical closings and the future lot supply and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to see a significant uptick in growth in, we’ll call it, the Carolina regions. We have a manufacturing plant in Edenton, North Carolina. Maybe we need to move more resources or buy more raw material, increase staffing within those facilities to help drive up supply within the marketplace.
Q: How does the platform help MiTek prepare for conversations with builders?
A: You’re able to gather a lot more information a lot quicker, which turns your efficiency into commercialization much quicker. You can have those sales calls and be more educated in the sales calls.
Zonda really gives the sales teams that information at their fingertips to be more informed in the sales call, to have a constructive conversation with the customer or the builder, because you know what’s going on in their business and you can tailor your sales approach to help that builder with tools that will really help them and tools that they need.
Q: How much of an advantage does that access provide?
I would say the amount of data coupled with the availability of the data gives you at least a 5x advantage over out there trying to find that data on your own manually.
