Lumber Blue Book Celebrates 10 Years of Industry Service (Part 2)

Last week, we traced the 10-year history of Lumber Blue Book.  This week, we look at the ways industry sales professionals have leveraged the value of Lumber Blue Book to grow their top line.

Lumber Blue Book reports on 22,000 lumber companies throughout North America.  This includes mills, wholesalers, secondary manufacturers, lumber yards and distributors.

Company listings include the names and titles of key personnel, products and species handled, location and contact information.  Number of employees is a data element that will be added later this year.

This data is updated in real time and is easily searched and sorted for sales representatives to generate leads and call lists.

“Customers tell us over and over again how invaluable our service is for them to find new customers,” explains Trent Johnson, Lumber Blue Book’s rating and sales representative.  With unlimited search capabilities, lumber traders are free to explore new market segments and identify potential business connections.

Greg Langford, President of Mason Forest Products, Inc. in Hattiesburg, MS, is one of many active, satisfied customers.  “The Lumber Blue Book search engine and database has allowed us to zero in on specific customers in specific regions, quickly and efficiently, helping eliminate dead-end leads,” he enthuses. “Blue Book is the first thing I showed a young salesman I recently hired!”

Because company data is highly structured in Blue Book’s information database, sales professionals can easily filter the 22,000 company listings by geographic location, business classification, species and products handled.  Search results can be exported as a .CSV file or plotted on Google Maps.

One softwood trader in Portland, OR told us this year that Lumber Blue Book is his exclusive resource for finding new customers.  Another trader in Portland confirmed that their largest customer was discovered using Lumber Blue Book.

“Knowing that the work we do is helping sales professionals find new customers is extremely rewarding!” Mr. Johnson exclaims.

We will conclude this series next week by highlighting the important credit risk tools provided by Lumber Blue Book.