The ROI of Building Digital Tools for Your Contractor Customers

Great customer service. Reliable delivery. Omnichannel sales options. Access to product experts. Financing flexibility. Jobsite delivery.

These are all table stakes for distributors today or will be in the next 12 to 18 months.

What will differentiate distributors is an extreme focus on the customer: How can you help them work more efficiently and effectively? How can you help them grow their businesses?

With these goals in mind, forward-looking distribution companies are starting to dip their toes into providing digital tools to support their customers. Distributors that serve trade contractors are well-positioned to help their customers work smarter and faster.

You may be skeptical:

• “How can we afford to provide an app to our customers?” 
• “Why would we provide something that isn’t designed to drive revenue to our business?”

Before you stop reading, let’s talk it through.

It’s so easy for a customer to walk away today. If you’re trying to differentiate based on the table stakes I outlined above, you’ll fall short.

A solution that connects you to them and provides incentives to purchase through you (without forcing it) will integrate you tightly into their daily operations.

The benefits of providing technology to your customers include:

• Greater customer loyalty, as they become more integrated with your business
• Margin expansion as your customer base becomes less price-sensitive
• Increased wallet share with existing customers
• New customers who are attracted to the customer experience you provide
• Meeting the higher expectations of the next generation of owners 

Here’s an example:

A big pain point for many contractors is building out quotes. 

If a homeowner sits down with a plumber about a new water heater, can she build out that quote so the homeowner has a good-better-best product experience? 

When doing so, can she see inventory availability by supplier in real-time? (You don’t want to promise something in one week and have it backordered by two.)

Can the plumber place the order right there and then with their preferred supplier after the agreement is signed?

If I were a homeowner, I’d also like to see a text or email with a link to that proposal with detailed work and schedule broken out by costs, allowing me to accept the work and schedule an appointment. No calls required.

A distributor can provide that experience and become not just a supplier, but a partner in improving the contractor’s business.

How do you build it?

You can’t build one app to rule them all; it would never be good enough at everything it would have to do. The reality about building technology for your trade customers is that third-party apps already exist for core functions. 

Rather than try to build a one-size-fits-all tool, focus on your customers’ biggest pain point. Then integrate that great solution not only with the contractor’s other systems, but with your order entry to make it easy to buy through you.

Most distributors don’t have the IT talent in-house to build this technology. Your IT team has enough on their plate.

But you do have what matters most: knowledge of what your customers need, which is the foundation of a successful tool. Take the time to talk to your customers about their day-to-day work to supplement your own understanding of their needs.

Then, identify a trusted partner with the expertise you need to build, integrate and manage the app within your own company’s processes and systems.

This path may take up to 18 months; start having these conversations now even while you’re building your foundation (those table stakes we talked about at the start of the article). 

Ask yourself:

• Is there an opportunity?
• If there is, what’s the potential ROI? (Think beyond pure dollars coming through an app.)
• How aligned is this opportunity with our business goals?

Let ProfitOptics help you help your customers

We offer customized software and product solutions to companies that want to improve performance and gain a competitive edge through technology. We provide expert-led, cost-effective technology solutions focusing on quick and sustainable ROI. Learn more.