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KBx member Drew Tavss is president & CEO of the Washington, DC area Mid South Building Supply, a whole- sale distributor of residential building products with seven locations. The firm supplies remodeling contractors and residential home builders and specializes in kitchen and bath cabinetry, as well as windows, doors and siding products. Tavss has been encouraged by the surge in 2016 business, noting, "We have definitely seen a pick-up in higher-end product. We are seeing greater activity at the home shows; these events are a major resource for home improvement and remodeling for our customers." As far as growth initiatives for this year, Tavss is seeking "a modest growth objective of 10%," adding that, "A major growth strategy for us this year is market expansion through new locations." To help achieve this goal, the firm is adding a new show- room in Midlothian, VA, which is a satellite to Richmond, and moving its Charlottesville location, while also celebrating the company's 50th anniversary "by hosting several customer- centered events during the year tying in vendor and KBx partner involvement." CHALLENGES While the industry continues to gain ground due to overall economic growth, several key challenges remain, particularly in the area of staffing. It's not just a shortage of manpower, it's also about being able to find the right people for the job, and invest the necessary training to get them up to speed. Kuretzsky notes, "As the 'old-timers' of our industry begin retiring, we will likely replace these seasoned veterans with less experienced salespeople. These people need extensive training…which no one ever has time to provide since we are all running at full speed ahead with our current projects." Price concurs: "The greatest challenges to our industry to- day are finding, training and educating the right people. This includes installers, designers and salespeople. While we have arrived at the computer age, we still cannot rely on them to get personal with the customers and create that special space. This is only going to happen with a one-on-one sit down and getting to know the right questions to ask and how to imple- ment the best design to the desired budget on time and to the satisfaction of the client." He continues: "The installation team today [needs to be] problem solvers as well. Installers must have the ability to foresee concerns before they arise and come up with a solu- tion to prevent the project from being delayed." Home affordability is another key challenge, according to Tavss. He says, "Although new construction is moving in the right direction, we are still not catching up to what will be an escalating demographic demand. That said, the supply of existing homes for sale on the market will remain lower than it should be. Both of these will impact the cost of homes and may impact our top line." MARKETING & TECHNOLOGY There's no question that the digital experience is changing how the industry goes to market. More immediate and fluid than other, more traditional forms of marketing, the digital world – from email queries to social media – has changed the expectations that consumers have when shopping. That doesn't mean TV, radio, print ads and hard copy marketing pieces don't still fill a need in the market, the two or- ganizations' members say. According to Kuretzky, "Marketing to retail clients still relies on a TV presence, but the supporting media is now entirely Internet based. We now use digital adver- tising, social media and various programs that provide prompt resp onses to e-mail inquiries and appointment requests." Speed is not just desired, but expected, he adds, noting that, "Prospects want immediate responses to their inquiries – they have no patience for delays, inaction or scheduling issues. And if you can demonstrate your ability to accomplish this, you have really separated yourself from the field. The best news I can get from a prospect is: 'Wow – that response was fast!'" Price agrees: "The marketing of our company has changed in the past few years. More people start the shopping experi- ence online and rely on social media to select the companies in their area to visit first." Cox believes that the best marketing approach mixes tradi- tional and digital elements, including live events, noting, "We continue to buy radio ads and host events in our showrooms for both remodel professionals and end consumers. We also are making significant upgrades to our social media platform and website." Technology provides other new tools to improve everything from efficiency and customer service to recruiting of new employees. For instance, Kuretzky notes, "The Chat tool on our website has become one of our largest appointment-setting tools. It's manned by selected Kurtis team members – so the answers to prospects' inquiries are targeted and to the point, versus the canned response of a marketing service." He continues, "Our installation department uses a cloud- based CRM database to manage, schedule and direct all of the trades. Clients can view the schedule and the progress for their installed project on line, which keeps them in constant communication with us and informed about the status of their project. Keeping in regular communication takes a great deal of stress off everyone involved with installed projects." Cox finds software a big help in creating consistency – especially important in a business with multiple locations in three different states. He explains, "We have made a major push to incorporate CRM software and are continually looking for ways to enhance our process through technology." Tavss also sees technology holding great promise for the future. He notes, "With storage becoming so cheap and available, I envision the day when we will have records of all of the homes for which we have installed kitchens and be able to market to the owners of those homes years in the future when they are ready to be remodeled. We were recently contracted to renovate apartments that we had renovated 25 years ago. Wouldn't it be nice to have all of the layout and designs that we had done years before? I believe technology and planning will be great marketing tools for the future." ▪ Kurtis Kitchen & Bath's growth initiatives focus on reinvesting profits into the business and redeveloping the showroom environments to stay current, according to Jeff Cox, who cites new showroom displays as key to their ongoing success. 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