Customer Service Tips Blytheville AR

By Blase Grady

One of the many challenges that LBM dealers face today is properly balancing inventory levels with demand and without sacrificing customer service. Sales have fallen so dramatically in some markets that they throw out the usefulness of any sales history. Other yards have been left hanging with inventory that was stocked specifically for certain customers that no longer exist.

How to achieve optimal inventory levels in such a volatile market is the million-dollar question, and it crosses so many of our business components. Sales forecasting, vendor lead times, cash flow, product seasonality, natural disasters, and expected customer service levels are just a few of the components that affect our inventory planning decisions. Proactive, decisive, and continuous steps are necessary to maintain proper inventory levels during any market conditions, but especially during downturns when there is not a high volume of sales to mask inventory issues.

Most CEOs and CFOs believe that their companies consistently carry 25% more inventory than necessary. This is right on target. Often, management is startled when it actually sees the items (and the corresponding dollar amounts) that are tied up in obsolete, slow-turning inventory. Control and purchasing staff receive far more negative reaction for "stocks outs" than they do for a little excess inventory. This situation often leads to inventory spiraling upward and out of control.

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