Vol. 6, No. 18 – August 27, 2007

 

 

 

 

“Gain Market Share While Increasing Profits in 2008!”

Plus guaranteed closing techniques to close sales faster for higher margins

 

Plan to attend this year’s Fall Fling – the Annual Meeting of MLA members – on Thursday and Friday, November 1-2, 2007, at the Marriott Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, Mo. We’ve brought back the popular “dine-around” on Thursday evening and you won’t want to miss the presentation on Friday morning by industry veteran, Bob Janet.

 

Get ready for a sales and marketing program you will never forget. The skills, ideas and techniques Bob Janet will present in his unique fun-entertaining style will help you increase your sales and profits immediately.

 

This is more than a speech… much more! This is a highly interactive Selling / Marketing skills and techniques program that will help you to increase sales with existing customers, as well as attract new buyers and close sales faster!

 

Sign up for this fun-entertaining, sales & profit growth program presented by sales growth expert Bob Janet.  Perfect for: Owners, managers and sales professionals – from seasoned veterans to beginners. Watch for additional information and registration form with your MLA newsletter in early September. This information will also soon be posted to the MLA web site at www.themla.com.

 

Bob will show you the selling and marketing skills and techniques the top sales producers know and use.

 

 

After attending this program you’ll be able to:

 

 

All this and more, explained and demonstrated in Bob Janet’s fast moving, fun-entertaining style, so you can start employing these skills and techniques right away to get great results!

 

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and relearn selling and marketing skills and techniques to put your business on the fast track of increased sales and profits! 

 

About Bob Janet…

• Grew up in his parents' retail / wholesale business

• 30 plus years experience as owner/operator, simultaneously, of retail, wholesale, manufacturing and professional businesses. He has real-world experience selling large ticket items.

• 10 years helping business and sales professionals gain and retain their most profitable customers using keynote speeches, seminars, and workshops

 

NLBMDA 2007 INDUSTRY SUMMIT

 

The 2007 Industry Summit, The 16% Solution, will take place October 4-6 at the JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Las Vegas. The 16% Solution will focus on how dealers can maximize their value in builders’ eyes through creativity, operational excellence and most of all, the ability to focus on the builder’s bottom line without losing sight of their own. The 2007 Industry Summit will explore the key areas dealers need to focus on to capture market share and maximize their profitability by making builders more efficient. Dealers are the solution — that is the bottom line!

 

This just in! To counteract a stagnant market, LBM Institute Executive Vice President Greg Brooks will discuss how you can stay ahead of your competition by “Tapping Alternative Markets in a Downturn.”

 

Brooks is president and CEO of Building Supply Channel, Inc., who has over 20 years of field experience in operations, sales, management, and training. He is a columnist for LBM Journal, a former editor of ProSales, and a member of the Remodeling Futures Steering Committee at the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies.

 

We anticipate more than 300 senior-level executives from lumber and building material companies from around the county to attend for the educational seminars, discussions and breakout sessions designed to give dealers the tools to stay competitive in the ever-evolving LBM industry by maximizing their profitability.

 

Access the Industry Summit brochure at http://www.dealer.org/docs/Industry%20Summit%202007%20Brochure%20&%20Reg.pdf

 

Go to the NLBMDA web site at www.dealer.org for continually updated information on the speakers and events and for a direct link to make hotel reservations.

 

 

  

 

Homeland Security Issues New Rules to Tighten Employers’ Liability for Employment Verification

 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new rules designed to strengthen enforcement of existing federal law on hiring of illegal immigrants. Of immediate interest to retailers are new rules on what employers must do if they receive an Employer Correction Request (no-match) letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA). A few key points:

 

·         The current no-match rule does not change. SSA will continue to check annual batches of W-2 forms and send no-match letters when it cannot match Social Security numbers to individual accounts. SSA guidance, which accompanies these letters, on how to correct the errors does not change. However, the no-match letters for tax year 2006 will be accompanied by a letter from the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) telling employers how to respond to the no-match notice.  

 

·         What is new is how DHS will use the no-match letters. SSA considers no-match letters simply a matter of information for employers. DHS will now consider no-match letters as evidence, for enforcement purposes, that the employer had “constructive knowledge” that an employee could be in the U.S. illegally. SSA is prohibited by law from sharing no-match information with DHS, so Homeland Security will not be able to take action based on it.  

 

·         DHS has set up a safe harbor to protect employers from enforcement action, which could include civil and criminal penalties. The safe harbor consists of several actions an employer can take to resolve the mismatch. These include immediately checking the accuracy of employment records and asking the employee to confirm the accuracy of employment information or resolve the discrepancy with SSA. Employers should be sure to follow SSA guidance and ICE information that comes with the no-match letter and verify the employee’s information through the Social Security Number Verification Service. Finally, employees may be asked to complete new I-9 forms and present a photo identification document.

 

DHS indicated it will in the future issue rules requiring federal government contractors and vendors to use the Basic Pilot electronic verification program, now renamed E-Verify, and to reduce the number of documents that will be acceptable to confirm the work eligibility of employees.

 

In summary, retailers who do not receive no-match letters from SSA after submitting W-2 forms should have little need for concern. However, those who do receive no-match letters would be well-advised to resolve the matter immediately. A DHS fact sheet is available at www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases.   

 

Source: NRHA Washington Info Alert, August 15, 2007

 

 

LUMBER NEWS – QUICK GLIMPSES

 

The Home Depot Announces Second Quarter Results… The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported fiscal 2007 second quarter consolidated net earnings of $1.6 billion, or $0.81 per diluted share, compared with $1.9 billion, or $0.90 per diluted share, in the same period in fiscal 2006.

 

Sales for the second quarter totaled $22.2 billion, a 1.8 percent decrease from the second quarter of fiscal 2006, reflecting negative comparable store sales of 5.2 percent, offset in part by sales from new stores.

 

The Company reiterated in its earnings outlook that it expects its earnings per share from continuing operations to decline by 12-15 percent for fiscal 2007. Consolidated earnings per share are expected to decline by 15-18 percent for fiscal 2007.

 

Source: The Home Depot, August 14, 2007

 

Credit Tightening Weighing On Builder Confidence In August…  Highly visible problems in the housing finance system are contributing to a wait-and-see attitude among prospective home buyers and reducing builder confidence in the single-family housing market, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. The HMI declined two points to 22 in August, its lowest level since January 1991.

 

“Builders realize that issues related to mortgage credit cost and availability have become more acute, filtering some prospective buyers out of the market and prompting others to delay their decision to purchase a new home,” said NAHB President Brian Catalde, a home builder from El Segundo, Calif. “Builders are responding by trimming prices and stepping up non-price incentives to bolster sales and limit cancellations, although we’re dealing in a difficult market environment.”

 

Source: National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), August 15, 2007

 

House of Cards… Housing Predictor.com projected in early June that, based on its analysis of the largest 100 metropolitan real estate markets, more than 2 million homes would be foreclosed in the following 30 months. In June alone, foreclosure filings nationwide jumped to 164,664, nearly 87 percent over the same month a year ago, according to the tracking agency RealtyTrac. That number translates into one filing for every 704 households. “The housing boom was a house of cards,” observes Alexis McGee, president of Foreclosures.com, which reported a 78 percent increase in defaults and foreclosure notices through the first six months of 2007 versus the same period a year ago. (Editor’s note: Just the fact that someone has a web site called “Foreclosures.com” says something about the marketplace.)

 

Source: Builder Business Update, August 20, 2007

 

Housing Starts, Building Permits Fall to 10-Year Low… Total housing starts in July fell 6.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.381 million, the lowest mark since January 1997, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau. Also reaching a ten-year low are building permits, which fell nearly 3 percent from June to an annual rate of 1.373 million.

 

Source: Builder Business Update, August 21, 2007

 

Mill Closures and Curtailments Hit Texas, Wisconsin, Massachusetts… Two companies announced mill closures and curtailments on Monday. MeadWestvaco Corporation announced that it will discontinue operations at its South Lee, Massachusetts specialty papers plant. The plant primarily produces wear-resistant overlay (WROL) flooring products, and the MeadWestvaco announced that the closure is due, among other things, to a decline in demand.

 

Also on Wednesday, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation announced an indefinite shutdown at its Silsbee, Texas oriented strand board (OSB) mill, as well as a shutdown through October 31 at its Hayward, Wisconsin OSB mill.

 

Source: LBM Daily, August 23, 2007

 

Bean Lumber Filing for Bankruptcy… Bean Lumber Company will file bankruptcy, perhaps as soon as next week, but the mill will re-open, an attorney for the company said Tuesday.

 

``I actually see us getting employees back in a matter of weeks and not months,’’ said Michael McCrary, a Hot Springs attorney whose firm has been counsel to Bean Lumber Company since 1984. ``Our priority is getting the mills back to running - we recognize our responsibilities to these communities.’’

 

McCrary said the company is experiencing a cash flow shortage and has exhausted its line of credit. Bankruptcy will permit Bean Lumber to sell assets, which could include the plant at Buckner, Mo., to satisfy creditors.

 

Source: The Nashville News, August 23, 2007

 

Trial Run at U.S.-Canadian Arbitration Carefully Watched… Under the softwood lumber agreement, Canada and the U.S. are to enter into arbitration to settle disputes. The first such arbitration in the London Court of International Arbitration is currently under way and of great interest to both sides. At stake is approximately $100 million dollars, penalties against Canadian lumber companies should the U.S. prevail.

 

Source: LBM Daily, August 24, 2007

 

July New-Home Sales Rebound Slightly From Weak June… Sales of new single-family homes were up 2.8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 870,000 units as new-home sales rebounded from weak sales figures in June, the U.S. Commerce Department reported today. The July sales pace was 10.2 percent below a year earlier.

 

The inventory of new homes for sale edged down slightly to 533,000 in July and the equivalent months’ supply at the July sales pace was 7.5 months, down from 7.7 months in June.

 

Completed homes for sale were 33 percent of the inventory, while units still under construction represented 51 percent of the inventory and units for-sale that were permitted but not yet started represented 16 percent of the inventory level — essentially no change from the previous two months. The median length of time that completed homes were on the market was 6.1 months in July, up from 5.9 months in May.

 

Source: NAHB, August 24, 2007

 

Home Depot, buyers hash out new HD Supply deal … After a marathon negotiating session that lasted through the weekend, Home Depot has reportedly agreed to lower the price for its HD Supply unit to $8.5 billion, $1.8 billion less than the original terms with three private equity firms. According to the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, the agreement was reached yesterday after lenders, spooked by the condition of the financial markets, were satisfied that their own demands were being met.

 

Home Depot will reportedly guarantee $1 billion of the debt and retain a 12.5 percent stake in the division. The company is expected to still move forward with its