Rick Schumacher

A long-time employee's performance declines as the years go on. What would you do? When you took over as general manager of your company three...

Knowledge is power. That’s especially true in the wildly competitive LBM distribution market, where accurate, up-to-date insights into sales, margins, deliveries, inventory positions and...

By virtually all accounts, 2018 has been a solid year for most companies in the construction supply industry. I’ve talked with many dealers who’ve...

Some things never change. Like the need to attract customers, grow our sales and build our brands. That straight-forward business challenge has grown much...

Just back in the office after the LBM Strategies Conference 2018, there is so much that I want to share—but I’ve managed to pare...

As your company adds outside salespeople, there’s more conflict over customers. What would you do?As you’ve learned from running an independent building material company,...

A lot has changed since I joined this industry back in 1990. Back then, it was estimated that there were more than 6,000 separate...

A longtime builder customer switched suppliers when the daughter took over the family lumberyard.Speaking from experience, you know that there are worse things than...

As in any business that sells a product or service at a profit, even one known for delivering razor-thin margins, the question of what...

A few weeks ago, my son’s first season of traveling soccer was nearing its end, and he had yet to score a goal. That’s...