Like many good sales lessons, this one started over beers.
It eventually became the backbone of my book Behind Your Back: What Purchasing Managers Say Once You Leave the Room—and How to Get Them to Say Yes.
Denver, Colorado.
March of 2013.
I was spending a week with a drywall supply company, helping them attract Hispanic talent and improve how they marketed to builders.
At the end of a long day, the GM asked if I’d join his sales team for beers and share some advice on prospecting national builders.
Four weeks later he called back.
His tone was serious.
“Listen, Hartmann. The Hispanic marketing and Spanish training is working. But what you did with my sales team over beers that night—that’s what I need more of.”
“You mean you want to pay me to drink beer and swap war stories with your sales team?”
“Well… yeah. They’ve booked more meetings with builders in the last three weeks than they did in the previous six months.”
Less than a year later, I published Behind Your Back.
One of the people who read it was an LBM sales professional named Kent Strawderman. We struck up a friendship, he joined The Construction Leadership Podcast to share his story, and then he did something even more interesting.
He became a builder.
After years selling to builders and trying to understand them from the outside, Kent moved to the builder side.
He recently joined me on The Craft of LBM Sales Podcast to talk about what he’s learned since crossing over. I asked him three simple questions.
1. What did you suspect about homebuilders that turned out to be true?
Kent didn’t hesitate.
There’s no hack.
There’s no sales secret.
The same traits that make someone a super sales rep also make someone effective as a superintendent: Empathy, proactive communication, emotional intelligence.
Just do the basics well.
Every day.
Show up on site.
Be useful.
Answer the phone.
Be direct.
Have good energy and a great attitude.
Treat people with respect.
Be someone who makes the jobsite better when you’re on it.
Those basics, Kent says, are surprisingly rare.
The best builders—and the best salespeople—understand that making excuses or blaming others might feel good in the moment, but it destroys trust over time.
2. What turned out to be more nuanced than expected?
In a word: pre-construction.
As an LBM rep, Kent’s job felt fairly linear: Get plans, quote materials, place orders, make sure product showed up on time.
But once he moved inside the building process, he realized the difference between a smooth project and a chaotic one almost always comes down to how much work gets done before the project starts.
So, where can sales reps make an impact?
Kent believes suppliers can play a valuable role in pre-construction—if they choose to.
Flag long lead times on windows or specialty products. Suggest alternatives that meet performance requirements but improve scheduling. Help builders think through sequencing before problems arrive.
Value engineering and idea generation—without being asked.
Yes, builders appreciate responsiveness.
But what they really value is thoughtfulness.
Return with a quick price and you’re a vendor. Return with a quick price plus ideas that help Kent make, find, or save money—and make him look smart—and you become a partner.
3. What assumption about builders turned out to be wrong?
Kent assumed that because many builders deliver homes that look similar, their internal processes must be fairly similar too.
False.
Pull back the curtain and you’ll see wildly different profit models, planning habits, communication styles, and expectations for suppliers.
And some are simply better than others.
For sales professionals, this is an important reminder: don’t assume.
Be curious.
Ask thoughtful questions.
Challenge assumptions.
Help builders think through decisions they haven’t had time to fully analyze.
What Builders Actually Want
Master the basics of customer service. Get involved earlier—the biggest opportunity to add value often happens before a single nail is driven.
And bring ideas before pricing.
Kent is juggling multiple jobs at once; sales reps who help him think more proactively don’t just stand out—they get called first.
So if you’ve ever wondered what it actually takes to impress builders, here is Kent Strawderman of Harbor View Custom Builders telling you—right to your face, not behind your back.
Simple.
But not easy.
Click here to listen to the full episode.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll be back next week.
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Bradley Hartmann & Co.
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Contact Bradley Hartmann:
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