Lumber Project Consultant and Salesperson
Please watch the following 2 minute video for an introduction to our consultation and sales position and what Chris Buffalo feels it will take to be our best match.
Buffalo Lumber is a 3rd party internet retailer specializing in custom milled and factory finished wood siding. We represent several lumber mills and deliver to customers across the US and Canada. We are NOT a shopping cart. All orders are custom from beginning to end. All communication is handled personally - by phone and email.
You will be talking to top income earners- homeowners, architects, designers and builders. You will give them advice on high end custom projects worth many thousands of dollars. They will depend on your expertise to make educated decisions about custom milled and factory finished wood.
You must have extreme patience and an excellent attitude about helping people with their projects. When they go out into lumber retail they run into a lot of superior attitudes and lumber jargon. Your job is to help them make sense of all that and tell them the truth about owning wood to the best of your ability.
I tell people “It is not my job to sell you wood, it is my job to scare the crap out of you with what it really takes to make wood siding work long term. If you make it through that process you have a 99.9% chance of being happy with the result”.
I am looking for sales experience and the confidence to bring in new business. Must be excellent communicator with computer and writing skills. I can teach the custom milling expertise. Some building experience preferred but not necessary if communication, confidence and learning skills are excellent.
What the Position Looks Like
Our in-house personalized call center qualifies all lead calls, collects specific project, location and contact information then schedules same or next day appointments for project consultations.
All inbound calls are recorded to voice mail for handling as time permits.
In house leads come off the website. Qualified leads drop directly into our proprietary Quote software called PRISOM. You will login to handle daily lead call backs and to track existing leads to the point of sale.
During your initial sales call detailed project info is collected and your lead is further qualified. If they are a good match to our business and products you will build an initial quote and send a RECAP email summarizing the project conversation and providing an estimated price. That is the beginning of the sales cycle which continues until a mill contract and customer contract are signed and down payment received. Our main customer base is East Coast and most consultations will be scheduled 8am – 4pm EST.
What your Day looks Like
This is a 40-hour week telecommuting position. Our proprietary software is in our data center which you will access remotely over the internet. Each day you will sign into a remote workstation to access leads loaded into PRISOM quoting software. All quote emails are copied to your Outlook Exchange account where you can store customer emails, shipping quotes and mill quotes etc.
You will need 2 large monitors so you can have the Buffalo Lumber web site and Exchange up on one screen and PRISOM on the other (monitor must be capable of displaying 1680x1050 resolution). This will allow you to do multiple things at once without having to click back and forth. It really helps to be able to see the website at the same time you have PRISOM up and are quoting your customers.
We use a hands-free headset and skype business service for calling outside phone lines. This also allows you to do this job with laptop and headset anywhere they have high speed internet.
When you sign into PRISOM you will see a list of the leads and times they want to be called back. Once you click on a lead it takes you to a project screen where you can take notes and do the quoting part. From there you can ball park prices from different mills and products, bring them down and turn into quote emails for customers.
You will be glued to a computer for most of your work day. The good news is the commute is from bedroom to home office. It is actually pretty fun, and we have a good support team. We are very progressive in the way we do things and our lead management system is excellent. The software handles everything from lead to quote to follow up to contract to mill cut sheet to invoice to BOL. But you will have to process a lot of emails and a lot of details on the journey from lead to order.
Requirements
You must have Microsoft Office experience plus excellent phone and email skills. This is an independent contractor position. A business license will be required.
Skills needed:
- Sales Experience
- Good voice with excellent phone presence
- Good writing skills with extensive email experience
- Computer literate - Microsoft Office, Email, Docs, online search, typing
- Willing to learn all things lumber – language and specifics
- Willing to learn our email protocols and quote software system
- Attention to detail and very thorough
- Patience with the internet customer buying a product they cannot tire kick
- Able to juggle many balls while waiting for all the info needed to complete a quote
- BONUS: Architecture, Construction, Milling, Building, Lumber experience (a Big Plus – but not required)
System requirements to remote into our private computer network:
- Computer with windows 10
- High-speed, broadband connection to the internet
- Two large monitors 22in+ (min 1680x1050 resolution)
- Headset (we can provide recommendations)
- Comfortable Chair
- Skype ID
What the job looks like
Our contact page is the only place on the site where our phone and email are available. The reason for this is to funnel everyone to one place so we can explain that we custom mill to order and do not carry inventory and have a minimum order requirement http://www.buffalo-lumber.com/contact
We have a personalized call center group that qualifies all initial sales calls from the site. Guided by our call script they ask specific questions to determine if what the customer is looking for matches our product line and meets minimum order requirements.
Those who DO qualify are entered as an active lead and dropped directly into our proprietary software. All outbound sales calls are made through the company business skype service.
We use an internet service to handle phone lines. All phone calls to the salesman’s extension go immediately to recording – the mp3 is emailed directly to the salesman to prioritize. We use email to track every quote and order step.
Once a lead becomes an order it is turned over to an Order Manager who becomes the point of contact but the salesperson will stay involved in supportive role throughout the order life cycle to answer questions, clarify customer communication and work to prevent Murphy Law strikes – “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”.
We have lead follow-up support, an order manager and (as needed) email auditing “eye-in-the-sky”. We use Skype IM all day to help each other. We use Skype video to meet and handle anything out of the ordinary.
We have full-time computer and software support and full-time quote support to answer questions and provide assistance when quote and order issues arise. If there is a local issue on your machine our tech support uses a remote interface to dial directly into your computer and solve the problem. Saves time and serious frustration. We are a small, tight-knit team and use skype IM to communicate throughout the day and skype video to meet 2-3 times a week to review order and sales status.
Are We a Match?
What we are looking for: Excellent communicator with computer and writing skills
- Hungry to bring in new business and learn
- Warm on the phone with customers and vendors
- Proactive personality, willing to learn what it takes to assure customer satisfaction
- Comfortable with computers; windows, outlook, search, copy/paste, professional looking emails
What we offer: Advanced Lead Management with Sales and Order support
- Work from home, 8 hr day, no weekends, no travel
- Base of $38,400 a year plus 20% commission of order net after base is covered
- Commission potential to double or triple base within a year after training
- lead, quote, paperwork, email and technical support
- Supportive team environment
To Apply
If you have read this far you are ahead of the game! A good percentage of this job depends on how thorough you are and how well you present yourself with the written word.
At the end of our video Chris asked each person to create a 1-2 min video outlining how you will be a great fit for our lumber sales consultant position. Load your video to whatever cloud platform you prefer and create a shared link.
Please email resume and your reply video link to support@buffalolumber.com
Include a paragraph outlining how you will be a great fit for our sales project consultant position.
We look forward to meeting you!
Buffalo Lumber Team