As 2025 approaches, building product companies face a year of uncertainty and opportunity, from shifts in the commercial market to heightened competition. In this episode of Smarter Building Materials Marketing, Zach Williams and Beth PopNikolov sit down with Jim Wueste, VP of Carlisle Waterproofing, to offer their insights into what the future holds for the industry. The conversation delves into market trends, the impact of tariffs and interest rates, and what companies must do to thrive in the competitive year ahead.

In this episode of Smarter Building Materials Marketing, Zach Williams and Beth PopNikolov sit down with Jim Wueste, VP of Carlisle Waterproofing, to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and critical shifts shaping the building materials industry. Discover why focusing on execution over market fluctuations matters, the untapped potential of platforms like Reddit, how generational shifts are reshaping consumer trust, the underutilized power of influencer marketing in our industry, and how companies like Sherwin-Williams and BFS are setting the bar in their respective spaces.

In this episode of Smarter Building Materials Marketing, Beth and Zach explore some key insights into giving customers and clients the kind of experience that will not only bring them to the table, but will build loyalty that will keep them there. Director of B2B Marketing for Techo-Bloc, Alex Cadieux, talks about how they moved from just building great products, to the next level of supporting their customers through education on the way to build things properly. Entering a new phase, they have now been able to go even one step further by helping them learn how to market their business to acquire and retain clients. He talks about a new event Techo-Bloc is hosting as an example of how they are helping their dealers grow their businesses. Zach and Beth will be bringing their digital marketing expertise to the event as featured speakers. 

In this episode Zach talks with Matt Nichols, the founder and owner of Digiwise, about digital transformation. Matt breaks the process down into how to achieve and sell the strategies to digitally transform as a manufacturer as well as how to implement those strategies and hold to the milestones. Zach asks Matt to give the listeners some ideas about how organizations go wrong in this area. They end the episode with talking about what can happen after you achieve the basic steps. 

In this episode Beth and Zach are joined by Grant Farnsworth to talk about the main questions they get asked about the sales and marketing outlook for 2025. They share stats as well as some of their own thoughts to help the listener understand the trends from the past few years following the pandemic, to what they see that will drive decisions in 2025.  The three are joined by Dave King and Sophia Wedeen, experts in the area of marketing research in the industry. From earning contractor loyalty, to DIY longevity forecasts, it’s a jam-packed episode. It’s also a preview of what the Building Products Customer Workshop promises in Nashville on December 3rd and 4th. 

In this episode hosts Zach Williams and Beth PopNikolov dive into the world of innovation and market disruption with Michael Rigney, the CEO and co-founder of Cala Systems. Cala Systems is introducing the first intelligent heat pump water heater for residential use. They are revolutionizing water heating with advanced sensors, software, and hardware to optimize energy efficiency, integrate with solar systems, and much more. Michael shares his 20+ years of experience in energy and climate startups to talk about the challenges of bringing hardware to market,, the importance of macro timing, and the future of home electrification. 

The CEO of SnapDragon, Mark Barnard, and host Beth PopNikolov sit down and talk about the labor market from multiple perspectives. As a recruiting firm, SnapDragon sees the side of both the people being recruited and the company looking for the right candidate. Mark gives some insights into the importance of candidates being introspective about what kind of position they are looking for, as well as doing good research about the company they are interviewing with. He and Beth also discuss the key task of reference checking on the company’s part. 

AI integration in your operations could be the game-changer for your building materials business. From enhancing customer engagement to revolutionizing installation procedures, the future of AI offers untapped potential to streamline processes and outperform competition. In this episode of the Smarter Building Materials Marketing podcast, hosts Zach Williams and Beth PopNikolov discuss some exciting applications of AI with Fran Walker, the Director of Marketing at Trim-Tex. 

You don’t have to “go all in” with AI in order for it to help you create a more efficient workflow that will free you up to spend more time on what really matters. In this episode of Smarter Building Materials Marketing podcast, hosts Zach Williams and Beth PopNikolov follow up their conversation with Fran Walker, the Director of Marketing at Trim-Tex. They talk about how implementing AI in your business can streamline processes, enhance productivity, and level the playing field against competitors with larger budgets.

Most sales organizations in the building materials industry are failing to equip their teams with the right skills, leading to high turnover and missed opportunities. Learn how a shift from product training to sales story training can transform your team's success and drive your business forward.