Timberline builds on specialty business

When it comes to growth, some of the most consistent advice for hardware and building supply dealers is some form of the adage: "Be known for something."

At Timberline Enterprises, a four-unit pro-focused dealer based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the company has cultivated the reputation as the college-rich area's go-to supplier for educational construction materials and services. Such a reputation has proven valuable, said CEO Christopher Costello, as colleges have spent heavily during the past decade on buildings and infrastructure.

Developing that reputation was part accident, part self-fulfilling prophesy, said Costello, speaking as part of a Dealer Panel at the NLBMDA's Manufacturers and Services Council. It all started a few years ago when Timberline replaced some doors at Endicott College. That business eventually lead to working with the college on the construction for two dorms and a hockey arena.

"Showing up is a big piece of it," Costello said. "But we also became known as a company that supplied institutional educational and industrial construction. Whether or not that was true, I don’t know. But if you do enough of it, all of a sudden it’s true."

Costello recounted an important call he received from the director of facilities at Harvard University.

"He said, 'So, Mr. Costello, I understand you supply most of the educational work in Cambridge.' I said 'Yep.' Was there going to be a different answer?"

Another lesson from Timberline's success deals with lead generation. "Your customers drive you to customers," he said.