In 2010, Courtney Bynum needed a job. She had no experience in LBM, but she did have an MBA, and Guardian Building Products saw potential and hired her. She started as executive assistant to the president, where she was part of high-level meetings and gained perspective from key industry leaders. Bynum later elected to move to the credit department, and, as a regional credit manager, she supports four distribution branches and around 700 customers. “At Guardian, I’ve been surrounded by a group of people who are passionate,” she says. “It’s hard not to catch that.”
As a millennial, Bynum believes the key to attracting younger employees is to change their perspective. “I think we have to challenge younger people to think ‘beyond the roof.’ When you think of building products, you think of people on the roof. This industry has every opportunity. We’re constantly trying to recruit more females and millennials in a predominantly male, aging industry There’s tons of untapped potential.”
An aging industry can be a challenge when a dealer isn’t computer-savvy. But when a payment is late, Bynum doesn't overreact; she looks at who the customer was and determines the cause. “You just have to adapt and adjust and take their circumstance into account. If an invoice gets skipped, it’s probably because somebody didn’t receive it. It’s not that they’re not going to pay.”
That attitude is part of what Bynum sees as the core of the industry, no matter what else changes. “People buy from people,” she says. “I think it’s always going to be about relationships.”
