Nearly 25% of home builders and 30% of remodelers say they are likely or very likely to switch from a requested product because a dealer or distributor recommended the change, a new survey reveals.

That same poll by The Farnsworth Group on behalf of ProSales' parent company, Hanley Wood, also found dramatic differences in customers' ability to be swayed based on their age, with people under 35 notably more impressionable than their peers over 55.

These results were shared for the first time in Chicago on Oct. 22 at Hanley Wood's annual Foundations Conference for building product markets. Just under 300 builders and 665 remodelers and replacement contractors took part in the poll, conducted in March.

Most of the survey questions concerned pros' use of social media and how much they relied on particular information sources when making decisions. But for dealers, one of the best signs of their influence turned up when pros were asked to indicate, on a five-point scale, their likeliness to buy when a dealer or distributor recommended a different product than what the pro requested.

Here are the results:

Total Architects MF Builders Home Builders Remodelers
Mean ranking 3.06 3.06 3.05 3.11 3.12
% Rated 5 (Very Likely) 2.50% 2.50% 8.30% 1.90% 2.70%
% Rated 4 21.20% 19.00% 11.70% 22.90% 25.70%
% Rated 3 60.10% 64.50% 63.30% 61.10% 55.60%
% Rated 2 12.30% 10.50% 10.00% 12.70% 12.70%
% Rated 1 (Not Likely) 4.00% 3.50% 6.70% 1.30% 3.30%

The differences were even more profound when results were broken down by age of respondent:

Total

AGE

Under 35

35 – 54

55+

Mean ranking

3.06

3.25

3.08

3.01

% Rated 5 (Very Likely)

2.5%

7.6%

1.9%

2.2%

% Rated 4

21.2%

27.1%

22.7%

18.8%

% Rated 3

60.1%

52.5%

60.8%

60.6%

% Rated 2

12.3%

8.5%

10.4%

14.7%

% Rated 1 (Not Likely)

4.0%

4.2%

4.2%

3.7%

Click here to download the results of The Farnsworth Group survey.