Turning Leftover Stock into Profit through Community Ft. Full Circle Forest Products

November 8, 2021

Turning Leftover Stock into Profit through Community Ft. Full Circle Forest Products

“I’ve been curious about the dynamic of stale inventory or if there’s inventory that isn’t selling. When is it appropriate to take that inventory and turn it into something else versus just continuing trying to find the right market for it?

It has been hard for me to sell packs of lumber. For example, let’s say a pack of 80 board feet of surfaced American Elm or a pack of 200 board feet of white oak because a lot of the people I do business with are looking for larger quantities.

I’ve been told, “Oh, yeah, just put it up on Facebook marketplace. There are tons of woodworkers out there trying to buy small amounts of wood.” I have found that that’s not true for my location. When do I decide to take that pack of 80 board feet of American Elm and make a glue-up into a tabletop and try to sell that or turn it all into cutting boards and put it up online?”

Josh Clarkweiss

Creating a Collaborative Community

“It comes down to building a community around yourself. I think you’re much further now than when we first started. You have a little bit more capacity in terms of production, and you’ve built a little bit of a team around you, so you have help.

When we first met, you created agreements to help secure some larger grants, and you created relationships. I think now you need to do the same thing but for these particular products.”

Steve Larosiliere

Previously, Steve and Josh had spoken about joining Facebook groups, woodworking clubs, and other like-minded communities and organizations. These groups can be incredible for making connections and developing relationships with people who share similar goals.

“Use whatever platform you have, and make every one of your ideal target customers your friend; literally your friend. Get them all in a group together and say, “Look, from time to time, I have some stuff that I need to unload. And I want to be able to go to you first to unload it before I go out to the open market.”

At that point, you can say, “Listen, I’ve got all this stuff. It could be used for book-match tabletops, for charcuterie stock, whatever you need, but I need to get rid of this stuff.” Because your business model necessitates that you only provide what’s on hand. That’s the mindset that you should have. “

Steve Larosiliere

Strengthening Relationships and Keeping in Touch

“The second thing is to go out and make friends with every single one of these audiences, and it’s so easy. Friend them on Facebook, find them on LinkedIn, find them on Twitter. Though, it’s mainly Instagram and Facebook that you should focus on. Keep in mind that it’s less about the quantity. It’s more about the quality.

Then slide into their DMS, like, “Hey, I noticed that you’re a woodworker in St. Louis. Hey, I noticed that you’re a woodworker in Chicago. I’m up in Chicago all the time. Or I’m originally from Chicago, Illinois, and I’d love to give you first dibs on what I have on hand. Can I get your email?”

Then every month, you send people a text message or email and say, “Hey, this is what I have on hand.” Every time you produce something, tag them just to let them know. Here’s a quick tip: I know somebody that whenever he salvages a massive log, he tags a certain big-name influencer just to stay on their radar. Then whenever they need an enormous log, they buy that one from him, and he ships it to them.”

Steve Larosiliere

Building your Market, Big and Small

“You’re busy building the big market, but remember that there are all these little niche markets at the same time. I bet you there’s somebody right now in a neighboring state buying their lumber from somebody at two or three times the amount that you could be moving your product. It could be charcuterie stock; it could be slabs; it could be tables, kiln-dried stuff, or whatever. They’d be happy to put it on a truck and send it to their place at half the cost.

If I were you, I’d be building a market four or five hours away from me and making sure that every single woodworker and lumberyard is your friend. The way to do that is to go to Fiverr and ask somebody to scrape a database for you. They’ll put everything together and get you their name, email, phone number, Facebook, Instagram account, etc. Then start slowly adding them, DMing them, texting them, what have you.”