For many builders’ merchants, a busy branch can create a false sense of security. Orders are still moving, teams are occupied, and day-to-day trading feels active, but that does not always mean commercial performance is where it should be. Most of the time, nothing looks obviously wrong. 

In a subdued market, being busy is not the same as performing well. At the start of 2026, the Builders Merchants Federation said the building materials market was likely to remain subdued until at least the second half of the year, while S&P Global UK Construction PMI reporting showed construction activity was still contracting in early 2026. 

As a result, growth is more likely to come from protecting margin, recovering value within the current customer base, and focusing sales effort where demand remains, rather than simply increasing overall activity. In this kind of market, growth rarely comes from doing more. It comes from getting more out of what you already have. 

Where revenue leaks 

Margin pressure often comes from pricing, supplier costs, and discounting. Equally, value can quietly slip away within existing accounts through less frequent orders, a weaker product mix, and missed follow-up. 

The warning signs are rarely dramatic. They tend to show up gradually. A good customer does not always stop buying altogether; they may simply spread their spending and place fewer orders with one merchant while favouring others for price, convenience, or location. 

To address this, merchants need a clearer way to identify and respond to changing customer behaviour. Without defined decline triggers, clear ownership, and quick action, these shifts can go unnoticed for months before revenue loss is taken seriously. 

What commercial drift looks like 

The risk is not always losing an account outright. More often, it is a gradual weakening in value that goes unchallenged because the customer still appears active. For example, a regular trade customer who once ordered weekly might slip to once every two or three weeks, without being flagged. 

Decline can appear as smaller baskets, longer gaps between orders, fewer enquiries on higher-margin lines, or unconverted quotes that are never revisited. While each signal may seem minor alone, together they can indicate margin leakage well before an account is formally lost. 

In a flat market, the missed opportunity is not just dormant revenue. It is also the new business sitting on the branch doorstep. When teams are absorbed by day-to-day trading, local prospecting is often the first thing to slip, even though targeted outreach, including direct marketing and telemarketing, can generate fresh quotes and open new conversations with nearby trades. 

Recovering value 

Dormant-account work often underperforms because it is treated as a “tidy-up” exercise rather than a commercial priority. This leaves recoverable value in the database instead of returning it to the pipeline. 

A better approach is to distinguish between soft decline from true dormancy, understand why spending has changed, and returnany live  opportunities to the sales team with useful context. This supports a more targeted response and gives sales teams a better chance of acting while demand remains. 

Significant value often goes unnoticed within an existing customer base. For example, in one of our builders’ merchant telemarketing campaigns, active, lapsed, and dormant customers were wach approached with tailored strategies. This concentrated effort led to lower-spending accounts tripling their spend, larger accounts increasing by 15 per cent, and the programme as a whole delivering £19.5 million in additional sales. 

In a subdued market, recovering lost value from existing accounts is often quicker and more cost-effective than chasing growth through volume alone. 

What to measure 

If the focus is solely on calls made, leads passed, and top-line sales, much of the real picture is missed. These metrics measure activity, but don’t always reveal whether the account value is being protected or rebuilt. 

More useful measures include declining accounts recovered, inactive accounts reactivated, quote opportunities created from existing customers, changes in buying frequency, conversion rates on re-engaged opportunities, and the time between first warning sign and follow-up measures. 

Taken together, these measures give merchants a clearer view of whether effort is leading to commercial progress or simply disappearing into day-to-day activity. 

How Blueberry helps 

For many merchants, the challenge is not recognising that recoverable value exists. It is finding the time, focus, and sales capacity to act on it consistently when branch teams are naturally pulled towards walk-in trade, live quotes, and existing customer demand instead of proactive outbound follow-up. 

Blueberry works with merchant and wholesale businesses to support internal teams, increase order frequency, strengthen engagement with existing customers, and uncover new opportunities through proactive outbound activity. 

That means helping merchants identify dormant and declining accounts, uncover live opportunities inside the existing customer base, and bring more structure to follow-up so valuable commercial conversations don’t get lost in day-to-day trading. 

If you want to protect margin, recover lost value, and create more opportunities from the customers you already have, Blueberry can help. Get in touch to see how a more structured approach to customer re-engagement can support growth in a subdued market.

Read more

Read more about re-engaging lapsed customers and retaining existing ones:

• Re-engaging Lapsed Customers: Driving Sales Growth Part 1

• Strategies for Retaining Customers: Driving Sales Growth Part 2