Why selling concrete is different
Concrete cannot be made in advance or taken back. It starts setting in the mixer, and the crew on site is waiting from a specific minute. So advertising creative matters less than what happens after the enquiry: reply speed, accuracy of the quote and discipline in delivery.
The second feature is a mix of B2B and B2C. One plant serves a developer with a procurement office, a foreman who decides in half an hour, and a family building a house who has never heard the word “grade”. A single funnel for all three fails. You need three short routes.
Three buyers, three routes
Start by tagging every enquiry in a CRM or even a plain spreadsheet: developer, contractor or private customer.
- Developers. Several people decide: procurement, technical supervision, management. They need a written commercial offer, a contract, quality certificates and a delivery schedule. The cycle is longer, but volumes are larger and steadier.
- Contractors and foremen. They order for a specific site, decide quickly, and often choose the plant themselves and recommend it to the owner. Reliability and the option to order at the last moment matter most.
- Private customers. A foundation, a yard, a floor screed: small volume, many questions, and usually no idea of the grade. For them, advice is the sale.
Where concrete enquiries come from
The strongest source is foremen’s recommendations. Those enquiries arrive by phone or Telegram and are the warmest. The second is search and maps, for queries like “concrete with delivery”. A complete listing wins there: plant address, phone, working hours, delivery area, photos of mixers and the lab, and reviews.
Other sources work too: OLX listings, construction Telegram channels and groups, partnerships with building-material shops and markets where foremen buy cement and rebar, and direct sales to developers. One more source is repeat orders from the same sites, which businesses often underrate.
The concrete sales funnel step by step
Every step is a point where the enquiry can slip to a competitor.
- Enquiry. Answer within minutes, messengers included. Pours are usually planned for the next few days.
- Clarifying the job. What is being poured, grade, volume, address, access for the mixer, whether a pump is needed, and when. Help a private buyer choose the grade and calculate the volume.
- Offer. A clear estimate: grade, volume, delivery, pump, delivery time. For a developer, a commercial offer with supply terms and documents.
- Contract and payment. A simple order form and prepayment for private buyers, for example via Click or Payme. A contract, schedule and payment terms for companies.
- Delivery and pouring. The key stage: the mixer arrives on time, the concrete matches the grade, the driver knows the site and answers the phone. A late truck stops the whole crew, and people remember it.
- Feedback and repeat. Call after the pour: is everything fine, and when is the next stage, such as a slab, floor or landscaping?
Foremen: your main sales channel
A foreman often picks the plant and tells the site owner to use it. What he values most is predictability: agree on eight in the morning and the truck is there at eight. Give him a personal manager, let him order or move a pour by Telegram message, and help when something goes wrong on site: a narrow access road, a pump breakdown, a changed schedule.
If you plan incentives for foremen, keep them transparent and lawful. Hidden payments behind the customer’s back eventually come out and damage a plant’s reputation more than any competitor’s discount.
For developers, add proof of quality: certificates, test reports, your own laboratory and readiness for a batch inspection. In B2B this often outweighs price.
Seasons and a calendar of sites
Demand follows the building season and the weather. Warm months bring more orders, many sites slow down in winter, and cold-weather pours need special conditions and additives. Plan plant and mixer load ahead instead of reacting to phone calls.
Keep a calendar of regular customers’ sites: what stage each is at and when the next pour is due. A call to the foreman a few days before the date, offering to reserve trucks, is valued more than a discount. In quiet months work the customer base: meet contractors, renew contracts and agree the supply schedule for the next season.
What to measure and where to start
A simple table is enough at first: for each enquiry, the source, segment, volume and result. After a few months you see which channels bring profitable orders and which only bring calls. Track enquiries by segment, the share of quotes that become orders, the share of repeat customers, complaints about delays and quality, and sales through recommending foremen.
Typical losses are slow replies, promising times the plant cannot meet, giving a private buyer a price but no advice on grade, and silence after the pour. Fixing these costs less than buying more ads.
If you want help building this funnel for your plant, the markdev team can work on the strategy with you: segments, channels, metrics and how the sales desk operates. Write to us and we will discuss your task.
FAQ
Does a concrete plant need ads if it has regular customers?
Regular customers and recommending foremen are the base, but sites finish. You still need visibility on maps and in search, work with new foremen, and tracking of enquiry sources to see which bring profitable orders.
How fast should a plant answer a concrete enquiry?
As fast as possible, ideally within minutes. Pours are often planned for the coming days and buyers call several plants at once, so the first clear quote has the advantage.
How does a private buyer differ from a developer in the funnel?
A private buyer needs advice on grade and volume, a simple order form and prepayment. A developer needs a contract, quality documents, a delivery schedule and lab control.
Which metrics matter for a concrete sales funnel?
Enquiries by segment, quote-to-order conversion, share of repeat customers, complaints about delays and quality, and sales through recommending foremen. A spreadsheet or simple CRM is enough to track them.
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