Blog · Coverage and territory · Construction and building materials
How a builders' merchant or trade supplier measures what happens after a trade account is opened, from the account master and the ledger: accounts opened per branch, the share with a first purchase within thirty days, the share still buying at six months, the median first-purchase value, and the branches and account openers whose funnel leaks at each step, so that the opening effort produces customers rather than records.
A branch reports forty new trade accounts a month and the regional manager is pleased. Fourteen of them ever bought anything, and nine are still buying six months later. The account master and the ledger, joined, show the funnel per branch and per opener. This guide sets out the three steps, the leaks, and the list of accounts still worth a call.
Per account:
Opened: open date from the master First purchase within 30 days: first ledger date − open date ≤ 30 Buying at six months: a purchase in month 5 or 6 after opening
Per branch, per opener, per month of opening:
Opened, first-purchase rate, six-month rate, median first-purchase value
Account and opener identifiers only.
accounts opened in the month = never purchased + purchased within 30 days + purchased later
Every opened account in one state. An account with a purchase before its open date fails it and is listed; it is a re-keyed account or a backdated opening.
| Branch | Opened | First purchase in 30 days | Buying at 6 months | Median first purchase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B-04 | 40 | 14 (35%) | 9 (23%) | £180 |
| B-11 | 22 | 18 (82%) | 15 (68%) | £640 |
| B-17 | 31 | 20 (65%) | 12 (39%) | £410 |
Branch B-04 opens the most accounts and keeps the fewest. Branch B-11 opens half as many and ends with more customers. The regional manager's number was the first column, and it was the wrong one.
| Opener, B-04 | Opened | First purchase rate | 6-month rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| OP-2 | 26 | 19% | 12% |
| OP-5 | 14 | 64% | 43% |
One person opens two thirds of the branch's accounts and almost none of them buy. The opening is a form; the follow-up is not happening.
Accounts opened in the last thirty days with no purchase, per branch, with the opener and the days since opening. A call at day ten recovers some of them; a report at month six recovers none.
Accounts opened as the measure. Records, not customers.
No six-month step. First purchase counted as success; the one-job accounts look like retention.
Opener not recorded. The branch is the finding and the cause is one person.
List after the window. The customer has forgotten they opened it.
Mapped once, the account master and the ledger produce the funnel per branch and opener and the no-purchase list every month. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The construction page describes the setup, and the credit headroom guide covers the accounts that did buy and then could not.
A tradesperson who opens an account intends to use it for a job they have now. If they have not bought in a month, the job went elsewhere. The window is stated and can be set to the merchant's own median days to first purchase.
On the funnel, not on the count. A branch measured on accounts opened will open accounts. Measured on accounts buying at six months, it will open the right ones and follow them up. The report shows both so the switch is visible.
They are real and short-lived by design. The six-month step catches them as lapsed rather than never-used, and the account master's project flag, where it exists, separates them. The finding is the accounts that were never used at all.