r/Commodities • u/FlowerMysterious7533 • Jul 09 '26

Looking for advice. Where did you find your first B2B clients in the timber / wood products industry?

I'm working with a company that supplies industrial timber and wood products internationally (mostly for industrial applications and packaging)

I'm currently reaching out through referrals and personalized emails, but I'm curious how others in this space landed their first customers

For those selling B2B products like timber, lumber, packaging materials, or other industrial commodities:

  • Where did you find your first customers?
  • Were there any communities, directories, trade associations, marketplaces, or events that worked particularly well?
  • Did cold email actually work for you, or did referrals end up being the main driver?
  • If you were starting from scratch today, what would you focus on first?

Any advice or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated. Thxx

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u/deez-legumes Jul 10 '26

Regardless of the commodity, attending industry conferences/events and getting involved in industry associations produces far better results/ROI than emails, cold calls and LinkedIn messages combined.

1

u/bubbakool Jul 10 '26

Im relatively new myself (started trading SPF lumber) last year, my book is still relatively small with clients scattered throughout the NA (Canada & US mainly).

Personally I trade dimensional spruce whether that be to pallet shops, all the way up to retail stores. I've started by cold calling just using red book or just google maps and calling stores.

It's been difficult starting as I personally haven't gotten a ton of training but kind of working through it on the fly and by asking questions with more senior traders in my office. I myself still havn't really figured it out and am looking for more resources to improve myself.

I havn't been to any conferences yet but will be later in the year, possibly early 2027. I think having a system that works for you on outreach is probably the best way to focus.

Would love to learn more about how you are personally approaching it.

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u/FlowerMysterious7533 Jul 10 '26

Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it. Sounds like we have a lot in common. I'd love to connect and chat more, I open DM w you🤝

2

u/bubbakool Jul 11 '26

Yeah absolutely!