Payments at a single yard in Athens, Tennessee
"Cash Sales More Than Doubled": How Hiwassee Builders Supply Made It Easy for Customers to Pay
Hiwassee's website was a static billboard. Card and ACH payments were so complicated that staff opened credit accounts for Pros who never asked for one.
Lumber and building materials · Athens, Tennessee
What changed
- 2x+
- Increase in cash sales
- 1,300+
- Pro account sign ups
- 750+
- Pros paying bills online
- 15-year low
- Days sales outstanding
Figures reported by Hiwassee Builders Supply.
Company Profile
Hiwassee Builders Supply has been serving contractors and builders in East Tennessee since 1958. From their headquarters in Athens, Tennessee, the company operates a full-service lumber yard, design center, and component manufacturing facility.
With 100 employees, roughly half dedicated to component manufacturing, Hiwassee serves a customer base that's approximately 90% professional contractors. They run on Epicor BisTrack as their ERP system.
Like many independent dealers in the region, Hiwassee has built their reputation on relationships and service rather than being first adopters of technology. As owner Porter puts it:
“We're not necessarily innovators. That's either with building styles, with practices, or how we go to market. We're usually the last ones, just being in this East Tennessee market.”
The Challenge
For 20 years, Hiwassee's website had been little more than a digital billboard, a place to show customers who they were and what they did, but not a place to actually do business. As Porter explains:
“We're in an industry that's just not embracing anything technological. And that's sad, because we're probably one of the industries that could benefit most from using and embracing technology.”
The problem was multifaceted. Contractors work long hours. They're on job sites during the day and catching up on paperwork at night. If they wanted to check their balance or make a payment outside of business hours, they simply couldn't. And even during business hours, the process was clunky.
“We used to open people up on credit and they didn't want credit accounts," Porter recalls. "But it was just hard to do cash business over the phone. You would write up a sales order, write it up as some kind of credit, and say, 'Hey, we'll just send you a bill.' Because that's easy for us. But if somebody wanted to pay us cash, credit card, or ACH, it was very complicated. We didn't make it easy for the customer.”
The team knew they needed to change, but they weren't sure where to start. They'd just invested in a new website when they first encountered Toolbx at an industry conference. The timing seemed terrible.
Then there was the question of their existing technology. Hiwassee had recently signed up for their ERP’s customer portal, assuming it would handle online payments. But after going live, Porter felt it wasn't meeting their needs.
“If people are going to log in to pay larger sums of money, they want to feel comfortable. And if it just doesn't feel right, you back out of it. You forget you ever tried.”
The team needed a solution that would feel trustworthy to their customers, one that wouldn't make people abandon their cart the way a sketchy checkout page might on any e-commerce site.
The Solution
When Hiwassee first met with the Toolbx team, they weren't yet live with their ERP implementation, and they weren't initially interested in the payment portal since they thought their ERP solution would handle that. What caught their attention was the e-commerce platform.
“We have to be convenient to Pros when they want to shop," Porter explains. "Without opening a second shift or being open on weekends, we had to create a space for customers to do business with us on their terms.”
The team signed up for Toolbx but deliberately built in a six-month delay before implementation. They wanted to be fully stabilized on their new ERP first. "You have too many projects going on, then nothing really gets done," Porter notes.
Once they were stable on their ERP and realized its customer portal wasn't meeting their needs, they moved forward with Toolbx as their e-commerce and customer portal platform of choice.
What Hiwassee Builders Supply turned on
Hiwassee implemented several Toolbx capabilities:
The implementation required close coordination between Hiwassee, Toolbx and their ERP provider. While the process had some complexity, the Toolbx implementation team worked through the challenges alongside Hiwassee's team.
“We focus a lot on culture here at Hiwassee, and I can tell just from dealing with the team, that Toolbx has a good culture of like-minded people with a common goal.”
Porter is candid about what made the partnership work:
“Lord knows I'm not the easiest person to deal with. But having people that were highly skilled at what they do definitely makes it easy. It gave me a lot of confidence in what Toolbx can do and the future products they launch.”
Customer Payment Portal
A modern, secure interface where customers can log in to view their account balance, review invoices and statements, and make payments by credit card or ACH
How it worksSelf-Serve Payments
Customers can pay on their own schedule, whether that's 6 AM before heading to a job site or 10 PM after finishing paperwork
How it worksPayment Links
The ability to send customers direct links to pay specific invoices, eliminating the friction of phone payments
How it worksE-Commerce Platform
Online ordering for stocking items with real-time pricing
How it worksOnline Quoting
Quote requests for custom and special-order items
How it worksI'm always surprised with which customers are more interested in these technologies. I've got some that walk in and I think they'll never embrace something like this. And they're the first ones to be on board. And then you have some that you think will be all over this, and they've never done it.
Porter ClarkOwnerThe Results
Cash Sales Transformed
The most dramatic change Porter has observed is in cash sales. Before Toolbx, the friction of accepting non-credit payments was so high that the team would default to opening credit accounts even for customers who didn't want them. That's completely changed.
Hiwassee is now capturing payments from customers who previously would have been harder to collect from or who might have taken their business elsewhere.
Customers Paying on Their Terms
The self-serve payment portal has changed how customers interact with their accounts. Over 750 pros have made bill payments through the platform, with the majority being true self-serve transactions where customers log in and pay without any staff involvement.
“If somebody wants to give you money, you need to make that as convenient as possible. We don't need to make it complicated to take somebody's money.”
Porter notes that customer adoption has been surprising in some cases.
AR Performance at a 15-Year High
The combination of easier payments and real-time account visibility has had a measurable impact on collections. Customers no longer get surprised by their bills because they can check their balance anytime.
“We don't like surprises. We want to be fully transparent with our customers about what they owe, as real time as possible. Our days outstanding is better than it's been in 15 years.”
Reduced Administrative Burden
They've noticed a decrease in routine phone calls. When customers can look up pricing and check their balances online, they don't need to call the office.
“We're definitely seeing a decrease in those phone calls. 'Hey, how much is this?' We refer people to our website for accurate and up-to-date pricing.”
I'm still amazed at how much cash business we're able to do now versus what we were doing. That drives your days outstanding, your AR, and those numbers get better when you make it easy for your customer.
Porter ClarkOwnerLooking Ahead
Hiwassee sees Toolbx as a foundation for continued digital growth rather than a one-time project. Porter is already thinking about how to expand the platform's reach,
The team is also focused on increasing their active online account base. As with any digital transformation, getting customers to change their habits takes time. But Porter is optimistic, particularly given the unexpected adopters they've already seen.
For other dealers considering a similar move, Porter offers straightforward advice:
“You've got to look at your business as if you're a customer. How would you want to do business with your company? And if you don't feel comfortable putting your payment information into your current customer portal, then you probably need to invest with somebody else.”
What stands out most is the partnership Hiwassee has built with Toolbx. For a company that describes themselves as followers rather than innovators, finding a technology partner they trust has been transformative.
I'm a Toolbx customer for life. That was just a very cool experience to be a part of. Toolbx is people with integrity. They do what they say they're gonna do.
Porter ClarkOwner
