Shed Geek Podcast
The Shed Geek Podcast offers an in depth analysis of the ever growing and robust Shed Industry. Listeners will experience a variety of guests who identify or specialize in particular niche areas of the Shed Industry. You will be engaged as you hear amateur and professional personalities discuss topics such as: Shed hauling, sales, marketing, Rent to Own, shed history, shed faith, and much more. Host Shannon Latham is a self proclaimed "Shed Geek" who attempts to take you through discussions that are as exciting as the industry itself. Listeners of this podcast include those who play a role directly or indirectly with the Shed Industry itself.
Shed Geek Podcast
The Art of Closing: Metal Building Sales Secrets from Industry Veterans
What separates exceptional salespeople from average ones in the metal building industry? In this raw and candid conversation, Jared and Eric pull back the curtain on the strategies that have helped them sell hundreds of buildings across the country.
The conversation kicks off with a crucial update on the 25% steel tariffs and how they're actually impacting the industry—contrary to what many dealers might assume. But the real gold begins when the Steel Kings dive into their proven sales methodology. You'll discover why response time isn't just important but absolutely critical, with Jared asserting that "the longer a lead sits, the closer it is to death." Eric reveals his practice of carrying his laptop everywhere, even stopping at restaurants to quote customers immediately rather than losing momentum.
Speaking with authority emerges as another key differentiator. This isn't about being pushy or overly formal, but demonstrating genuine knowledge while adapting your communication style to match both the platform and the customer's situation. The hosts explain why phone conversations convert better than online messaging in today's world of AI chatbots and scams, and how to subtly identify obstacles preventing immediate purchase.
Perhaps most fascinating is their contrarian approach to difficult customers—what they call "taking the deal off the table." Through compelling real-world examples, they demonstrate how setting firm boundaries with indecisive or demanding prospects can actually close deals when traditional approaches fail. Beyond techniques, they emphasize the importance of building strong manufacturer relationships that give you leverage when customer issues arise.
Whether you're new to selling buildings or looking to scale your existing business, these battle-tested strategies offer a roadmap to sales mastery. Ready to transform your approach and results? Email us at jared@daytonbarnes.com or eric@daytonbarnes.com with your questions or success stories after implementing these techniques.
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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC
Shed Geek Marketing
What's going on, guys? It's another Steel Kings podcast. My name is Jared and this is Eric, and we are the Steel Kings coming back at you with episode 9, 10. I forget where we're at, Eric. We're going to lose track of it eventually, so we'll stop keeping track of it. Back with another episode.
Jared:We are going to keep going from our previous conversation. So, if you are listening to this for the first time, go back and check out last week's episode. We talked about Eric's trip to Amarillo, Eric's trip to Knoxville. We got into the steel tariffs a little bit and we're going to pick that back up today. We're going to talk about some sales tips. Eric and I were starting to get into that in the last call in the last podcast, and I think we're going to just dig into that a little bit longer today.
Jared:Real quick, up front house cleaning. As usual. We are sponsored by the team over at J Money. If you are a contractor, a metal building dealer or manufacturer, a woodshed building dealer or manufacturer, if you have anything to do with any kind of home improvement projects, check out our friends over at J Money. Joel and Katie do an excellent job of helping you out from start to finish with your projects. Lots of different promotional rates right now, still really aggressive deals the leader in the industry as far as we're concerned, and we are grateful to have them be the title sponsor of the Steel Kings podcast. Check out our friends over at J Money for your home improvement financing needs, Eric, it's not been that long since we talked. I know that for all of our friends it's been about a week since you heard our voices.
Jared:But you and I got off that podcast there and I think we thought we were going to take it into two parts. I was just feeling really led to talk about the steel tariffs earlier today and on the episode last week and that really got us talking into, really getting into maybe a sales pitch type of conversation. Let me tell you something. I've been doing this now for a little over three years. I love what I do. You guys know that. You've heard me say that I love what I do, and I would not be able to say that I love what I do if I was not working with that guy right over there, because he taught me everything I know about steel buildings and wood sheds. And you know what's funny is like, over time, I'm the real buttoned up one of the two of us. I'm the more polished and put together version.
Jared:Eric still sells more buildings than anybody that I know. He could literally post an ad in wherever and he'll sell a building that week. Eric is the best when it comes to selling metal buildings. So, if you are listening to this and you are struggling, this is what you want to listen to. The next 20, 25 minutes of this podcast, we're going to open it up and let you kind of walk through a little bit of what's in Eric's mind, and I think he's being very forward and sharing some of this with you. Because, pro tip for the first one of the day, this is the secret sauce a little bit sauce, a little bit. So, pay attention, um, Eric, jump in, tell me. Tell me what you do on a daily. Tell me how you operate in your mind. Tell me what you do every day selling metal buildings online, mainly through Facebook marketplace as a primary connection source.
Eric:Tell me about your day, brother well, I wanted to uh, because in between episodes want to get some facts out there. The steel and aluminum tariff was 25. It came out March 12th. It's been going on for like a month now. That's anything imported into the country, um, that is, those products, and I and I think the number one thing is their initial reaction is oh my, my gosh, prices are going to go up by 25%. It's not that, though, because, if you've got to think from, like a manufacturing standpoint, competition is probably going to increase in the manufacturing, like who can buy the most and who can offer a better price than the other.
Eric:So now it's like sit back and observe. The end user is not going to know, because they buy one building. Maybe they buy a building every five years if they own some big property or something. So, just knowing that, you're not up against what you think you're up against. Really, you're up against yourself, which is that if a person wants a building, they're going to buy it from somebody. They are not shopping until they're displeased, then leaving. They are literally going to buy a building, and if they buy a building, they're going to buy it from.
Eric:Most likely, the person who does a few things Number one responds to them on time. Number two doesn't fumble for words, doesn't over-talk, doesn't under-talk, just acts like they've been in a public grocery store before, like you can like literally talk to a person. Um, I mean, we, we had, we have, uh, we had a guy at the Dayton Barns that just didn't know how to talk to a person. It's like you know how are you going to go to the bank and like, like you know so, um, if you're a seller, the problem with him was the problem with him was he could actually sell.
Jared:He just couldn't get a customer to talk to him. He actually sold buildings when he was, when he calmed down. So maybe that's what we'll do a little bit. You give me a point and I'll touch on it a little bit, cause I think it's super important. I think it's super important Are we talking about?
Eric:the same person.
Jared:I think so. I think so. We can't say his name. Yeah, we can't say his name. What'd you say? Crazy guy Bothered everybody. Oh, crazy girl. Well, there was a crazy girl too.
Jared:Yeah, so to present a couple of, not just crazy people. I know there's a lot of people, a lot, a lot of you guys, a lot of you guys. So, this is one of our things. Let me just pro tip this, one of the things that Dayton Barns did, and we still kind of do it a little bit. We still dabble in the 1099 independent contractor game. Let me just give you a nickel's worth of free advice. It ain't worth it. They will steal your idea and out the door they go and they're selling buildings on their own and all of a sudden you are hurting because now your top salesperson is down the street selling their own buildings.
Jared:What Eric has been able to do here, what we've been able to do as a team, is we empower our guys to come in here. We pay them a salary, we keep them. We've maintained this team now for a long time. The core team, the core components of Dayton Barns' business, have been together almost three years now and we run like a top and we bring in sales reps and some come and some go, but I'd say we've added two or three each year that have been key contributors to what we're doing here.
Jared:What we're doing here, and if you are sitting back and you're thinking man, how can I scale this thing? Um, maybe get out of your own way a little bit and maybe stop thinking that you need to make 2500, 3 000 every time you sell a building and maybe think you'd be okay with a thousand bucks, and maybe start giving some to somebody else, sit there with you and run in the bunker because I can tell you when that person sells one for three, and then you're getting money off of each one of their deals and they can still feed their families and they can pay for their car payment and they can have a good place to work. You get a more quality product. You get a more quality sales experience. Eric said two things. You said two things there and I want to jump on that. Number one you said response time. Response time is huge. And number two you probably haven't heard me say it before, but it sounds like speaking with authority is going to be your number two type of key attribute.
Jared:Tell me more about speaking with authority.
Eric:Well, I think I'm getting. So, you have to ask yourself I'm not waiting for the customer to guide the convo. My time, everyone's time, is important, like most of the time, your customers are at a traffic light or at Costco or at Kroger or at Outback Steakhouse with their hubby talking about a metal building, and then all of a sudden, they get on Facebook and oh, it's metal building central. And then you click on an ad and you're like you know. So, you have to realize where the customers are coming from and where you want the conversation to go, which is essentially should I waste my time on this person or not? That is like the number one question in my mind is okay, if someone messages me, I want to weed them out. I'm like literally trying to get them to. I'm not trying to get them to do anything. I'm trying to sort out should I care about this person or not? So, the first thing that you can control is how quickly you respond.
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Eric:So okay, what is inappropriate? Let's say you get a lead and when there is no better time in sales than right this. Second, if somebody fills out a form online, you have a website, say you're a dealer and you get a form, don't say I'll call them. Remember that. If you say hey, I don't know how many times I've called somebody and said I know you just filled the form out, hit send, it's like maybe borderline creepy. I called you four minutes later but man, I want to. You know I'm free and I, you know, and I'm a busy guy. I hope you don't, you know. Oh, come on Like I'm glad you responded right away.
Eric:You know that now you're grooving, now you can at least take that person somewhere and you just have to be willing to not be hoity-toity with your time. You need to be very direct with your time, and so response time is number one. If they don't reply back to you in two days, just delete the message and you can respond. So, there's point 1.A, 1a and 1B. 1a is anything, respond quickly. B 1A is anything, respond quickly. 2b would be getting that conversation going right away, like how you respond. So not only what you respond like, not waiting until you're in some sort of professional atmosphere, meaning I tote my.
Eric:So, my wife she sells metal buildings too she quotes, she does not take her, and I'm telling her she's going to watch this episode. She doesn't take her laptop everywhere. I take my laptop in my book bag everywhere I go and if I need to pop a squat for 20 minutes at a Mickey D's or Panera Bread, I will go. Quote Like dude, 20 minutes. And there's a Panera Bread and Starbucks at every nook and cranny. And so I said, hey, let me park. I'll literally say to a person let me. Hey. I'll ask a couple of qualifying questions what size are you thinking? Where are you located? Cool, I'm parking. In 10 minutes I'll get right back to you with something. And then in 10 minutes I might not say that 10 minutes, let me get back to you as soon as I get situated. They'll be cool, no rush.
Eric:You set yourself up for victory, which is that you said you'll do something later and then, when you come back and do it, you've done the thing you said you was going to do, and I think that that's an undervalued thing. So, response time number one. So response time number one, setting yourself up for easy wins like hey, tomorrow, uh, tonight at six I'll be free, I'll shoot you a message around then. Cool, it's 607. Hey, I'm back. Just let you know I'm working on your quote. Be there, dude. Those are easy wins for yourself. Um, to set yourself up as long as you follow through, if you, if you just say, hey, I'm busy, I'll get back to you later, and then two days later you're like you know you, you probably already lost trust with the, with the guy. So I guess that that's this pause there for a second, that's the biggest the biggest complaint I have.
Jared:So, I get this a lot from my admin team. My admin team, obviously they work nine to five. One of my, my, my lead, my lead generation director. She tends to work all the time but you know, from a logistics standpoint I get that a lot from my admin team. Like, why do you, why do you let the sales team kind of do whatever they want? Why do they get to come and go? Cause they're working all the time and I know when they're working, because we're getting price checks at 9, 10 o'clock at night. I'm getting blasted with messages at 9 and 10 o'clock at night weekends. My thing is, if you're sitting back and you're thinking, well, Eric, that sounds crazy. I'm not going to stop at a McDonald's at 7.30 at night, to quote somebody. If I'm on my way home and I would challenge you to say, if you're selling metal buildings and portable sheds and all that, if you're doing what we do, are you really putting in an eight-hour day all the time? Come on now.
Eric:I mean, most people aren't on the road like me. I'm just trying to. Yeah, I know that face Really. No, you're not.
Eric:You've seen that meme?
Jared:You've seen that meme? No, you're not. Yeah, I know that face Really. No, you're not. You've seen that meme.
Eric:You've seen that meme? No, you're not.
Jared:No you're not. You are not working eight hours a day straight ahead on your stuff. My thing is, you're sitting in a shed lot somewhere with your Roku TV on with Dr Phil for two or three hours a day, while you're waiting for somebody to hit your shed lot or you're waiting for a lead to pop up on meta, and the best thing that you can do let this guy right here, who sells probably more buildings than you, no offense this guy right here. Let him tell you if a customer sends you a message, the best time to respond is right then. And there I'm going to take the pro tip side of this thing and I'm going to say the longer it sits, the closer it is to death. You might as well, if it sits for more than 10 minutes, you might as well consider that lead not where it was. The best time to strike is right when you get it right when it's there.
Jared:I get on these guys behind me all the time when they send you a phone number. Call the right when it's there. I get on these guys behind me all the time when they send you a phone number. Call the phone number right then. And there, don't wait. That is not an invite to say, hey, will you call me later. That's an invite to say call me right now, I'm free. You have to think about these conversations like you would have a conversation with your best friend. When Eric says call me, I don't wait 10 minutes. I shoot him back a message real quick and say, hey, I'm on the other line or hey, I'll get right back to you.
Jared:We just did this earlier today I was on the phone and he called me and I literally shot him back a text message and said I will call you right back as soon as I'm done. Think about it like that If you're busy, send a message to the customer hey, I got a quote, I'm working right now, not going to forget about you. Can I contact you back in 10 minutes? Set the appointment every time. Eric is so good about doing that. It is so next level. He always has an actionable item to get to with his customers and that last actionable item is either sell the building or take a walk, Mr. Customer. It always leads to one of two roads it's either the sales road or it's the take a walk, Mr. Customer. We're done here. I don't think I'm wrong about that. I think Eric is. Eric will tell a customer point blank to take a walk. He takes the deal off the tape. That's another thing. I know you're going to get to this and I'm stealing your thunder.
Eric:But taking the deal off the tape. That's worth it.
Jared:No, jump in there, jump in there. So, we talked about response time. I wish I could share my screen Response time.
Eric:I just told a guy named Nathan, we're getting a little off the cuff here. I just told a guy named Nathan, we're getting a little off the cuff here. I just told a guy Nathan, in where is he located? I just said, hey, I'm recording a live episode of the Steel Kings podcast. Can I message you back in 10 minutes, see?
Eric:And then, hey, and then hold on a second and then hold on a second.
Eric:Let me screenshot me actually on it, sending it to him that literally that is like a little borderline weird because we're live, but I'm like that's what I do if, like, I'm buried somewhere, like um, yeah, okay, well, let's, let's, let's put, put, take the deal off the table. Let's save that one for a second.
Jared:yeah, um, that's the best one.
Eric:That is the best. Let's go past the initial. We're talking not unlocked traffic If someone pulls into the parking lot. Obviously, if you want to wait five, 10 minutes, then go out so you don't bum, rush them, fine. We're talking about strict online or that type of deal. So let's just make that clear.
Eric:So, response time is number one. Number two you have to know what your temperament is going to be towards them. So, two things here with number two is going to be how you present yourself to the person, and so if you have a corporate website like you, they're messaging the business. You have not only your personal reputation that matters, but you have the business reputation. And so, if I ever take a corporate lead or take a corporate phone call, my mind immediately is on Dayton Barns. I work at Dayton Barns, I love Dayton Barns. We've, you know, we've been doing this for this and there's a different temperament there. There's more of a professional vibe and I'm just going to say with the companies, I am way more professional. So that's number one. So, this is yes, sir, absolutely. Do you mind if I follow up tomorrow with you around four, like whatever works best for you?
Eric:If you're on Facebook, then they're buying from you specifically, even though you might send the order in from your own business, the marketplace. Okay, if you think about what you're doing from the customer standpoint, it will help guide you for like on how to talk to them. So, you know that the customer is, like I said earlier, out to eat at a ball game. Your kid's got a real riveting eight-year-old doubleheader baseball game that you're sitting at and you and your hubby are just talking about crap in the backyard. Great time to real talk with people is on Facebook marketplace.
Eric:So, I think a lot of leverage that I gain is just talking to dude. Somebody bought a building from me and they went to my Facebook page and said and cause, I make everything public for this specific reason on Facebook? You know I keep everything tight on my because I don't want, you know, I don't put anything crazy out there. So, oh, you go to church, man, I'll go, and I just connected with somebody about church. And then and then one guy connects somebody about Dallas Cowboys football. Sad to say that I'm a fan of theirs, you know. Um.
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Eric:I'm connecting with people on Facebook marketplace from a real person perspective because they're buying from Eric and my brand. Who I am, helps decide how I be, I guess, in the world. You know I know who I am. I'm a goofy, talky type of guy that lets it rip. That's exactly who I talk.
Eric:Some people don't like it, some people don't, but most people who are buying want to know on Facebook Marketplace a couple of things. Is this person real, can I trust them and are they going to give me what I'm asking for? And that's a hard dance on Facebook marketplace, especially if somebody's in Montana and they're like I'm going to give you a 30 K. I'm like you owe it to them to be yourself, to talk to them like you're you, to give you the best, or give them the best version of you, which could be a little quirky man. Give that to them, you know. And so that's probably my part.
Eric:Two is understanding who you need to be in the sales conversation, if it's corporate or if it's a Facebook marketplace. That is, understanding where the customer is at mentally and physically in the world. Let me just say this and then I'll pass it to you. If you know that this mom's got a baby on her hip and she's at Costco and she's saying I'm just looking for a 24 by 35 and the words are spelled wrong. She's probably busy. Don't write her freaking.
Jared:Well, let me tell you about it.
Jared:Don't do that anyways. Don't word vomit.
Eric:Don't give them 50 messages. Let them respond like yes, we can, we can, and then just wait. You know, yeah, your job, your job, the word your job in an online environment.
Jared:Your job, in an online environment that is riddled with artificial intelligence, bullcrap, chatbots, every scam under the sun, your job, your one and only job, as a metal building and shed dealer, in my opinion, is to get someone on the phone. Phone calls are hard to fake. It is really difficult. I'm going to jump back into what Eric said. Speaking from a place of authority. I feel like that might be my biggest, biggest strength as a salesperson I can get on a phone and I can hold a conversation with anyone at any level of their understanding of what we do and really paint them a picture and help qualify someone.
Jared:I've done it for Eric, Eric's done it for me, but I do it all the time for the guys in my shop because, no matter how good they are, they're only as good as what I've been able to teach them. And that's when someone becomes a master of something, which Eric, to me, is a master of selling metal buildings. When someone has a mastery of something and then they teach to me is a master of selling metal buildings. When someone has a mastery of something and then they teach someone to do that same thing and that person starts to teach the master tricks, that's when mastery has been shared. That's when mastery becomes a shared thing.
Jared:And now me and Eric become that much more of a force, because he learns and I learn and then we both learn together. It's the craziest thing. He learns something new, which in turn teaches me. If I learn something new, I in turn teach him, we teach the team behind us and eventually you end up like with what we have, which is several masters of different domains. Everybody in here kind of has their own little forte of what they do well and what they don't do well. They all have their own manufacturing niches and things that they like to do and quirks and nuances and things like that. But that's what makes them unique.
Jared:And Eric is telling you and giving you that blessing from a higher authority, a mastery level, and we're not tooting our own horns. We got the sales to back it up level, you know, and we're not tooting our own horns.
Jared:We got the sales to back it up. That is something that I cannot tell you enough. This is not a hello. My name is Jared Ledford and I am your building salesperson with Dayton Barns and all steel buildings. I would like to quote you on a 24 by 30 by 12 metal building with four foot spacing, vertical siding, blah, blah, blah. It is. Hey, what's up. My name is Jared. How can I help you? You might even skip the whole my name's Jared thing, because they're literally talking to your page and it says your name. Hey, what's going on? What size do you need?
Eric:What were you thinking? What's that?
Jared:What's going on and I mean even now in our corporate chats. So, if you go to Dayton Barns. com, I'm going to give us a cheap plug for a minute. If you go to DaytonBarns. com and you hit the chat button at the bottom, you're going to talk to a woman named Morgan who works right back over there, and then what happens from that point? What happens from that point is Morgan gets your information and then she divvies it out and dishes it to a project manager. I can tell you, our guys don't word vomit, our guys get straight to the point. We'll have you a price in under five minutes, pretty much anywhere that we service. Um, that's the way it should be. When you go to a car lot, how long does it take for you to get the price of the car? As long as it takes to look at the sticker? Yeah, think about it. Think about it, right, think about it you know, this is one of those things.
Jared:This is a skilled trade man. This is not an easy job and anybody who thinks it is you're in the wrong field get out of our way. We want serious people selling serious buildings. The days of I just learned how to do this and I'm making 100k, those days are through with.
Jared:Yeah if you're doing this because you think you're going to make 100k and it's going to be easy. You might as well just quit right now. If you're in this for the long haul and you want to have a successful business that has a reputation, that has an A-plus Better Business Bureau rating, that has reviews coast to coast, that's sold 1,000-plus units, dig in. Listen to what we have to say. Get with somebody who's doing better than you. Heck, we had to learn from somebody. We've got friends guys at Sheds direct, uh, the guys at American Steel, the guys at graver eagle I mean, you name it. We've worked with Eric probably what?
Jared:30 different manufacturers at this point probably something like that 25, 25 or 30 I mean, we have had so many people come and go from our lives in this industry and we have fell into this microchasm of like okay, we've got the right shed network, we've got the right metal building network, now we're starting to do pole buildings and bigger buildings and we're starting to look at I-beam, we're starting to look at everything that encompasses buildings period, because we want to be the true encompass of our name Dayton Barns and all steel buildings.
Eric:We want to have everything yeah, they're trusting our knowledge is what people want to buy our knowledge about it.
Jared:That's, it's a good and what we're saying to you. What I'm saying to you is you can have that same knowledge, Eric, and I just learned from doing it. Eric taught me that probably better than anybody I've ever worked with, and I've got so much experience. I've done a little bit of everything, sold a little bit of everything. Sold nail polish for a while, sold car parts, sold printed media yeah, Sold printed media and pens and crap. I have sold a little bit of everything, and I can tell you this is a niche market, and you can make really good money and be very thriving in this space If you know to which you speak. Listen to what we're saying to you right now. This is a challenge to you. So, you said response time response time speaking from a place of authority making
Jared:sure that you're talking to them.
Jared:Talking to them how they, how you would want to be talked to. The golden rule, golden rule treat them how you want to be treated, keep going um and then, and then, and then and then how, how you talk to them.
Eric:So, knowing, don't try to copycat, just be you. You're like, uniquely beautiful in yourself and it's taken me most of my life to be comfortable that I'm just who I am and not everybody will like you and want to roll with you and same with customers. What I've found is that I am a bit of a chameleon on sales. So, like if I need to be professional and vibey, like that I can. If I need to be one of the guys and elbow rub and talk about you know, whatever, how fast I threw when I was 22 at Sinclair, pitching, you know, or like you know, just're, like you know, this is dumb stuff. Um, okay, so we've talked about response time, being true to yourself. And then number three I would say um, is you have to be able to quote fast, so? So you need to be able to right now. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. So you need to be able to right now. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Eric:I've got 12 links open that are all buildings that I've quoted today. So, I said I got 15 messages. I've got 12 quotes out. Three of them were the hey, is this available? But never replied so I can quote. I can build on a 3d design tool and quote a metal building in like less than a minute, whether I'm on the phone with them. I'll just delay time on the phone with them, which we can get into as another sub tip of being able to quote somebody. And when I say quote somebody, that means relaying the price to the person, not just the conversation as the quote. Like when you get to the point where you know enough about what they're trying to do and then you send them a price, you need to be able to get that price accurately as fast as you possibly can.
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Eric:and then be able to screenshot keyboard shortcuts on your keyboard or they meet them. They matter. And so getting a price to somebody pretty quickly at least pushes it out there and you've got your line out. Now You've baited the hook, you kind of know what you're fishing for. You throw out the line and now you're just out there. And so out of the 15, like I said, there's going to be at the end of the day three phone calls. That's a pretty good ratio, one out of every five I get to have a phone call with, you know, and then those phone call ones man press them to the phone. So now we've got to like respond with a price quick. People will generally want to talk on the phone two times One time if they're old and they just want to talk to you about everything right off the bat. And then, number two, they'll want to talk to you after you've given them the price.
Jared:And so it's party time that gives up the balloons. Pro tip real quick. Pro tip.
Jared:If you're on FaceTime, which Eric's using a MacBook, it will throw up the balloon Okay, celebration Party, party.
Eric:So, knowing this and it's never not true A person is either going to want to talk on the phone right the second they message you, or they won't want to talk to you on the phone until they know the price, and so both times you need to be ready to talk to them. And the reason why they would ask number one, the reason why they want to ask you for your phone number right off the bat, is because they don't want to type. That means that and check this out. This is a huge advantage. It's an advantage because you know no one else is talking to them. So, if they're like I want to talk on the phone, it's not like they're only said that to you. They don't want to talk to anybody on Facebook messenger, so call them right now. Only one person can call them first, and so that's right.
Eric:And now? Now you can follow up with them. You show tender tenderness like um response times go, that's the older guy. That guy ain't gonna shop if that price is decent. He he's buying the building. Why? Because he don't want to mess with it. So that's the easiest sell ever. Now, let's say, on the flip side, the guy's a little bit kind of. Let me probe, you're going to have some conversation with the guy. Here's the doors. Maybe you made a mistake on the design because you just didn't understand what he's saying. Throw pictures out.
Eric:Once they whittle it down to a design they like and a price, then they'll ask for your phone. Now they want to talk to you on the phone and this is where this is a huge, another huge advantage. We need to use a little bit of. This is natural. It's hard to teach this, but you, when you get them on the phone, you need to figure out without telling them like is this? You know? Number one when will they buy? If they buy? And then, number two what is the obstacle that's preventing them from buying it? Right, this second and those are always the same with metal buildings, we can go over them. Concrete permitting time, ground prep work. My wife tax return, you name it, we'll just go down the list. There's only like 10 or 15 of them, yeah. And once you can isolate what is blocking it, you can address the obstacle Again. This is all crap you're doing without them knowing it. You're solving these things in your mind out them knowing it.
Jared:You, just you're. You're solving these things in your mind and, um, they came to you in search of a fix for their problem. Don't forget that your customer knocked on your door with a problem, in search of a solution. Tell me, as we wrap up for this for this week, I want you to talk about taking the deal off the table. Let's say you're through the building process, the quoting process is good, everything's feeling real good and you get to that roadblock. You get to that objection you can't overcome? Tell me about it.
Eric:I'm going to paint the picture of the guy that bought a shed from Urbana when you first started working there and he was going to buy the one down the block. Remember he came to Yep.
Jared:You know exactly what.
Jared:I'm talking about.
Eric:That guy came to our shop, I think a dozen times. Yep, this is the Okay. So, here's the scenario. So, we're going to, and we'll do another, maybe a part three or part two of sales tips. We've unleashed a lot here and maybe we can get Deanna to maybe summarize them and then do another episode follow-up.
Eric:But I'm talking to the business owners out there, the shed dealers and steel building sellers, where you have a customer who now, in your mind, is taking up too much of your time and you're probably thinking in your mind gosh, I wish this guy would either leave me alone or buy the building. If you're thinking that in your mind, take a step back the guy and this is normally a male. I'm just saying it's a guy. Typically, it's a guy who has objection after objection. Well, this guy's down here, you know he's. He's kind of like, you know, a little bit older, I'm just assuming. I'm just now, I'm just painting the picture when you have exhausted all effort to push a shed or a metal building on a person, it is totally healthy to say and I did this with that guy in Urbana and I did to a guy in West Virginia, I'm just thinking of guys I've said this to specifically in West Virginia, because I'm going to say the conversation.
Eric:This guy got to the point where he was ready to buy and then he starts sending me pictures of advertisements for buildings that wasn't the building that I quoted him on and he said well, what about these guys? How come these guys are this, this guy's, this bro? He ran me up and down for like three straight days on, like, well, I need you know this other company said this and the other and um and it's. I finally, uh, solved it where it's, it's $2,000 down, take it or leave it. And then the guy sent me another picture and I called him on the phone after that, lex one, and I said, dude, it's over, I'm hanging up.
Eric:You're not buying this building from me. I don't like you either, want 2000 bucks and I guarantee you you'll love your product and I'm going to advocate for you. And if you do not call me today, I'll literally never take your call again. And I'm putting my foot down because my time I don't work for free and I like you, dude, I want you to have a banging hot tub set up under that utility covering with the flat screen. Trust me, no one will care about your building like I will. You're either giving me $2,000 to buy it or I'm never going to talk to you again and I don't care. Try me, yep, yep.
Jared:And so at that point I just did it. It works, Keep called.
Jared:Keep called, it works, keep called.
Eric:It absolutely works.
Jared:I said this in the last episode Don't beg people. You have two choices to make. When somebody starts really hitting you on, this company's giving me this price. I've got this quote over here, this quote over there. If they're sending you quotes and they're talking to you, that means they haven't bought yet and they haven't bought for a reason. Figure out what the reason is and get to an objection killer which is taking the deal off the table.
Jared:Look, I know you've got three other quotes and I respect that, and I don't know anything about those three quotes. As a matter of fact, I don't care about those three quotes. Those three quotes are dead to me right now. What I care about for you, Mr. Customer, is I care about getting you the best building that I can for the money that you're willing to spend. And I can tell you, if you put your money with me, you're going to love the end quality of your product or I'm going to make certain that whatever's wrong is fixed expeditally, as quickly as possible, because we hold the leverage here.
Jared:The manufacturers that we work with are the manufacturers that are getting millions of dollars in deals from us in a year, are getting hundreds of orders from us in a year. And let me tell you something when I call, when I make a phone call to a manufacturer that's had a problem, it gets fixed like that. And I know a lot of you are sitting back. I don't sell that many metal buildings, Jared, I hear what you're saying, but I don't sell that many metal buildings.
Jared:Speak from a place of authority.
Jared:Hold your manufacturers accountable. If you've got something that you think you might be able to help out with Jared daytonbarns. com, I'll point you in the right direction. Eric at daytonbarns. com, he'll point you in the right direction. I can tell you, we want to help you. We want to make the industry better. I think we've got what we need for today, but we have painted the picture for more sales tips. I think this is something we're going to do. Maybe once a month We'll start getting into some riffing. I mean, if you guys like this stuff, drop us an email. I just gave them. Jared at Dayton Barns, j-a-r-e-d at Dayton, d-a-y-t-o-n Barns, b-a-r-n-s. com. Eric e-r-i-c at Dayton barns, d-a-y-t-o-n-b-a-r-n-s. com.
Jared:Hit us up, man. We we've been getting blown away with the feedback so far. Um, I think I get at least a couple emails a week now after the episodes launch. Don't, don't be shy dropping our, dropping our emails. Um, hit us up. We're on social media. Um, I'm at Jared Ledford on most social media handles. I don't do too much with it. Eric's a little bit more social media guru than me. But hit us up, man. Drop us an ad on linkedin. If you're in the linkedin world. Eric's a huge linkedin guy. Um, I can tell you we have so much more to talk about and so much more to do and maybe help you guys, give you guys some some feedback and tidbits. Eric, what do you got for the team going?
Eric:out this week. If, if, um, if you guys stay tuned for next episode too, which is coming up. We've got some special guests coming into the? U this week. We'll launch that sometime mid-May. Can't wait to tell you about it. Bring on a contractor that owns a pretty big construction company in the Miami Valley to pick his brain on concrete and then, if you're selling and you're in a lull, you need to call me, because I'm in a mode where I'll help you. I want to help you. I sold seven or eight metal buildings on Facebook in March, eight different states. I think it was like at least $150K worth of buildings, guys, or more, probably more than that. Honestly, I'll bend my ear. I'm not doing anything fancy. I make typos. I real talk. You know, I might have let a curse word out a couple times, maybe Not on typing, but maybe on the phone. You know, depends man. I'm hyped up, man, I'm hyped Hit us up Eric's traveling over the summertime.
Eric:I'm going to go buy me a cowboy boot.
Jared:If you want to meet the Steel Kings, hit us up. If you've got a lot or a metal building presentation you want us to look at, drop us pictures. Drop us comments to our social media handles, drop us social media anything you want Hit us up on the emails. We appreciate you, guys. We're getting into month three. I think this will be the end of month number two. It is crazy to think we've already done a boatload of these episodes. We've got a boatload more coming. The guys from Shed the Director are going to be here. We've got a boatload more coming. The guys from Shed the Director are going to be here. The guys from American Steel we're going to talk to Graber. We're going to talk to the guys over at GCM Construction. We're going to talk to J Money again. I'm sure We'll probably have Jeff back from Shed Hub. We'll talk to Shannon.
Jared:We have got a fun-filled summertime of podcasts coming to you Mowing the grass, getting out, get healthy man, get walking, get yourself moving. So, this week, as always, be good to your neighbors, be good to your friends and family. Do something positive for somebody in your life. We love you guys. This is the Steel Kings podcast brought to you in part by the team over at J Money. Contractors, metal building dealers, shed dealers, manufacturers anybody in the home improvement space can benefit from our friends over at J Money. Contact Joel and Katie and the team. They will get you hooked up with the financing you need for your projects. I am Jared, he is Eric, we are the Steel Kings and we are out. We'll see you guys next week for another episode. Peace Later on, guys.
Jared:Peace out, don't take no for an answer. That's right Later on, guys.