Shed Geek Podcast

Steel vs. AI: The Future of Building Sales

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 5 • Episode 75

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The steel building industry stands at a pivotal crossroads, and nobody captures this reality quite like Jared and Eric—The Steel Kings—in their 25th podcast episode. Drawing from their frontline experience, they deliver a candid assessment of where we are and where we're headed.

Steel tariffs continue creating market uncertainty, yet paradoxically, standard building prices remain relatively stable. "A 30x50x12 with three 10x10s and a walk-in door is not that expensive. It's the same as it was four years ago," notes Eric. However, this stability may come at a cost to quality as manufacturers seek to maintain competitive pricing while absorbing increased material costs.

Marketing challenges dominate much of the discussion, with Facebook Marketplace crackdowns affecting many dealers and digital advertising costs skyrocketing—up 85% over 18 months on some platforms. The hosts share personal marketing mishaps, warning listeners to be wary of companies promising quick results without proven track records.

Perhaps most concerning is what Jared describes as "hunting season on dealers," as manufacturers increasingly bypass dealer networks to sell directly to consumers. This creates an uncomfortable reality where dealers compete with their own suppliers. Their passionate call for dealer unity resonates throughout the episode.

Looking forward, the hosts demonstrate how AI is already transforming the industry through a live ChatGPT search for local building suppliers. The implications are profound: future customers won't research options but will simply ask AI assistants for recommendations. "They will literally say 'I want the best shed builder in Ohio' and call them," explains Eric, highlighting how critical online presence has become.

Don't miss their upcoming appearance at the Role Forming Show (October 1-2 at the Dayton Convention Center), where they'll record their first live podcast. Have questions or want to connect with like-minded dealers? Reach out directly to jared@thesteelkings.com or eric@thesteelkings.com—they're genuinely interested in strengthening the dealer community.

For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.

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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC

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Jared:

What's going on, guys? My name is Jared and he is Eric, and we are the Steel Kings. Back at you with another episode of the podcast. This is number 25. So happy 25 to my best pal, eric over there. As you guys know, we bring you content each and every week and we are back at you with another episode. Our podcast, as always, is sponsored by the team over at J Money. Check those guys out. Joel and his team is doing a great job providing financing. If you're an independent contractor, if you're selling metal buildings, wood sheds, if you produce metal buildings or wood sheds, hit those guys up. Also want to give a shout out at the top of the episode to Cold Spring Enterprises makers of VersaBend.

Jared:

The machine bends the 2-inch and 2.5-inch square tubing. It also does the 2x3 rectangular tubing. It does it in just three bends. No tools needed to switch the sizes, it's just got that precision built in. If you're still using five-bin methods, you're behind. Get caught up. Check them out at csecarportsupply or call 864-446-3645 and tell Wendell that the Steel King sent you. Brother, what's up, man, I am feeling?

Eric:

Or meet us at the trade the roll form. Yeah, bro, We'll meet him in person.

Jared:

We've been talking about this for a while, but we are going to be coming right up. I think this episode is going to be really getting close to the role forming magazine Shield Wall Media construction role forming show. It is going to be, as we've discussed, October 1 and 2, 2025. So, coming up here in about a month's time from the time you're going to be getting this podcast at the Dayton Convention Center, so in the backyard of the Steel Kings. So we're excited. Gary and his team do a great job over there. Missy and all of them, we are super thankful to be going to be part of the show. We will be there rocking Steel Kings talking to you about what we do on the podcast. I think we're going to try to do our first live podcast at the Royal Forming Show. Logistically, I think we can make it work.

Jared:

It's only about 15 minutes from my house and I'll be honest with you, man, I'm super pumped up about that. It's not often that we can go out and meet and greet and talk to people anyhow, but certainly, being that close to home, I get to see a lot of friends. Versabend will be there. Shed Geek um Shannon and his lovely wife are going to stop by and say hi, so we'll. We'll drop all that information through the Shed Geek media channels, um through uh, through our social medias and personal. We'll just make sure you guys are notified about that, but mark that on the calendar. Man, I know, I know, eric, you're pumped, I'm pumped too, bro, bro.

Eric:

I love trade shows man. Yeah, man, I've heard of the Chipper Mood Got some new gear to wear at the show. That's kind of exciting.

Jared:

What I really like about Gary's shows is they are serious shows. A lot of trade shows, a lot of work don't get done. I hear that complaint a lot from friends in the industry. A lot of trade shows, a lot of work don't get done. You know, I hear that complaint a lot from friends in the industry and you know we've been to trade shows both of us outside of the steel and shed A lot of times it's just meet up, hang out, don't get a lot of business done. But these are the ones where people come to talk shop.

Jared:

And if you are looking for a supplier, if you're looking for any kind of role forming equipment, this is going to be your show of role-forming equipment. This is going to be your show. So really looking at metal building guys, pole barn guys, but certainly the wood sheds. You know they use a metal roof a lot of the times on the wood sheds these days. So if you're looking to maybe get a new piece of equipment preferably a Versabend, you know maybe let Wendell know the Steel King sent you. You know that kind of a thing. Check the guys out. Man, role forming show is October one and two. So coming right up, brother, how have you been man? I feel like we talk about this all the time. We don't see each other that much. So when we get on these podcasts, it's like dang. There's Eric man, I get to see him and he's looking so good and chipper some tan on um man.

Eric:

yeah, yeah, I got my haircut this morning and let me tell you, uh, finding a good barber these days it's tough so when you have a barber. You got to wear out the barber. Make sure you give them the same amount of money every time. Man and a good barber is unbelievable. You feel better when you have a haircut. You're just like I don't know what it is. Man.

Jared:

I'm going tomorrow, so I'm starting to get some gray. I got to thin out these sides, but I've been trying the cheap plug. I've been trying Hems. It's called Hems, it's a hair growth.

Eric:

And I do think it is doing a little bit for me.

Jared:

How long have you been doing it?

Jared:

About three months. If you look back at pictures of me, it was definitely thinner right in here.

Eric:

Well, I think I've noticed now that you said that.

Jared:

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty confident, Real life feedback.

Eric:

I remember when I got those jaw that pudgy under here, bro. I did that for two months and, man, my chin line is, I guess, muscular I'm trying to figure out.

Jared:

I'm trying to figure out. So one of the side effects of doing the, of doing the uh, the hems, which is it's like a hair regrowth vitamin, right, and you know if you're in the market for something like that. The great part about it is you don't have to go to a doctor, you just go on the website, you consult over the Internet, then you get a video conference with like a doctor. So I talked to a doctor for like five, 10 minutes, like, oh yeah, you could definitely benefit from it. She's like one of the side effects is you know, you could get more body hair. Well, man, I've got more hair on my chest.

Jared:

It's weird, man, I agree, you know, I want it. I want it here. Yeah, I want it right here. So it's coming right along, man. I mean, I think three months in and I'm feeling pretty confident about it honestly. So you know the, the trademark hat Shannon and I talked about on a previous episode. He's like man, I've never seen you without a ball hat and I said well, you know it might be coming up, so y'all you know we got to make sure that we keep the faux pas here.

Jared:

looking pretty Everybody's got to be jealous of Eric's hair. I mean, he's looking like Elvis I don't know. You got some hair, brother. I can tell you Anybody who's 40 that looks like you. Eric celebrated a birthday this past week, so we're filming this August 7th. You guys will get this probably second week of September, first or second week of September, but eric had a birthday.

Eric:

so the big four zero this past man, I turned 40 a couple days ago did your wife end up throwing you a surprise party? She yes, you know, I felt really I felt really bad, bro, because I had dude.

Jared:

I have so much crap going on. It's it's that time of the year where the kids are going back to school. I do one thing for myself over the summer Eric knows this. I don't vacation, I don't do that, it's just not my thing. But I do like going to the Polish picnic. I'm Polish, so my nationality background is Polish and American Indian. I guess I should say there's some. We don't call ourselves native Americans anymore, we call ourselves the commanders. Yeah, yeah, the commanders. Yeah, good one, um something else, I don't know. I was just told that recently but the Cleveland guardians.

Jared:

Yeah, but we're the guardians now. Yes, that's actually it, um, but yeah, that's my background. I'm Polish and native American and love going to the Polish picnics. It was a really good time, man, and I hated missing your birthday, but I meant to tell you that and I just thought about it. When I was wishing you a happy birthday, heather reached out to me and I told her I would yeah, I would try. So I want to do. At least let you know that she tried. That's how much we can't get together.

Eric:

We can't even get together. It's not like that. I I I felt when I proposed to her I was like we're gonna get married and I don't have the vision for it. But like august 2nd, my birthday is the 4th. We'll just celebrate at the same time every year and this was the first time that, since that thought that it like happened.

Eric:

So we did, we did we did anniversary and then Sunday was church all day and then Monday was birthday and then all I wanted to do was go to a new guy. I started at this Bible study. I've been going to it on Monday night and then the party was a surprise party after the Bible study. So we just like Gotcha. It was like set up. I just left the room. I thought the coast was clear and all this stuff.

Jared:

I got to get Heather. I got to get Heather. I got to get Heather my. You got to give Heather my actual cell phone number.

Jared:

Cause she was texting me on the.

Jared:

She was texting me on the on the business. One on the business. Oh gotcha, and I wasn't getting. I wasn't getting notifications as good as I wanted to.

Eric:

I also had that problem with Randy last week, where I'm supposed to be getting notifications through email and also via text, but for whatever reason ring central was a buggy. So you know, but it's been a good birthday. All I want for my birthday is is some is uh, we're moving into I would call them the dog days of summer. It's august, late July and August where we're kind of back to school. Sale is coming. Back to school is coming.

Jared:

Yeah, no tax here in Ohio right now. So two, they gave us two weeks this year and man I, uh, we went out to breakfast, um, check us out on LinkedIn, a little cheap plug for LinkedIn, check us out, um, give us a connection. Uh, five rivers, pole barns crew went out to breakfast this past week and man saved like eight bucks on tax. I was like man, this is cheap, they're like well, food counts, and I'm like dang, I mean shout out Brookville grill.

Jared:

Yeah, shout out, Brookville, grill the team over there. Um, you know, we had a great breakfast. We talked about business, we talked about maybe 2026, what that looks like. Um, I think we're all still feeling. I think there's man that kind of makes me want to talk about where we're at market-wise With the steel tariffs we keep getting back to this topic.

Jared:

We talked about it with Rodney. We talked about it when it first was a thing, in March and April, when we first launched the podcast. The steel tariffs have just been rearing their ugly head Every other month. It's like something updates. So I know I've had a lot of customers and obviously the reps are behind me floating around here but we still have customers that are like, man, is the pricing going to go up? Is it going to go down? I don't know. I just don't know. A couple of the major manufacturers have extended discounts, but a couple of them have come out with new pricing that is higher. So I don't know, man. If you guys got a lead on that, let the Steel Kings know.

Jared:

I'm drawing a blank on it. I can't make heads or tails on where we're going to be at with the steel tariffs come wintertime. I think we're you know, steel Kings are preparing for some hibernation with steel buildings. I think we're focused more on pole barns, but we're always going to have our hands knee-deep I guess it wouldn't be hands, it would be feet knee-deep in steel buildings. I mean, what are you thinking, bro? I know that right now, leads are good. They could always be better. We always want more leads. But I mean, what are you thinking, man? You're knee-deep.

Jared:

What do you think you know?

Eric:

I don't.

Eric:

I want to say I don't think that it's affected it as bad as what From a pricing perspective. I think it got hairy for like two weeks but generally speaking, a 30x50x12 with three 10x 10s and a walk-in door is not that expensive.

Jared:

It's the same as it was. Same as it was.

Eric:

Four years ago probably.

Eric:

Yeah, I was talking Now different players come in.

Eric:

So here's where I know for certain it's kind of changing because some of the people, some of the companies out there that notoriously have cheaper pricing, I think people are coming in and buying. There's new suppliers being um. I would reckon that we'll probably see in the next year the word quality more often because, as tariffs and different things happen, people are going to try to sell it for the same price but make them worse. There'll be less quality material.

Jared:

We're in this real interesting place right now with metal buildings, where manufacturers, in my opinion, are going to feel more obligated to lower the quality to keep the price down for the consumer, while also we're having this like rearing its ugly head of like regulation from building departments and zoning departments. We keep seeing. We just got an email out this past week from a couple of manufacturers about site specific blueprints and things in Arizona and we do well in Arizona. We had a store there for a while. We still do really well in Arizona, but now they're going to require sites, they're going to require potentially stamped generics, which creates a whole vacuum. So you know, if you're stuck using the wrong manufacturer out in Arizona right now and you're doing good business, you need to be very, very cautious of what you're doing. Just be mindful that if we don't all work together we've talked about this if we don't all rise to the occasion of the challenge of making sure that we meet the minimum requirements for snow and wind and there are places in Arizona that require snow loads I will never forget the one customer I had on the phone why do you need my snow load? I live in Arizona. Well, you ever heard of Snowflake. I mean you know there are places in Arizona that need need that stuff and the reason why these zoning departments are getting upset and they're pushing back is because they're seeing so many buildings come through that are having issues.

Jared:

A lot of collapses, a lot of issues. Man, and regardless whether you think you're covered or not, my guess is you're probably not. If somebody's building collapses, they're going to be calling you. I don't care how good you think you are and set up, knock on wood. We've never had that issue. We had one building that did have not an entire collapse, but the legs basically bowed out during a wind and we had that manufacturers out there. They got that thing fixed up right and basically came down to the customer head finagled. They had actually pried up the base rail and tried to move it themselves at one point and you could tell where there was prying done to the building. But other than that, I mean we've never had an issue that way.

Jared:

But I think that steel tariffs is not as big a deal as the cost of eggs and the cost of milk. I mean that right now is the biggest problem. I mean for me personally. I got three kids that are eating me out of the house. I can't keep enough food in that joint. I mean I don't know about you, bro, I mean gas, whatever it is. I mean I think I paid 319 a gallon. It's hard. You have to overcome these customers' objections when it comes to money right now, because they're paying so much for everything else that matters. Do you see it that way? You think it's more about what we're paying for everything else?

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Eric:

It's just not settled yet. That's the issue We've got. I think society, especially Western, where we're at, where it's like we are still in the the coast, is not clear yet, cause there's still talk about it. My personal opinion is that I'm watching that the financial system's changing and and our government is is negotiating the tariff prices, which is driving people like, oh my gosh, it's ending. But it's really just a negotiation tactic, because we want the other countries doing business with us to adopt the new financial system which is going digital assets, and so it's really like a really long game of and I see it that way, most people don't know about that. Actually, probably 90% of the people have no clue that the financial system is going to go like a Web3 style. There's a huge episode we could do about marketing, probably in 2026, using NFTs for sheds, which would be cool, just super innovative.

Eric:

I think people just haven't Wait till it starts, wait till mid-September. I think it'll kick back up, because I did see that Powell was going to lower the rates twice in the next four months, and so that's a fact. He said it. So if it's a quarter each time, that is going to produce enough where people might take loans off their home or they'll be more comfortable um. We typically have our good months, like September and October. It's really strong months, so we'll be able to yeah July.

Eric:

July was a strong month. It was stronger than we had last year in July yep, yep and probably stronger than the July before that. To be quite honest, We'll be pretty close.

Jared:

Yeah, we've made July the training month at Dayton Barns. So the last two years, before this year, we actually brought in new sales reps and trained them in July, because a lot of the manufacturers go on vacation, they head out, they shut up shop for a week, and we've done that. This year we didn't and I think it paid off for us. What we've noticed is the cost to acquire a customer is going sky high across the board. We're not in the market for any marketers or anything like that, but I mean, I'm open to suggestions and ideas. I can tell you we are pushing organic lead generation in-house 24-7. We want more leads.

Jared:

If you are still working on Facebook Marketplace, let me tell you something. The days of that are going to be coming for you. Facebook is cracking down on people with high listing count with multiple picture. They are cracking down. We deal with it every day in the shop because all these guys run Facebook Marketplace. We run our own generated ads through Meta and Google and all that stuff. But I can tell you, man, I don't know who's getting to them. I don't know what's causing Meta to do that, but I know if you take any downtime whatsoever off your business through Marketplace. You're going to be hurting for a while to get it back up. I know there's a lot of successful dealers out there. I'm not taking anything away from you. Keep doing what you're doing. You're doing a great job. But I can tell you, if you're getting started or you're still relatively new in this industry, you better figure it out quick, because there are bigger fish than Dayton Barns. They're a bigger fish than Jared and Eric, and manufacturers are coming for you. They're knocking at your door, brother. I'm telling you, they're running ads against you. They are absolutely coming for your sales. They do not want to pay you commissions, they want to take the commissions and take them inside. You have to be working with the right team.

Jared:

Eric, you said something about financing, which makes me think of Joel. I want to give him another thank you. He's the sponsor, he's the studio sponsor of the Steel Kings Dealers and builders and contractors and manufacturers. J Money helps the entire home improvement industry grow with powerful financing tools. Visit jmoneyllc. com and start offering payment solutions that make sense.

Jared:

Um, brother, I can't tell you, man, how frustrating it is from a from a sales perspective, to still be dealing steel, to still be dealing with the same kind of pushback with these manufacturers, slash dealers who are just racing to the basement. What are you seeing there? We haven't talked about that in a while. I know you had that one, a few probably two months ago, where we dove in deep and we really analyzed that specific deal, and you know the one I'm talking about, where the whole team rallied together and got you the info and we got the bag organ, organ yep, they weren't going to price the guy sites. They weren't going to price the guy anything. You the info and we got the bag Oregon, Oregon Yep, they weren't going to price the guy sites. They weren't going to price the guy anything you needed. They wanted his money.

Eric:

We had to come off of it. There's a shakeout that's happening on Facebook. I think part of the thing that Facebook's probably doing is they're realizing that people are making a living and they're not making a dollar Like you're. Literally, you can have your whole business on Facebook marketplace. Never pay one cent because boosting isn't relevant. It isn't. It's the amount of nets that you have out there. That's been the old way, but I think Facebook's getting used to it so they don't want to show it. They want to show they might just be showing the boosted ones. So that's where you came in earlier and said the organic. We want people who are doing their due diligence, that aren't trying to race to the bottom.

Eric:

That is, we were talking about that at breakfast the other day. I would much rather sell 10 average priced buildings than 20 cheap ones, because the customers that are buying the cheap ones are not only going to be frustrating, needy, but they're going to be hypercritical about their buck, and so we'll be able to tell a lot. We sold a lot of projects in July. I think we're off to a good start in August. It's just time will tell. Once the tariff talk goes away and we drop a quarter percent on the interest, which will happen from an American standpoint, like it's just going to happen before the holidays It'll provide some relief. Honestly, it does provide relief for Christmas time and you can bank on that happening. I mean, they have to do it because if you look at the housing market, it's if you see the amount of sellers versus buyers, it is. I don't know if you've seen that charts floating around.

Eric:

That chart, if it's legit because I haven't dove into it. That is ridiculous. People are trying to find a place to live. That's not $3,200 a month.

Jared:

Yeah, it's crazy right now, dude. I mean I can tell you, when you've got that interest rate going up and you've got new buyers in the market who don't have established credit, who can't get a good rate, they're going to be paying out the backside for a mortgage or they're going to be paying out the backside for rent, because the thing about when you rent something, it's market value.

Jared:

Market value right. I mean if all of a sudden what was fifteen hundred dollars a month is now twenty five hundred dollars a month, everybody who charges that amount is going to twenty five hundred a month. I mean it is going to be harder and harder and harder to live the guy that lives.

Eric:

I live on a corner, the opposite corner that he lives, him and and his family. I was talking to him. $2,500 a month for the same house.

Jared:

Dude, insane, insane, for a rental.

Eric:

My mortgage payment is $400. A month it's $458.

Jared:

That's a chicken coop. It's a chicken coop RTO, sponsored by your local shed RTO company. Amen J money. I can tell you this man we have to rally together. I keep saying this on these podcasts we have to rally together as an industry to rise above what's going on around us.

Jared:

I know that there are so many people in our industry that are struggling. We are blessed beyond measure at the, at the ability that we have as a company to scale and do new projects. Not everybody can do that, I can tell you. Focus on what works for you. If you've got a good thing going on marketplace, double down on it. If you've got 40 posts, do 80, do one, do 160, do 200, figure it out. Um, you know, yeah, I mean, right now we're we're doing what we do best, which is sitting back and collecting as many leads as we can and trying to raise our close rate. Right now, our struggle as a business just to be transparent as it leads costs too darn much. They just do. You know these customers want to be connected with you, so we have to figure out the cheapest, most economical solution. If you want to race to the bottom, find a way to get cheaper leads. That would be my argument to you, you know that's what we're.

Jared:

That's what we're working on, I don't. I mean, isn't that the truth?

Jared:

I mean cost of acquisitions, everything right now in our industry. I think we were we just did this math the other day. I mean Facebook's up crazy, meta's up crazy, I mean I don't. I don't know what the number is. It's like it was like 85 percent for 18 months, like 18 months spread on the same type of ad campaign, same type of you know, a message campaign is just outrageously high.

Jared:

And then you turn around and you see the manufacturers you're selling for running ads in competition and that's where the steel Kings are starting to get a little bit frustrated. You know we're looking to companies that are looking to dealers to continue to do what we do best. I think there's a lot of looking to companies that are looking to dealers to continue to do what we do best. I think there's a lot of companies out there that are big enough, that want to do inside sales, and that's fine, good for them. But we as dealers have to rally around each other and say you know what, if you're not going to use dealers anymore, then we're not going to send you any orders, no matter how good our situation might be in the moment. Just wait until they say hey, no matter how good our situation might be in the moment. Just wait until they say, hey, dealer support is now a salesperson. I mean, there are so many people out there doing what we do and they don't do it the right way. They rely on dealer support from these manufacturers. Hey, I've got this customer that wants a 30 by 40 by 12, with three roll-up doors. I don't know the first thing about pricing them, but can you get a price for me? How is that a dealer? To me? That's just someone calling getting a price. Oh, hey, here's your price. And then they make money on your hard work.

Jared:

And it's no wonder that the manufacturers are turning their back on dealers, and not everybody is. Not everybody is, but those out there know what I'm talking about. The people who are in the know know what I'm talking about. The people who are in the know know what I'm talking about. It is, it is getting to be it's hunting season on dealers, eric, and it you know it frustrates me to no end. We talked about it on our last episode. If they think they can do it so well, good luck, cause everybody who's trying it seems to be struggling. I don't know. Know, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not. I'm not hearing much positive feedback from inside sales at manufacturing companies. I think there's only one company that does it well, and I think everybody probably knows who that is. What will keep them nameless?

Jared:

the og, the og of manufacturer slash inside sales. So you're scratching your head and you're scratching. You don't know who it is, I don't know. I I think, I think, I think boss does a really good job. I'll just say their name. Boss does an extremely good job of marketing and selling and manufacturing buildings. I don't know how good their buildings are. I don't know how good their buildings are. We used to sell form years ago but at this point I can't speak to the quality of the building. I can tell you they've got a good presence online. If you're looking to build your own, look at who's doing it the best. I think Boss is doing a really good job.

Jared:

The OG carport companies that we love to work with, the reliable metal buildings, the Carolina carports love those guys because they're not out trying to get their own leads. They're working with dealers. I mean, they're working with dealers who work with them and I think that that's. That's an exciting thing when you really think about it from my perspective, like I sit and see. That's the thing If you're listening to me and thinking man, this guy doesn't know his, doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground, I sit and I do this every day, all the time.

Jared:

I'm constantly on the phone trying to work deals with these guys and gals in our shop and I can tell you there are right ways to do business and there are wrong ways to do business. And if this doesn't reach anybody else other than our core audience of mainly shedlock guys and gals and some manufacturers, just know, man, you guys have an advocate here in the steel Kings. If you guys need something, reach out to us. Man, I mean I I get on these talk tracks and on these soap boxes a lot, but I mean it. You know I want to be able to try to help you out, if I can, um, and I might need help. I might rely on somebody out there to help me one of these days and I would be remiss if I didn't offer that opportunity out to you guys too.

Eric:

I'm looking. I'm looking at some.

Jared:

Yeah, I was wanting to know what you, I wanted to know what you were looking at you looked you. You know, for those who are listening, eric has this perplexed look in his face, on his, in his eyes, and I recognize it from analyzing. That's Eric's analyzing face.

Eric:

Yeah, Uh, yeah, I would say we'll, we'll launch it it. But I know we're. We've got two website projects we're working on and when I look at other people's websites, I see ours and it's cool. I'm conquesting, I'm excited and you know, if you, if you're a dealer and you don't have a website and you're interested in a website, I think that's a smart move. I think it's a smart move because less people are using Facebook and more people are using Google. Importantly, then, google is open AI or grok or AI to hey, I'm looking for. You know, want to know something? Let's just get on there and test it, live test. Hey, there I like live test.

Jared:

I like live test yeah live test.

Eric:

Let me, let's do a live chat. Gpt I'm going to type in I live in Dayton, Ohio, and I am looking for a wood or let's go, steel building. Who do you recommend? This is like a Google, I mean. It's pretty much like.

Jared:

I have found myself using chat for a lot of things. I had it build me a weather forecast report for 10 years for a project I was working on recently. I mean it does everything. It's crazy, it's absolutely crazy. So you are asking chat, gpt, live, what?

Eric:

I live in Dayton Ohio and I'm looking for a Steel garage.

Jared:

Live what I live in Dayton Ohio and I'm looking for a steel garage to be installed.

Eric:

Let's see what it says. Yeah, I'm interested to see this. I see some logos. Yeah, Dayton Barns and Buildings number one. Literally going to screenshot it and send it to you right now. I'll just shoot you a text and I'll show you. We'll just drop that picture, probably. I typed in. I typed in I live in Dayton, Ohio and I'm looking. Or I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I typed in I live in Dayton, Ohio and I'm looking for a steel garage to be installed on my property. It came up with North Edge Steel is number two and Dayton Barns was number one.

Eric:

Yep, I got North Edge and we have better reviews than them. Fyi.

Jared:

I got North Edge and I got Boss as my two and three. I got Dayton Barns as number one. Okay, let's do this.

Eric:

I live North edge. I got North edge and I got bosses, my two and three. I got Dayton Barns as well. Okay, let's, let's, let's do this, let's do this. I live in Ohio. Let's say, I live in Ohio and I am looking for a steel garage to be installed.

Jared:

And let me, let me say this while Eric's typing this up this is the way people are shopping right now, Ladies and gentlemen. This is the way people are shopping right now, ladies and gentlemen, In case you don't know it, in case you're sitting on a woodshed lot and you have no idea what chat GPT is it is the new hotness, Bro. Check this out. Check this out.

Eric:

Check this out Dayton Barns. Number one Great, since you're in Ohio. Here are reputable steel garage providers that serve the entire state, offering delivery and installation on your property. Number one Dayton Barns and Allstow Buildings. Here are some bullet points that ChatGPT said Based near Dayton but serves all of Ohio Custom metal buildings, garages and carports, installation included, website available. It's got our phone number and then it's got. Number two is Viking. Number three garage buildings. Number four North Edge.

Eric:

And what I can tell you dropping that one to you, and now you keep talking. I'm going to do what I can tell you Midwest.

Jared:

What I can tell you from a perspective of somebody who's doing this all day, every day. People are shopping this way. The people who have come up on this list have been in business for a long time. Dayton Barns has been in business a good while. Viking has been in business a long time. They do good. They do good business. Garage building is the same.

Jared:

North edge is a company that we work with Um, not as much as we'd like to, but I think we we work with them some Um. So I mean those four companies there I would agree. I would agree with chat GPT's assessment that that would be where I'd start. I mean, I don't know if anybody else, but there again, if you're not showing up on these kinds of lists, where are you at? If you're not getting ahead of it with the marketing? And this is where guys like Shed Geek Marketing come in. You know, have them do an assessment for you, call Dylan, call Shannon, get those guys on the line. We don't work directly with Shed Geek Marketing, so I can't speak on anything other than what I've heard through the industry and that's positive. I'm not affiliated, other than the podcast, with Shannon. I don't make any money on the marketing. I can tell you I'm very impressed with what I see from their team. The reason we don't work with them is we have our own private web developer, we have an in-house guy, and not that we couldn't utilize their services. Eric and I like doing that kind of stuff. Eventually it might be something where we knock on Dylan's door I mean, he'd be the first one I'd call, that's for sure.

Jared:

We've been down rabbit hole after rabbit hole after rabbit hole with marketers who claim that we'll double your incoming leads in 30 days. It's all crap. It's just all nonsense. It's all nonsense. Don't fall for it. You got to look up reviews on these people. These people need reviews too. Find people who are going to work for you and then, alongside you, not tell you what to do. That's what marketing companies, I think, have a weakness for.

Jared:

We went through it about two years ago. We went down the rabbit hole. Eric and I were both busy selling buildings. We didn't have the team where we wanted to be.

Jared:

We were a little bit of a changing of the guard moment for the Barns and we came across this marketing company who was affiliated with one of our contractors and man, they came in speaking the gospel. They came in just spreading the marketing gospel. We're going to increase your lead count, blah, blah, blah. First thing they started with let's change your logo. Well, our logo has been established for years now. Why would we change our logo? You know, we have logos on the outside of our building, we have banners and printed forms and all this.

Jared:

It cost us a ridiculous amount of money. Now, not that we're not happy with the new Dayton Barns logo. It's great, nothing wrong with it. But there wasn't anything wrong with our old logo. But we spent I don't know eric like 10k easily, easily, easily. Not just that, but getting you know outside signage replaced. We had to get everything rebranded.

Jared:

It was stupid and like we're 18,000 or 20,000 in the hole by the time we actually get started focused on actual marketing. And then it's like, well, we want to do it this way. And then they did it that way. And guess what? It didn't work. It didn't work, it didn't work.

Jared:

If you're doing something good, stick with it. Find somebody who will work with you, for you and alongside you, not just tell you what to do and not just say give me access to your ads. The other thing that we did that really stinks is we lost our original YouTube account because of them. Just bad business dealings across the board, and they're just one of many marketing companies who are out to get some of that green, get some of that money, and that's all they're really after. Um, I can tell you, the guys over at shed geek marketing don't think that way. They want to see long-term results. They've got a built-in CRM. If you guys are in need of something, check out Dylan, check out Shannon, check out the team at Shed Geek Marketing. You were going to say the Midwest, eric. Share it with me, man.

Eric:

We weren't on it, that's all right, but we will be.

Jared:

That's all right, we're number one in Ohio.

Eric:

That's the reality of it though that's the reality of it. Let's go to Groff now, while you're talking.

Jared:

Yeah, there is always somebody that's better than you at what you think you're best at. Period, we're not the best at anything. We've gotten lucky just as much as we've hit home runs. We've absolutely gotten lucky. I mean, there's no doubt about that, and part of that is owning up to it and learning from okay, well, this time we got lucky. Let's no doubt about that. Part of that is owning up to it and learning from okay, well, this time we got lucky, let's do it again, and next time we plan for it. What were you asking me to do, bro?

Eric:

You're looking somewhere Allen's factory boss and bulldog.

Jared:

For Midwest.

Eric:

On Midwest. Oh no, on recommended providers, we're not on the list. There I was on an Ask Me Anything. Elon Musk had an Ask Me Anything for Business Advertising on X when you think of Twitter or X, you do not think of buying a pair of sunglasses. Yeah, think of Twitter or X, you do not think of buying a pair of sunglasses. And so let me drop this and we'll probably end with it because it's going to take a second.

Eric:

Where are the world's heading to? Let me paint this insane picture. You're at an NBA basketball game. You have a Web3 wallet that's got a card that's linked to what's on your phone and you can pick what currency you want to use. You have money in there. You might have stable coins or digital dollars or something. And let's say you're at a game and a sweatshirt NFT pops up on the Jumbotron and they pick your seat. They pick two winners. Your seat's one of them. You scan your wallet and then that actual sweatshirt leaves the Jumbotron and now is on your phone and then you go to the pro shop with it on your phone and then you swipe it off your phone. It leaves your phone, it goes on to the retail counter. They receive it. You take the sweatshirt, you leave, they build the advertiser. That's how the, that's where it. So it's not, there's not going to be 10 off and then everybody gets the deal. It's going to be as specific for you.

Eric:

If you're building a shed or a pole barn and you're like hammering it, hammer it. There might be a function where they ask five rivers. Hey, this person's been visiting your website a lot. Why don't you ask them? They do a custom deal or something, so instead of offering 20% off across the board. You'll just ask you'll give 20% off the people who are really, and it'll do it for you, and that's where advertising is going to go.

Jared:

And that's the thing, man If you're not ahead of it, you're going to be even more behind. Yeah, without question.

Eric:

This is how it goes. You have a McDonald's app, which is a cool app. Do you use the McDonald's app? You ever used it before? I?

Jared:

do I have?

Eric:

Yep, I use it. Every morning at 7am. I put a large secret sauce to my life. I get a large sugar-free French vanilla iced coffee with one shot of espresso. I order it from my phone. They got a 99 cent deal and the Web3 thing that's coming out how it'll be an interactive cup, like the ice, will melt on your screen. And so let's say McDonald's says well, if you share this with five people, we'll fill the cup up. So every time you share it with one person, it goes up a fifth, and then, once you have a full cup.

Eric:

you can take a McDonald's swipe it, it disappears. You get a free cup of coffee. That's how it's going to work. So I'm keen on website development, but also how to leverage this huge AI expansion, which I can certainly say nobody that's listening to this call is ready for, especially us.

Jared:

But I know it's going to factor in. We're not even ready for it.

Eric:

Now let me stress that to you yeah, I just know it's coming. I know it's coming.

Jared:

We're not any farther ahead than anybody else. We're just paying attention to industry trends. I can tell you that we have, and so the way, chatgpt and I don't know it all right, I'm a jack of all trades, master of none. You've heard me say that before. I can tell you the way that Google works and the way that ChatGPT or any of these other search engine type optimization websites look. It's how much data you have on your website.

Jared:

Just because Dayton Barns is number one in Ohio doesn't mean we're the best. It means we're the most plugged in and we're getting the most results. Now, we just happen to be really good at what we do which corresponds and things like reviews go alongside of that. Reviews are huge for ChatGPT, reviews matter a great deal. So they're looking at things like reviews, they're looking at things like web traffic, they're looking at things like SEO and word placement and they take all of that data, crunch it down, crunch it down, crunch it down and produce the list like what we'll have Eric send pictures of. We'll show you guys what that looks like. But I think that knowing it, just knowing it's there, you guys can do things through Wix, through Squarespace. You can do it yourself Anything to get your name and your spot out to the world. If you are not doing it, you should. I agree with you, brother. I think that that's a good one man, and I think that that is something that we'll probably talk about that next time.

Eric:

I'm doing constant research on that and it's mainly because I know it's the next big thing. The wave of generation like the 14-year-olds, 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds right now, when they're 30 and they buy a home and they want a shed, they are not going to put a lot of effort into it because nobody puts any effort into it. That's younger. They want everything easy.

Eric:

They will literally say I want the best shed builder in ohio.

Eric:

Give me the top list and call them. You got it. And that's exactly what is going to happen.

Jared:

They're not even going to waste their time typing they're not going to type it in google, they're not even going to care that and see that's that's the best example you've given on this and that's I will end note. Yep, that specific example of what you just said is probably the money shot and the remembrance for this episode, if you remember anything from this episode, which has been all over the place. So let me just apologize for that. We started one place, we ended another. Thanks, for tuning in.

Jared:

Yeah, I think a lot of the content that you guys are happiest with, or a lot of the content that you guys are happiest with, or is us just riffing. If you want to hear something specific, drop us an email. I'm Jared at the steel kings, he's eric at the steel kings. But remember it like this like eric just said, people that are millennials and gen x and gen z are google searching. They're typing it in their phone, they're typing in their computer, their mac, whatever, and then they look at the results top, top, top, top, top, top and then they self-review everything, they micromanage it down until okay, I'm going to go between these two A and B. What Eric just said is that people that are I don't even know what the next, whatever they are, let's just call them the youngest of us, right, the currently 12 to 16 demographic that in five years, are going to be shed buyers, first time home buyers, hopefully. Um, they're going to be going to their phone. They're going to be hitting the chat GPT icon or whatever AI software is is the hottest five years from now. It just happens to be. Chat tends to be the one everybody goes to. Um, they're going to say who's the best metal building dealer in my area, go, and whoever has the hottest SEO, whoever has the most content out on the web, whoever's the most plugged in, will be A, and whoever has the most content most plugged in, et cetera, et cetera, will be option B. It will have nothing to do with overall quality. You could start a business tomorrow and SEO it to death if you've got millions of dollars.

Jared:

And again, I think this brings us back to what I was talking about with manufacturers wink wink dealers. Dealers don't have a lot of cash. I know me and Eric aren't sitting on piles of cash. We don't have enough money to go generate 3 million SEO pages in an afternoon, but your manufacturer might. And dealers have to get together to hold not only themselves accountable but the manufacturers that they work with accountable, because I don't want to compete with who I sell for I just don't.

Jared:

Why is there a metal building dealer on every single street corner in America? It's ridiculous. It's absolutely insane to me. Heck, here in Urbana, there's like four, four metal building dealers in our little rinky dink small town of Urbana. Heck, here in Urbana, there's like four, four metal building dealers in our little rinky dink small town of Urbana. Now, three of them don't really exist, they're just, they just deal them. I'm not really sure what they do, but you know, if you're a real deal dealer like us, contact us. Man, we need to band together, we need to, we need to lock arms. Okay, I'm telling you, it's call to action. This is a legit one. If you don't hear anything else, remember what we just said. This is a call to action for all real metal building dealers.

Jared:

We're going to be the Steel Kings podcast and we're going to keep selling metal buildings, but the future for us is pole barns, that's for sure. We've got more coming at you. I can tell you this, brother. I love these episodes where we can just riff. This is a good one. You got the music, brother. Can you hear the music? I can't hear it.

Jared:

Alright, he hears the music, so that means we are out of here. Check out J Money. Check out the folks over at VersaBend. Check out Shed Geek Marketing. I'm Jared, he's Eric, and we are the Steel Kings. Come back at you with another episode next week and, as always, peace out, peace go reds, go reds.