Shed Geek Podcast

Farmer, Marketer, Podcaster: Cord Koch- PART 1

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 5 • Episode 100

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Useful beats clever, every time. We open with the hard truth about why most content and sales conversations miss: they’re built for the creator, not the customer. From there we get tactical. Shannon and Cord map the journey from problem unaware to purchase-ready, sharing practical ways to qualify buyer knowledge, read heat, and design messages that fit each stage. If you’ve ever watched a good lead go cold after a feature dump, this conversation offers a cleaner path: serve first, sell second, and match your offer to what the buyer is ready to hear.

Cord’s background adds weight to the playbook. Raised on a working farm, sharpened in big-agency work in Chicago, and proven through scaling a national franchise footprint, he brings an operator’s eye to marketing. We talk about turning seasonal spikes into steady pipelines, finding adjacent offers your customers already want, and raising lifetime value by simply being more useful. One standout example: shifting “spring service” outreach to fall, bundling pickup, tune-ups, and trickle chargers to smooth demand and increase trust. Small changes in timing and framing can unlock meaningful revenue without more noise.

We also share where Shed Geek is headed next. Expect more topical, timely episodes that spotlight what matters now, live ad reads that keep promotions current, and sponsored newsletter segments that deliver value first. We’re bringing more consumer-facing moments into a B2B space so manufacturers, RTO partners, and suppliers can speak directly to shed buyers’ real questions. As AI reshapes search and discovery, teams that educate clearly and show outcomes will win the clicks—and the customers.

If this conversation sparked an idea you can use this week, tap follow, share it with a teammate, and leave a quick review. Your feedback helps us build more content that serves you.

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: Shed Pro

Cardinal Manufacturing
Solar Blaster
Three Oaks Trading Company
NewFound Solutions

Shannon:

Okay, welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. And I sprung a fast one on you here, Cord. Oh, you've already got one. Did you bring a hat instead of this?

Cord Koch:

I'll tell you what I did not bring was an airbrushed uh hat from one of a kind Florida man special. The guy in the ball is not there anymore. You have to get those in Florida now.

Shannon:

Let's uh I like to refer to my buddies over at Steel Kings and do my little Jared Ledford impression here for those of you who are watching uh with my backwards hat and my beard's growing out now.

Cord Koch:

It's crazy how a backwards hat just takes ten years off of a man. You know, you throw that hat on backwards, and you're 35, Shannon. You know what I'm saying?

Shannon:

There we go. I feel cool, and I also feel like uh I offer no solution to the sun when I go outside with a hat this way.

Cord Koch:

Yeah, for sure. So anyway, you feel silly with your hat backwards in your hand, like you know, blotting out the if only I had a tool because of the sun.

Shannon:

Backwards hat. I just I wanted to do that just because you were going through the hat collection as you were uh filling in and things like that. And this is gonna be an interesting podcast. I was thinking about this because we've got so much content. Content that goes well into probably January right now. Uh and I got to thinking we put these episodes out on a Friday in sort of a series or something like that, where we're now doing Steel Kings Monday and then Shed Geek on Wednesday and Friday. Um, you know, um I think there's just enough content there. And one thing's for sure is there's enough advertising that seems to be lining up to desire a second show. And I've tried to determine do we go post frame, do we go, you know, tiny home, do we get into other areas of business? But man, I really just think that um good content matters. And Cord, before we even get started, I want to read this because like this was something I shared with you today at the office, and I wanted to I wanted the audience to hear this because I think this is really important. I came across the social media post that said this today, and it really, really like got me. It said, uh, why most content fails, it's written for the creator, not for the consumer. You share what you find interesting, uh, they want what's useful. The gap between interesting and useful is where most creators die. Uh serve, don't express. And I just thought that was powerful. And I pulled it up specifically for this podcast to kind of like set the tone for maybe this podcast or future podcast or whatever is that like you know, the idea of creating content to be useful needs to be more than hear ye, hear ye, listen to all that I have to say.

Cord Koch:

Right. And it and it needs to be more than just um more than uh interest, more than uh wonderment, more than a hobby, right? Like, you know, I think you and I, even just over the course of the last um couple months, I mean, that this is not a concept that you know is exclusive to content creation, right? Um, you know, of course it's more poignant probably in content creation because people either listen to you and find you useful or they don't, but I mean this is a business concept, right? I mean, how many businesses lose track of the consumer, right? You wind up selling to people uh who you presume you know are your peers, right? You wind up, and this is you know, not to be just jumping right out of the gate too awfully critical, but I mean this is something that is happening so often in the industry, right? Um, because these conversations that you have with people about how to sell or um you know what the product offering is, what the styles are, um, you know, all those things, we wind up talking right over most consumers' heads. Um, you know, we wind up going at them with a list of features that you only know are valuable if you are deep in the industry, right? And so anyway, not to just get too no, me and you can't go long.

Shannon:

This is the problem. Me and you, uh we're giving the industry a quick glimpse into what it looks like in a truck ride, uh you know, going to Pennsylvania right now.

Cord Koch:

Right.

Shannon:

They're just seeing Cord. Like we almost need to call it Cord and Shannon Unplugged or something like that, because they're just seeing like how me and you really operate in real life, and we're just bringing that to a and uh to a to a uh a recording here through the podcast. I wrote this down. We're not gonna run down this rabbit trail because we'll get lost really quick. But I wrote this down when you said uh, you know, uh something about to consume, you know, you the way your peers consume. I wrote this down on sales specifically. If anybody wants to, if anybody wants to uh like quote this and put it on a little wooden sign in your office and take a picture, uh I'll be tickled. But I wrote this down and said uh I said people sell the way they buy, not how the customer buys. And how many times have we got into that situation where people sell the way they buy and not the way can consumers buy?

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Shannon:

You know, how many times have me and you talked, and it's like, well, I'd never do that because I do this, this, and this. And I'm like, you know, what's funny is we're not selling to a bunch of Cords or a bunch of Shannons. We're selling to everybody. And when we're selling to everybody, you have to take the way people buy into consideration and not just the way you buy into consideration. So if you're only selling the way you buy, you're only going to reach buyers like you.

Cord Koch:

That's right. And you're absolutely right. And, you know, uh again, I mean, you know, like you said, I guess we can go long and uh do a few, but you know, not to get too just straight into you know my kind of background and expertise in what I've done and um you know my view on marketing, right? But you know, the other thing is if you're not adequately gauging both the knowledge level and then grading uh you know the sort of cold, warm, hot, right? Like if you're not taking the temperature and judging the education level of your customer based on, and again, you know, a lot of my life has been spent in digital, so I think of this in a digital way, but I've also you know sold tractors on a on a lot. I've you know, I've been very hands-on as well, so this applies to all, but you know, especially in digital leads where you don't get the advantage of looking someone in the eye, right? And being like, oh, this guy does not know you know how to clutch a, you know, he is not gonna know how to put this power shift, right, uh the shuttle shift into gear, right? Uh if you can't kind of judge that looking somebody in the face, then you have to have strategies to judge that whenever you're thinking about how you're presenting uh your products and your solutions digitally and what kind of funnels those people are falling into, what's their education level, and how uh you know, hot to trot, you know, right? Are they ready to buy? Or is this someone who is maybe they're aware of, you know, a lot of people are aware that are not even aware of the problem that they have, right? Sometimes you have to educate people on there is this problem, yeah. And then you have to educate them on the solution, then you have to educate them on the fact that you are the best provider of that solution, right? And if you're not making all those judgments and trying to sift people into kind of different messaging categories, you know, we call them lead funnels, but at the end of the day, you're just figuring out how you talk to somebody.

Shannon:

And to be clear, when you said education, what you mean is product or service education of that consumer. You can have a very intelligent person come in and know nothing about sheds. Um and so like you're trying to be the solution to their problem uh by educating them. It's not got as much to do with their educational level or educational prowess, but their consumer educational, the product or service you're selling, which kind of goes to the point of what we've done a lot through Shed Geek, um, and why we get calls continually from people who are like, what's your thoughts on this? What's your opinion on that? And we'll get into that down the road. Um, what I want to do now is I want to segue and I want to take, you know, I want to. We talked about this, and like you've been around, involved. Uh, me and you have worked together in several capacities. Uh, we live in the same city, you know, you're aldermen here in our town, one of those no good for nothing aldermen for the city. Don't ever help do anything around here.

Cord Koch:

Um people only knew the level of white glove treatment that Shannon Latham gets in the city of Metropolis. You have the mayor and three aldermen on your doorstep anytime you have a problem. Well then we haven't solved. And I will admit, we haven't been able to solve all of those problems, but we're taking a swing at them, you know.

Shannon:

I'm coming up with a whole new list the minute you guys solve it. Uh yeah, anyway. No, I think it's hilarious. But uh, you know, it got us to thinking and talking about, you know, as you've kind of been filling in, and there's probably still some episodes that are coming out where you were filling in, even as this episode comes out, depending on how we decide to release it, probably most likely on a Friday. But it's like, hey, people know Cord, but do people know Cord? Because you don't have four and a half, almost five years of podcasting and 400 episodes that have been completed. Um so it's like, why don't we deep dive into who Cord is? Because you're out here, you're out here, you know, talking to the shed industry uh vicariously, you know, uh for me uh through things that we've encountered together in this industry. And uh and but let's get let's get into the let's get into the dirt, let's get into the details, right? Tell me about Cord. I want the audience to know who is Cord, what's your background? Uh you showed up on the scene here at Shed Geek, and now who are you?

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Cord Koch:

Yeah, oh gosh. Um you know, that then makes you think, where do you start? Um, you know, uh you said get in the dirt, um, and that kind of just resonated with me as a turn of phrase because um, you know, my earliest memories um in life, I think, probably, I don't know, I think I might be a weirdo. You know, I don't really remember much up until, you know, really first or second grade. So I mean by that time you're whatever, five or six. Um, but you know, what I do remember is um being out on the farm with my dad. Um, you know, uh grew up on a uh what is now today is up to a 326 acre family farm. Um you know, at the time it was a little smaller. I guess we probably had about 240 maybe whenever I was growing up. We've added 80 or uh maybe 80 plus another 20. But anyway, um, you know, grew up on a family farm. Um in fact, the first place that I lived as a child, my first memories uh were in an old farmhouse. Um that goes all the way back to my two greats grandfather. So, it was obviously old and uh rickety, and there were raccoons. Uh there were raccoons in the uh in the attic, you know, especially whenever Yeah, right. Especially when the weather turned off cold, uh, you know, and they needed a place or whatever. Uh and we would always joke that it sounded like there was a mule upstairs, because you get about half a dozen raccoons chasing each other around an attic, you know. Uh it's it makes a heck of a ruckus, but uh, but anyway, um, you know, but yeah, so um uh fifth generation uh or my four great grandfather, so I guess that makes me sixth generation of uh my family that that um lives in Massac County here in southern Illinois. Um the house that I'm talking about was actually on the original homestead property, um, my side of the family, the Cooks, the K O C H Cooks. Um, you know, we don't actually have that homesteaded piece as part of the 326. Uh that's part of the Westerman family. Uh Cord Westerman is actually uh who I was named after. Uh uh, you know, four great grandfather, southern Germany, Bavaria, uh immigrated over. He actually um built a flat boat to come down the Ohio River, um, took it apart whenever he got to Massac County. And we still have the what we call a summer kitchen, which is a real kind way of saying a shack, uh, that he that he took the boat apart and built himself to live in uh while he then started uh working the land, cutting down trees, lived in it for about uh two years until he got his house finished. But um in any case, uh that's sort of where I come from. My dad was a farmer. Uh he was a construction worker, uh actually Koch Brothers Construction built a lot of um a lot of the uh the subdivisions here in uh Massac County, um Diamond Lake, some of the kind of the nicer subdivisions, and then in the late uh 80s it got to the point where um uh my uncles felt like they were either gonna have to start building spec homes and really take out a lot of debt, um, you know, and put themselves in a bad spot while they're all uh you know just having young families. I wasn't even here yet. I was born in 90 and 88 was the last year, but in any case, um uh so my dad went back to work, became a nurse, which is also uh the occupation of my mother. Uh my dad was a heck of a nurse. He worked the floor of ICU for 21 years. My mom is also a great nurse, but she's even more gifted uh in business. And so, she very quickly, uh, even whenever I was young, she wound up uh running the surgical department. Then she was director of nursing at the hospital, uh, then she was director of nursing at three more hospitals as she continued to kind of uh you know progress her career in bigger hospital, bigger hospital, bigger hospital, uh, which of course, you know, caused for some travel. But we never moved. We're still, you know, in that same, live in that same area. But um anyway, I I really, you know, I always looked up to my mom growing up uh as a business person, even to this day, she would tell you that she's just a nurse, but she's run businesses uh you know for the better part of 30 years, and I always enjoyed, you know, listening to the business problems that she was solving, right? I mean, obviously some of those involve you know operations, nursing and surgery, and she's now actually um the director of a oncology center up in Marion. Um and so um, but a lot of it is just kind of pure business, it's vendors and it's relationships and it's uh you know, how do you uh create the best customer experience? Because, you know, even in in healthcare, maybe especially in healthcare, right? Um, you know, you really do have to create good outcomes uh for people um or you lose a customer, maybe in more ways than one, right? And so you know, and so um anyway, um, you know, she and I just always I just always so enjoyed, you know, um hearing her when she came home and talking about um talking about uh what challenges she faced and what creative outcomes uh you know she was able to achieve. And it was so different from my dad, who uh just wanted to go and uh you know go and clock in and give absolutely incredible customer service uh to his patients, um, to the point where uh one of the things he was known to do, the heart doctors always wanted my dad to be to be the nurse for their patients and the ICU after they had come out of um you know bypass surgery. And it's because my dad would um would roll the patients from their back to their right side, to their back to their left side, to their back to their right side, right, over and over and over to keep that fluid off of their lungs, right? To keep that fluid uh moving and circulating and getting back into the bloodstream and evacuating, you know, and not causing that fluid to set on the heart, set on the lungs. And he would do that in 15-minute increments, whenever the chart says to do it in you know, two hour, two and a half hour, three-hour increments, right? Um he said, no, that's not good enough, right? If you want them to get better, then you stay in the room with them all night and you hold their hand and you know you make sure that that they move around every 15 minutes. And so just a super dedicated guy. Um, so you know, I hope that I got some of those good qualities from him too. But so yeah, I mean that's kind of where I'm from and then uh when your business depends on getting materials fast, you can't afford to wait around.

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Cord Koch:

Wound up going off to school to Burray State, uh, you know, after I graduated high school uh and went to a couple years of junior college, uh, did my part to save some money and not just go straight off to the big school, you know. Um got a degree in uhh marketing communications, uh, and just by happenstance, I mean I've said so many times in my life, God has been looking out for me. Uh even honestly, whenever I probably wasn't looking out for him at the time, right? You know, um and uh just by God's grace uh was in a marketing program that um uh I had an adjunct professor who had been a lifelong, like a 40-year executive uh at BBD and O, which is uh you know now like the largest, or maybe it always bounces back and forth, largest or second largest advertising marketing conglomerate in the US uh and really in the world. Um, and he had actually overseen uh their acquisitions and mergers. So he had you know friends and uh relationships in every part of the country, uh and actually was even over some of their consolidation of services, um, and so knew kind of whose strengths would play to which office. So I wound up in Chicago actually uh working the account for um Navastar, which is international uh trucks and bluebird buses. Uh so I was a junior account rep for them. Uh it was actually during for anyone out there who you know has used diesel engines over the last 30 years, it was during uh the era where their engines were really not good. Uh this would have been 2014, and so it was a tough job to be the advertising agency coming back to them and saying, look, you know, uh the competitive review, right, is basically that everybody has hammered us on uh toughness, longevity, durability. And the worst part is they're right, and it's really hard to overcome that with good advertising, right? It's hard to it's hard to just say something different. So um, but uh, but so uh I kind of convinced myself that I loved it. I loved the work that I was doing. Um and I kind of despite growing up on a farm and being very uh traditional, I think, in my thoughts and beliefs, I convinced myself that I was going to um stay in Chicago and be an advertising guy. And you know, I had some early success and got promoted, and um, you know, it was it was going really well, but uh my dad got sick, uh, had cancer, and uh my little brother, he's five years younger than me. Uh he's very, very smart, um, you know, the type of guy that gets paid to go to school instead of paying to go to school like I did. And uh, and it was his turn to go off to school. And you know, I just I knew that um uh my mom and my dad had split up um you know a couple years earlier, and I knew that um you know it wasn't fair to him to like put off you know his college. Um, you know, he's actually originally going to be an engineer, he's now wound up in uh finance, uh graduated uh whatever, sumacum laud with uh uh with an engine with a double major in engineering and finance and a minor in accounting. Uh and if that tells you just how brilliant he is. So, I knew that I couldn't take the pride of the family uh and expect him not to go off to school, so I came home. Um and again, uh just as uh you know God just shows you sometimes what you're supposed to do. And the very night that I moved home uh from Chicago, uh brought the train home and probably was really kind of feeling sorry for myself. Um you know, that I was I was leaving the big city and coming back home and gonna have to figure out you know how I would stay in marketing and advertising in in a small town in southern Illinois, western Kentucky. Um that very night I met uh the woman who's now my wife, Annalisa. Uh met her that night. We started dating two weeks later. Um, and so I guess the long and the short Shannon is I've never made it back to Chicago. Uh so uh, you know, I have uh I've done um searched for that opportunity here in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky, and uh honestly have had a great time doing that. Um you know, sold digital advertising, uh the sort of outdoor um the outdoor digital boards and signs along with indoor digital uh digital signage. Um then got into uh outdoor power equipment and tractors. I know. Some of the listeners have probably heard me talk about that. Sold Mahindra Tractors. Super proud of the work that we did out there at Warriors. Number one in sales in our region, four state region or three and a half, half of Tennessee. And then got into healthcare because I figured if I'm going to stay around, I might as well do one of the two things that is reliable in Western Kentucky, which is either the river industry shipping or healthcare. Of course, this was before I realized just how big sheds are in western Kentucky. So got into healthcare, was the admissions director, and then had a great opportunity to go and be the third person on board, marketing director, sales director at HHO Carbon Clean Systems. And in fact, Shannon, that's where you and I met each other for the first time because you came and did an interview with Jared English, who's the founder and CEO over at HHO Carbon Clean Systems, because I was doing, wanted to do a promotional video for the franchise development side of the business. So I came on as the third employee there and we grew that business from a single van and a single technician up to 17 franchise locations nationwide. We had not quite gotten a franchise into California yet whenever I left, which is mostly because of the regulation, not because we couldn't have sold a franchise out there. You have to meet a bunch of regulations in California for franchise sales. But anyway, so that's my journey. And then of course, uh jumped back on with uh Shed Geek Marketing and really got back into the agency space, which is you know really and truly my first love, uh, as you can probably tell from the way I've kind of recanted this story, is to get back in that mode of you know um facing those uh those questions every day of uh who's my customer, how can I best serve them, how can I educate them not only on the solution that I have, but maybe on the problem that they're not they don't know yet that they have, or the inconvenience that they are not aware is an inconvenience. How do I how do you start to get in front of uh people who could use what you're selling? And uh the agency world, the agency life um, you know, just really kind of feeds that day-to-day. Let's solve problems, let's help people make money, right? Let's help people grow, um, which is really what I'm passionate about. Um and so breached out on my own and to that very end, uh started Growth Ops Ally with my former colleague uh Shalisha Wood, who actually worked with me at HHO. She was the operations director there while I was doing the marketing. And um, so we've started Growth Ops Ally, which is a um fractional C-suite and executive services uh business, which means that we come in and it's very similar to consulting in the sense that um, you know, we want to come in, we want to look through um, you know, your total business line. We want to understand um how the revenue flows, we want to understand how your expenses flow. Um, you know, we it's a consultative approach, but the big difference with fractional work is we're not just suggesting something that that you um you know should do, could do, right? We're actually embedding uh even with your team, and we are then uh acting on those strategies and tactics, right? We are putting those putting those strategies into place. We are executing project managing, um, even uh, you know, directing teams if you're the type of company that has a team of people uh you know that can then execute on those things. So anyway, Shannon, my goodness, I would hate to even check what uh what timestamp we're at right now. I feel like I just talk forever, but maybe that's the only twenty we're only 26 minutes in.

Shannon:

I'm keeping it. You're good. Well, you're good. I'm sorry. I actually wanted to ask you some more questions. Uh, you know, because I love whenever you rift and you just kind of talk, uh, there's a there's a moment in podcasting, in my opinion, when you get your element and when you think about what the Shed Geek podcast was, is, has become a mixture of all of the things. Uh one staple that always finds its way, you know, into the fray is that we are people focused. And I can talk more about that later whenever it comes to a conversation about my obsession with people. Uh we'll have to get there and kind of how that that plays out. But I wanted to ask you, um, you know, why should I listen to you? What experience do you have? There's got to be some lessons learned through business, there's got to be some credibility, and there's got to be something more than a certificate from a uh university, you know, um, you know, that says, hey, uh, you read a bunch of books and we a bunch of people talk to you about this stuff, you know, so now you're an expert on it. Um so what are some of the lessons learned that you would say, you know, or some of the experience that's kind of helped you, you know, qualify your own self to say, hey, this is something we want to do, not just because we're passionate, but because we're helpful.

Cord Koch:

Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. Um, that's what it comes down to, right? Like what where does the rubber meet the road? I mean, for me, um, again, like this probably harkens back to um riding in the car with my mom, right? It probably goes back to listening to her uh talk about uh when she took her first director of nursing job. Uh they were 90 days, Massacre Memorial Hospital, your next door neighbor here in Metropolis. They were 90 days from shutting the doors on the hospital, right? Um, and four years later, she was she and uh the CEO uh were celebrating the opening of the new wing that's now uh the emergency room. And of course, you know, for those of us uh familiar with it, so yeah, from 90 days to close uh through uh you know adding on new additions, right? Like that's that the growth, the progress, the day-to-day recognizing of opportunities is something I've been passionate about since I was a kid, right? Um, you know, uh riding over to Paducah to eat lunch after church on a Sunday, um, and just want my mom to keep talking about you know what that work week was like. So, you know, for me, um to be honest with you, I think that really uh hit home whenever I moved home, right? I was uh living on Michigan Avenue, um working on Michigan Avenue, not living on Michigan Avenue, working on Michigan Avenue, uh and was sort of had a very charmed start, I think, to, you know, my working life. Um, you know, and so I think moving home and you know, time after time, uh you know, I really pride myself on you know finding the best opportunities um you know for work, right? Finding the companies that have so much potential. Um and so, you know, for me, uh it really is about taking uh taking a company, seeing the potential, seeing the sort of the ways to maximize revenue, seeing the ways to streamline, uh, implementing systems, implementing now these days, I mean, my goodness, the um the automations, the workflows, um, everything that you can do is is you know even far beyond uh what it was whenever I got out of school, kind of rudimentary uh, you know, uh zap year uh keep some of those programs, you know, where modern CRMs have really outran a lot of that function.

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Cord Koch:

You know, I think it is uh the lessons that I've learned are that if you are if you are devoted to the customer perspective, which we already touched on a little bit, the customer experience, customer satisfaction, making sure that that the customer that that the lifetime value of that customer is being maximum maximized at every point, right? You and I had a conversation earlier where I said something to the effect of, you know, the person who's most likely to write you a check is the one who's already written you a check before, right? You know, so really identifying whether it be kind of that traditional um consumer space, uh tractors and outdoor power equipment, similar to very, very similar as far as even ticket size and the availability of payment programs. Um, you know, that power equipment space is very similar to sheds. And in fact, I've even heard really good smart people in the industry say that they use uh because there's not great data, as we kind of know, industry-wide, they use a lot of the um power equipment, outdoor power sports, whether that be um, you know, Polaris or that be some of the things like what I was dealing in, you know, Husqvarna, Simplicity, you know, Steel, Mahindra, uh, Deutzfarr, you know, losing using some of those uh type of uh markers to project and forecast, which again, not to not to chase another rabbit, but I'm really excited about putting together a forecast episode, 2026 forecasting. So I'm working hard in the background to uh get the absolute best uh people with the best data sets and the best knowledge to do that. But you know, I think um where I was going with that is I think what I have learned is if you are constantly thinking about how does the customer perceive this, how do they see this, um, what other services am I not seeing that are right next to me. Um just a good example that I'm still proud of to this day. Um, Hoyer's, whenever we were selling tractors out there, they would always start their spring sale, uh, which included uh you know picking up your lawnmower, servicing it, sharpening the blades, blah, blah, blah, bringing it back to you. Really great service. They would always start it in the spring, right? Because that's the name of the that's the name of what it is spring sale, spring service, right? And uh, and so Shannon, I think that you actually uh do this, if I'm correct about that. But so now they still do and schedule. I think you're actually one of them that's scheduled for the spring, but they now actually have backed up doing that service all the way back into October and November. Uh and then you upsell someone into a trickle battery charger, right? And so that, you know, but my point here is like what are what are you not seeing? What service, what product, what solution, what problem are you not seeing for the customer? Uh and really keeping your eyes open all the time and going out and grabbing up those opportunities, right? Because they are going to trust you to execute that product or service more than a person that they've never met who's gonna have to still uh educate them and uh introduce themselves and become trusted and uh you know put an offer in front of them and write like the whole all the things that you have to do to get somebody from the top of funnel to a sale, you've already done it. Just tell them that you're doing one more thing, right? And so um anyway, I think that kind of that philosophy um I think has carried me through um to good success and found opportunities uh, you know, doing the things I love and the kind of work that I love, even in, you know, kind of small- town southern Illinois and western Kentucky. So, uh again, that's probably too long of an answer for what you asked.

Shannon:

You're fine. Uh this works out perfect because we can segue into another topic and we get a mixture of uh chord and background and just kind of philosophy, who you are, why you're here, uh what you do, why you do what you do, how you'll be involved moving forward, uh, particularly with Shed Geek, you know, uh and really my own personal excitement, you know, to be working with you and Growth Ops Ally because uh you're kind of multifaceted. You have the ability to fill in on the show, you pick up on things quickly so you can make good content. Uh that's really served me well, you know, to be able to step away for a little bit. And then, you know, we're also uh being able to create sort of this cast of shed geeks, if you will, to kind of like go into uh um their own line of thinking and questions, uh and really their own approach in many ways to like conversation in this space. Uh and I welcome you know folks to not only call in and be on the podcast or be willing to be on the podcast. We haven't been hitting the road as much, so we haven't been getting quite the organic traffic uh that we were we were getting. Of course, we've got a grand baby and one on the way, and you know, um we just we just have been busy, you know, like you know, we haven't had to hit the road as much either. So um, but also you know, for folks who feel like you know they've got something to say in the industry, you know, uh who knows? Uh maybe it's worth giving us a call. Maybe you want to I don't want to say host an episode, but perhaps I don't know, co-host an episode or something. We'll just kind of see what plays out. But I did want to write down a few different things and want to kind of talk about the direction because now that we're considering doing this two shows a week, or I don't know what what's gonna pan out. We'll have to see. You know, we may just run a Wednesday and Thursday. A lot of that's got to do with the advertising, and that's probably because we're expanding the advertising opportunities. Um, you know, um what's that gonna look like? What is what is your what is your scope in 2026 for advertising uh with the podcast and some of the things that this is the cool thing about having you on, is we sit down and went through some of these details and said, but what are some of the areas that we can capture? Where's our black swan, right? You know, like what are we missing? What are we not seeing? Uh and this is what you're really good at, uh, which is taking that 50,000 foot view when everyone else is at a 20, 30, or 40, and like uh putting it, you know, putting it into some type of perspective that makes sense for everybody, and then actionable items that you can go execute on and win and win business and increase revenue, um, and increase value, not just revenue, you know what I mean, but increase value for the listeners and increase value for the advertisers. So, what do you see the expanded advertising opportunities looking like over at Shed Geek? What are we doing different?

Cord Koch:

Yeah, so yeah, you put your finger on it there. Um lots of opportunities. Obviously, um, you know, you're the ultimate connector in this space, right? And so the challenge, uh which we talk about a lot off-air, uh, you know, the challenge is how do you actually um monetize and optimize the just making connections and um you know being that helper, um being that sort of through point that that ultimately lots of things pass through, but then like as quick as they're here, they sort of slip through your fingers, right? You're like, well, now wait a minute. Uh, you know, uh, how did that go exactly? Uh what kind of business is being done there or whatever. So, but yeah, advertising I think is the obvious first step. Um, you know, number one, just as far as um to your point, right, to give more value, not just to advertisers, the vendors um, you know, who are on that advertising side, but to the to the listeners as well, right? Um you know, the whole point here would be to change some of those formats, right? So um, you know, traditionally it has been the digital ads, the newsletter ads, um, along with then uh recorded ads that go you know into the podcast itself. You know, but um just really looking at what the sort of modern framework is, I think uh the biggest thing that that I think is most exciting um to me anyway is especially as we think about these uh potentially Thursday or Friday or whatever these kind of this second day check geek uh could look like, as those are more topical, right? As those become episodes that are dealing more with you know what happened just in the last week or two, right? Because, you know, the nature of the business is that of course we're going to go and have really interesting conversations. Uh, in fact, I'm very proud of the CRM series that we're putting together. People will see that promoted and see that coming out, I believe, the first two weeks of December is what we have scheduled currently, and that will then run into January after we take a break there at Christmas. Um but uh but as we kind of add in the episodes that are not these kind of you know, necessarily the big sweeping episodes where we're introducing something new, but maybe even some dialogues between um you know me and you uh or bringing people on Fridays to talk about, gosh, we still uh next Thursday, Friday, whatever the episode is after this one, uh, you know, we still need to get uh a recap from the Shed Hauler's Bash, right? I mean it looked like they had such a good time down there. I've reached out to a couple guys. Um, you know, they of course are on the road and things, so it's kind of hard to pin down some schedules, but um, but doing those types of things, right? Staying very topical. But on the advertising side, then with that same idea are live ad reads, um, which have been happening in radio for years. They allow, you know, you mostly uh because people want to hear Shannon's kind of spin on what their company uh you know uh script is that week or whatever, right? But live ad reads where we are staying uh up to date. We're staying up to date with promotions. We are delivering whatever that sort of, you know, what is going on now, right? Let's keep these things uh let's keep giving the listeners right that info um that is always preparing them for the thing that is right around the corner in whatever product or service category that might be. Right. So that's one good one, um, along with expanding the sections inside the newsletter, right? So uh Deanna has already done a really great job of expanding. Um we've got recipes now that are which I think is fantastic. Uh we have um we have uh like a riddle, right? Just a little brain teaser, keep you sharp, uh, right there in the newsletter. I think that's fantastic. We've got several other ideas, but even on that, the idea would be, you know, let's go and find uh an advertiser and let's say to them, well, what would be a you can obviously sponsor the riddle or the uh Nana's Kitchen is what we're calling it, the recipe section of the uh of the newsletter, but then do you have um something that would you know add value right to the customers, to the uh the newsletter readers, right? Do you have an idea for that section, right? And then in that same in that same breath, uh then bringing that concept back to the podcast and saying, okay, let's do sponsored segments. One thing that I think, and this goes all the way back, we'll go and grab a little nugget from the very first 30 seconds of us sitting here talking. Uh, you know, I think we need to have uh consumer focus, right? Um, you know, the industry needs to speak directly to those consumers a little bit more, right? There's a lot of there's a lot of good ideas that circulate internally, but you know, um I want to know not just how uh RTO companies, um you know, not just what they say to dealers and manufacturers about how they serve the customer. I want them to look into a camera and say it to the customer, right? Like let's really kind of do that that very like let's get in the customer's head because the next few years are going to be years of change when it comes to the ways that people get information, the way people shop. Uh we all know that AI and our AI search queries are already here. Um, you know, I introduced my wife to Chat GPT. I was an early adopter, Shannon. So, on day number two of Chat GPT, I just happened to be listening to the right podcast at the right time. And I was an early adopter. I've been on ChatGPT since day two. I just showed my wife and finally got her to download it on her phone three months ago, and now every time every question I ask, I'm getting a chat GPT answer from her. You know, and so like these are going to be continue to be changing times. Um, you know, and I think it is imperative that the Shed Geek podcast that is the uh number one source, right, for this kind of uh especially digital information in the industry, you know, we've got to be thinking about that that customer all the time. So, you know, sponsored segments, I think that would be a great one. Um, you know, for any of those company companies that really do have that customer focus, whether that be RTO, I know some of the supply companies uh honestly are very customer focused because they're sitting there thinking, you know, these windows or this siding or um this type of a roof, right? This is really what the customer needs to understand so that they're buying those upgraded uh you know type of sheds. But um anyway, that's kind of what those are the few things. Um, you know, we've also bantered around some uh about you know making exclusive um service advertisers in their service category, um, you know, just to say, hey, look, you know, we are the preferred uh partner of Shed Geek. Um, you know, so that would be another step there where we really are deepening those relationships, um, you know, and having some uh um deeper ties right with some of these companies. So, you know, I guess that's the sort of the short the short side of advertising. Um, but then there's a whole nother boat with the stuff that you've been cooking up, Shannon, uh, that I think is fantastic, and really doing what you do already, but even bringing on uh you know some very expert people into the fold uh and figuring out a way to take all that knowledge that you kind of have done in the consulting arena pro bono uh and really creating you know a shed geek consulting structure. I don't want to keep being the one to talk here, so maybe you tell us about Shed Geek Consulting.

Shannon:

Thank you for listening to part one of a two-part series. Be sure to tune in next week for more engaging conversation here at the Shed Geek Podcast. Thanks again, Shed Pro for being the Shed Geek studio sponsor for 2025. If you need any more information about Shed Pro or about Shed Geek, just reach out. You can reach us by email at info at Shedgeek.com or just go to our website, www.shedgeek.com, and submit a form with your information, and we'll be in contact right away. Thank you again for listening, as always, to today's episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. Thank you and have a blessed day.