High Standards Create Market Share Over Time

Your marketing can be modern and still miss the point. We’re talking with Chad Nall, Director of Sales and Marketing at Pine View Buildings, about why the shed industry is getting louder online while the real winners keep tightening the basics on the ground: lot presentation, consistent follow-up, and a culture that treats dealers like partners instead of accounts.

We get into the big shifts Chad has seen in just a couple years, from AI-generated ads to the nonstop fight for better leads and better close rates. Then we pivot to what too many businesses forget while chasing the next digital tool: your lot is a silent salesman, and if it turns into scenery, you’re donating sales to anyone who simply shows up. We also talk regional demand in the Carolinas, the reality of permitting, and how softening ADU rules can create opportunity for companies willing to step up product and process.

The deeper thread is differentiation. Anyone can copy a shed style or run a discount, but not everyone builds trust through clear communication, integrity behind the scenes, and standards that hold up in slow seasons. We also compare portable buildings to self-storage, why self-storage is winning on convenience and systems, and how our industry can win back customers by telling a better ownership story.

If you care about shed sales, dealer performance, portable building marketing, and sustainable growth, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a dealer who needs a reset, and leave a review with one standard you’re raising this month.

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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Shed Geek Marketing

Shed Sales Summit
CAL
Stryker Hunting Blinds

Transcript

INTRO 0:00

You're listening to the Friday edition of the Shed Geek Podcast, brought to you by Shed Geek Marketing. At Shed Geek Marketing, we've assembled a handpicked team of specialists from across the Shed and Portable Building industry to help manufacturers, dealers, and service providers grow smarter and scale faster. From websites and SEO to Google ads, meta-campaigns, content creation, video production, lead funnels, systems integrations, and industry-specific lead gen tools, we help businesses build real momentum instead of chasing random marketing trends. Today, Shed Geek Marketing is holding down this title sponsor spot at the top of the show. But this could just as easily be your company, featured right here in front of thousands of industry professionals, business owners, and decision makers every single week. If you'd like information about title sponsorship, podcast advertising, or our 2026 Shed Geek Media Kit, reach out to us at infoshedge.com. And now on to the podcast.

Cord 0:54

Welcome

Welcome And How To Connect

Cord 0:55

back to another episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. Here in a typically rainy and soggy southern Illinois. We have now officially moved southern Illinois to southern Florida. We are getting rain in the mornings, rain in the afternoons, and a burst of sunshine that is very hot in the middle. But uh we are doing well. Uh today, we are joined by Chad Knoll of Pine View Buildings out in North Carolina. We are so excited to have him. Um a person who's really come to be one of the pre-eminent professionals, in my opinion, in this industry. Can't wait to have that conversation. I've got Shannon here with me. Uh, you know, whenever we have such important guests on, we feel like we need to we need to both jump in and kind of uh have that conversation. So, looking forward to this. Before we get rolling, just a couple of quick things so you know how to stay plugged in with us. Of course, the phone number 618-309-3648. The Shed Geek call in line, aka Shannon Cell phone. So please feel free to call and text that anytime. Our email, info at shedge.com, that goes to all of us. So, if you have any questions, just send it to INFO@ shedgeek.com, and we will get right back with you. Of course, www.shedgeek.com. You can fill out a uh lead form there or write any questions that you may have or just explore all the projects that we have going on. And always stay engaged on Facebook. Um we try to do a good job of keeping our business Facebook page up to date, but then also the SSP, the Shed Sales Professionals Group, uh, so much good information going back and forth there these days. Of course, we're all looking forward to Expo, Shed Sales Summit. Everybody is on there um, you know, talking about who those speakers are going to be and what those events are gonna be like. So, please get on there and check that out. And for anyone who has uh friends or relatives in the playing community, as always, we have our playing community call-in line. That is 330-997-3055, 330-997-3055. Please share that with anyone in the playing community uh who would prefer to dial in. And you can even go all the way back to the beginning of Shed Geek and listen to Shannon and Kyle in their first interviews, um uh Mr. Stolzfus, Mr. Miller back in the day. Uh, and then you can listen all the way up to the present day, and that call-in line will actually hold your place. It is a really remarkable thing.

Meet Chad And His Background

Cord 3:33

So, with all of that said, uh again, today we would like to welcome on the Director of Sales and Marketing at Pine View Buildings of Statesville, North Carolina, Mr. Chad Nall, who, as I said just a couple minutes ago, I've come to think so highly of you, Chad. I know you're one of the pre mim pre-eminent rising professionals uh in this industry, and but you're kind of new to the industry. Um you know, you've got uh got a lot of experience under your belt, but have joined the Pine View team here just in the last couple of years. And so, I think probably for the audience, the first thing is just to say who is Chad and all and you know, how have you wound up working for such a good organization, the Helmut's out there in Statesville? And uh what brings you to the podcast, Chad?

Chad Nall 4:25

Thank you, Cord. Thanks, Shannon. Appreciate the opportunity to chat with you guys today. I have come to love the shed industry. Uh, you know, again, I've been here for like a minute and a half. I think two years is about like a minute and a half in the shed world. Uh, a lot of folks have been in the shed industry for a long time. I've got a ton of sales and leadership experience over the last 28 years. And so bringing those uh uh bringing those qualities into the shed world has been very interesting. Uh, you know, coming in with fresh eyes, coming in with some fresh ideas, uh, bringing some fresh strategy to what we do at Pine View and what we do in the industry. So, um again, I uh I landed in at uh at Pine View with uh with a wonderful team. I honestly, I cannot tell you. Um I can't, it is the best team I have ever worked on in my 28 years of sales leadership and sales history. It is a phenomenal team and uh really come to love the guys. We are a great unit. And so could be more happy to be with Pine View, couldn't be more happy to be in the shed industry. It is a fun industry if we let it be, right? And so uh it can't, it can't, there's some long days, but you know, at the end of the day, I think that uh the shed industry is a really cool industry. Uh and I'm truly enjoying it. You know, uh when I first got in, I think for years I'd rode past the shed lock and never paid any attention because I wasn't in the I wasn't in the market for a shed. And then I come into the shed world, and I see shed lots everywhere. It's unreal, right? So, uh so excited to be in the industry, excited to be uh with Pine View and uh excited to be talking with you guys today.

Cord 5:59

That's one of the that's one of the things that we try to focus on. That's Shannon's mantra is always this is fun. You know, this is this is fun, this is a fun business, you know, for the most part. I've you know, 98, 99, 99.9% of this industry are a bunch of really good down- home people who want to work hard, but who also wanna not take themselves so seriously that we can't smile and laugh and sit around a table and share a meal and cut up. And um, you know, we we're much the same. You know, once you're in the industry, gosh, you see a shed light on every corner. Especially in North Carolina.

Shannon 6:43

Um but if you can if you can just if you can make it fun too, you know. Um I think you said that earlier, you know, we take ourselves so serious, and I'll admit, you know, some of like, you know, year six now, Chad doing this podcasting, you know, like coming up on 500 episodes. I mean, putting out at least one, sometimes two and three a week. I mean, there's a lot of behind the scenes people just don't see. And uh, you know, you've got to be passionate about that, or you got to be making money just hand over fist. And I can promise you, uh, I am way more passionate than I am rich. Uh, there's no doubt in my mind. Uh, but it really is still fun. And I can remember the times being an RTO rep, uh being a sales manager, driving around trying to open up lots, driving around trying to convince people, hey, use this uh rent own, you know, program. It's like, you know, I get to a place and everybody would say, What are you seeing out there? What are you doing? Where's more resources? Where can I find more information? What's happening? You still see that today. You see it on the SSP page, the shed hauler page, the manufacturing page. You see it at the expo, you hear it on the podcast. If you just go visit your neighbor, you know, they're probably gonna open up to you eventually and be like, what are y'all seeing? Sales up, sales down, what do you what kind of units? This, that, another. People want to be connected, they want to communicate, and you can make that fun because I do still think that that the Lord, you know, uh uh, you know, you're a pastor, you know, you know, he is to be feared, but I also believe, you know, he entitles us with a sense of humor. I even often think that the Lord has a good sense of humor. And if you've never experienced it, then then uh, you know, uh I I'm I guess I'm happy for you. I don't know, but I you know, I want to have fun. I want to come in every day and enjoy what I do. And uh it's easy to lose that passion as work, you know, starts to dive into that passion and steal a little bit from it. So we're gonna take a little bit back today and just have fun because we just know that uh that you're just you're always fun to talk to. I mean, at the end of the day.

AD- SHED SALES SUMMIT 8:44

Tell us some of your tell us some of your uh hi, this is Peter with Making Sales Simple, and I wanted to personally invite you to the Shed Sales Summit this September in Knoxville, Tennessee. First of all, we're going to have some speakers come in that are motivational but also knowledge driven. So, one of the things we're going to teach you is about marketing. And as we look around in this shed industry, there's all kinds of people talking about marketing. But this guy has a proven track record. Steve Robinson will be joining us in Knoxville, Tennessee. You do not want to miss him. He is known for creating the Cow's Campaign for the Chick-fil-A brand, and he will be speaking to us. Make sure you get your tickets at shedsalesummit.com. You won't want to miss it this September in Knoxville.

AI Marketing And Lot Basics

Shannon 9:35

In your minute and a half, in your two years in the shed industry, what do you feel like is different even in that short period of time? What is some of your crystal ball uh predictions here? I'm curious of what you're seeing out there. The same thing anybody else would say. What do you see about that?

Chad Nall 9:50

You know, in just in the last couple of years, we've seen a lot of change already, right? AI being introduced, especially in the marketing avenue. Uh, we see folks that are really striving to figure out how to get a lead and what to do with the lead. And once you get the lead, how do you close the lead? So, you know, I think that's always been a thing, but that's really been a focus over the last couple of years, I do believe. And so I think that we're seeing a lot of uh a lot of our uh opportunities in marketing and different things coming from an online presence rather than an online presence. And I think that's actually been a detriment in some ways too, because I think so many times we take our focus off of the lot presentation and really focus on the online opportunity. And let me tell you, uh, your silent salesman is your lot. People ride by, it sells when you're not there, it sells when people are riding by. And so, the biggest thing that I see uh that's kind of been a detriment is folks allowing their lot to become part of the landscape. Uh and so when we take our eyes off the mark there, I think that we really lose an opportunity of that, that, that, that folks that are in your community. Because listen, we're people still buy from people at the end of the day. And so, you know, what are we doing? What are we doing to get there? And so that's some of the things I've seen. I think that we've definitely seen some changes in that AI coming in. I think, you know, unfortunately, it's uh it's here. And what I mean by that is uh every ad I see is an AI posted ad now. Uh, you know, uh, you know, I we tell our dealers all the time, hey, let's be genuine, let's be authentic, let's not, let's not pull the same trigger that everyone else is pulling because pretty soon they all look the same. And so you want some differentiation there. You want to make sure that you're standing out in different ways. And so AI is here. We got we have to embrace it. We need to use it. It's great on the business side. It definitely can help. Uh, but again, we're seeing some things definitely shift in that direction. I think uh if you put all your eggs in one basket, watch out because if you trip and fall, your eggs fall out. So, you got to make sure that you're the you're diversifying yourself in many areas. And so, uh that's some of the things I've seen. I think that we've seen, you know, um, I think we've seen definitely a stronger focus on pricing. Uh, you know, we see materials going up. We see folks trying to take less margin instead of you know being uh being uh cognizant of what to do and how to be more efficient and what you're doing operationally in order to make sure you don't uh give up the gross profit without having to raise your MSRP. And so we see a lot of things going on there too. So, you know, we're in a discount world now, right? I think uh, you know, COVID, from my understanding, I wasn't in the shed world then, but I understand that, you know, pretty much if you could build a shed, you can sell a shed, didn't matter what the price was. And now, you know, we're in a discount world. And so, what does that look like? And how do you how do you really manage that from uh you know to be consistent for longevity, right? Uh, because at the end of the day, it takes money to make money, and so you've got to make sure that you're doing all those things well. And so that's some of the things that I've seen just in my short, short amount of time. And uh, it's only gonna, you know, uh enhance and get uh get more difficult in the days to come, I do believe. I believe in the short run we're still up against some strong markets, and so we'll see what uh we'll see what it plays out.

Cord 13:02

Out

Carolinas Growth And ADU Rules

Cord 13:03

there in the Carolinas, Chad, I mean, I know that um South Carolina actually, I believe, has the uh highest per capita or overall percentage of dwellings that are basically non-foundation dwellings, whether that be a you know uh kind of a traditional mobile home, uh some of the manufactured homes now that are you know kind of put together on site but are still on that kind of you know block foundation. Um I mean, how what do you see as far as I guess what we hear, you know, and we don't have this direct experience yet, um, but what we hear is that there seems to be some of those people who maybe would have um considered or probably purchased um, you know, had a contractor come in, GC, uh, you know, put pour a concrete pad, build a garage, uh, something like that. And then obviously for the ADUs and even for you know the sheds themselves that wind up. I mean, do you are you guys seeing that sort of down market slippage affecting it? It feels to me like there's almost a boost to some of the brands that have built a good name for themselves because you're almost some of those brands are starting to fill in for your Clayton homes or you know, things like that. I mean, how do you all approach that? How do you do you think it's much the same strategy on marketing and sales? Like what are you what are you seeing in that sort of down market trending?

Chad Nall 14:33

Yeah, it's been an interesting market. I think you know, South Carolina is the strongest growing state in the union. Um so we're seeing a lot of people move in. Um and so So South Carolina's, South Carolina is so unique. You have the coast, which is booming, right? A lot of folks are moving into the coastal area, and then you also see on the western side of South Carolina, you see a lot of growth there. Some of those uh metros are really growing, uh, the college towns, things like that. Your biggest opportunity is right in the middle of the state. It's uh it's more economically challenged there. And so we're see a lot of a lot of that type growth there. Uh so what is the strategy there? I think that what we see, and we offer we offer one of our models is a finished out shed. Listen, we're still S1 storage, right? Right and so it's becoming more difficult for us to work around municipalities permitting all the things because folks are trying to live in these things. And so, it's been a it's been a real challenge to make sure that we're staying above board, making sure that we're doing uh what we need to do uh from our standpoint to make sure that we're competitive there as well. Uh, you know, once folks buy them, you can't control what they do with them. Uh, but we want to make sure that we're selling them the right way. Um, and so, you know, for us, um, our marketing strategy really hasn't changed. Um, I think that at the end of the day, um, I think that so many folks are moving in. Real estate in South Carolina is pretty good right now. Again, coastal, western side. Um, and so we haven't, we've actually seen a lot of growth in South Carolina, even this year. So, I don't think that uh I don't think that we'll it's really affected us all that all that difficultly. But I do see that uh, you know, um I do see with more people moving in, ADU regulations softening. We see that North Carolina ADU the ADU rule is gonna soften in January, Virginia soften July 1st. So we're gonna see more and more of those opportunities. And I think that in the shed world, if you're willing to step up to the next level, uh I think there's gonna be a lot of opportunity there. And uh, but it's a hard step. And so if you're already kind of there, I think it's gonna be easy for you just to kind of maximize and enhance what you do. But I think that if you're gonna try to get into that, it's gonna be it's gonna be uh some long days. Um and so we'll see what the market holds. But you know, for me, it's exciting because uh to see folks moving into our areas is new opportunities for us, to see real estate market trying to make a rebound is a lot of opportunity for us. So I'm excited to see what uh what hold what it holds in South Carolina. It's a pretty saturated market too, though. So, you know, you've got to you've got to be different. You've got to be different, you've got to be willing too step out and be confident in what you do and be consistent on a daily basis uh because consistency is really what matters. Uh, you know, listen, these this uh the this occasional excellence doesn't work in that market. You've got to be consistent, you've got to show up every day, you've got to show up the right way. And if you do that, then what happens is people will they begin to trust your brand, they begin to trust what you provide, and then you really you maximize your relationship whenever they trust you. And it takes time to get there, it doesn't happen overnight.

Cord 17:43

Yeah, absolutely.

Shannon 17:45

Million things I could say because I've been over here writing notes down. I could create a whole podcast off of just asking you questions from things you've said, but I'll start with the most recent. Like, what does different look like? Like, uh, you know, what is different? What can you do that's different? We all build or sell or manufacture or haul boxes down the road. We haul uh a place for people to for Americans to live the real dream of having excess things and storing away those excess uh excess things in most cases. What can you do, you feel like in the customer's mind to set yourself apart as a company uh where you don't just look like another shed manufacturer or a shed lot down the road?

Chad Nall 18:28

You know what? I think people ask me all the time, you know, what's the secret sauce in time? What are you doing differently? You know, we we're growing uh at a very good pace, things are going well. And you know what they expect me to talk about? They expect me to talk about our buildings, they expect me to talk about our pricing, they expect me to talk about our marketing. You know, don't get me wrong, those things matter. They aren't the secret. They really aren't the secret. The secret is what we built in our culture. That's really the secret for us. It is a culture that has made good decisions over and over again, right? And what I mean by that is we're selling relationships, not buildings. Okay. Um, you know, this is where this is kind of where everything starts for us. Um, anybody can manufacture a shed, anybody can lower prices, anybody can copy a floor plan. Very few companies intentionally build relationships. And so for us, it's really our dealers are our partners, right? They're not, they're just not accounts. You know what else we do? It's amazing. You answer the phone. Answer the phone, solve problems, you know, uh communicate throughout the process. Listen, there's not a shed company that's perfect. Pine Views is certainly not perfect at all. Um, and you know what, we I don't think we do anything much different than a lot of folks do, but what we do is we communicate well. We communicate well with our dealers, we communicate well with our internal salespeople, we communicate well with our customers from the time they order to the time that they are delivered. And so those things matter. You know what? We celebrate our dealers' successes. People don't, again, people don't stay because then you're the cheapest, right? They stay because they trust you. And so, for us, that's a huge opportunity for us. And I think that the culture that Ervin has built, Nate has built, uh, I really believe it makes a difference. Again, I say uh you heard it when I went as I did an intro. Uh, I've come to love this team because they really operate in integrity. A lot of folks will tell you they do. A lot of folks claim to be a Christian company, those kind of things. Um, and many are. I'm not saying they're not. Many are. But you know what? When you do the right things when no one's watching, it makes a difference. And so that's really, you know, that's our secret sauce. You know, it is our culture. Our culture makes a difference. A lot of good decisions uh made over time. Um, and I think that that's a that that's a pretty powerful thing. So, if you really want to differentiate yourself, I think you have to start at home. If you start at home, guess what happens? It bleeds out into what you do in your marketing, it bleeds out into your sales process, it bleeds out in how you communicate with uh everybody, everybody you come in contact with, your dealers, your customers, again, your internal salespeople, uh, it really makes a difference. So, that's what I would say.

Cord 21:15

And

Culture As The Real Differentiator

Cord 21:16

so much of that is the kind of accountability that you can't actually put on paper, that you can't you can't actually track. It's the it's what is the social cost of not answering your phone, right? What's the what's the cost that is gonna happen that's that the toll that you're gonna have to pay amongst your team, amongst your peers, whenever you do not operate in that way. And so often, you know, it's so easy for people, and look, we're a results driven company over here, you know. Um Shannon and I, you know, constantly, you know, talk about like, well, what was the outcome? Right? Did we get the results? Were we able to get you know whether it's marketing or consultation or whatever you know company we're working with, were we able to get them from point A to point B? Are they satisfied? Um you know obviously the re the result matters um but there is slippage whenever you can uh because it's true right I mean we all know this you can achieve the result while not acting with integrity in the background. And whenever that becomes acceptable and whenever that and whenever you stop paying a price amongst your peers for doing that you're headed in a direction that is that is not going to be good.

Chad Nall 22:40

It becomes short-term success right um in order to have sustainable growth you have to do the right things behind the scenes you have to reward behavior right it really matters to reward if you reward the behavior then you may not get the results today that you want but over time you will get the results that you really are striving for because of the behavior that you're creating in order to get there right and so don't just celebrate the success celebrate the behavior because it makes a big difference throughout the you know I the team that that that we're building at Pineview you know I listen our sales team my regional managers um you know we go to work every day and we strive to be the best that we can be there's days that we're that that that we struggle there's no doubt right but you know what I see with them I see their behavior of doing the right thing and let me tell you I want to reward that behavior just as much as the results because I know today the result may not be there but in three months from now it will be there and then we can celebrate it because now we are building some consistency. You'll hear me say that a lot because I believe consistency is really what we're lacking in the shed industry overall I think that you know um you know whenever I stop make competitive stops which I love to do I love to visit dealers man I love to hear their stories it's not just about their them being competitive I just want to know people I love people and so I want to talk to them. I love to hear that hey listen I'm a retired school teacher and I just got into this and I love to hear the stories you know whether it's uh you know what whether they they're going to become a Pineview dealer or not whether they fit the who we are and that they'll fit into the mix or not I still want to know those folks and but you would be surprised how many stops I make and there's nobody there. And again, how can you build consistency if the behavior's not there and so that's what we want to reward as well.

Cord 24:30

We won't call them out Shannon but I mean we stopped we were on a trip recently Chad and we stopped at seven dealer lots we pulled onto the lot put the truck in park rolled our windows down you know we're just looking doing what shed guys do right just you know we didn't know to be fair to the people like we didn't get out and start you know opening doors and whatever else but like we were there on the lot and we're obviously peering over their inventory and of those seven one we were approached by one person uh turned out to be a like a lifetime lifelong shed guy he had worked for Derksen and was like a 25 year guy and kind of you know like really knew the movers and shakers and knew some of the people we know and it was really fun it was great to talk to him but you know I mean we just couldn't get over the fact driving home you know I was just like can you believe that like potential customers now to be fair we weren't customers but for all for all intents and purposes we pulled on that lot and just weren't even like not even a you know hey there you know you know what I mean not even the sort of cordial greeting and so anyway Shannon I saw you writing there I know you've got oh I I've got I've got a page full of notes that I could start on but the conversation just lends itself to uh continually being able to talk about different things I would be curious to get deep on that just a little bit and say you know as a director of sales and marketing you have you know like uh these regional managers like what does that look like whenever I mean for whatever you can share or willing to share what does that look like whenever you're approaching like starting a new dealer like what are the expectations like now with uh when you're when you're creating culture and you're trying to mix that with the lot landscape the landscape of actually showing up and have buildings faced and I don't know I remember one salesperson you know that sold sheds and she actually sold more than just about anybody I knew you know she was a professional real estate uh salesperson previous to what she was doing she put a mirror across the room you know and she you know was old school she would look at the mirror and if she saw herself slumping in the chair she'd sit up straight she had it there for that purpose I mean very intentional on uh when a person comes to the lot when a person's in front of you but now you've got to mix that with the retired school teacher that might or might not be very technologically advanced and needing to uh navigate a CRM or understand social media so like you know where's that perfect mix whenever you tie that into also can you be here and can you be here consistent because you have a retirement you don't have to be but we want you to be and are you hungry and like what is you know where do you start where's the genesis of like this is the dealer we want.

AD-CAL 27:30

If you're in the shed business you already know the hard part isn't selling it's keeping everything organized once the orders start coming in quotes dealer orders change requests delivery schedules it adds up fast consumer aligned logistics or Cal is software built specifically for the shed industry it brings orders dealer management integrations payments and delivery tracking into one system so nothing slips through the cracks. Cal works with tools like Idea room shed pro and sensei and it's designed to adopt to how your business actually operates not force you into a rigid process pricing is volume based as you grow we grow. If you're ready to replace spreadsheets paperwork and disconnected tools with one platform built for sheds head to calcanhelp.com and schedule a demo cow help shed businesses scale with clarity.

Shannon 28:34

You know I think someone

Dealer Standards And Training Systems

Shannon 28:35

who operates their lot like a business right it is the it is really what they do.

Chad Nall 28:41

To me I'm a systems guy I believe systems are very important and so we have systems in place uh in order to make our dealers successful right now success is ultimately up to them right uh they have to be there uh you know that that that to me is a bare minimum situation right you know we want them to be there you know at least five days a week that's what that's what we like for them to be we want them to be there uh you know we have a corporate sales trainer that that will help them with the CRM that will help them with those things we have customer service we have all these great resources that we provide we have marketing we have all the things that we provide right and those things are all to make them be successful but if they're not there they're never going to be successful. If the signage is not up you know how can they build a brand how can we build a brand we're a partnership you know we want we want to make sure that listen if inventory is awry you know that's just as much the dealer's issue as it is our regional manager's issue. I'll give you an example I'm not gonna call any names obviously or what lot it was but I went to a lot uh one of our own lots uh it's been a few weeks back and uh you know what it wasn't a great visit it wasn't a great visit and it wasn't it just wasn't and so you know I left there very discouraged and so I said to myself what part of this is Pineview's fault what could we do better and what could our dealer have done better right and so you know what I don't want to hold him accountable to what we could have done better. I want to hold him accountable to what he could have done better. And so that's my conversation with him right you know what the good news is regional manager jumped on it. We got things straightened out went back a week later everything was perfect it was great but again I think that the worst thing that we can do is just assume that those things are being done. So, you know training is training is always key. You got someone who is older maybe or maybe somebody who you know what just don't like technology that you've got a bit of both out there. And so, you know what our goal is to make it as simple as possible. But at the same time if you're going to be successful uh then you've got to be able to operate within the systems that we have and so that that that we want to make sure of we want to make sure that we train you there we want to make sure that you've got constant feedback from us and resources that you know uh that that we're helping make you be the best that you can be. So those things are important. But again if you're not there I can't help you. You know what if you're not willing to turn the open sign on it's not a lot I can do for you. If you're not willing to mow your grass if you're not willing to keep the buildings clean if you're not willing to have signage up you know those things are the bare minimum things and that's sort of back to the basics kind of thing. But you know what that's the things that we let go the quickest. And so, you know for us for me looking for a dealer I'm looking for someone who really operates their business someone who I love going on a dealer's lot and saying hey how much is that building over there and they don't have to go get a price sheet they don't have to go well let me go check they go that building is such and such. Well tell me about you know tell me you know yeah I sold three of those in the last month whatever they you know whatever the story is because they know their inventory they know their customer they know their community they're tied in they're part of the community they're not just there to you know make a make a it's not a hobby it's a it's an actual business those to me listen even if they have low sales I realize that those behaviors are there they're gonna be great dealers one day and I'm willing to take a ride with them. I'm willing to go on a journey with them. And so you know it's not all about just finding the top dealer all the time it's about finding the right folks who are willing to go on the journey. Then we can help them be there. Why? Because we have the right systems in place. So you know those things are important to me.

Shannon 32:24

I think a willing attitude coming in uh you know is worth so much in what's already been taught or learned from somebody else you can have the wrong attitude and the right knowledge and be half as successful as somebody with the right attitude that we can train. That was always my approach. If I can just have someone who's well and like you know that starts with knowing that you don't know everything. And that's some of the hardest I'll tell you what for men that's definitely one of the hardest things for us right because we want to solve everything we're solvers we're solution based people I mean uh we so we want to fix it whenever there's something wrong and oftentimes you know a little bit of vulnerability goes a long way and being willing to be teachable we'll being willing to be trainable coachable all of these things and I and I've certainly ran into I've been on both sides of that you know coin right I've been the unteachable and I've been the person frustrated with the unteachable person. So, like I try to pull on my own experience you know my own stubbornness to say hey, listen I feel like I know where you are right now. Uh you know and I think this will help I my one of my favorite stories was going as a um sales manager. I went to a guy that had been selling for 20 years. He'd been through two companies in 20 years pretty good you know uh uh we were the second company and I asked him you know like what is a good sales month you know and this is maybe 10 years ago I don't know 2016 or so he said I've been selling you know sheds for you know whatever 20 years at that time and he said you know $30,000 a month is a pretty good month and in shed sales and I was like well what's a dynamite month what do you feel like is just brilliant and he was like you probably can't sell more than about fifty thousand dollars a month in sheds if you're in this industry I've been in it a long time and I've known no one to do it and you just can't do it. I said so what if you could sell $250,000 in sheds he said it's just impossible. And I said now you've got to convince me why it can't be done because I've done it. Right. Right and maybe that's the wrong approach right maybe that's a little too brash but it's still true. You've got to convince me why it can't be done because what you've told me is you've limited yourself to say it's just not even possible. We can't even consider it it's it's why the four minute mile didn't get broke for 40 years and then it's been broke 20 times since then is because somebody did it. I think a lot of times we just limit ourselves by saying it's just not possible and I'm not willing to change on that.

Chad Nall 34:52

Yeah well you know in my opinion there's no slow there's no there's no slow time. Yeah we are conditioned to know that you know well we're gonna be slow this time of the year we're gonna be busy this time of the year and we expect that slow downward turn and therefore we get a little lazy in our approach we know it's gonna be slow anyway it's hot people are not going to be on the lot you know and so we take that mentality and what you really have to do is you have to turn that mentality there's not a slow time there's somebody to there's somebody to chase a lead on there's somebody to talk to there's somebody to do that and you know I've come to the place and I and listen not every dealer is the right dealer for us. We're okay with that. And it's okay uh you know not every opportunity is worth pursuing you know and what I mean by that is we have to protect culture we've got to protect reputation you have to protect quality all those things matter and so you know what we you know what we hold our dealers accountable we hold our inside salespeople accountable because we feel like we have a responsibility to do our best every day not just when they're not just you know uh March through June you know or September through October November you know but every single day and I believe if we'll do that and we have the right mentality then you know what reward comes from that and so that's kind of our philosophy you know what there's not a there's not a we have a dealer that I love it uh he's he was new to the industry and man let me tell you during the slow months he was killing it and we were like what are you doing? And he's like there's there's not a slow month what do you mean no better he didn't know any better you know he's just selling selling selling he you know he was down himself because he wasn't selling more and I'm like man you're doing really great and but it was a mentality and so sometimes we can be preconditioned to be okay with the slow time and it's just not okay.

No Slow Season Just Market Share

Cord 36:43

No and and you tell me how you feel about this. I mean I'll just tell you I think from what we've been hearing and and the sort of macroeconomic uh side of you know the US economy the the broader economy um you know certainly the way that I have been thinking about the shed industry lately is it's a it's a market share game. Right? I mean the volume is great the dollars are great um but it's really about market share it's about how what percentage of those units you know in that market are you actually able to go and gobble up and I'll tell you there is no better time to gobble up market share than in the slow time right absolutely when when the expectations of everyone in your market is that it's going to be slow, that's the time to to churn it up because you know that you're going to get some uh uh lazy or slow I mean I'm not trying to cast aspersions but you're gonna get people who are not moving with as much intention uh you know and and for you know this this dealer of yours who didn't know better um but also for just dealers out there who are saying you know like uh um you know there is more price competitiveness you know we know that that people's um uh you know financial situations right I mean there's been inflation and now there's a slowdown in income growth and like these numbers I mean we you know they just they're bound to kind of affect uh all consumer consumer products and so like we know that it's gonna be tough out there but if you're a dealer I mean you know I'm like you the time to go to go out compete to go make sure that you are getting that extra two three four five percent of your market for that month or for that year or whatever it might be is when everybody else is maybe a little lethargic maybe not sticking around on the lot until you know five o'clock on Thursdays and Fridays and you know and so I mean how do you view that how do how are you approaching you know how are you kind of guiding your dealers in what that that that market approach is Chad you know I think if I was going to sum it up really and truly growth without standards isn't growth is chaos so you know I think that you really want to operate at a high standard all the time because if I think if you raise your standard you're on the market and I that that's kind of been a thing that that that I've been speaking about all year really we went into January with that mindset because a market share will not reward us this year.

Chad Nall 39:19

It will will reward us next year. And so you know what if we can get uh if we can get the if we can get the right areas if we can get into the right markets if we can have the same mentality that we have um with a high standard I believe that over time again you know what if the if our competitor or whoever's listening competitor maybe us maybe we're gonna be your competitor if our dealer's not on the lot then guess what that they're not gonna win that sale you will and guess what you're doing over time you're gonna take market share. Why? Because you're gonna build trust with the community because you know what Billy Joe's going to say hey, listen such and such over there was great I love dealing with him. If you're gonna buy a shed you need to go see him and next thing you know over a period of time you're gonna own the market and that happens because of a high standard and I believe if we'll we'll own that high standard I think we'll take market share and that can go that goes on up not only from a dealer mindset but from a manufacturer mindset as well right high standards matter. You know what the quality of your buildings they do matter it does matter every small thing matters. And so, you know marketing isn't advertising that's the thing that we get in our mind you know it is you know it starts long before somebody clicks on an ad, right? You know what it is the dealer again I go back to light appearance signage uh photography your website how you're presenting yourself on Google with Google reviews social media your regional presence what does that look like your the customer experience from beginning to end you know did you follow up after the sale did you thank them did you know do you have a referral program in place are you rewarding that what does it look like how are you following up because I believe that if someone walked on your lot today this is what I like to ask all my dealers if somebody drove past your lot today would they pull in do they have a reason to pull in and I think if we'll say yes they do and this is why then guess what over time you'll gobble up some market share it's inevitable right because you're doing the right things you're gonna operate at a high standard that's my philosophy on it.

Shannon 41:23

Yeah is there go ahead is there brand consistency you know like whenever people go to your website does that look consistent with what they see whenever they show up we had absolutely uh a guest on recently that said you know in most cases the pictures outpace the products like you go on Amazon everything looks better than when you get it Temu right like once you get it you know and it shows up you're like wait a minute you know like I bought I bought these stickers the other day that says you're on mute and I thought that was going to be a uh on a on a coffee mug right just for whenever something clever for whenever people get on here they forget they muted their stuff I can just hold up my coffee cup that just says you're on mute and uh you know I thought it came with a coffee cup it didn't because it didn't explain it well right but the pictures made me buy and I'm like well this isn't worth even sending back it cost five bucks so and if it did come with a coffee mug it would have been really small just to say yeah uh yeah it'd have been those little one shot coffee uh drinks you know they would have done it but you know he was saying you know unfortunately in the shed industry and I agree with him you know the pictures often don't do justice for the quality that actually exists out there so are you taking good quality photos are you hiring a photographer guess why there is a uh job of a photographer it exists because there's value in the things that they do there's something different than they do than saying just go snap a picture with your iPhone which to be honest with you iPhones are you know well maybe not iPhones but Samsung's really killing it right now in the camera game but the point is like they're you know they're professional for a reason there's a reason there's a professional videographer and photographer and marketer or sales coach or salesperson or whatever is they do set things apart. You know um you said something earlier you know that I just wanted to touch base on that this is something I used to talk about all the time these are the things that you can't control whenever people would say well I just don't have enough inventory which we can go down a whole nother rabbit trail of like our thoughts on does more inventory mean you're gonna sell more and make a lot of people mad. But instead, whenever I would hear that I would say well what are the things that are inside of your control you know hard work. You know my dad's got a sixth grade education but you know he worked himself into a $50,000 job as a maintenance guy in 1990 and that was that was pretty good you know uh you know just by working hard and that's a work ethic that he taught us you know being cooperative staying calm listening you know In the situation, having a positive attitude, being punctual, being present, as you said, but then even being punctual. You can consist consistently show up, you know, in the military. It was, you know, if you're 10 minutes early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late, you know. So uh, you know, being a good learner, being a professional, good behavior, don't hesitate. There's a lot of things that are inside of your control, even when the inventory is not there, in your opinion, to say that's what's really going to take me to 75,000 or 175,000 this year or this month, is if you would just bring me more inventory. I mean, there's a lot of things that are within your direct control that you haven't established and perfected yet before we even bring you more inventory. I I actually, as a sales manager, I I was onto something 10 years ago, Chad. I don't know if this was the right thing or not. But I actually set up a situation with our inventory where I said you get rewarded off your sales. You know, if you want more inventory, sell more, and then I'll bring more. Because by your what you're saying is more inventory sells more. So, like, whatever you sell based off of this, I had a system set up where I would bring you more inventory. And that inventory would stay, even if you had a down month. We weren't going to run out there and take it from you. But like you had to kind of prove that there was some value in in your approach and your willingness to work with us. And I saw I saw folks, and it was kind of hard. Like whenever you know, we had somebody who had five buildings on the lot outselling somebody who had 60. It was like, where's the justification to bring new 60 buildings or to give you 60 buildings when someone with five is more dedicated to the process? That says more about work ethic than it does about availability, pricing, structure, pictures, or anything.

Chad Nall 45:44

A couple things you can't teach. You can't teach work ethic and you can't teach personality, right? Either you have those things or you don't, right? But I can teach everything else. And so, you know, uh, but uh it's important. It is, you know, for me, turn rate matters, right? So, you know, so when I think about when I think about inventory, I think about turn rate because fresh inventory will bring more sales than old inventory, but a lot of it, right? And so we want to make sure things are fresh, and we want to make sure things are turning. And you know what? Uh hey, you know, we we go from there. Again, everybody's got a their own mentality on inventory. Uh, you know, uh, I think that uh I think turn rate's what matters for me.

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Photos Inventory And Turn Rate

Cord 48:05

So, you were saying something earlier, and I kind of want to connect it because I've actually wound up uh recruiting uh one of your guys uh out there in in at Pine View, how he masked. Um I've recruited him uh and about a half dozen other guys um to really start to go over some shed standards, right? To say um, you know, what is a quality, you know, not tiny home quality, not you know, but what's just an a quality floor system? Let's not even do the whole shed. Let's talk about what makes an A-quality floor system, what makes an A-quality, you know, wall system, what makes an A-quality roof system, and then you know, walk down from there and say, well then where's the breaking point with B and C and um you know, and then go the other direction. What's A plus? What is tiny home quality? And really start to define that a little bit. Um and admittedly, we've had the um you know our own Jet Geek Structures project going on, so I haven't quite rebounded to that, but from a sales and marketing perspective, which is of course where I come from as well, I see that there's a disconnect between um just like with homes. I mean, you see this all the time. People go out and buy a you know new construction home that uh um you know doesn't have the proper uh uh joist hangers, you know, doesn't have doesn't, you know, isn't it isn't actually put together well just because it was built recently and your average consumer, average layperson has absolutely no idea. And so my thought process from a sales and marketing perspective is gosh, I really wish we could just stick a little circle down here in the corner of that advertisement or even right on a brochure, marketing materials, whatever that just says, you know, A-rated by the you know, professional portable building association of America. And I guess I guess I just kind of wanted to get your take because the consumer, like part of what we fight, and you know, you talked about pricing and we're in a discount world and all this, part of what we're fighting is the fact that the consumer really and truly, other than and I know you guys make some nice ones, I've been in one of those, like I think you call it Alpine. Is that the one that has the front porch to where it makes it? Chalet, yeah. Chalet, yeah, chalet. I mean, y'all make some nice ones. Um, and obviously a consumer can tell, like, oh, that's primo. But your run-of-the-mill stuff, the consumer really has a hard time discerning what those shed types are. So, you know, I know that kind of goes to consistency, it goes to differentiation and stuff like that. But kind of what is what is your take on that sort of product side itself, if you don't mind, Chad?

Chad Nall 51:04

Yeah, sure. No, I mean something we do. Uh obviously we all know there's a lot of tire kickers in the shed industry. And so one thing that we want to make sure they leave with is a sheet of ask these questions. Um, you know, the you know, no matter what shed lot you go, ask us, right? You know, do they offer X? Do they offer X? Is this included in the price? Is this or this or this or that? Because, you know, a lot of times those things are offered, but they're not in the base price, they're in the upgrade price. And so it's not apples to apples many times. And so we want to make sure when they leave the lot, they're more educated. If nothing else, whether they buy a pine view shed or not, we want to make sure that they're educated on what quality looks like. And so, we want to call out those things. We want to make sure that they leave with that sheet and they can take that sheet to any competitor. And you know what? Now they walk in the door. Guess what? Now they can say, Hey, do you offer, is your shed have a double top plate? You know, are you using, you know, European white spruce? Are you using uh, you know, do you have a diamond plate threshold? Do you have this, do you have that? You can ask all these questions, and now you feel like you're have the confidence to be able to go in and as a as a consumer and know a little bit more about the shed industry and what quality looks like. That's something we do. We feel like it's just a it's a good way to educate the end user.

Cord 52:22

Yeah, I

Teaching Buyers To Compare Quality

Cord 52:23

agree.

Shannon 52:23

This is where this is where, like, you know, those pricing wars come in, which I'm consistently saying, your competition's really not the shed dealer down the street. I mean, as long as these uh self-storage units are full, and we've got 10 of them here in a town of 6,500, and they're all full up. I got one behind my house that holds 150 units at least, full up constantly. And as long as you have that, now I'm not talking about in in Metro Atlanta, I'm not talking about in Metro New York City or Chicago. I'm talking about in rural America, it makes sense for people to go and like, you know, self-store things. And all we're doing is cutting that unit apart, throwing it on a trailer and setting it in your backyard, oftentimes on a payment structure, you know, that that you can uh make it affordable for ownership uh through rent or through finance or even through cash versus renting to rent, because you'll never own a storage unit, and every bit that goes into it is lost equity. Whereas there's some form of ownership, you know, if you actually get something. And then there's the added benefits of it increasing your home value, uh, the protection that you have of going out in the backyard and getting something instead of going to the dark alley, you know, and getting your crock pot out at nine o'clock at night, you know, because you forgot something. You can just uh, you know, whatever it is, your rakes are right there, your mower's protected, your motorcycle's protected, your music room is protected, whatever you're using it for. That's why I I'm just I'm still convinced six years into the podcast and 15 years into this industry, that you don't really, yes, you compete for that customer in market share when it comes time for them to actually purchase a storage building, but you got to convince them to do that first in an industry that's dwarfing our portable storage industry by double or triple. Absolutely. Uh you know, and not to not to hate on the self-storage guys, like I appreciate what they're doing, and that creates some demand for us too, and I'm sure vice versa, but they're absolutely killing us in terms of like who's winning the customer. And if you actually look at per square foot, you know, we can provide ownership better.

Chad Nall 54:34

Absolutely, absolutely. Uh it's uh there there's self-storage everywhere. Uh you know, we have shelf we have a ton of self-storage in Statesville. There's several building manufacturers right there in Statesville, you know, and so it's uh I think that there's room, but I think that um we have to we have to communicate differently. I believe that brand voice needs to be telling a story at all times. And so, uh I think if you're telling a story of why, and uh I think they'll find the where. And so, it's important that that we're always communicating that. I think so many times we get so wrapped up in just trying to run a an ad that we don't tell the story because really and truly, I think if you tell the story, I think people resonate with that and they see the opportunity, they see the they see how creative they can be. I love the process of when someone comes in, they sit down, they go, I didn't realize we could do all this stuff with a shed. It's like the coolest thing, right? And their eyes open up and next thing you know, they're just you know, they're just having the best time and that they're creating a one-of-a-kind shed that, you know, of something their color, you know, where they want their window, where they want their, you know, which electrical package they want, you know, where you know, if they want a porch or this or that or whatever, you know, it's so cool to watch that process. You can't do that with self-storage, uh, you know, and you know, it at the end of the day, it's uh it's an opportunity for each one of us that sale sheds for sure.

Cord 56:02

And it's um presentation and convenience, right? I mean these especially the expansion of self-storage storage in the last 10 years is slick. I mean, this those things, they look good. You know, um the ones that U-Haul has put up, like in the city centers where they have now renovated um a lot of these kind of big old big brick buildings and put in glass walls where you can look right in and you can see the units, and they're all so well branded, they all have orange doors, the U-Haul orange doors, you know, that creamy white, uh, you know, U-Haul white color um presentation and then convenience, right? I mean, everything, you know, is uh on your phone. It is uh, you know, your lock is you can send uh uh send a passcode, you know, for your buddy to run down and grab something out of your unit. You know, um it's still gotta get in the car and go there. That's right. That's right. That's where they're winning. That's right.

Shannon 57:03

That's where they're that's where they're winning, right? Systems, processes, simplicity, making it, you know, easy for people, uh convenience. Yeah, that's where they're winning. I think per square foot. I mean, I think that we can win and also get a better product. Again, probably your third most expensive thing on your property, your house, your vehicle, and then a shed, right? So I mean, like, you know, this it's this is a this is a big opportunity, and like you can build them on site, you can get them into tight spaces. I mean, there's so many options. I mean, you can you know do 16 by 40s if you're down in Texas. I guess you can do you know 80 by 100s. I don't know. Whatever they're doing, they're doing some crazy sized buildings down there. Uh, but there's just so much opportunity out there. I don't there is, you know, I feel like I feel like we haven't even peaked yet.

Chad Nall 57:56

No, no, not at all. I think there's a lot of opportunity. And you know, people are buying homes every year, so there's opportunities.

Cord 58:02

That's right.

Competing With Self Storage Convenience

Shannon 58:04

Tell me, uh, tell me Pineview. Like a lot of people listen to the podcast because they like to hear people's story. I want to hear more about Chad's story, but I want to start here and in what you can are willing to share for Pine View. What's Pine View's story? So, I'm gonna give you like a couple loaded questions here, and then you take and run what you want uh with those. But what's Pine View's story? How did it get here? You know, and what are they doing moving forward? Like what are the things I see you guys as a leader in the industry. I know that you're forward thinking, you know, what are some of the things that you feel like are you we're gonna see? Where what else does it bleed over into outside of just sheds anymore?

Chad Nall 58:45

Yeah, no, that's a good question. Um, you know, Pine View, Pine View came from an owner with a vision. Uh Ervin Helmuth uh was uh, you know what, he was doing furniture, he was doing cabinetry, he was doing those things, and he came over and he began hauling sheds. Uh, he came into the Carolinas and he was a shed hauler for uh a large uh shed manufacturer, and he's seen some inconsistencies. He's seen some opportunities for quality, seen some opportunities for customer service as well and the customer experience as a whole. And so, you know, Ervin thought, you know what I'll do is I'll start building sheds and I'll do something small for me and my family. And that was his mentality, you know, and he wanted to create uh an opportunity for uh his community, his church community, a place for employment, those type of things. And that was a really I was a driving motivator for him. And so, he started there in Statesville, and man, it's really blossomed into something pretty, pretty amazing. Uh, you know, and so it that that was that's where it started at. The thing about Ervin Helmuth is he is he has the same vision today as he did 13 almost 14 years ago, right? He still believes that culture eats strategy every day. And so he is very particular about that. He's building a family, in his opinion. And uh he has a large family and he wants to make sure that he's providing solid opportunities for Christians to work, and he really shows up to do that, right? And he has his he has his hands in a lot of good opportunities for him and it benefits Pine View. And uh, if you just talk with Ervin for a few minutes, you'll realize really quickly he's a visionary and he's always looking to what's next. He's always looking to what the future holds, and he's built his team around that same philosophy, right? And so I think that uh, you know, uh are we satisfied with where we are today? Absolutely not. No. And I think when you get satisfied, you'll start going backwards. And so we're always looking of what's next, where are we gonna be at next? You know, we definitely want to grow. Uh, you know, uh the goal is to be a household name one day, right? And you that doesn't happen overnight. It takes a long time to get there. And again, it takes a it takes a lot of consistency, a lot of doing the right making right decisions over time. And also, too, it really, it really matters about the right people in the right seats, bringing the right folks in, the right culture with our dealer network, the right culture around our internal sales teams, our customer service, accounting, all those systems matter, you know, and making sure that all those things uh are in place. Why? Because growth, if growth comes and you're not ready for it, then you'll fumble the ball. And so, we feel like that as long as we're constantly working on the systems and working on the people and the culture stays intact, uh we feel like that when growth comes, guess what? We can sustain that growth because we're ready for it at all times. And so, you know, what does it look like in the future? I really don't know. I know that, you know what, we're not satisfied where we're at, where we are, right? And so we're gonna keep moving and we're gonna keep going into different areas and different areas of the country. We're looking at, you know, what looks next, uh, you know, and so that's kind of where we are today. I feel like that, uh I feel like that, I almost feel like we're uh each year is like a new opportunity for us. We don't we're not resting on what we did last year. Uh, you know, we're looking at what we can do different next year, how we can be better next year. How we're already talking about it. We're already talking about, you know, what does it look like next year? What does the first quarter look like already? You know, uh, and so those things really matter to us. We you we don't want to look at uh what's lagging, we want to look forward. You know, we want to see the KPIs that we put in place, we're actually hitting those. We don't want to set goals that are so lofty that just become dreams. We really want to make sure we're setting the goals that we can hit. And so I feel like that's what we're doing as a team, that's what we're doing as a company. And that's uh again, I still feel like Pineview's best days are still ahead.

Pine View Story And What’s Next

Cord 1:02:38

Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt. I mean, with the with the team that you all have amassed over there, I think it is um I all but inevitable. Nothing's inevitable. The Lord can come back tomorrow.

Chad Nall 1:02:50

Amen.

Cord 1:02:51

But, uh you know, I think that you guys have put together such a group uh that is so determined and so uh well- meaning in spirit. By the way, has your uh is the new office completed?

Chad Nall 1:03:05

Oh man, we are on the brink. It is absolutely amazing. Yeah, new corporate office going in. Uh it's uh yeah, can't cannot wait to get moved in there at some point this year, uh before the end of the year, hopefully. And it's uh it's really is it's pretty amazing. Uh Urban Urban's vision has come to fruition there, and uh it's uh it's pretty exciting to see that coming up.

Cord 1:03:26

I saw it whenever it was just the bones and it was impressive. Yeah, I mean the uh the little uh second story uh walkway, you know, where uh where you can kind of look out over the production facility.

Chad Nall 1:03:40

Yeah.

Cord 1:03:41

Um, you know, and so well, I would just encourage Chad, anybody who is out there listening, um, I mean, I think you can everybody can tell from mine and Shannon's contributions here today how much we think um, you know, of your team, yourself and Nate and Ervin and Freeman, um, you know, and Howie. Uh, like I said, if you see Howie, tell them uh we are going to get back on that. We just got a little tied up here at Shed Geek. Sure, sure. But um, I mean, you put together such a great team over there of likable, hardworking people. Um, you know, if you're in the Statesville, North Carolina, North Carolina area, I would highly recommend going by that, the headquarters location. Um, you guys do such a great lot, uh, such a great job of like the lot in and of itself. I mean, beautiful lot set up right up front. You've got the two-story studio that is visible from the interstate that looks tremendous. Um, and now you're going to have uh, like you said, Ervin's kind of dream. So, I think if anybody is in that, you know, North Charlotte, if you're within a hundred miles, I would say go and see them over at uh at Pine View because Absolutely love to see anybody who wants to stop by.

Chad Nall 1:04:56

Yeah, we'll have to get you guys to come out when we get uh get moved in.

Cord 1:04:59

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Dealer Link Favorite Memory Prayer

Shannon 1:05:01

And if you if you have, you know, I would assume that you guys, you know, as you're growing, you know, if you have interested uh if you have dealers interested in in becoming or if someone finds the show, occasionally I'll find somebody who says, you know, I'm looking to get into the industry. Who should I work with? If they're in that area, I don't know uh all the states that you guys are in, but if they wanted to reach out to somebody, I'm assuming they can reach out to you directly, go to the website.

Chad Nall 1:05:24

Absolutely. Yeah, we have a become a dealer link right on our website. You can click on that, it comes directly to me, and uh you'll receive a phone call from me. We'll, you know, we'll have a conversation and see where it goes from there. But yeah, we're uh we're in the uh we're in West Virginia, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and uh other areas soon.

Shannon 1:05:44

So, always express uh one quick uh one quick note, two two things I want to do here. One, uh what's your favorite, favorite memory in the last two years uh being involved in the shed industry?

Chad Nall 1:05:58

My favorite memory. far that's a really good question. Um for me personally I think my favorite memory is uh my first uh my first dealer day experience seeing everybody come together under one roof and really seeing the team that's been amassed and feeling the energy there for me I think that's a great memory uh you know this this year's dealer day was even better and so I think those dealer days for me is when we get everybody uh you know when we get high participation all of our dealers come under one roof see the camaraderie see the team that we're building and seeing just the excited uh the excitement that's moving us forward to me that's my that's one of my favorite memories so far

Shannon 1:06:47

That's awesome that's awesome, Cord you have anything else before we go I got one just one more thing go ahead no rock with it all clear uh anything else you want to say Chad any shout outs anything just uh any questions you have uh for us.

Chad Nall 1:07:00

No I think uh you know I just appreciate what you guys do every day uh you know you're bringing awareness to our industry you're bringing uh topics for folks that you know there's not a lot of resources out there uh and so I think you know I think that what you're doing is amassing uh some resources for all of us to kind of know what's going on in different areas of the country also too what other programs are out there and what other companies you can partner with you know uh and I think those things are really important. So, what you're doing please keep doing uh it's benefiting our whole industry and you know what uh listen it's not us against them we're all in in this together and I think it's important that uh that you keep doing what you're doing because I think it does it brings us all to a level playing field.

Shannon 1:07:43

I appreciate that the Lord's really blessed us with this opportunity and uh we don't take it lightly and you know you make mistakes along the way you do the you do the best you can to always do the right thing the best thing you know sometimes it uh sometimes it turns up a rotten egg sometimes it turns up gold you just you never know uh but he's given us this this opportunity and I and I really do feel like I want to honor it by you know we always say like if you compete with us you know come on the show advertise I don't care if you get business I we can't we can't like market to everybody we can't rent on for everybody we can't finance or consult everybody like we can't do it if everybody said we're just gonna go with them wouldn't matter because we would have that situation you talked about earlier we'd fumble the ball with growth we've already done it before like we've already learned some lessons on that so we want intentional growth anyway so we love to see your companies flourish like we're just you're just we're just non-combative in that mindset we want to see people do well uh I think our heart is that first sheds is second to what the Lord's will is you know and so far he's kept us in this thing for six years you know we're talking about what the next four are going to look like uh so we thank you too we thank you for participating we think people like to hear people's stories other people's thoughts uh seeing what other people's experiences are and honestly we can do a little better not to compete so hard competition's a good thing it keeps us all on a level playing field and it and it improves things for the customers uh and it keeps us growing but ultimately people can collaborate through a conversation if nothing else just a conversation to say what are you seeing what can we do better how can you help what service do you offer what product do you offer let's put it out there for people um you know those are those are just great things uh what I wanted to end on uh and thank you for the kind words was I know you're a pastor we love to keep the Lord first around here we fail daily um but you know what I feel like it's been a little bit since we've prayed on the podcast and I just feel comfortable enough to ask a pastor if he'd pray for us before we get out of here after we dismiss hang on here we'll chat with you a little bit before we go but would you be obliged to just pray us out.

Chad Nall 1:09:53

Absolutely yeah let's do that let's go to the Lord in prayer father we're humble and thankful for the opportunity to gather here today and have a conversation about our shed industry Lord and Father we thank you for your many blessings Lord we pray now heads of protection around the Shed Geek podcast and their companies Lord God we pray now for all the dealers and all the manufacturers that may be tuning in and listening Lord we pray that you would bless their business. Lord we pray Father that you give them wisdom guidance and direction. Lord we thank you father for your many blessings upon us and Lord we look to you for the answers we know that all good things come from above and Father we just thank you for the opportunity to honor you every day as we go to work. And Lord we just ask Lord God as as uh as we close up today that you would bless uh Shannon and Cord and all those that are listening we thank you Lord God and we uh we give it all to you now in the almighty name the powerful name the precious name of Jesus his name we do pray amen and amen amen amen thank you what a I feel like I feel like I want to like start listening to your sermons online if you've got them or something.

Shannon 1:10:53

Man, you fire me up every time I'm around you, I'm like I got nervous energy when I'm around you I don't know what it is but uh appreciate you so much and thank you for joining us it means a lot.

Chad Nall 1:11:05

Thanks a bunch we appreciate it look forward to seeing you soon

OUTRO 1:11:08

T oday's Friday edition of the Shed Geek Podcast was brought to you by Shed Geek Marketing. If your company is looking to increase leads strengthen your brand presence improve digital visibility or simply stop wasting money on marketing that doesn't work you're in luck shed geek marketing was built specifically for this industry and has assembled the absolute best providers from across the country that bottom line bring you the results from dealer startups to nationwide manufacturers we help businesses connect better market smarter and grow with intention interested in becoming a title sponsor of the Shed Geek Podcast or advertising across the ShedGeek Media Network reach out today at infoshed geek.com and ask for the 2026 ShedGeek Media Kit. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time right here on the Shed Geek Podcast.