How Mentorship, Details, And Follow-Up Turn Shed Shoppers Into Loyal Customers

A shed sale isn’t won with pressure—it’s won with details, trust, and a clear path from need to solution. We sit down with veteran seller and mentor Hal Hatcher to unpack 15 years of practical wisdom you can put to work today. From the moment a buyer steps onto the lot, Hal shows why first impressions and layout matter: sweep the floors, square the buildings, and don’t let a great unit die in a bad spot. Move it, reframe it, and watch attention return. Then, turn the office into a “war room” where buyers sketch placement, doors, and colors. That small act creates ownership before the first signature.

We explore the full sales cycle with concrete tactics: prospect beyond walk-ins, build a steady presence on social media, and open every interaction with a name and a face people remember. The process thrives on documentation and follow-up—old-school notebooks, time stamps, and plant verification now pair with CRMs and 3D configurators. When a buyer says “It’s expensive,” shift the lens to value and use their benchmark—protecting a Harley, a boat, or holiday keepsakes—to craft a fit that lasts. Smart upgrades like roll-up doors and reinforced floors prevent pain later, turning “price” debates into practical choices that feel right.

Hal’s playbook is people-first. Read body language, invite the skeptical partner into the design, and give couples room to decide. A simple lunch sign with a return time—and a small courtesy discount—can convert missed moments into loyal customers. That habit of listening and following through builds referrals, which become your best marketing. Along the way, we draw clear lines between mentorship and leadership: invest in your team, match roles to strengths, and never let promises slip. If you sell sheds, haul them, or manufacture them, these lessons lift your close rates and your reputation.

If this conversation helps you sell with more confidence and less friction, share it with a teammate, subscribe for more practical episodes, and leave a quick review so others can find us.

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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Shed Pro

Ifab
Identigrow
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Cardinal Manufacturing

Transcript

Intro 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Shed Geek Podcast. Here's a message from our studio sponsor. Let's be real. Running a shed business today isn't just about building great sheds. The industry is changing fast. We're all feeling the squeeze, competing for fewer buyers, while expectations keep climbing. And yet, I hear from many of you that you are still juggling spreadsheets, clunky software, or disconnected systems. You're spending more time managing chaos than actually growing your business. That's why I want to talk to you about our studio sponsor, ShedPro. If you're not already using them, I really think you should check them out. ShedPro combines your 3D configurator, point of sale, RTO contracts, inventory, deliveries, and dealer tools all in one platform. They even integrate cleanly into our Shed Geek marketing solutions. From website lead to final delivery, you can quote, contract, collect payment, and schedule delivery in one clean workflow. No more double entries, no more back and forth payouts. Quoting is faster, orders are cleaner. And instead of chasing down paperwork, you're actually running your business. And if you mention Shed Geek, you'll get 25% off all setup fees. Check it out at shedpro.co/ shed geek. Thank you, Shed Pro, for being our studio sponsor, and honestly, for building something that helps the industry.

Shannon 1:33

Okay, welcome back to another

Community And Industry Connections

Shannon 1:35

episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. Thank you so much for listening in today. If you want to stay connected to the Shed Geek Podcast, check us out on our website, shedgeek.com. Message me at info @shedgeek.com. You guys feel free to be part of the industry. Go check out the different pages that exist. Social media pages that exist for our industry if you're not already connected. Shed Sales Professionals page. There's a couple others, like the Shed Manufacturers page and Shed Haulers page, where people try to stay connected and just build community. And that's what we're doing here today. He's uh becoming quite the shadow. Uh, and uh uh his face just seems to be everywhere. He seems to be doing a lot of things, and I'm proud to call him a friend and a partner in in what we're doing. So, uh welcome, Peter.

Peter Miller 2:36

Well, thank you. It's good to be here again. And uh it's been like a marathon. Uh it is. As a podcaster, I have a lot more respect because it's not just uh a one and done, it's definitely something that you have to put a lot of time and effort into. And um kudos to Shannon for doing this for five plus years, or right at five years, I should say, and um just have the opportunity to talk about something I love talking about, and that's sheds. Sheds. Uh talking to

Meet Hal Hatcher And His Path Into Sheds

Peter Miller 3:03

people that we really enjoy finding out more and learning more because uh as the saying goes, or at least the saying that I like to use, is the day that you stop learning is the day you die. And so, we want to continue to learn. Um, and that's what we're doing here today.

Shannon 3:19

So who do we have here today? Did we just we found some guy that was buying a shed or and drag him in here or what? Or is this a shed seller? Uh what's going on here?

Peter Miller 3:28

Well, this this person has got uh has had a huge influence in the uh in my life as far as selling sheds. He's been a mentor of mine, and I want to give him the opportunity to introduce himself, but I just want to uh give the mic over to uh Hal.

Hal Hatcher 3:47

Well, that was a wonderful introduction there. Uh, I do appreciate that. My name is Hal Hatcher. Um I've been in the shed industry for about 15 years.

Shannon 3:57

Yeah, yeah. But tell me, uh I'm curious, Hal, like uh how did you get to know the shed industry? Is this something that you wanted to do or something you fell into?

Hal Hatcher 4:08

Um, I basically fell into it. I was very fortunate and very thankful. Um I was in the market to buy a shed. I had my father-in-law moving in with me. Um, we needed a shed on the property. Um we were selling his house, and we went to a shed lot up on US 1 and 4 Pierce, and I just said to myself, this would be a really cool job to have. And I didn't think much more after I purchased the shed. But I was staying home, taking care of my father-in-law, who uh was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's, and it was a very difficult part of my life. Um he had succumbed to it and passed away. And me and my wife talked a few months later about getting back into the workforce. So I started to Googling searches and all that, and I did come across superior sheds at that time, and I sent in a resume to them, and it took them about four to six months before they actually responded to me, and they called me up and said, uh, were was I still interested in working? Did I have a job? And I said, No, I'm I'm not working, and but I would love to do an interview, I would love to see this job. Um in actuality, when they called me, I was mowing my yard. And the gentleman's name was Rick Mahoney, super, super nice guy. It was a Friday afternoon, and he said, Can you be here tomorrow, Saturday, to do an interview? I said to him on the phone, I said, Listen, I've can go in there and take a shower. I know it's for in the afternoon, but would you like to do it now? And he's like, Oh yeah, please. If you can make it here, get here. And what I found out later was he wanted to go home. He didn't want to stay another night overnight on the road. So, but anyways, we uh we did a four-hour interview, and we went out to dinner, it was about nine at night. He stuck out his hand and said, uh, if you want the job, it's yours. Wow. And that's

Early Mentors And Superior Sheds Era

Hal Hatcher 6:40

my starting point and how I got into the shed business.

Peter Miller 6:45

Okay. And what what year was that about?

Hal Hatcher 6:47

That was in 2010. Okay. Okay. 2010. Um it took me approximately after I did kind of skip there, but I went to uh do an interview with Alex Martin, uh wonderful man. Um his rule was two things. You run this as a your company. I said, yes, sir. And he says, I will stop by once a year to your lot. And if you see me more than that, you know something's wrong. Once a year he would stop by. And you know, he'd congratulate me, shake my hand. Every year we kept making progress financially, company-wise, also with the sheds, uh, the delivery service, uh, everything just fell into place. We really took off with it.

Peter Miller 7:47

And I find that interesting. So, my shed career started selling superior sheds as well. This would have been say right around 2013-ish, some something like that. And um I had never sold a shed before in my life. Never I had seen them, but I never really had any idea about selling them, and that that kind of fell into my lap. And uh I remember Alex Martins, who was uh one of the owners there at Superior Sheds. He kind of put me under his wing and was one of my mentors. And I guess uh I something was wrong, or else he just saw how much help I needed because he stopped by about every month at my shed lot when I first started. Um and uh he took the opportunity to uh say, hey, I I see some potential in you, I believe, and I want to send you to one of our most successful lots. And uh he sent me across to across the state of Florida to right in the Fort Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie area, and I had the opportunity to uh sit there and learn under Hal Hatcher for a couple of days. And what he taught me, and what Alex taught me, and what Gary Boyle has taught me, those are the three mentors in the the shed industry that shaped my sales career. Um and what you taught me during that time was just so crucial into the fine details, making sure you had. I remember us going out and moving sheds around, and some people may say, oh, well, it doesn't matter too much, but that first impression when somebody walks on the lot, if they see something out of place, um it's something that sticks to this day about when I walk on it, even one of my own shed lots and seeing things that it does bug me uh when something's not exactly the way it's supposed to be. And um, it's something that I would recommend to anybody out there in the shed industry. Make sure your lot looks good. Um walk into it looking uh like a customer would look at your lot because that first impression is huge. Uh, but that was 2013-ish, 14, something, something along those lines. Um, and then how long how long have you been there or how long were you there at Superior?

Hal Hatcher 10:07

I was there uh till recently of August of last year.

Peter Miller 10:12

Okay.

Hal Hatcher 10:12

Um I was out for a few months prior to that for health issues, but I did come back for a little while. Um but you you're exactly right on presentation, um just to follow up through that just a little bit, um clean it out, sweep it out, um just and positioning my theory on my lot was every shed had a spot on the property. And what I mean by that is that if you put a certain to say a 12 by 24 in one spot and never

Lot Presentation And Inventory Positioning

Hal Hatcher 10:55

sells, move it. Put it into a different location because people weren't liking that shed for some reason. But if you move it, all of a sudden it becomes like a brand new shed again.

Peter Miller 11:08

Right.

Hal Hatcher 11:08

And you'll find that you will rotate and start moving that product, and it'll go for any size. Right.

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Peter Miller 12:37

And just to comment on that, we I have a lot up in Dalton, Georgia. I know you had stopped by, it's been a couple of years ago, I believe, but um we have uh uh our own truck and trailer there at that location, and that's one of the things that we'll do is we'll just move inventory. It doesn't necessarily have to be a brand new shed, it just gets moved to a new location because people get familiar with how things are set up and they don't even notice it. It's almost like you're you're not visible to them anymore. Um, and and that was another thing taught to me from you know, learning from others in the shed industry that knew ahead of me uh stopped me from falling into that pitfall myself and and trying to make that a reality at each one of our lots.

Hal Hatcher 13:22

Well, you're very fortunate to have a truck and trailer. I had to do it by jack and pipes. Yeah. So the small ones were easy, but those big ones, uh, that was a chore. I had to get my delivery guy to help me with those.

Peter Miller 13:35

That's true. And PVC pipe and uh uh floor jack, it was your best friend, I remember. And this is the attention to detail that I would say is just moving it just a couple inches just so that it's square with the other shed next to it so that it looks so much presentable. We uh we talk about this some of these things in making sales simple, which is a sales training program that we have, and also some of the things that we had. We had the shed sales summit up in Knoxville, Tennessee this last year. We're gonna be there again coming up in September. And having people that are from the industry talking about different these different things. Uh if you're listening to this podcast right now, I recommend you know, if you don't have anything planned, make sure you come to the Shed Sales Summit. It's it's definitely very beneficial to anybody in in sales. It's beneficial to those in the hauling and those in in the manufacturing as well. You don't have to just be a seller, you can be in the industry because those all tie together. Uh, the one thing um that we have at the Shed Sales Summit is we try to think about the topics that are top of mind and most crucial to what is affecting you, the shed dealer, and how can we address that and maybe give some advice, some help. It's kind of like what Hal has been, you know, helped me in my career. It was somebody else sell where there's a pitfall and said, hey, you might want to walk around that, not fall in it, and it'll help you with your sales. Um the other thing that I wanted to point out was the um

Moving Inventory And Attention To Detail

Peter Miller 15:11

the mentorship part of that, and you know, having somebody in your life that has done maybe it maybe it doesn't even have to be necessarily shed sales. It can be somebody who just is older, has been through those those different situations, and you can talk to and they'll be honest with you. Um make sure you have a good good group around you to be able to do that. Um the other thing I wanted to ask you, Hal was when when did you start, I guess, selling and what was that what was that industry that you were in when you started?

Hal Hatcher 15:48

When I started selling the sheds, um the industry was was very slow. It wasn't fast paced, it took a while to build up. And I in my training purpose I like to tell everybody it don't expect to come running out of the gate, you know. You have to build and build your clientele. And don't ever just rely on somebody walking through your door. Um, there are a lot of people out there that you can actually call. Back in my day it was a phone book, you know. You just dump through the phone book and go, hey, this funeral hole down the street. I wonder if they need a shed. And you can call them. Or, you know, this even a storage facility. He always need sheds.

Peter Miller 16:39

Gas stations.

Hal Hatcher 16:39

Gas stations. Uh you know, just don't limit yourself and don't, you know, don't have blinders.

Peter Miller 16:45

Right.

Hal Hatcher 16:46

Stay focused and and and just look at the world.

Peter Miller 16:50

So uh and that's that's something in today's modern era with digital age, you know, we we have in some of our lots where we're we're paying for marketing, where we have leads brought into us. So, you know, Facebook and Instagram is so huge in today's society. You uh people are on it almost all the time. If you look at your screen time, I just if anybody's on here is on Facebook and Instagram, pull up your phone, look at your screen time, and look at what apps you're on the most. And if I had to guess, it's probably going to be a social media app that you're on the most, whether Facebook, TikTok, Instagram. Well, that same thing is applied to everybody in the world, basically, that is uh uh on social media. And so this is a great way to be able to get in front of those people. Um be yourself, but also put yourself out there in the way that somebody is going to notice you. Um my business partner, Peter Boyle, has talked about it before. He'll uh put a Facebook post out there and he'll always say, Hey, this is Peter. And he always opens every single one of his Facebook posts or

Sales Foundations: Prospecting Beyond Walk-Ins

Peter Miller 18:03

social media posts with that. And pretty soon you start like that starts showing up on your Facebook and you're like, Hey, that's that guy. And then you show up and that guy's there. It's like, hey, you're the celebrity that I saw on Facebook and such. So it may seem a little bit awkward, but if you can get out of your own way and be able to put yourself out there, um, we may not use the phone book as much, but we have we have other ways of doing that.

Shannon 18:29

We have our online phone book nowadays. We don't we don't have the Rolodexes anymore to do the business card file.

Hal Hatcher 18:38

Yeah.

Peter Miller 18:39

But there's a lot of people I think that um still, you know, still are very familiar with that. Um in using that. If somebody hands you a business card, I mean we have I've had business cards handed to me and I've stuck it away and looked at it for months later and then actually done something with it. But most of the time a business card uh is not the best way to do it. You want to have somebody be able to text and get a digital way of connecting with them, whether it's through text or whether it's through Facebook or whether it's through some sort of digital media that I've that I've seen in our current state that we're in. Um good.

Hal Hatcher 19:18

Yeah, I just wanted to come back around a little bit uh back to um when I met you, uh, just to let you know, Alex called me and he told me we spoke for about an hour, hour and a half, uh, that you were coming over here and how I felt about training you and all that. And he was like, This guy is gonna make it, he's gonna do big, he's he's got his head on his shoulders. Hal, do everything you can to help him. And I said, just send him over and we'll take care of him. We'll take we'll take good care of him. And I'll show him every little thing I do. Um whether it was walking through the lot, even how I presentation on how I build a shed for a customer, to even after the shed was sold, and how I showed him on my book how I logged everything down to keep track of everything. Just threw everything at you, my man, to help you out.

Peter Miller 20:16

So absolutely, and I can't say thank you enough for that. Um do appreciate that. Uh one of the things I did have a question on is the you know, you started in around 2010 in

Social Media Presence And Personal Branding

Peter Miller 20:30

in shed sales, and uh I'm curious. I think you had said you had done sales in another industry before that. What how long were you in sales before that and what did you do, and how similar did those tie together with the shed industry?

Hal Hatcher 20:46

My actual mentor was Doug Hensley. Um Doug Hensley was in the furniture business. I was a 15-year-old kid who thought he knew everything in the world, but I knew nothing. And he saw a diamond in a rough. He really did. He he he took me in, um he did an interview with me, and put me on the delivery truck. That was my starting out point. And my job was to know the product. He would always quiz me who was the manufacturer of that product, what kind of handles did they use on those drawers, what kind of braces did they put on the back of the mirror? Everything about that furniture he would quiz me on. And it didn't matter, he would call me at the house. He would pick the phone up and call me at nine o'clock at night and say, Hey, how, when you deliver that furniture, the brown one that's in the back on the back corner, and I'd have to sit there and remember, okay. You know, and but he would drill and stay with it all the way through. And about six months. To eight months had gone by and he handed me the keys to the store. And he said to me, This is for a Sunday only. I'm gonna open on Sundays, it's from noon to five, and you're in charge of the store. Man, my heart

Training With Notebooks, Notes, And Process

Hal Hatcher 22:16

was up to my throat. I was excited, I was pumped. So I had a customer come in right around three-ish, and I sold them a twin-size bed. My first sale that I've ever made is a twin-size bed, it was for $89. Now, the point of me telling you about what Doug did about wanting to know about all the procedures and how furniture was made. When I called him and said, hey, I made that sale, he says I'll be there in 10 minutes. And I was excited, but knowing what I know now, I know something was wrong. So when he got to the store, he looked at the sales order, he shook his head up and down at me. Okay, all right. And he made a sale, okay. He says, follow me. So I said, All right, and we went to the back where the beds were lined up, and there's prices above each bed from a twin, full queen king.

Peter Miller 23:13

Yeah.

Hal Hatcher 23:13

He says, Which bed did you sell? Showed him the bed. He said, Okay. He says, What's that sale sign say? I said, It says $89. He goes, read right next to it. He says, $89 each piece. Sold his bed for $89. Oh my god. He goes, you read it, right? And I said, yes, sir. And he goes, you won't make that mistake again, right? I said, no, sir. He said, lesson learned, I'll eat that $89. That was a really good uh that taught me right there. Yeah, you know, pay, pay attention to everything. Detail. Details, details, detail.

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Peter Miller 25:58

And you know, I think about that. We were we had uh another podcast we were on just uh yesterday, and we were talking about leadership. And you know, as a business owner now and having shed lots and employees that are are working for me, I want to make sure that I provide that leadership. And I think about those different things. And it I guess it strikes me a little bit different um is how as a leader, you know, you take a sales position and you're working uh in your business and you're selling, your main focus is selling, and then you get transitioned into that next step up of where you have more people relying on you in the sales side of things. And so I would say it's a big step to jump from there, but the information that I learned in the sales side of I guess reading and understanding people from different points of view and how they're looking at different things, I want to make sure, and this is just a self-critique, I guess, that I'm leading properly uh those that rely so much on me. Uh and it goes back to mentorship, it goes back to you know having the right people around you. And um that's why I'm really excited too about like Shed Geek Consulting, where we have the opportunity to be able to consult those. And I'm not saying I have everything figured out. I know I don't, but what I can do is I can present you with the information that I do know, and I know that the rest of the team, um, these guys are have got a great opportunity, and I am thankful, so very thankful for those that invested in me, and I want to invest back into those that are around me.

Shannon 27:47

Well, it's come full circle for you guys here today, talking about whenever you started and how was mentoring you, and he talks about how he had a mentor, and I promise his mentor had a mentor, and that's what we do, and and for you to be that to somebody else, that's the opportunity that exists as the as the you know everything unwinds here. You get an opportunity to teach those that you've uh things that you've learned. And I listened to stories even before you guys got started here, uh, that you were discussing. And those are the always say the best podcast are the ones you never hear. Uh once it gets recorded, it's it it almost feels formal, but natural conversation is the things I hope to capture uh best. And you were talking while we were going to lunch, and how was here waiting on us and we got back and we were talking about hanging a sign on the door. One of the first things he talked about. You know, hang a sign on the door, tell them you're gone to lunch.

Peter Miller 28:42

But have a time that you're gonna be back. Don't just say be back. That is one thing. I don't like leaving a door or like leaving for lunch, but I know that there's sometimes well, if you're if you're not busy and you want to get busy, put a sign that you're back to lunch and you'll have five people.

Shannon 28:57

Give them a reason to come back.

Peter Miller 28:59

Right. Well, that was the we were talking about that earlier, and that was something I learned from Hal as well. And that I guess this is what you would say the tips and tricks is somebody had come to the lot while we were gone, and I'll just let you explain kind of what you would do there.

Hal Hatcher 29:14

Well, what I would do is um if I had to leave the lot, I would always always make sure the number was clear so they can see it and my name, and tell them that I, hey, I'll be back in 30 minutes or 2 30 or 3 o'clock, whatever it was. Um if I missed you, call me, and I promise you I'm gonna give you a 5% discount. Um, I will take very good care of you. Um normally

Leadership, Mentorship, And Consulting

Hal Hatcher 29:40

I was only gone for 20 or 30 minutes, um whether it was to the bank or just to go grab a sandwich or anything like that. But um, and you know, it's not necessarily sometimes they would wait in the parking lot and I came back, or you know, by the end of the day, I get a phone call and say, Hey, I was there around lunchtime, you weren't there, I was on lunch too, and I wanted to come by. Uh, will you still honor your five percent? I said, You come by whenever you're ready, and I promise you I will I will honor that. Just give me your name and number. That way I know who I talk to. Right. And and that way when they got here and they said, Hey, um Joe Doe and here I am, and I was like, Yeah, we talked, and that's how I that's how and I documented everything.

Peter Miller 30:26

Right.

Hal Hatcher 30:26

Everything was there was always a notepad on my desk of names and numbers.

Peter Miller 30:31

Yes.

Hal Hatcher 30:32

So it's very important to remember that who you talk to.

Peter Miller 30:35

And that was that was one of the things that between you and Alex uh who had taught me is you know, this is before CRMs and and computers like you, we didn't have 3D configurators like we do. And most of most shed lots have a 3D configurator. You're designing something, flipping it around, showing the customer. But this was this is how I was taught. You had a a regular notebook that you could, a spiral bell notebook. You would take the top half, you would put the customer's name first off, you find out the name, you write down the phone number, and then you would start your process of maybe if you've been out on a lot showing them the different sheds or different things, you're finding out information as you're walking down the shed lot. You're okay, the you know, maybe they're newly married and they just moved in and they need to put all their stuff in a shed. Okay, you're building that relationship with that person and you're you're gathering all this information and using it to help you sell that shed because you're building the relationship, you're making sure that they're getting the correct thing, because we never wanted to push anybody into something they didn't want. But um, building that relationship, we'd go back into the shed lot. Uh, I you used a word earlier, you said if they were agreeing with you, it was your war room whenever you walked back into the shed lot.

Hal Hatcher 31:59

Right. And and it's very important to know uh because I know some salespeople they get a little pushy and they get a little, they'll push on certain things. And if the customer's not biting on it, stop.

Peter Miller 32:14

Yeah.

Hal Hatcher 32:15

Listen. And listen to what they're saying to you. And if you do that, yeah, maybe it's not a shed on the lot, but it's one that you can build. That's what you're building. You're building your client list.

Lunch Sign Tactics And Follow-Up Offers

Hal Hatcher 32:30

It's nice to have, you know, I had 45 sheds on my lot. It was great if I could sold all 45 in one day, but that's not reality. You can't have every size, every color, every door, every way that somebody wants.

Peter Miller 32:42

Right.

Hal Hatcher 32:43

So, also to just to make a little bit um finer detail on your book, if you put the date at the top, and when you draw all it out, and the customer is just not ready to buy at that moment, they whip out their cell phone and take a picture of it. And I always put my card down at the bottom, so they have my name, my number on a photograph instead of handing them a card. And that card usually winds up in my parking lot because I'm picking it up off the floor.

Peter Miller 33:14

Yeah.

Hal Hatcher 33:14

So they they have that, you know. So, and you'd be surprised, they'll be calling you right back within a day or two. Hey, you're gonna be there, you're not out to lunch. No, you don't get an extra five percent discount. Come on in. So they're double dipping or trying to. Trying to. Yeah.

Peter Miller 33:32

No, I I you say that, and I I do remember that that was that was one of the things that you had had talked about was putting that that card on the on there to get the picture of. You know, it's kind of interesting. You go back, what has it been, 10, 11 years now? Well, more than that, like 13, close to 13 years. And uh some of the stuff it just clicks again as you're sitting there and rehashing it. And that's what I like about the podcast and listening to the different people's stories and talking because we can relate so much in this shed industry. We're we you know uh what is the main thing that you're oh, I'll be back. Well, how many times have you heard that? And I guess that would be a great you know point to just ask you. You know, you had so many customers and they said, I'll be back. What was your process and what would you do with that kind of a customer? What what was your uh I guess your process after that?

Hal Hatcher 34:28

Well, the well back from the old school part of it, the process was once it was written up. If I was building it, now going back now, because we didn't have all the technology that you described a little while ago, everything was done through a fax machine. And at the plant where they process and build the buildings at, they might get five, six, seven, ten orders in one time on the fax machine, and it was guaranteed it was getting mixed up with somebody else. So my

Old School To New School: From Fax To CRM

Hal Hatcher 35:05

my point was is back to the old school was follow up. You gotta follow up on everything. Whoever you designate to call, make sure, hey, is this door two foot off the corner like I described in my paperwork? Is it the right color? Is it the right size? Just all the little details. Because that's what the customer was telling me they wanted. So, and they're looking for that when the shed arrives to their house as a you know as a finished product.

Peter Miller 35:34

Right. So, so when you would have a customer come in, and and I know we would have that process, we would go out, and this was kind of that sales cycle that we would go through, starting with them walking in the door, greeting them, maybe even on the lot, depending on where where that was, if you had a customer already, showing them the product, showing them different sizes, listening to their needs, filling, you know, filling all the in the blanks basically at that point. You got them working around the circle and you're doing that assumptive, you know, they're getting yes, yes, yes, all the way around to the point where they sit down in your office and you draw it out and you've shown it on their yard. They've they're starting to get ownership in their mind of where this is going. You ask them, hey, here's the street where you said you lived, here's the house, where in this backyard? You turn the notebook around and you hand them the pen. Say, where is it that is exactly that you want the shed to be? And they draw the little square in the corner where it is, and all right, where's the doors going to be on this side? And you're doing that, and they've gotten to that point, and let's just say the wife is over there and she's not having any of this.

Hal Hatcher 36:44

Been there.

Peter Miller 36:45

And you get to that point, and you know, you assume that close, all right. So um we have this. Are you paying with cash, check, or card? And they say, Well, I just want to think about, you know, I want to think about it. That's the wife gives the little nudge to the husband, and I'm throwing the wife under the buttons. Let's switch this around. The wife's all on board, and the husband's kind of like, well, I'm, you know, just kind of looking around and whatever. What was I know the follow-up comes on that, but what was how did you overcome that if you if you could get that sale closed?

Hal Hatcher 37:18

Well, to overcome your obstacles, first remember, you gotta listen to overcome them. And to take your scenario, just for argument's sake, the wife was not on board, the husband's all ready, he's all psyched, and he's ready to do this. My overcome was guys don't care about colors. I would turn to the wife and go, what would look really good sitting in your backyard? Because you're gonna be looking out your kitchen window and at this thing, you know. Sometimes it might not be colors, maybe it's the garage door, you know, they don't want to look at a garage door or some type of feature that's on the building. Maybe she would prefer to have two windows. And I was telling the guy, hey, you know, if you put a couple of window boxes on there and put some flowers on it, it would look really nice, you know. And then if you got her to lower her shoulders down, or him, either way, um then you knew you had something going. Now,

Handling The “We’ll Be Back” Objection

Hal Hatcher 38:17

sometimes, sometimes it might not be the structure. Maybe the wife is in charge of the financial part of it, you know, and now she's really not happy about spending X amount. Okay. Um, you know, at that moment I might look side to side and go, hey, listen, I was out to lunch and I usually leave a little note on the door. Um, but you're here. If I took five percent off right now, would you would you go ahead and buy it? And look at me and go, yeah, let's do it. Or they might I'd say, hey, listen, you two need to talk. Because I had a small office. I'll step out the door. I don't smoke, but I'll pretend I smoke. You guys can talk. I'll come back in, just tell me when you're ready. And I'd come back in, and they would say, 90% of the time, let's do the deal. How much down? You know? Or they might say, give me a day or two. That's when you have your notebook right on your side. Everything's drawn out, everything's itemized, everything is right there, black and white. You even have the colors down, and you give them a day or two. And then you call them up and say, Listen, I'm just following up, just want to see before that, you don't say it out loud, but before that fire goes out, and you want to see if you can get them sparked and get them ready. He might have gone home and measured for all you know. You know, he's thinking, how can I get this in my yard? What can I convince my wife?

Peter Miller 39:44

You know, so he wants his man cave. He wants his man cave.

Hal Hatcher 39:49

So that's a few of the traits that I learned over the years.

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Hal Hatcher 42:08

Yes, that is 100% will express themselves, whether it's gestures with hands, whether they'll just sit there real quiet, roll their eyes, uh even get up and stop. She's tapping her foot at the door. You know, that's it, that's happened. It does happen. Um it's very important. Just get basic information. You don't have to push. Because if you're pushing, you guarantee you'll never get a you they won't even answer the phone. Just say, if there's anything I can do help facilitate and get you to get the shed, let me know. Maybe it was a concern about the size, you know, you know, how much stuff, because I've always tell people when they come in, I haven't totally clue as on what size you need. I don't know how much stuff you have. You know that. And how much room you have on the lot. I can help you face the doors, I can help you tell you what if you have a Ryan Lawnmower, a swing door's not gonna work for you unless you have doubles. You know, so things like that I can help you with. The other part you have I'm trying to get that, draw that information out of you. And sometimes that can be difficult because they don't know.

Peter Miller 43:27

Right.

Hal Hatcher 43:27

They can say, Oh, I got a garage, or I got two-garage, or I got I got a back bedroom, or I just got stuff laying in my yard. Just want to clean it up, make it look good. Right, right, right.

Peter Miller 43:38

Yeah, I I've ex you know, gone through that aspect of it, and I would say, you know, listening, like you said, listening to that customer and finding out what their pain points are. And then I say we're not, you know, yeah, we're a shed lot, we sell sheds, but we're problem solvers. You know, that's right. They're coming here with a problem and we want to be able to solve it. And it's just happens to be storage. If that's maybe a shed, maybe it's a building. Maybe it's just a car port for or RV port if they have an R V. Um and I I've always said this too, like when they walk through that door, they're looking at the person sitting in that chair or standing in that doorway as they should be an expert. And I think that goes back to product knowledge and understanding. And I think that was interesting that the I think you said Doug, was it Doug Henley or was it?

Hal Hatcher 44:28

Doug Henley, yeah, at the furniture store.

Peter Miller 44:30

Yeah, he was he was one to quiz you on that and find out, you know, that you knew what you were talking about. Uh saying uh and um and I'm not sure doesn't build any confidence that you know what you're talking about. Uh you don't want to be a no know it all, but you also want to be professional at it.

Hal Hatcher 44:50

That is correct. You gotta be a professional. And one of his other sayings was um if you can't change the person, uh change the job. So you know you the job has to fit the person. And you can uh you can tell if you give somebody just a little bit of a leeway, let them run with it a little bit, see where they're going, their thought process, their mind, how they're working, you can critique them and push them in the right way, or maybe they're just not the right person. You know, hey, maybe you're better on a delivery truck, or maybe you're better over here, or you know, and push them away from that aspect and find somebody who can do that.

Peter Miller 45:29

Right.

Shannon 45:30

I love the body language aspect that you guys were talking about because I like to use the phrase that words are the best thing we've found to communicate, and words just don't always get the job done. Uh body language is another, you know, you're using all the senses that you have sight, sound, you know, all of them to try and sell. And like body language is a huge indicator of what's happening. Uh nodding your head, holding your arms, leaning forward, leaning back, like trying to take all of the um uh etiquette that somebody is giving you through their body language gives you information on which direction to start to steer the conversation. Oh, they're not liking this at all. Uh I'm going to go a different route. Um, I remember getting sold uh, you know, a car, and the car salesman really stuck with me because like we went in

Referrals, Product Knowledge, And Upsells

Shannon 46:29

and we were like young and we had a budget, and that was it. And that's what we were gonna spend, and we weren't gonna spend no more, you know, and obviously that you know want to upsell, right, you know, and I think this was literally $15 more per month than what we said we could afford. And it's kind of like, well, if you can afford this, go just a little over to get you, you know, you're almost uncomfortable. And we just stuck with it. And I never will forget we really wanted this one car. And we were just struggling to say, can we can we afford it? Can we do it? He said, let me give you, let me give you a look at this other car. I think this is gonna fit what you guys are looking for. And it really did. It was perfect. It saved us money, saved us more than the $15. It actually came in under budget, and he worked really hard to make sure we got what we needed. He did not focus on just trying to move us into a you know, a quick, easy paycheck. Uh, he just really focused on like we were saying, hey, we're extremely budget cautious. Right. That's just where we were. Using all of the information people are giving you. I mean, obviously, smiling when I see the more expensive car, probably like it better, has better features, this, that, and another. You know, frowning as you realize that I have to take not the one I want, but the one I need. And so then he like focused on the features and benefits. I remember he used to send us a card, you know, like he did all the things that you know that was that was right. And uh you just learn to appreciate that. Matter of fact, you'll tell other people about that, and referrals are the hottest source of another sale.

Hal Hatcher 48:02

Yes, exactly. Right. Yeah, referrals is big time. That's that was one of my key factors um was referrals because we did very little advertising. But I'd always get somebody, hey, John Little just came and bought a shed two months ago from me, and he recommended, I saw the shed, and you know, which one did he get? You know, and that was always a great icebreaker. Always. I enjoy listening to people who come back and said, Hey, uh, you know, that guy really loves his shed, and you know, it makes a world of difference.

Peter Miller 48:36

They were they were your advertisement for you. Exactly.

Hal Hatcher 48:38

And it and it made me feel good inside knowing that somebody came back and said, Hey, this guy really liked your shed, he liked you, and you're great spot on. You didn't tell him what he needed, I would explain to him by giving example. Most customers that were looking at, most guys were looking at it, and they see a shed with a 48-inch swing door. And I'd always ask, Well, what's the biggest thing going through this door? And if they said a Ryan Limor, say, Listen, I'll sell whatever you want. It doesn't bother me. But you know what? How big is that lawnmower? If it's a 48-inch, you're not going through a 46-inch door.

Peter Miller 49:20

Right.

Hal Hatcher 49:21

Or here's the other thing I like to say that door has a threshold. And the weight of a man and that mower is eventually beat that threshold to death. You know what? For a couple hundred dollar difference here, you know, you can get a five-foot roll-up door. Now your floor's been beefed up. You got um, you know, maybe possibly a diamond play or so, you know, whatever else is the floor of the shed comes with, that is your selling point that you show them, and if you make sense to the person, right? That person will agree with you and go, you know, you're exactly right. Let me let me let's get the roll-up door. And that's how, you know, just back to that listening aspect.

Shannon 50:09

You're selling value, you're not even selling the shed. Not even selling. When you start selling the value, it's the same as the conversation we were having the other day about, well, did you hear about this? You know, this process costs, you know, $2,000 a month or $20,000 a month or whatever it is. No one's afraid to spend $2,000 a month if the ROI is there.

Peter Miller 50:27

Right.

Shannon 50:27

If it's if it's gonna come back, $20,000 a month is like, you know, uh, like I can't afford that. But if you're gonna sell $40,000 a month, you'll spend $20,000 every day. It really comes down to like showing people the value and selling the

Value Over Price: Protecting Investments

Shannon 50:42

value and not selling the actual shed or the actual carport. It's like, what am I selling you that's helping solve your problem? Because they're not thinking like everyone's thinking price conscious. I'm getting ready to write my newest uh SBJ column. Yes, and one thing I put in there is like no one ever says give me less quality, people always say give me less price. You'll never have somebody come back and say, I would like for you to take some of the stuff off, but I'd still like to pay full price for that. You know, they want they want uh, you know, like yeah, I keep everything on there, but I would like to pay less because people are always thinking first. Uh so you've got to overcome the obstacle first of getting them out of their head about cost. And like the way to do that is to focus on the value. And maybe the value might not be in the shed itself specifically, but this problem it's gonna solve is you know, the words is it it's expensive, always get me. You know, I don't know if I can uh afford that because it's expensive. And I always like to say compared to what? Compared to what helps me get an understanding of what you're looking at. So it's expensive compared to what. What are you putting, what are you putting in it? Putting in my new Harley. Is your Harley out in the weather right now? It is, and I'm like, sounds more expensive to not have a shed or to not have a cover for it, whether it's a shed or not, and I can sell it to you. It sounds like you need to get that thing indoors so the rain don't mess with it, or your mower's sitting out there, or whatever it is that they're I'm trying to protect old photos because uh, you know, I just use it. Where are my Christmas ornaments? Well, you can get rid of all of them and buy them back next year, I suppose. Uh, you know, but like you know, what's more what makes more sense? I don't want you to make a bad financial decision. I want you to make a good financial decision.

Peter Miller 52:24

Right. In essence, you're consulting with them.

Shannon 52:28

It's all we really do, it feels like, you know, you're walking them through the process. You're just there to aid in what uh the solution is for their problem.

Hal Hatcher 52:37

That worked really good for covers for uh boats. You know, the boats are expensive. The happiest two days you have at the boat is the day you bought it and the day you sell it. But in between those days, you know, the it's out in the weather and the sun's beating on it. Uh now all the padding and all the felt and all that goes bad. Your electronic seat guns, electronics, you know. So you bought a cover for it, you protected it, you're protecting your investment that you purchased.

Shannon 53:06

I always heard people say uh boat stands for bust out another thousand.

Peter Miller 53:12

Well, we're saying we're saying things. My dad always said boat was a hole in the water you threw money into. Yeah.

Shannon 53:18

Well, it uh it is one of those things where water does more damage to mechanical things than just about anything.

Peter Miller 53:28

Right.

Shannon 53:28

You know, that over time water over time, you know, cuts through rock. Like I mean, water over time does a lot of damage to grease and fittings and uh you know things like that. So yeah, you've gotta you gotta and then like you the sun beating down on your hey, there's we were waiting for a train all day and we finally got the one. Um uh but yeah, it just uh protecting your investment. The sun's doing its damage, right? The water's doing its damage, like you know what expensive compared to what? Not to be a bad salesperson, a pushy salesperson, or a smart elect, but to just be like, well, help me understand what it's expensive compared to what because it sounds like you're budget conscious and that's fine. Let's get you in a uh a solution that's budget friendly, then right.

Hal Hatcher 54:16

It's gonna meet the gold of taking care of your boat or your boat motorcycle, whatever it is you got.

Peter Miller 54:21

So I I guess I would have a question. I know we're running on time here pretty close, but is

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Peter Miller 54:27

there is there anything all right, I know you had the opportunity to mentor me, but if you were sitting there and facing the shed industry and there's somebody out there new into it or maybe been there a while, what would be one or two things that you would say are the most important for them to make sure that they're doing, or if they haven't done it, to start doing it?

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Hal Hatcher 55:56

Wow, put on the smile. Let's see it. It's okay.

Shannon 56:00

He's gonna call this one in. Let me get back to the couple. Let me get back to you.

Hal Hatcher 56:06

I'll get back to you on that. Don't think you know everything. Just learn your product. Just like we said before, just listen to your customer. Um don't get ahead of yourself. Just stay true to yourself. And everything else will work out just fine. Is really what I can say. And if you say you're gonna do something,

Final Advice: Listen, Promise, Follow Through

Hal Hatcher 56:34

do it. There's nothing worse in the world if you tell somebody something and they come back and say, hey, what happened? And you didn't follow up to it. That will kill more sales, that will not get the word of mouth out. In fact, it will be the opposite effect. It will bad mouth out. You don't want that. If you say something, follow it. That's true. Even to the veterans. Veterans get complacent sometimes or get boxed into their own world and forget because it gets to be the reputa the reputation stays the same and they don't get out of their comfort. One of the big things I like to do as far as not ever showing pressure on anybody, yes, I want to make a sale, a salesman, okay? I want to make the sale, okay? I think of it, how do how do I want that salesman to treat me? So I would always go out if there was somebody on the property, I walk by them, say, hey guys, I'll be with you in just a minute. I had to do one thing for a customer, which is you know, whatever. And I go over to the shed, do whatever, come back and say, Hey, my name's Hal. Did you have any questions, you know, any concerns? How can I help you? And let them walk into it a little bit. And sometimes I'd step back and go, you know, there's a shed that you described. If you want to go take a look, I gotta go make a quick phone call to somebody, I'll be right back. And I would walk up to the door, walk inside, look out the window now, but they can't see me. You know, wait a few seconds, then I walk back out there, you know. Hey, I'm back, guys, what'd you think? You know, and show enthusiasm. If you just walk out there and go, huh, you know, yeah, we got eight by eights over here. They're gonna get in their car and never get into your office. Yeah. So, selling with purpose there. Selling with purpose, selling with stride, be proud and just take initiative on it, and everything else will be good.

Shannon 58:41

Good advice. I can see why this has come full circle for you, not only in your consultation effort, but in making sales simple, the shed sells summit, you know, all the shed lots that shed lots that you own and like just the impact that you've begun to have on the industries. You've you know been hungry to grow and learn, and you see where the mentorship comes from, and then you see it come full circle. And it's really the historical aspect of it is like super important because like it shows you why. It shows your why behind what you're doing. From the summit to uh to training to consultation, whatever it is, it shows the uh the why. So then if you know what if people question like your motive, right? It's really easy to understand and understand like the uh historical facts as to how you got here, why you got here, who helped get you here. And like uh, I think you know, their success, the success of those before them, and the success of you, and those that that you want to be uh successful for and help be successful. So, we we'll try to use successful one more time in that sentence. But uh no, I think it's just I think it's great. It's really nice to meet you and like I've heard about you obviously from Peter and uh just uh can't say thank you enough because I might have got in, I don't know, 12 years or so ago. But like I always like to tell people who've been in it uh before us, like you got us here, you gave us an opportunity to get here where we are. So we always say thank you

Gratitude, Upcoming Visits, And Closing

Shannon 1:00:10

for those that have been around for a long time educating and um uh just doing what they do, not knowing that that was gonna land them on a podcast one day.

Hal Hatcher 1:00:19

We never thought that. But I do appreciate that. Thank you very much.

Peter Miller 1:00:24

Well then, um I I guess with that we'll close out.

Shannon 1:00:28

We'll wrap it up. I tell you what, it's been fun. It's been a fun couple of days. Uh always nice seeing you, and we talk a lot as it is, but to see you know each other in person and spend some time together and be here in Florida. You've been so kind and gracious to us and uh looking forward to talking to a couple other people.

Peter Miller 1:00:45

Yeah.

Shannon 1:00:46

Uh see Mr. Mosier tomorrow. We're right here in Lakeland, so it'd be or close to, so it'd be excellent to uh talk with him and then uh go up and see Nelson's buildings, my uh buddies, Tristan, and his crew over there. It's been probably three or four years since we've been down there. So excited to see what they're up to. And uh uh thank you guys for listening. It means some uh more than anything to us that you'd take the time out of your day uh to listen to us as if we have something to say. So we try to have guests on, like Hal and others that you uh listen to, to be able to like share in their good fortune and uh entertainment value for you and really just uh give you something while you're driving down the road or sitting in your office where you don't feel so alone uh and you feel connected to the industry in that way.

Peter Miller 1:01:30

That's right.

Shannon 1:01:31

So thank you, Hal.

Hal Hatcher 1:01:33

Thank you guys, thank you, and I hope to uh come back again one day.

Outro 1:01:35

Yeah, sounds great. Thanks again, Shed Pro for being the Shed Geeks studio sponsor. If you need any more information about ShedPro or about Shed Geek, just reach out. You can reach us by email at info@shed geek.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.