26 - The $34,000 Decision That Changed My Business | Sam DeMaio

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Hey everyone, I am Alan Langer. That is Sam DeMo. And this is Selling in the Dwelling, the go-to podcast for the in-home sales and remodeling world. And I'm really excited to have Sam with me today as we're moving along with one great guest after another. And Sam's joining us from Show K Remodels down in Turnersville, New Jersey, and we're going to talk all about how to run a successful remodeling business and a little bit about Sam's journey, how we got there. But before we get to Sam, two quick housekeeping notes. The podcast website is sellinginthedwelling.com. And click on the Ask Alan button. Send me a question if I read your question on the air, like we have from George later on. You're going to get a free Selling in the Dwelling t-shirt. And also don't forget my title sponsor is Paradigm Vendo, the best sales software you can find in the industry. Well, let's get right into this. Sam DeMeyo, thanks for joining me today. How are you, my friend? Great, Alan. How are you? I am good. So I want to tell you how I found you. I found you because you're noisy on social media. I can't put it in. You are all over the place. I see you. You're you can't help but stop on your post because they've got action. You're moving around, you're walking, you're doing stuff, and you're fun to listen to. You you kind of just not only talk about remodeling, but you talk about you kind of give advice on life and leadership and all kinds of stuff. So I said, I gotta have this guy on my podcast. And and and you finally said yes. So I'm glad you're here. So for folks who don't know you, so you own Showcase Remodel. You've you've had it now for I guess how many years have you had it? Uh 20, a little over 23 years. 23 years, and you started on your own, right? But now you have over 75 employees? Yes. So take us through that journey. Like what made you start? Like what were you doing prior? What made you start it? And then how did you grow it to such a successful company?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Okay, yeah. So I'll give you the kind of summarized down version. Yeah, sure. No problem. 17, I joined the military. So my junior year of high school, I went to uh boot camp, went to Fort Ox, Kentucky. And then I came out, finished my senior year of uh Paul VI, nice Taffic High School in Addenfield, New Jersey. And then uh I ended up right in uh probably the number one worst city in the uh the country, Camden. I ended up in Camden County jail. So uh at 19 years old, I was in Camden County jail, but uh I wasn't a criminal, I was a correction of son.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

So I was just gonna say I didn't see that in your bio.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

And then uh at 19 also, um, you know, growing up in an Italian family, you learn accountability and responsibility really fast. I bought my first uh house, which I was a duplex. I saved up my money, you know, from you know real young, uh 15, started working and trying to do that hustle, bustle, learn things on my own, and uh kind of took that into uh the workforce. Bought the first house I lived in one side, I ran out the other side, my mortgage was $850, rented the top unit out at that time for $750. So I lived for $100 a month. Yeah, fast forward that I started my my construction company at 22. And then what I did there is I did a lot of insurance type work, kind of fell into that and learned everything about insurance. I learned, you know, then you know, later on I became a police officer as that was going on. And I learned I wanted to do something that could be a little more, you know, a little faster with uh some of the homeowners. You're kind of, you know, and they have a fire or or flood damage. You're kind of married to them for for quite some time. And that's why I opened originally showcase flooring. So uh I would sell something, kind of be in and out in a day, two days, something like that. And uh, you know, when I left the police department because I switched over five years at the jail, five years at the police, I was making the same money, you know, my little side hustle was making the same money as me, as the police officer. And I figured, you know what? Yeah, I seen the end end of the police journey. And again, and again, I have a lot of respect for law enforcement, a lot of respect for military members. And uh I wanted to be able to grow, you know, myself, my personal brand, and uh kind of jump right into it. I I didn't really know what I was doing. I kind of learned as I go and used my background and go military to learn that leadership. And uh again, I did everything. I wore all the hats from admin to the leadership, installation, sales. I did it all. And then my once I hired my first helper, kind of built like a culture around us and what we do and how we do it. Those people are still with me now. All their family works with me. Uh we're a nice small, I say still small family-owned company uh with great culture and great values. So I kind of grew that into what it is today.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

That's tremendous. That really is. And and you know, I always start podcasts with a few questions written down, and I never really get to most of them because we just start talking. And then you just said something that is making me ask this next question. I had Chris Masterson on, uh his podcast dropped. He's probably gonna be, he probably dropped about four weeks before yours, but Chris was a former police officer and now he's the director of sales at Redwood Exteriors, and he told me a lot of his training and leadership and how to and how to run teams came from his police training. Would you would you say that you incorporated your military background and your police training into how you started that company and how to learn to become a leader?

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Great question. And the answer is absolutely yes. Okay. I didn't know it at the time, but as I started to grow the company and start to scale the company, which I'll talk about that in a second. But I believe that, you know, uh when you're in the military, everything that you do has a TM. So any piece of equipment has a TM, which is a technical manual. So if you're operating, say a Humvee or M3 Bradley, that's why I drove M3 Bradley tank, you basically get a TM. Before you drive that thing, you do a PCI pre-combat inspection. Kind of like you get your van now, same thing. So sometimes when I talk to some of the new employees that were uh civilians, not so much military, like, what is he talking about? PCI. You know, before you go there, what can go wrong? Check yourself, check your buddy, check their battle buddy, make sure he has all his tools with him, make sure you have everything you have on him, and take that in the business, and it really, really helps because I kind of look for everything before it happens.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

And that's a great, that's a great analogy or metaphor for sales as well. Like a sales appointment is the same thing. You so many reps don't check anything, they don't prepare themselves for the sale, they just pull up, they prejudge it, they walk in and they're killing themselves before this the appointment even starts. And you're you sound like it's all about preparation for you. Is that how you kind of started to run your company and and and started to see the success you were having? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Resource, resource, resource, research, research, research. You know, before I go to an appointment, I kind of understand what area they live in, who they are. There's so many things that are uh surface level now to be able to search, uh search social media, see what type of interests they're in, see what kind of customer they are, see what kind of person they are before you even get to the house. So I pretty much know a decent amount about a person before I get there. And then when I get there, it's really easy to be able to spark a conversation, understand their needs a lot faster, and then get down to the bottom line, which how do I solve that problem to make that sound?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

And that's just effort, really. I mean, I always say there's two things that you're in control of in your life, your attitude and your effort. And that's just effort. That's just like, I'm gonna make this situation as advantageous for me to help this customer as I can, rather than saying, all right, let me just, you know, let me pull up here and see if I can make some commission because that's that that's the wrong mindset to have in sales, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

And and I have to agree again there as well. I was talking to a customer earlier today. Similar situation where he's like, I really didn't feel, you know, pressured at all. I felt like everything that, you know, we've talked about you, we worked into, and you made my dream come true. So really couldn't ask for more. And again, the biggest thing is, you know, referral. That that's the way we've been growing our business.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

You had a customer actually said you made my dream come true. That's that's pretty special right there. That really is.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

And again, it's not just me, though. I want to say that. Um people saying me because I'm the owner. You know, my team is really special. I have a bunch of unicorns, and I could say that because these guys and gals really go the extra mile. They really put the time in. Uh, one so much, you know, sometimes he's staying as late as I am, and they're like, hey, you you gotta go home. I'm telling him, it's time to go home, but you know, he'll make an extra money. It is what it is. He has that heart, he has that mindset, he has the right culture, and that's how I build my business at least today.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

So let's talk about culture. I uh yeah, I've watched many of your videos, and one of them I remember you talking about culture and how you know your employees, it's family-owned, you have that family-owned uh feel to the company, and you say that everyone seems like they really enjoy being at work. How do you build that kind of culture, especially when you started? You're 22 years old. I mean, what do you you know, you you how do you know that stuff? Was this just trial and error for you, or like was there some sort of values that you had instilled that you knew you had to do to incorporate a good culture?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

You know, I think the with the military, you know, you stand behind, you know, the United States of America, you stand behind the country. You take that into what you do every single day and really do it genuinely, and you do it with your heart and you really do the best job we possibly can. Again, nobody's perfect. We make mistakes every single day. But it's how you breathe down from those mistakes and take care of that customer, is what sets a winning company apart from a losing company and a company that is basically based off of numbers or spreadsheets. Uh, some of these PE companies are spreadsheet driven and not customer or employee driven. And that's where I feel like they fail and they fold, and we will stay in business for as long as I'm possibly around and therefore further.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

And you always have a smile on your face. That's why it's so, you know, it's refreshing to see, you know, you're just full full of energy. Uh your stuff is great. And I can just tell just by talking to you, watching your social media, and just by talking to you now, that you have a great culture. But was there something specific? Like when did you realize you're 22 years old, you're starting your own company? Did you say, oh, I gotta stop doing this and start doing this? Or was there anything that you read that put you on the right track, or did it just come come naturally to you as you went along?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

So a lot of leadership skills, obviously, military and police positions that I've held, going to church, you know, um trying to get around good people, right? Uh I think uh a changing factor in in my life that was able to help me scale reading, right? Uh, I read a lot of different books, Good the Great is phenomenal. Then I I think the the change in grace for me where I actually said, Hey, maybe I should hire, you know, a coach was um it's called Traction from Geno Wickman, uh POS. I started to institute that. Now look, I'm one of those people like, oh, I could tackle this myself, and I'm sure I could have. But it would have taken me years and years and years to do it. Uh I unfortunately I waited years and years and years to do to actually hire that coach and read that book. I wish I did it in the beginning because let me tell you, once I did that, you know, everybody, the accountability just changed the next level. Because I had a grade teen and we were in that 30, 35 range, and uh, you know, everyone had good culture and everyone wanted to help out, and everyone wanted to do everything. The problem was no one was accountable for anything. And then there was a mistake going on or something that didn't get done. Everyone was putting the finger at everybody else. So, you know, putting putting people in the positions, finding them, doing together as a team, not just me as a dictator saying you're doing this, you're doing that, you're doing that. You know, doing it together at the executive level uh was able to help me scout to where I'm at.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Amazing. When you said 30, 35, that's the meet the amount of people you had at that time, and now you're up to about 75. Awesome. Yes. So how many do you have a sales team? You have you have sales reps that are going out?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Yeah, so uh we have two full-time sales reps on the set on the showcase nomado's side, which is exterior division, you know, kitchens, bathrooms, all that fun stuff. And then I have three uh salesmen for just the uh we call it the one-day bath uh model, which is a bathroom done in as little as a day.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Yeah, absolutely. So let's let's stick for sales for a second, because this is selling in the dwelling. And I've seen some of your posts where you talk about sales, and the one thing you said, I I saw this post you did, and I actually, it's part of my training where you said when you get in the house and you don't say to the homeowner that we're the best, because everybody says the same thing. And that that's exactly right. That's not differentiating you saying we're the best. So, how do you approach you gotta you you have a sales team, let's say you gotta hire someone else. What are you asking them? What are you looking for in a salesperson? And what do you want them to do in the house in front of a homeowner? Mo most importantly.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

I'm gonna do, I'm gonna tell you two settings. I'm gonna tell you uh what I won't do, and I'm gonna tell you what I would do.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

And the only reason I say what I won't do is I've done it and I made mistakes. So I feel that hiring you know, eight players is definitely a home run, but I also feel that you if you hire an A-player salesman at one company that has different values and different models, and you bring them into like our company, it's just not gonna work. And I and I've done it. I brought in somebody high pay, high aggressive. It just wasn't us. So I think, you know, for me, I think having the core values that we have and being a being a good person at heart and being able to basically talk, you know, problem solve as best as you possibly can. I feel like, you know, someone like that that I can show them, hey, this is how we do things, this is why we do things, this is what we do to solve the prop customer's problem, this is how we build the rapport and the trust with the customer and our community. And I feel like once you have all those things nailed down, along with a good process of making the sale, as in steps. So building with the bathrooms, we have a step one through eight. And, you know, one of those things is skipped. We went right in there. No, we're not doing that. Like a seat. We're doing a seat. No, we're not doing a C. I wanted to say that. Everything is spelled out in detail. People feel comfortable with that right away. And again, I could take a new salesman on the one-day bathroom side or and basically take them within two weeks, have them be able to sell a product and uh turn a happy customer every single day.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

So in the hiring process, are you looking for something from a personality standpoint from these people? Because obviously, you know, you've got the reps, like you said, you get you get a rep who's used to doing stuff for 15 years. He's the top, he's she's the top rep at ABC Exteriors, but it's not the right fit for you. How do you how do you know that? Do you know that when you meet him, or is it a feeling you have, or do you ask specific questions?

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yeah, it's a great question. Again, I'm gonna tell you the the proper answer for that is uh I am the worst person to do the hiring.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

See, that's a great leader. You know what you can't do, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

I know my weaknesses, I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses. You know, my weakness is uh I always look at everyone and the good in everyone, and I say, Oh, he's gonna be great, he's gonna be this, he's gonna be this. I determined this, and then I guess I'm like, oh, I definitely made a mistake there. So um uh I hired my COO. My COO does all of the hiring. I'm definitely uh, you know, kind of barriered from that because uh I'm not the best person for. So don't include it in, it's key to it. It's definitely one of those things where hey, keep Sam away because I'll hire everybody.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Yeah. I'm gonna send my son to you, okay? How's that?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

There's no, let's go. I'll take it all. We'll make them with it.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Oh, yeah. So you said you were kind of doing insurance work at the beginning. How did you settle on the products that you're selling now? And then how did you get into because this one one-day bath stuff is not old. It's it's it's only the this phenomenon like everyone's doing one day bath, is probably what, maybe five years old at the most. But when this really started exploding, how'd you get into that and make those decisions to sell those products?

SPEAKER_01 15:41

All right, so quick question for that is uh I basically I do a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

And again, I I think I met Brian Gottlieb. I don't know, Brian. Oh yeah, no, I I I met Brian, I know him very well, yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah, so I basically was messing around on social media and uh someone I always again, I always see the positive, and and other contractors see less see the negative. So it was on a contractor site, and Brian had responded to somebody's comment uh or somebody's post about something, and uh he said about how he's doing 500 banthums a month, and he started going in detail about you know business building. It was a great, great comment. And somebody took it and said, Oh, you're a liar, you never did 500 bathrooms, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I wrote back, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I wrote back, hey, why would you take that as your only thing from that comment and not beat the rest of the cow back? Right. So exactly those type of people never get anywhere. They're always so negative, and they're always the can't people. I can't do that, I don't do that, I can't do it. And, you know, instead of saying you can't say, How can I? You know, that's the kind of mindset that I want, and that's the type of people I want to round me because, you know, once I wrote that, you know, Brian DM'd me and he said, Oh, he's I looked to your page, you know what do you do? You do a lot of really cool things, you know. You know, imagine if you nich niche down, niche down to level up and uh look, take a look at what I did, and I started asking about the bathrooms, and uh I kind of intrigued me and you know, I kind of had that going. And and you know, three and a half years later, uh here I am. I I started my own brand of uh bathroom products, uh Signature Reflections Bath, and I only sell to one person per geographic location, and uh, you know, I kind of sell in my little community, make my little community of people. And uh I kind of go through my journey of hey, this is how you do the marketing, this is how you do the sales, this is how you do the production, uh, and this is how you build a community of of customers that are happy to refer.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Wow, that's a great story. Yeah, Brian wrote wrote uh Beyond the Hammer, which is a great book. And um, yeah, he's a great guy, great guy. I'm actually trying to get him on the damn podcast, but he's so busy I can't I can't I can't lock him in. But anyway.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Oh, he's got his own jet, so he's flying around all over having fun. Yeah, exactly. Well deserving. He's worked hard. He's definitely worked hard.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

He definitely has. So let me back up for a second. So let there's nitty-gritty with owning a business, right? You you you there's the comment of you know, stop working in your business, start working on your business. Was there a time where you were like many contractors out there, like I'm working 90 hours a week, I never see my family, what I can't get ahead. Did you ever have that? And it and if you did, what was it that overcame? And if you didn't, what would you suggest for the for the for the many contractors that are still struggling with that daily grind of this business is running me rather than me running the business?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

So in the beginning I did everything. So again, it was one of those things I hustled from early morning uh to late night, and I did everything. Sales, install, all that. And that's you know, one of those things where I'm working in the business. Uh like when I hear a lot of people that that do it, you know, my way, it's very hard because you're coming in and you're doing everything, and it's really hard to break those old habits because you know it's so easy to do it yourself, so you think, versus being able to delegate things out and have them do that properly. Right. However, I think for work-life balance, you know, some people ask me to coach them for uh work-life balance, I told them I'm absolutely the wrong person for that. Because and again, it's wrong. I know it's wrong, but I I'm obsessed. So I so what I do is once I figure out how to fill that slot, delegate that piece out, now I'm trying to figure out what's another avenue I could bring in more money and have multiple streets of income coming in. Hence the reason why I have you know new construction houses that we build 30 houses plus a year. You know, plus hence the reason I'm gonna do it. Yeah, so I flipped property. I mean, my my my my way to wealth was hey, I flipped two properties, I buy one cash, I flipped two properties, I buy one cash. And I did that from in a great time where when I was a police officer, I would just buy rentals. But when I left, you know, at 20 years old, it was a great time because um, you know, house prices were really low, an all-time low for that era. And I was able to buy them very cheap. And I have no mortgages on most of them. I have over 50 properties, so I collect the rents. And uh those properties appreciated so much, you know, the the property that at that time I rented for $850,000 my first or $750, my first one. You know, that property now rents out for uh $18.50 a month. And um, you know, properties that I bought for $35,000 are now worth over $250,000. And I have 10 of those in one little area, and I actually rent them for $800 a month, and now they also rent for $1,800 a month. So, you know, doing that is one of those things where I just keep moving. So as far as on the business, in the business, you know, for me, I I never even thought of working on the business. I thought that it was way, way too far away until I started doing it, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

And then, you know, being able to scout and do it slowly is one of those things where we do. Now, I can tell you, um, I still jump back in it. Like I actually love it. I love being involved with sales, even though ChatCPT tells me, Sam, say out of the sales you want to grow. The worst thing you can do is do that. It's that word word. But uh, it's one of those things where I'm I'm guilty. I'm I'm you know, I'm definitely guilty of jumping back in. I actually have a lot of fun, even sometimes once in a while jumping in and doing some of the work. Uh which again is absolutely the wrong answer. But uh, for me, you know, it's whatever makes you happy. Money's not the only thing in life. Life is too short, so do what you like and do it well. So I think, you know, me working on the business at times and also in the business is kind of my model right now. Do I want to work on the business? Probably. I I think so. But uh right now I'm doing what I like to do.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Yeah, and I think you and I are cut from the same cloth because, you know, I I I mine is my business is very small, so I'm in and on the business all the time. But if I owned a home improvement company, I would be the same way. I'd be jumping in there every now and then and helping someone put a window in or something. Because not only would I enjoy it, but that garners a lot of respect from the people who report to you. Like you show up to an installation and you're helping a guy hump a bay window to a house or something like that, and you're the owner, that's that says a lot. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Hey dwellers, so your rep walks into a home and the homeowner is already sizing the Up before a single word about product or price or anything, they're deciding can I trust this person? And the tool your rep pulls out in that moment will have a lot to do with answering that question. That tool and our title sponsor for selling in the dwelling is Paradigm Vendo. That's P-A-R-A-D-I-G-M Vendo with a V, the in-home sales platform built exclusively for the remodeling industry, featuring real-time quoting direct from product manufacturers, dynamic presentations, e-signatures, even CRM integration. It's all on any device and it's all in one place. That's what makes this amazing. No more jumping around from one software platform to another. And no more messy paperwork, no outdated price seats, just a clean, professional experience that makes every rep look like the obvious choice. Visit paradigmbendo.com forward slash dwelling. That's P-A-R-A-D-I-G-M Vendo with a V dot com forward slash dwelling to turbocharge the experience your reps are giving in the house. Paradigm Bendo, sell smarter, close more. Hey sales professionals. Are you proud of your profession? Are you proud of being in sales? Well, you know what? You really should be, and it's time to start showing it. And that's why I created my new merchandise shop, the sevensecretshop.net. It's the the number sevensecretshop.net, and there you can find great hats, t-shirts, beanies, water bottles, phone covers, all kinds of really fun merchandise with great sayings like I love sales or sales rocks, or even for your kids, my dad is a sales rock star, my mom is a sales superstar. Visit the sevensecretshop.net with the number seven, and you can pick out anything you want to show your love of what you do for a living. The sevensecrets shop.net. Visit it today. So let's talk about I love I love to talk to people who have been in the business for so many years because times have changed so much from back in the 80s when Tom Hopkins was teaching us how to sell in the home and and and put the pen on the desk with the contract before you open your mouth, stuff like that way back in the day. To now, the the homeowner has completely changed. Tell me, in your opinion, what are the biggest differences you've seen in in homeowners when they're ready to do a home improvement project, even from like 10 years ago to today?

SPEAKER_01 24:22

So again, it goes back to uh the internet. The internet changed the game, AI is changing the game to a certain extent right now. But uh one of those things where you know there's a lot of resources for homeowners that they have now that they didn't have before. Uh hence the computer, right? Hence the iPad, all that fun stuff. I never, uh I guess I'm old school in a way where I did the contract, you know, basically on on you know a three, three-part piece, you know, literally right. The carbon copies, right? Yeah. Okay, yeah. And you know, my now my salesman for the bathrooms, everything's iPad. So I think that's one of the bigger things. I think, you know, for me on my my showcase side, we I really don't advertise. Uh we get five or six, you know, when I say pretty much jobs a day, like they're hot leagues where if we could do it, uh, we have the availability and it meets all their timelines. You know, price, I don't want to say it's not an option. We're pretty fair with our pricing. We're definitely not the cheapest. We're far from the most expensive. I always say we're right there in the middle. Uh, I don't feel like we need to sell my jobs. I feel like they sell themselves, the customer sells them for us. We have a lot of big cheerleaders, but then again, on the other side, learning the marketing, you know, we spend $50,000 a month on marketing for bathrooms. And it's one of those things where maybe the people don't know who we are or they've never seen who we are. And and the customer is a little different uh genre of customer when you're walking into their home because again, they're they're I'm getting my five estimates and we're gonna, you know, now what we're doing. We're we're basically going off of a price. Is that what you're looking for, mail? Are you looking for something where you're gonna sell your house and you don't worry about the quality, or is this something where we're gonna have to, you know, basically talk about value and be able to put the right product in your home and learn in the products over time about what works and what doesn't, uh, is the reason why I started the the one-day bathroom because I want to be able to have a better product than these other companies out there and have it at an affordable price.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Yeah. When I asked that question, I've asked that question quite a few times to people like yourself who've been in the business a long time. And one of the things that always pops in my head is Daniel Pink, the author, wrote a book uh called To Sell as Human, great book. And he talks about the concept of what you said prior to the internet and then after the internet. He said prior to the internet, the sales rep was in charge because the sales rep had all the information. Information is power, right? So the poor homeowner or anyone, you had no idea what a roof costs, or unless you spoke to a buddy somewhere or someone, but you had no idea anything about, and the sales rep had all of this informational power. Now it's flipped. The customer has power, and that's where I think sales reps have to, and even owners, have to understand that you are there as a consultant now, not a salesperson. Because if you go in there and you come across as a salesperson and not there to help them, you're not selling anything, especially with today's homework, because they already made their decision. I'm gonna go with one of these three companies that I just re-researched. And now it's what experience am I getting from the sales rep to start? Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_01 27:11

That's a great analogy and uh probably the best one I actually ever heard. And uh, I agree 100% with that. That was really good, actually. And uh better than I finish said it because I I thought that, but you just took it to another another level there with that. So yeah, I definitely agree with that. Um, because again, these runners they they now can fact check. You know, before they couldn't, yeah. Now it literally takes a second on their phone. Oh my god, are we saying he's right? Or no, he's absolutely incorrect. But but again, so much so it kind of went the other way with AI now. People are sending me pictures saying, hey, I want this cabinet here, this color, and I want it to look like this. That's that's not that's an anomaly. Uh yeah, uh, but it's gonna cost you $100,000, $200,000 more because it's gonna be custom made, and I know you don't want to pay that. And you gotta bring them back to where it is. And again, that's our job as a consultant to be like, hey, yes, I can do that, and it is $190,000, or for $75,000, I'll make it look like this. And I I can tell you, 9.7 times out of 10, they're going, yes, I want that. I I did have one of those customers where they wanted the $190,000 kitchen, and uh and it was one of those things where they wanted this certain door, quarter sawn oak, made custom. They had a door design and had to be sane. And I thought it was a great job and they make a ton of money, but really at the end of the day, over a year just to get to the factor of, hey, we actually like this door and this design, it wasn't worth it.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Yeah, absolutely. And and and you just said something that's so simple, but I think so many companies and reps miss is giving the customers options. So so many reps that sit there, okay, here's your price, here it is, one price, there you go. And then and then they're taught to stare at them and not say anything. And that that just creates anxiety. It's one price, there's no choice mindset there. So and then the other thing you said is you've showing someone something expensive and then saying, but we've got this that's less expensive, you just be you just ingratiated yourself to them incredibly because no salesperson is supposed to downsell. I hate I hate the term upsell, but if you bring up something that's less expensive, now they're gonna trust you more.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Absolutely. Yeah, so with that, uh, what I do is again, if you're like a commission-based salesman or the gross number, sure you want to sell a customer for a lot more. With us, I'd rather be able to give the customer what they want for the price they want. And then again, I do this every day. They don't. So they could tell me their idea. I'm gonna tell them the best way to get to their idea for the best price where I'm still remaining my profit margin where I'm looking to maintain. And now it's a win-win for both of us. Because again, I don't want it to be just a win for me. I want it to be a win for them. I want them to be happy. And if those that's one of those things where I don't want them to settle for something if they're not gonna be happy, I'd rather I'm not picked out where I'll do the job at all.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Yeah, because if you if you at the end of the day, you say you're you're based on referrals. You're not gonna get referrals if they're not happy with the job, or if they think that you ripped them off, or they think that you maybe you sold them too much or they didn't need that, you're you're you're dead in the water when that happens. So the feeling of the job is everything at the end, the experience that you're giving the customer, that's what people are buying today. That that's what I've seen the most is the experience from the second they pick up that phone through the buying process, through the installation is everything. Yes. Hey dwellers, when was the last time someone actually evaluated the presentation your salespeople are using in the home? Not your close rate, not your sales process, your actual presentation. Because how you tell your story, how you demonstrate your value and connect with homeowners is the difference between a sale and no sale. That's why I love our sponsor of the Ask Allen segment, Engage, I-N-G-A-G-E, and what they are now offering our selling in the dwelling listeners. You see, Engage is a beautiful interactive presentation platform built specifically for in-home sales teams. And right now they are offering a free personalized sales pitch review. Their team will review your presentation and help identify opportunities to make it even better. No cost, no obligation, just visit info.engage.io forward slash dwelling. That's info.engage i-n-g-a-ge-e.io forward slash dwelling to claim your free sales pitch review. Remember, a great product gets you in the game, but a great presentation helps you win it. Choir just sang, so now we are officially at the Ask Allen segment, and this comes from a gentleman from Tallahassee, Florida. His name is George, and this is a really interesting question. So George asks, oh, he writes, I've been working for the same home improvement company for the past 15 years as its general manager. I love my job, I love the owners, and really have a great situation overall. However, I've been unable to ignore the itch that I should start my own remodeling company. If you ever have anyone on to offer some words of encouragement or even words to talk me out of it, I'd love to hear what they have to say. Should I go for it? Question mark. So there you go, uh Sam. What would you say to George from Tallahassee?

SPEAKER_01 32:16

I always say there's a couple there's a couple things. Always start with the end in mind and goal, right? You already have a good relationship, you're already hacky, you're doing what you're doing. Uh you got to understand something. You know, everyone wants to be a boss until it's time to do boss things. So one of those things are hey, you clock in in the morning and you clock out at night and you can turn it off. You know, me being a business owner, my head is never turned off. So that's one of those things that I've chosen for myself in my life. Uh, it's very hard for me to turn those things off. So again, when you're trying to go into business, it's totally different. It's all on you. Uh, you have your team with you, but it's gonna take you years to build it up. I love that he has that ambition to do it. And if that's how he feels and that's what he wants to do, and he understands what's involved with owning your own business. As far as, you know, again, we're doing that replacement ladder from Dan Lartell from the bottom. You know, you're doing everything. You're doing the admin, you're doing the sales, you're doing the marketing, you're doing the production or handling the production, and then you're trying to do the leadership. You know, you're number one, you're wearing all of those hats. You know, I always say start at the bottom with the admin, start building that admin out and work your way all the way to the top with the leadership. You know, if that's that's what you want to do and that's your goal in life, you need to go ahead and do that. And and again, you could do, you know, bullets before cannibal. Goes back to good the great. You know, try out, see, see how it's going, see how you are with the customer, see how it is with the business building, see if that's what your taste is. Because again, at the end of the day, you know, your name is everything, and you want to make sure that uh you're happy, but you also want to make sure you can, you know, have that work-life balance, which I don't have. And uh I want to make sure I want to make sure that that's something that's up top of your alley, if that's what it is. Because again, you know, working with somebody and you're enjoying it and and having fun and you're making the money you want to make, that's that's great. And that a lot of people want that. But again, owning your own business and be able to be an entrepreneur and learn different things and build that business up, you know, that's something that is uh done, you know, very little because a lot of people fail. I'm saying go ahead and if that's how you feel, that's what your passion is, go ahead and go for it.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Yeah, and and I I would agree with you, but you know, it's always funny when I get these questions. I always want to like invite the person on the podcast who actually asked it because there's so many things like you you have to, you know, read between the lines or you have to assume. So a couple things for me is does he have a family? One, you know, is he married? Is does he have kids? That's a huge decision. If you decide to do that, are they on board? The worst thing in the world is to start to do something, you don't have support from your loved ones. That that just sucks and and you'll be discouraged every day. So that's number one. Yeah, and and and the other thing is I love the like you said, Sam, I love the ambition. But here's the thing to be careful with, and maybe it wouldn't be a competitor. But if you're gonna start your own remodeling company and you already work for a remodeling company, now you're gonna be a competitor, so you're gonna burn that bridge unless you you start installing something that your current company's not. So just be careful with that because in in life and in business, you really don't want to burn any bridges, especially bridges. This sounds like it's a great situation. He really likes the owners. So well, if you go to them and say, hey, I'm gonna sell roofs too, see you later, that's probably gonna be tough for the owners to take. So I would be careful there as well. But again, I can't, I can't ever go against someone telling someone not to go after their dream because I did that myself seven years ago when I started my business, and I was making a lot of money in sales, and it was a big jump off that that cliff. But I did it, and I had the support for my family, and it was the best decision ever made. But it ain't gonna be easy, like Sam said. You're gonna have you're gonna have some stressful nights for sure.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Oh, yeah. Just be ready to sacrifice. There's gonna be things that you're gonna have to give up to be able to get. Uh it was one of those things where you can only hold so many things in your hand. So once that's done, you need to put something down so you can pick something else up. And again, it's one of those things. Again, when people see the business owner, they don't know how hard or how much they sacrifice to get where they are. They just see the angle, they see the nice cars, they see a lavish lifestyle, they see all these things, but have no clue what it took to get there, and they don't want to do it. Or if they do, they are crazy. So be able to do everything. And it's one of those things that I think the comments uh must be nice. Must be nice, but must be nice, yes.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

The fixed mindset right there for sure. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Oh, yeah. And then the last thing is my my brother, perfect example. You know, I think everyone wants to do their own their own business and you know, grow. And and some people just don't. I mean, my brother said, hey, he wants to start his own business. I said, Well, why do you want to start your own business? So I can talk on my cell phone. This is his answer. So I can talk on my cell phone whenever I want. That's a good reason. Wow, that's that's what you came up with. You think that's like you think that's why I like the business? So I don't think people really understand how in depth business can be and uh how much you actually have to sacrifice to get where you need to be. Not just for myself, for my employees. You have to be there for them. You have to be there, you have to be ready. A lot of people depend on you, and things go wrong, it's you. You're you're the guy.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

And there's so much today now with social media and like the side hustles and oh, you know, make $10,000 a day by you know doing these faceless YouTube channels. It's it's all crap because if these guys were rich and they were like, why why are they sharing information with us? Like, why why do you want to make every other which it's like it's it's all BS, but that that mentality, like, oh, I can just drop what I'm doing and start a million-dollar business. It I it it doesn't exist. It really doesn't. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

Anyone that made wealth long, long term, they're they're not out there putting it all out there. Like, I'm out there putting it all out there. I'm not even on the level of these guys. Like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munker are probably Charlie Munker, this way, they're like the two guys you really should follow, not all these other guys trying to sell you something but course or or sell you something where, hey, we're doing this, that, and the other thing with AI. No, no, that's not that's not what it is. That's how they're making their money, not saying what they're saying with the tasteless YouTube channels and all these other things.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

All these other crap. So all right, let's start wrapping up. I I I like to ask this question because it it comes up with some funny answers sometimes. And now with you, with your experience of of so many years in the business, what's your favorite story? You've had 25 years in the business. I say, tell me something that happened that was a great story in the business. And I'm sure three or four just popped in your head, but give me a good one.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Oh, I I have so many, so many. But but I think I think like an aha moment for me and something that uh that that takes, you know, trying to redirects, you know, my business model, business make, and kind of put me on the map, really. I I did a lot of business before, but uh, I just feel a lot more confident. I met a whole new structure of people is um it's crazy short, so I don't really care to watch TV. I hardly ever watch TV, nor do I care to watch, you know, any kind of I like to place sports, but I don't like to watch them. So my my wife Really? Okay. Oh yeah, my wife loves them, too opposite. Yeah, big, big huge Eagles fan, right? Huge Eagles fan wants to get, you know, my friend, my real driver at the time, we were doing a lot of business together. He wants to get these tickets. I'm cheap. I'm I'm just gonna be honest, I'm very cheap. So how much how much are these tickets, right? And uh, I think at the time there were like 34,000 for four tickets, but I'm like, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

34,000 with these like season tickets, obviously, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Yeah, you just see yeah, season tickets, and like it's a little thing, and you'll you'll get to meet the uh the players after and all these fun stuff. I'm like, well, you've been doing it for four years, and you really didn't get any business. Now he's telling me business, right? So uh I always think, well, let's do it. It's a write-off. So I'm like, all right, fine, we'll do it. So we do it. Anyway, we we we go every Sunday or whenever they're home, we go at all the home games, you know, my wife, him, his wife, and uh the one Monday night game, you know, the girls didn't go because obviously we have kids, so they had to get the kids on the bus the next day. So me and John go, we bring two of our friends, and uh that turns into you know us drinking a little much because uh again, we're our seats already, drink whatever you want, and we're gonna move around, right? Be healthy, and uh, well, that's not not really, but uh we we basically go outside, and I know not one Eagles player. So we're standing outside and uh standing with one of these Eagles guys at the time. His name's Vinny Carey. I had no idea who he was, I just know he's pretty big. And uh his friend was there, and there was like, hey, you're that contractor that did you know Craig Sherlock's basement. Yeah, I sure did. I blew it out. I did a great job. That was years and years before that. He goes, Yo, Vinny, you know, you meet meet Sam, you know, you should get him to do your bad thrill. So I'm like, I could do it. I was talking all like, hey, I could be a football player. So I'm I'm joking back and forth with him. Uh I get his phone number. Then, you know, me and uh my friend, we end up going out to a bar later on, possibly a strip club. I don't get him anywhere. But uh and in the morning, I must have told my wife when I got home, you know, I met this Evil's player, his name is Vinny Carey, and I don't remember none of that in the morning. So she's on my phone, she's like, Who's this 267 number? I'm like, I have no idea. She's like, You said it was Vinny Carey. I said, It must have been. So uh so um anyway, I said I call him. I'm like, oh God. I'm like, oh my god. So I called him like I hope to God it's Vinny Carey. And sure enough it was. So uh I end up picking him up at the Novicare uh now it's called Jefferson, and uh I drive him back to his house because he was at the the practice, Eagles practice. Uh he was dropping one of his trucks off, you know. So uh he needed me to pick him up, which I thought was cool. He felt comfortable because he knew that other person. I did his basement. I drive back, I do his bathroom, and then you know, I'm not even done his first bathroom. He has my guys without giving me even giving him a price to the second bathroom. I had to stop him. I said, yo, I have other customers. I said, You're important, but everybody's equally as important. I'll come back and do that. So from that I did every single room in his house, top to bottom, designed every custom ceiling. His kitchen is crazy. So I did his whole house. And then uh he also, you know, those customers that say, Oh, Codex, you want all these people just take care of me? I'm like, Yeah, no, let me see you take care of me, and then then I'll take care of you, right? And he's one of the guys that really came through. So literally, I've I've done every single Eagles player that actually has a home, their staff, you know, their friends, and really built uh a real, real, real liking to uh, you know, the Eagles organization. The people are really down to earth, and I've been, you know, I've been with them ever since. So, you know, Big Dom is one of my good friends, and uh, I know he's got you know a lot of stuff going on um in in in the NFL, but uh he's just a great person. We're doing his basement right now.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

So that's the best $34,000 you ever spent, I'm assuming, at this point. Yeah, return on investment is unlimited.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Or a lot. We talk about ROLAS, return on ad spend. There's zero ad spend and uh there's zero ad spend on that. You see my big mouth, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:47

You talk about yeah, it's oh it's always it's again, it's effort and it's it's doing things that are a little outside the box and and you'll never know. Like you even with sales reps, it's amazing to me how many sales reps, you know, don't go and visit their jobs. I mean, just visit your job when it's being a sold and then just walk around the neighborhood and say, hey, we're doing a job down the street, you know, just stuff like that, these little things that that move you to the top of the board when when you're doing that. And it's just it's just attitude and effort, it really is. So but that's a great story, that really is. So I'm a Giant fan, so uh I'm glad you're taking care of all the Eagles. But I was enjoying last night's uh they just lost to Chicago, by the way. I know it's gonna be I saw it.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

I saw it.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

I think the Bears killed them.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Yeah, the Giants are my second favorite team, and the reason for my second favorite team is well, you probably know they gave us Saint Quan Barclay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Uh all right. On that note, Sam, I'm kicking you off my podcast right now. There you go. There you go. Sam, let's wrap this up. If you had to give a piece of advice to any small business owner, small company, guy, girl that's starting out, or they've got a company going, but is there anything that would you would say, do this? Or is there any piece of advice that you would give them there off the top of your head? Yep. Be comfortable in your own skin.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

You're on your own journey. Don't be intimidated by any other company out there. Someone at some point started exactly where you are, and just know as long as you're trying to be 1% better every single day, you're gonna be better once it compels year after year, time after time, in every aspect of life.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Be 1% better every single day. Love that. That is a great way to end the podcast. And they and the old saying is right, the uh uh behind every overnight success is 15 years of hard work. So nothing like that. And that I love that 1% quote. So, well, Sam DeMay, I really want to thank you for being on the show. I really appreciate it. This was some great stuff. And I want to thank you, everyone out there, for joining us again on Selling in the Dwelling. Remember to visit the podcast website, sellinginthedwelling.com, and send me a question. George and his great question from Tallahassee is getting a free t-shirt. And also don't forget to visit paradigmvendo.com forward slash dwelling. It is really the best software you're gonna find to help you sell better in the house. That's it for us, folks. Sam, thank you very much. Thank you out there. We'll see you next time on Selling in the Dwelling. Take care.