May 28, 2025 • 59 mins
Matt Black returns to the Shed Geek podcast for a revealing conversation about navigating the changing shed industry landscape. Drawing from his dual perspective as both the owner of Black's Buildings and creator of MyShed software, Matt offers practical wisdom for shed businesses facing today's market challenges.
The conversation opens with Matt sharing exciting news about Black's Buildings expansion into modular certified homes and their stunning new office designed to showcase top-tier finishes. This strategic move allows their sales team to start with premium options and work down rather than trying to upsell from basic models—a subtle but powerful sales psychology shift.
As Matt discusses industry trends, he pinpoints a meaningful change in consumer buying behavior: "The hurdle is higher to overcome to make sales now than what it used to be, simply because people are more conscious of where they spend their money." This heightened customer caution requires shed businesses to elevate their sales processes, product knowledge, and customer experience.
The most compelling insights come when Matt reveals how technology is transforming the shed business. Today's customers expect what Matt calls "an Amazon-like experience"—clear communication at every stage from configuration to delivery. MyShed software helps businesses deliver this experience through automated updates, seamless inventory management, and data-driven decision making. His team has created a digital infrastructure that allows shed dealers to compete effectively in an increasingly online marketplace.
Perhaps most valuable is Matt's perspective on preparing for future growth: "I think we're too small for our britches at this point. We've built systems and processes to allow our business to grow into." This forward-thinking approach has positioned his companies to thrive despite market fluctuations.
Ready to transform your shed business with technology that enhances rather than replaces the personal touch? Reach out to Matt directly or explore how these insights might reshape your approach to selling in today's changing market.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SHED GEEK (00:09):
Welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek
podcast, Matthew Black, roundnumber three.
What's?
up.
What's up, my friend?
Matthew Black (00:18):
Everything.
SHED GEEK (00:19):
Everything, yes sir.
Is this three?
This is the third one.
Matthew Black (00:22):
This is the third .
SHED GEEK (00:24):
You're like becoming a regular podcaster
Matthew Black (00:28):
yeah, I'm excited about that.
I appreciate the opportunity
SHED GEEK (00:31):
well, we appreciate you being here.
It's awesome and excited toknow what you're up to
Matthew Black (00:37):
yeah, just still chugging along.
Uh, we uh a lot of things goingon kind of across the industry.
Really exciting thingshappening with my shed.
You know blacks were constantlystriving to grow that business
(00:58):
and, as any shed company ownerwould know, right now, you know,
times are a little different.
The last part of last year andcoming into this year, I know a
lot of people have seen, youknow, some slowdown.
So, we've been, we've reallybeen doing what I feel like are
some awesome things to combatthat and allow us to still see
(01:20):
growth despite a changingclimate for shed cells.
So, uh, just across the boardbeen really busy, um, working
with my teams to uh to keepmoving the needle and keep
seeing progress so we get tohear all those secrets here
today huh, I might share one ortwo.
(01:40):
I don't think I could share themall, but uh, but absolutely.
SHED GEEK (01:45):
Well, one thing that I know is a new office.
Matthew Black (01:49):
Yes.
SHED GEEK (01:49):
I saw that and it looks amazing.
Matthew Black (01:51):
Thank you,
SHED GEEK (01:51):
congrats on that,
Matthew Black (01:52):
yeah, I appreciate it.
I'm very proud of that office.
One of the things recently withBlacks Buildings that we've
achieved is we've started ourmodular certified building
company, so we are now able tobuild and sell fully finished
(02:12):
modular homes.
So, with that we redid ouroffice space and in this segment
we offer good, better and bestin a lot of the different
products that go into these.
So, when we built this newoffice space, we focused on
nothing but the best.
We wanted to represent what thebest of all things could be,
(02:37):
and I'm proud to call it myoffice.
I truly enjoy going to workevery day and having such a nice
space to work out of, going towork every day and having such a
nice space to work out of.
So, yeah, I'm really, reallyhappy with the results and
customer feedback has beentremendous.
SHED GEEK (02:51):
I think it was a great move Gives you room to
upsell, to show people thatAbsolutely Top in class, you
know like top of the line whatto expect For sure.
Matthew Black (03:02):
Yeah, yeah, because most people want to come
in and say they want the bestand absolutely we'll quote you
the best and then we'll work youback from there.
You know what things trulymatter most to you.
Do you want the really nicecabinets, but you're okay with
the cheaper flooring, you know?
Do you need the higher-endshiplap paneling or do you want
(03:23):
to go another route?
Higher end um shiplap panelingor do you want to go another
route?
Um, you know we, it's mucheasier to sell off the high end
down than it is to sell off thelow end up.
Um, so we, we've got actually,another building that is kind of
our mid-tier model.
It's one of the sales offices,um, that Nathan Reagan is
actually in, so, um, we've kindof got a better and a best.
(03:47):
We still don't have a, a goodoffering, um, so that would be
our lowest, but we don't offerany crap.
So, the worst you're going toget from us is good stuff.
SHED GEEK (03:57):
Um, and then we work our way up from there.
Well, I like it.
I know you always put out agood product and, um, that's
exciting.
It's been just exciting get toknow you.
You've always been a supporterof Shed Geek, absolutely years,
and we appreciate that.
You've just been, uh, been um,yeah, you've been a, a friend of
the show, yes, sir, orsometimes so absolutely
(04:19):
appreciate that.
What are you said?
The industry's a littledifferent the end of last year
and this year.
What are you?
You seeing as some pain points.
Matthew Black (04:27):
Yeah, I think a lot of it actually has to do
with our customers.
So just the consumer confidencein making these large ticket
item purchases.
I think the hurdle is a littlehigher to overcome to make the
sales now than what it used tobe, simply because people are
(04:48):
more conscious of where theyspend their money.
You know we've had so far thisyear every month has been
tremendous, but once again we'redoing a lot of things to make
it.
So, I don't know that all shedcompanies are seeing that.
I've heard from many that arestruggling.
(05:10):
Maybe it's a regional thing,because I've seen certain areas
that seem to be doing reallywell while others are struggling
right now.
But overall, it just kind ofsolidifies the concept that we
should always be striving to bebetter.
So, in these times, especiallywhen you can see, you know,
(05:35):
declines happening or stagnation, where you're maybe where you
used to a growth.
These are the times when youdouble down, and you really work
on your company.
One of the things I like to sayabout our business is, you know
, there's a saying too big foryour britches.
(05:55):
I think we're too small for ourbritches at this point.
We've built systems andprocesses to allow our business
to grow into.
So, we're.
You know, we run EOS.
We we're very focused on whatwe're doing and how we're doing
it and who's doing it and whenit's going to be done, all of
(06:17):
the things involved, and it'sjust really helped us keep going
in the right direction.
But, like I said, avoiding thatstagnation and just constantly
bettering is definitely whatwe're focusing on
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SHED GEEK (08:28):
Do you think that that's a main difference?
You alluded to some companiesdoing well, some companies seem
to struggle.
What are the obviousdifferences that people should
look at, say, a big part of itis sales process related.
Matthew Black (08:50):
Um, you know how you're selling your sheds?
Um, definitely, sheds aren'tselling themselves as they were.
You know a few years ago wheresales were easy you simply had
to have sheds and you could sellthem.
Now it's critical that shedsellers know their product.
(09:15):
Product knowledge is thefoundation for any sales process
.
You must know your productinside and out, because your
customer will see if you have alack of confidence in a response
to a question about any of yourproducts, or even if you have
to say, well, I don't know, butI'll get you an answer.
Just those kind of things reallyaren't acceptable in a pristine
(09:39):
sales process.
You must know your product, youmust have the answers, you must
say them in the right way.
It's not just what you say,it's how you say it, what your
body language implies.
Everything is so important in asales process and I really
think right now you can see thesellers who are great sellers
(10:06):
and have invested in resourcesto help them constantly better
their craft, and those that areof inventory.
That does drive customers toyou.
But how much more sales wouldyou do if, if you were actively
(10:31):
in beyond just marketplace andall the, the norm or the normal
um marketing places for shedcompanies.
But are you actively, you know,seeking new leads and how are
you doing that and how are youhandling those leads once they
come and how much attention doyou really give them?
And you know just handling alead correctly?
(10:53):
We could do 10 podcasts onbecause that is such a in-depth
subject.
But that that really I guessyou know how you handle your
leads is really what separatesthe, the men, from the boys
right now.
SHED GEEK (11:08):
I think no, no, that's.
Uh, there's so much everybody's.
You know it's not, it's notlike everybody's in a panic.
I don't feel like um, becauseyou know you're, there are some
seeing success.
I think that you're just Idon't know.
But the question's always beenposed for years since I can
(11:29):
remember is like when do we hitour bubble that pops?
You know, when are weoversaturated in the market?
To me, you know thatoversaturation starts to create
conversations about acquisitions, because it's kind of like how
many more can you know thisguy's uncle and nephew and
brother?
start a shed company.
(11:50):
And then there's more and, uh,who's not going through?
You want to start a business,but it's kind of like do you
have all of the information ofwhat it takes to help make a
business successful, from thefrom the business management
side to the building?
Yes, you know, we've.
We've seen some companies wework with see increase and it
(12:13):
create a problem in another area.
Yes, so oh, we can helpyourselves.
Let's get you from seven tonine.
Then, all of a sudden, we don'thave the labor, yep, and we
don't have the labor and wedon't have the infrastructure to
be able to do this.
So it's, it's trying to move.
You know, turn that airplane ona small circle instead of this
(12:34):
big.
Absolutely, you got to take,you got to take the whole
business into consideration.
When you see an increase here,now you see, oh, no, we've got
to increase in our lumber buyingor metal or whatever components
you're needing, or you know,I'm struggling with adding a bay
yes.
That slows us down.
Matthew Black (12:51):
Those are all you know the good problems to have
is hey, I'm growing and I don'tknow.
You know I don't have capacityto produce buildings.
Well, find some wholesaledistributors.
I don't have a dealer network.
Go to existing dealer networksand see if they would carry your
product.
Um, you know, there's solutionsfor that.
I think more people are seeingthe downside, um where they,
(13:16):
like I said, probably a lot areplateaued.
Um, definitely, some are down,and one of the things that I'll
point out is, like you know,cash flow.
Um, cash flow is so important,but it's easy, when there's
strong cash flow, to not reallyfocus on your operations and not
(13:39):
optimize things, but in timeslike what they are now, it
becomes imperative that youunderstand your cash flow.
If you're, if you have, you know, large amounts of inventory
that have been produced for thisseason, and I'll even say this
I've you know, this is our, ourbusy season.
(14:00):
We're in spring.
I see companies offering 20%off their sheds right now and
it's like uh, this, this is notthe time when you would expect
to see people especially notthat heavy.
I mean we still, you know, thistime of year, uh, we'll still
discount.
I know there's a wholeconversation to be had about to
discount or not to discount anddoes it devalue the your brand
(14:23):
if you offer discounts even, noteven just discounts.
SHED GEEK (14:26):
But like um, me and Kyle used to talk about this, he
was always of the mindset ofsell when it's hot, yeah, when
things are going out the door,that's whenever you do the
discount.
I mean him would like argueback and forth and I was like,
no, you do, if you're going todo the discount you did when
(14:46):
sales are down.
He's like, why not hit it whileit's hard you have?
Any thoughts about that like isthere?
Is there a better time?
because we were just going offour emotions and guts.
I think exactly.
I think I don't know that wewere using data.
Matthew Black (14:57):
Absolutely yeah, we and we are very data driven
uh, we know our numbers down toour colors.
I mean, we track, we knowexactly what percent of the
buildings that we sell are of acertain color, filtered by month
and by season, which sizes sellbest in what areas, and that's
(15:21):
one of the advantages ofsoftware like MyShed we have all
that in the dashboard, so we douse a lot of that to make these
decisions and see what theresults of these decisions are.
I do agree with doing somevalue-added promotions during
this time of year when thingsare hot.
(15:42):
This time of year when thingsare hot, like you know, get, you
know, buy any building over$5,000 gets $200 worth of free
options or something Gotcha.
So, we, like this time of yearthat's what I feel is best is
like to add value, becausepeople are already looking to
buy.
We're not trying to convincethem to buy because we're
offering a discount.
So, if they're already lookingto buy, let's add value to what
(16:04):
we're offering a discount.
So, if they're already lookingto buy, let's add value to what
we're offering, above maybe whatour competition is doing, and
then they see that and they'llbe like well, I was looking at
this up the road, this companyis going to give me this in
addition.
So, we're not trying to turnnon-buyers into buyers, we're
just trying to steer buyers ourway.
Gotcha, that makes sense.
I like that quote.
SHED GEEK (16:23):
Like we're just trying to steer buyers our way.
Gotcha, that makes sense.
I like that quote.
Like we're not trying to turnnon-buyers into buyers, we're
just adding to the value ofthose who are buying.
So, people know you in theindustry is twofold.
You have this really cool likedouble-edged sword that you're
out there You've got Blacks andthen you've got MyShed and you
kind of use MyShed.
(16:43):
Maybe you know, maybe I'mspeaking for you.
Maybe it was started as acatalyst, maybe it was started
as a launching pad for to helpblacks.
Yeah, you know, because a lotof things happen in the industry
.
I've been, I've been havingthis conversation, and I want
your thoughts on it here lately.
But a lot of people who startthings in the industry start
them out of the reality thatthey have a need, and no one
(17:07):
serves that need and thensometimes it ends up to the
point where it's like, oh, otherpeople need the solution that I
offered.
So, I'm going to put this out.
Is that why, you breakit down, Because I'm going to
make a mess of it.
Matthew Black (17:24):
Yes, For sure.
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Matthew Black (18:55):
So, you know, MyShed to me is a platform that
helps me with Black's Buildingsto sell more sheds.
It helps my dealers during thesales process to sell quicker,
to sell with more confidence.
It is a great tool.
I did build this, or my teamand I.
(19:17):
We built this software for theindustry, but I definitely
benefit greatly from it.
We've just been working reallyhard on this product.
My shed is light years fromwhere we were a couple years ago
.
We've doubled down, we'velearned from our customers what
(19:41):
they really want and need in asoftware and we've tried to
provide that for them.
And we've even gone beyond that.
And you know, with our ERPsystem it's something that is
new that can literally be thedigital backbone of a shed
company to know your numbers uh,true, uh without having to do
(20:07):
all these calculations or havingspreadsheets.
And any shed company owner whohas sat down to figure their
true cost on sheds knows themess it is to pull all of your
supplier invoices together tosee your current cost on all
(20:27):
those with all of your buildsheets, what materials are
required for a certain building,and then put all that together
to give you a true cost ofmaterials.
Our system will do that on itsown.
We'll provide you a list ofmaterials needed to build the
shed, your total cost for theshed, so things like that.
(20:50):
With blacks this goes back.
We're a little small for ourbritches because we only have
the one manufacturing locationand this works fantastic for
that.
But even for these bigcompanies where they really need
this, if you've got multiplemanufacturing plants and you
can't be at all of them all thetime, this gives you invaluable
(21:14):
insight into what is going on,helps you track your inventory
and do all of that.
So, yes, blacks and MyShed kindof work together for the
betterment of each other.
We have learned through Blacksthings that we would like to
have.
For instance, you know fillableRTO contracts and you know
(21:43):
fillable RTO contracts andfinancing contracts within the
software things that are justnecessary to make the sales
process smoother instead ofhaving to switch back and forth
from here to there, havingthings just all in one place in
one process.
SHED GEEK (21:54):
What are, what are like some of the challenges
along the way that you guys haveexperienced, that you feel like
I wish I knew this, then what Iknow now, which is all our
lives, isn't it?
Matthew Black (22:10):
Absolutely.
SHED GEEK (22:10):
What are some of the things that you feel like you've
been able to overcome?
Matthew Black (22:15):
Yeah, we have listened to our users and there
has been a lot of growth inareas just the way orders are
processed through the system,the flow of things.
You know, at first, we hadideas that maybe they should
(22:37):
flow this way but throughtalking with customers we've
kind of changed some of that andthe speed of things.
There's been a lot of learningexperience, especially early on
when we first kind of releasedMyShed.
We learned a lot from that timeand that's allowed us to make
(22:59):
our product that much better.
We listen to our customers.
We've actually recently beenreaching out to all of our
customers and just solicitingfeedback and just, you know, we
want to meet our customers wherethey need us to be customers
(23:22):
where they need us to be.
So, if they need something, youknow we aggregate all of the
responses, and you know we kindof rate them on.
You know universal tasks thatshould be done or created and
yeah, we're always working togive our customers what they
want, need and expect.
SHED GEEK (23:41):
What I'm trying to think of things that other
people have faced along the way,whenever I think about just
technology in general and youcan use technology as a
universal description across theretail market.
Matthew Black (23:57):
Yeah.
SHED GEEK (23:57):
But tech has really hit the retail market in general
, but it's you've just reallyseen.
I remember writing a, anarticle, a column called with
the tech, and just talking aboutall of this explosion of
different things that have hitum, we kind of talked about your
(24:19):
why, kind of like you knowwhere it came about, the early
challenges that you've had toovercome, how, how do you feel
like you and others can adapt tothat?
Or maybe the better question is, how can the industry adapt to
it?
Because this is my personalopinion here.
Okay, this is my personal biascoming out here, but I tend to
(24:46):
judge things more harshly.
I don't understand.
Yes, it's easier to criticizethings when I don't understand
them, but as you begin, like theplayers that's maybe a terrible
way to say this, but theplayers of the industry, you
know they're embracing thesethings Absolutely.
They use these things to the,the, the, the full capability of
(25:09):
what they're able to be usedfor.
Matthew Black (25:11):
Yes.
SHED GEEK (25:12):
And you don't want to like present, like this
doomsday picture of like, if youdon't use it, you're gonna fall
apart.
Yeah, I still think you canbuild a shed and set it up by
the road, sell it and make aliving.
Absolutely.
The question is can you scale abusiness?
Because if you don't want to,then maybe you're fine, that's
exactly, but if you want, toscale a business yep, yeah, and
(25:35):
the software is definitelycrucial as you scale a business.
Matthew Black (25:41):
You're totally right.
There are a lot of people whoare just fine to build a shed
here and there and sell them andfeel content and not go after
more.
But there's a lot of us outhere who want to grow our
(26:01):
businesses.
I feel convicted that I shouldbe growing my businesses and
it's something that softwaredefinitely helps you with.
It will make it much lessdifficult as you scale just to
have a tight grasp on what ishappening and a good
(26:25):
understanding for maybe, what isto come.
But data is key to all of itand really just knowing where
you're headed and where you wantto be headed and then charting
that course and following thatway.
Planning is so crucial andsetting goals.
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Matthew Black (27:49):
Definitely, software is a key component to
any company that wants to grow.
I know for a fact there's stillplenty of companies out here
using spreadsheets to calculatetheir prices on sheds and they
handwrite their work orders, andthey fax it over to a
production plant.
All of that just gets a littlebit in disorder and then you
(28:13):
have things like change orderscome up and how is that handled?
The great thing about softwarelike MyShed is when it's changed
.
It's changed everywhere, soit's not chasing down pieces of
paper that got sent out and youknow no, don't build that, it
needs to be like this.
Oh, it's already gone intoproduction.
(28:34):
Sell it as inventory.
I'm sure many of us have seenthat before.
So, you know it's crucial for ashed company that wants to grow
to have some software solutionsin place, and definitely a 3D
configurator.
You know your dealers willthrive with a 3D configurator,
(28:57):
where without it, mostly they'llbe selling inventory.
So, if you want them to sellcustom buildings, that's a key
piece there.
But yeah, our customers arewanting more of an Amazon-like
experience, Like when you buyyou know what you're buying.
You get email that says youjust bought this and it's going
(29:20):
to be delivered in this timeperiod and then another email.
This is out for delivery.
Like um, the landscape of saleshas changed and the we call it
the customer journey.
What is?
What does our customer journeylook like?
And like with my?
One of our key features iscommunication.
(29:41):
We want to communicate with theend customer, the person buying
the shed, where their buildingis in the process, or, you know,
if we've received a deposit, weautomatically send out the
receipt.
When a building goes intoproduction, we will send them an
email saying, hey, we'vestarted building it.
(30:03):
If it's inventory, it doesn'tgo there, but we still send them
an email when it's scheduledfor delivery.
Just that way they have areceipt of sorts.
With that, Usually the driverhas spoken with them to
coordinate, but everything has atrail and it just makes them
feel better about their purchaseand the company that they
(30:24):
decided to go with.
Because you know these aren'tsmall purchases.
A shed is the third or fourthlargest purchase most people
will ever make, so we've got tobe considerate of that.
But the expectations for thecustomer journey and the
customer experience are changingrapidly, so we've got to be
(30:45):
prepared, as shed dealers andshed manufacturers, to deliver
on those expectations.
SHED GEEK (30:54):
Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.
What are your thoughts on sortof like the state of the
industry now?
What are the things that youthink that dealers struggle with
?
What do you want to create?
What kind of like experience doyou want them to get when
working with my shed, or evencalling blacks and asking for,
(31:19):
you know, advice or consultation?
Matthew Black (31:21):
yeah, absolutely so.
Uh, big things I think fordealers is having a, a
marketplace to actually selltheir sheds on, um, something of
a shop, not just like Facebookmarketplace where you can go and
list things, but an actual,actual point-of-sale system.
That way you can sell to peopleby sending them a link to your
(31:46):
inventory, just making thingslook really nice.
The dealer perspective is wherewe meet our customers, so that
experience needs to becultivated with great attention
to detail.
You know we go a little aboveand beyond at Black's, I would
(32:08):
say.
But like we have a fridge thatis always fully stocked with
probably 20 or more differenttypes of beverages and we always
ask our customers if they wouldlike something to drink and if
we do give them something, wealways restock immediately
afterwards.
So, it's always a perfectlyfull fridge of every assortment.
(32:30):
Just the little details,because the shed lot up the road
is not doing that.
So, chances are this will standout in that customer's mind and
just overall experience.
If you, you know, are doing yourbusiness, running your business
out of a shed, make sure thatshed is a nice shed that is, has
(32:50):
done well.
People really are noticing thesmall things as their buying
decisions become morecomplicated.
You really have to go above andbeyond with some of these
customers to actually get thesale now, and the little things
that differentiate you arereally important there.
(33:12):
Also, like with my shed, wehave CRM integration.
So, we've worked with Shed GeekMarketing Go High Level.
We've got some greatintegrations there that allow us
to do automations and really,when you look across your
(33:34):
network of dealers orsalespeople, it's really
valuable to invest in thingslike this for them.
These are investments that willpay off.
They can be pretty expensive upfront, just depending on how
you configure them, but this isan investment in your dealers,
(33:56):
make no mistake, and this willresult in them getting more
sales.
I'm not sure what other shedcompanies experience, but
working with Shed Geek Marketing, we've received a tremendous
amount of leads and we do everyday.
We expect I'm not going to giveany exact numbers, but quite a
(34:16):
good load of leads every daythrough our marketing endeavors,
and how we handle those leadsis a little different than a lot
of companies.
A lot of that is due to theautomations we have in place and
just the processes, and thatrelieves some of the pressure
off of our dealers orsalespeople, because some of the
(34:38):
things that they would manuallyhave to do before are now
getting done automatically, andwe've really seen some great
results there.
SHED GEEK (34:49):
So yeah, we're that is, that is something.
How do you combat that with themindset of I would rather a
robot not answer for me.
They're not going to have thesame personal touch that I have.
I have one example I will givein a minute, but I'm just
(35:10):
curious at how you can combatthat.
Matthew Black (35:12):
Absolutely yeah, and when I say these automations
, I get where you could construethat as a robot.
But you know, simply, you know,for every style that we have,
we have 28 different styles, wehave different email sequences
and text sequences, and maybethat does seem robotic,
(35:34):
especially with the texts, butyou know we formulate the
verbiage in there to not seemthat way and then if there is a
response, then it triggers us torespond back.
So, we stay away from kind ofthe appearance that they are not
dealing with a real person,though I don't think that's
(35:57):
something to be afraid of.
The real person, though I don'tthink that's something to be
afraid of.
I think people are becomingaccustomed to you know, more AI
involved experiences.
But you know, with what we'redoing, I don't feel like that
comes across and I say that weactually I got a message this
(36:17):
morning from one of my salespeople and, uh, it was a
response that somebody gave tothe automated message, um, and
it was just kind of funny.
It was like who is this?
And you know it's um.
Of course we get that messageand instead of them, but they,
we told them who we were.
You know, to start with um,that it's blacks buildings.
(36:39):
We're following up about theshed you designed, um, this
garden style shed.
Uh, just wanted to see if youhad any questions or if there's
something we could help you withthis essentially something
generic like that.
And then, um, maybe thiscustomer thought that it was a
robot, because they were likewho is this?
ADVERTISEMENT (37:03):
Oh no.
Sam, what's going on?
Are you okay?
Yes, I'm fine, Lisa.
I was just trying to get ascrewdriver and all this other
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I agree, I keep looking at theshed Mr Jenkins bought.
Let's ask him where I got his.
(37:30):
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I love it.
It's exactly what I needed, andI couldn't have asked for a
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And where did you get it?
Hmm, I can't remember, but letme check Something.
This nice will probably havethe builder's name on it
(37:50):
somewhere.
Hmm, no, I'm sorry, I can'tfind a name anywhere.
Well, we finally got a shed.
Yes, I just hope we're happy.
The thing is a lot more shoddythan I expected, and I'm sure I
(38:15):
told them I wanted a window, butthey didn't have it in the
paperwork so I couldn't argue.
Boy is this a lousy shed.
We haven't even had it twoyears, have we?
Barely.
It was just a bad deal all theway around.
Mr Jenkins told me the otherday that he likes his shed so
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(38:37):
where he got it.
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SHED GEEK (38:55):
If you put all the customers out there in a box
that have a possibility ofpurchasing a shed in a 500 mile
radius, if you put all thecustomers out there and you have
a shed lot stationed every sooften and there's I don't know,
(39:17):
I know there's going to be waymore.
Matthew Black (39:18):
Oh, it's going to be a lot.
SHED GEEK (39:19):
But I'm just going to use for simple 10 to 12 lots
and I know that's probably morelike 10 to 1200, but yeah it
seems like at least uh, if youuse like the 10 lots most people
you can do fine with this brickand mortar location for the
people who drive by yourlocation absolutely but you can
(39:42):
actually get in front of thatentire population with the right
marketing that's right and thenonce you actually get a closed
or one of those leads on thereyes, it's the same as them
coming onto your lot.
Yes, theoretically, in a lot ofways, theoretically I understand
they're coming onto yourdigital lot, yes, instead of
(40:03):
coming onto your brick andmortar.
And we have been accustomed tofeeling comfortable already as
salespeople, where, if they cometo the lot, the influence of
buying the power is in thesalesperson's like psyche,
because the person came therelooking for a solution.
(40:25):
Yes, as opposed to you reachingout for them.
Yep, you know, reaching out tothem.
The psyche should still remainthe same when they reach out to
you, just because they're not infront of you absolutely.
Matthew Black (40:37):
Yeah, they're um, I get where you're going with
that and I have always been aproponent for online sales With
Blacks.
We do have some dealerlocations now.
For years we did not, but wehave always been successful with
our online presence and it'sdefinitely very important, and
(41:03):
how you handle that is veryimportant.
I would say that you know wehave different nets that we
throw out to catch customers,like with Facebook leads and
Facebook ads.
It's a big net, so when you say500 miles, we literally might
(41:24):
be going 500 miles wide withthis net and we catch lots and
lots of prospects that submitsome kind of lead.
And these are the places wherethose things like the
automations are extremelyimportant, because when you,
when you cast that broad of anet, then you need processes to
(41:44):
help you handle what's in thatnet.
And then you have things likegoogle ads, uh, where you know
you're.
These are customers that aremore likely searching out your
product, uh, because theirsearch terms are leading them to
see your ad, um, and so that'sa different net and we have
(42:04):
different processes to deal withall those.
In my shed.
We send a lot of our leadsdirectly to my shed.
We have a great system in placethere, some really neat
functionality that is unique tous that really allows your sales
(42:24):
process to be more informed andhave better conversion rates.
So, yeah, I think that it'swise for any dealer of a brick
and mortar location to alsoconsider using other advertising
methods online just to castthat broader net.
(42:47):
These aren't people who arenecessarily driving by every day
.
SHED GEEK (42:50):
Yeah, that's the thing, just catching these
people in this radius.
Online, you have a betteropportunity to sell.
Matthew Black (43:00):
Absolutely.
SHED GEEK (43:00):
Because they may never approach a lot.
Yes, and they may start theirprocess there, where, at a
minimum, they come to you yesyou know, and then you use all
of the tools that you have forsure to close this out
absolutely right, yeah andyou're saying my shed will help
the dealer with that absolutely.
Matthew Black (43:21):
Yeah, we, yeah, we will help intake those leads.
So, we have a lead sectionwhere it's essentially a lead
card at the beginning of thebuilder.
We ask for customer informationat the beginning and a lot of
business owners, when we startdiscussing you know my shed with
(43:44):
them have come to us with well,do we, you know, are customers
going to fill this out?
Are they?
Is this?
Do we really want to ask themtheir phone number?
Maybe they're just going to Xout of here?
And you know we have data forclick through on everything and
it is amazing, literally 95% ofpeople leave an accurate phone
number.
It's like 98 plus percent onthe emails.
(44:08):
So, it is very valuable to askfor this information and we
almost always receive it.
If somebody wants to, they canjust put in some random numbers
and some random email and getinto your builder that way.
But we do require that at thebeginning and through our
(44:29):
constant save state, I mean, itallows us to always know what
that person was designing whenthey left.
So even if you don't submit itfor like a quote or go through
the order process, we still havea lead tied into a building and
even a library of customdesigned buildings.
(44:49):
If that customer has designedmultiple buildings, it is
indexable for them so they canview every model they've
designed all in one place,without having to go through
their emails and click on thisone to see this building place,
without having to go throughtheir emails and click on this
one to see this building.
It's all in one nice screenwhere they can go through and
(45:09):
see everything they would havedesigned.
And, once again, as asalesperson, that's super useful
because you know what theinterest is when you call a
customer and say, hey, I'm withBlack's Buildings.
I saw you were on our 3Dconfigurator designing a shed.
It doesn't hit with the sameimpact as, hey, I see this 12 by
(45:30):
16 garden shed you designed.
I was wondering if you, youknow, like that window placement
or if you think the windowswould be better on the end.
You know just that betterinformed sales process just to
get a little more traction withyour potential customer.
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SHED GEEK (47:10):
So, Matt, we're probably 40 minutes in on
content, but outside of justtalking about things in the
industry, blacks my shed tryingto create, you know, powerful
content for people to listen to,something they can chew on and
take away.
What are some thoughts that youwant to give?
What are some other things withmy shed that are worth talking
(47:33):
about?
You know integrations, thingsthat you guys have done and
built.
You know, um, communication isa big thing in the shed industry
.
What are you, what?
Just what are your thoughts onthese?
Matthew Black (47:42):
yeah, no, absolutely so.
Great communication isimperative to all of us at my
shed we are literally doublingdown on our communication and
our customer service, and wehave three lines of customer
service, and we are workingdiligently to be known for that.
(48:06):
There's a lot of companies inthis software space that are
known for lack of communicationand at times we've even
experienced that.
But right now, that's thebiggest pain point that we know
our users have been experiencing, our potential users have been
experiencing with some of thecompanies other than ours.
(48:28):
It's just hard to communicate,it's hard to get things done,
hard to make changes, pricing,updates.
So that's where we're doublingdown.
I can guarantee that if youcall, somebody will answer or
will call you back within anhour during all US time, from 8
(48:51):
to 5, east Coast to West Coast.
So we have great customerservice there.
If it's after hours, we willreturn your call the next day
before noon.
We will return your call thenext day before noon.
We have policies in place thatreward our customer service
(49:11):
people for being on top of thesethings.
And this is going to allow usto address the pain point that
many of you have experiencedwith your software.
We are not that software.
We are the ones who will bethere, who will work with you,
who will stay on top of thingsfor you.
So, as far as integrations andthose type things are concerned,
we really work in the spirit ofpartnerships.
(49:38):
My brother-in-law has actuallycome on and is working with us.
He was the vice president ofpartnerships for Sage for many
years, which is a Fortune 100company, and we have really
looked at what integrations andwhat partnerships are adding
(49:59):
value.
And one of the most recent oneswe've completed is our
QuickBooks integration.
So, your bookkeeper oraccountant will be very happy
with the way things are done.
Without you having to compileit all.
You'll have a great look atyour business financially and it
(50:21):
just eliminates a lot of workfrom the bookkeeping side of
things.
So that's one of the mostrecent ones, but we're working
hard to engage in morepartnerships, particularly in
the software space.
Even within our industry, wehave opened our platform to
(50:44):
different stacks of modules thatwould allow us to partner with
another 3d design company.
If you want to use a differentcompany for your 3d tool and use
our back end, we have modulesfor you that don't require you
to buy the full stack.
We can sell you what you need.
So we.
(51:04):
So we're excited to be open inthat way.
Another key differentiator forMyShed is you know payments, how
you accept your payments.
Do we require you to use acertain processor, and a lot of
people may not know this, butthere are some software
(51:27):
companies that actually get akickback from the card company.
So they lock in a rate that islower than the presented rate
with the card company and theyrequire their users to use a
certain company Stripe or Squareor whatever for processing, but
(51:51):
they actually get a kickback ofthe difference in the price
that's charged to the shedcompany to process and the price
they're paying to the creditcard processing company.
So we're proud to say that wehave no such kickbacks in place.
We are open to differentpayment providers, so if you
(52:15):
have a different company thatyou want to use than Stripe or
Square, as long as they'rewilling to work with us and
create a API bridge, essentiallyjust connecting the two
platforms together, then we willwork with them.
Once again, we want to providethe things that our customers
(52:35):
need.
We're looking to add value toyour business, not take away.
SHED GEEK (52:41):
What's left for Matt Black man?
What's left?
you're gonna keep going
Matthew Black (52:45):
yeah, I, I'm just really excited for where we are
with my shed.
To be honest, it's um, it's soexciting.
We've built a really great team.
At first, it was myself and mypartner, Nathan, who does the uh
, the coding, or heads ourdevelopment team.
We do have a team of developers, but we didn't really have a
(53:07):
lot of software people involvedand now we have software people
and it's really showing and justthe progress we've made as well
as the milestones that we'vebeen achieving.
We're not just a shed softwarecompany, we are indeed a
(53:28):
software company.
So we are really proud of that,really, really proud of my team
at Blacks.
We've been growing and doublingdown on all of our processes
and just making them as good aspossible.
SHED GEEK (53:45):
I've got a question for you.
Now with our new adventure,e-commerce, is that going to
play into any of your software?
Matthew Black (53:56):
E-commerce.
In which way?
SHED GEEK (53:57):
Well, we just started working with ShedHub.
Matthew Black (54:00):
Yes.
SHED GEEK (54:01):
Managing partners now ownership um.
Is there a way to help moreshed sellers?
Matthew Black (54:10):
absolutely.
Yeah, I think it's imperativefor, like we were talking on
partnerships earlier, just toadd the value to both of our
potential clients.
You know, for things like theMyShed inventory shop to be
connected to ShedHub and thatway you know, when an inventory
(54:31):
is created or assigned to aShedBot then it automatically
populates in ShedHub and itwould be important that it's a
push-pull relationship where ifit's sold, it's also removed.
But yes, e-commerce is the waythings are going.
(54:52):
It's a space that I know from ashed manufacturer's point of
view, but I don't really knowfrom.
You know, like ShedH ub that'sa way different story the things
that have taken place there forthem to be, you know, top 10
(55:14):
search results nationwide, oramazing results.
These are things that JeffHuxmann has done a great job
there to really get it in frontof customers in a buying stage
without having to spend thatmoney on ads.
SHED GEEK (55:35):
You still have to prove it, man.
You still have to prove it tothe industry and I'm going to
tell you right now this industrycan be a hard one to sell to
some days, Absolutely.
Matthew Black (55:43):
Yeah, but I've heard you say it before If you
even just sell one shed a year,then it will cover.
You broke even two sheds.
SHED GEEK (55:52):
You made money, so it's only going to feed the
beast eventually.
I guess any of these platforms,every single platform you can
think of in one's name today,even if they're not successful I
would make the argument severalof them already are, but let's
just assume that they're not.
It doesn't matter because it'sthe future.
(56:12):
It doesn't matter becausesomeone will do it and it will
eventually and it's easy tofight back against that and just
kind of be like, well, I'llnever use it.
And it's like, and it's easy tofight back against that and
just kind of be like, well, I'llnever use it.
And it's like, you know, I'mgoing to get on a soapbox, ain't
I, I better get off.
I better get off now.
It's just, you know, becauseit's hard to again, it's easy to
(56:35):
insult things you don'tunderstand.
That's what.
I've done my whole life.
So then it's like you know,once I started learning things,
I started seeing them in adifferent light.
I'm just going to stop therebefore I get on the soapbox
We've had such a good podcast, Idon't want to ruin it with some
negative thoughts.
Matthew Black (56:52):
But I do have a little feedback on that.
So, I mean, the seeds have beenplanted for platforms like
ShedHub to be successful.
Are we seeing the results todaythat we will likely see in five
years from now?
No, we're not.
But the sales environment ischanging at a rapid pace.
There's so much happening withtechnology these days and it
(57:18):
happens as fast as we can blink.
Changes are happening, happensas fast as we can blink.
Uh, changes are happening.
So, uh, customers areincreasingly buying products
online across all things.
Uh, people buy their groceriesonline.
People buy.
SHED GEEK (57:35):
I don't know what the percentage is it's just a
changing of the world, it is thewhole world is changing, so you
know to be there and be presentand to be working on it.
Matthew Black (57:43):
Now.
Maybe you're not selling 100sheds a year off of Shed Hub,
but you know.
What does the future hold We'llsee.
But you can't have the fruitwithout planting the seed.
SHED GEEK (57:54):
That's right, what a good word, and that's awesome.
Any final thoughts, anyquestions for me, anything
that's just kind of on your mind, anything that you would want
to put out there.
Matthew Black (58:08):
Uh, the only thing I'll say is um, if
anybody's interested in my shed,uh, you can reach out to me
directly.
Uh, my email is Matt (M- A-T-T) @ my shed.
io.
Uh, you can also call me on mycell phone, 615-547-3299.
(58:29):
Willing to take any and allcalls.
I'd love to speak with youabout what we've got going on.
If you've had a demo before, Irecommend you get a demo again.
Let us show you what we'reworking with now.
We have some really awesome newfeatures and processes.
We're really, really proud ofwhat we have.
(58:51):
We do feel like we're truly thebest product in the industry.
Check us out for yourself, butgive me a call, Shoot me an
email.
Either way, we'd love to do ademo for you and show you what
we can do for your business.
SHED GEEK (59:05):
Excellent, all right, I don't have anything else,
unless you do.
I think it's I think we're good.
I think it's went really good.
I appreciate you being on herea third time.
Who knows, Maybe we'll have afourth a fifth, a sixth?
Matthew Black (59:16):
Yeah, I'm excited .
SHED GEEK (59:24):
We'll see what the future holds there.
Perfect.
Thank you, Matt.
Thank you,
Welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek
podcast, Matthew Black, roundnumber three.
What's?
up.
What's up, my friend?
Matthew Black (00:18):
Everything.
SHED GEEK (00:19):
Everything, yes sir.
Is this three?
This is the third one.
Matthew Black (00:22):
This is the third .
SHED GEEK (00:24):
You're like becoming a regular podcaster
Matthew Black (00:28):
yeah, I'm excited about that.
I appreciate the opportunity
SHED GEEK (00:31):
well, we appreciate you being here.
It's awesome and excited toknow what you're up to
Matthew Black (00:37):
yeah, just still chugging along.
Uh, we uh a lot of things goingon kind of across the industry.
Really exciting thingshappening with my shed.
You know blacks were constantlystriving to grow that business
(00:58):
and, as any shed company ownerwould know, right now, you know,
times are a little different.
The last part of last year andcoming into this year, I know a
lot of people have seen, youknow, some slowdown.
So, we've been, we've reallybeen doing what I feel like are
some awesome things to combatthat and allow us to still see
(01:20):
growth despite a changingclimate for shed cells.
So, uh, just across the boardbeen really busy, um, working
with my teams to uh to keepmoving the needle and keep
seeing progress so we get tohear all those secrets here
today huh, I might share one ortwo.
(01:40):
I don't think I could share themall, but uh, but absolutely.
SHED GEEK (01:45):
Well, one thing that I know is a new office.
Matthew Black (01:49):
Yes.
SHED GEEK (01:49):
I saw that and it looks amazing.
Matthew Black (01:51):
Thank you,
SHED GEEK (01:51):
congrats on that,
Matthew Black (01:52):
yeah, I appreciate it.
I'm very proud of that office.
One of the things recently withBlacks Buildings that we've
achieved is we've started ourmodular certified building
company, so we are now able tobuild and sell fully finished
(02:12):
modular homes.
So, with that we redid ouroffice space and in this segment
we offer good, better and bestin a lot of the different
products that go into these.
So, when we built this newoffice space, we focused on
nothing but the best.
We wanted to represent what thebest of all things could be,
(02:37):
and I'm proud to call it myoffice.
I truly enjoy going to workevery day and having such a nice
space to work out of, going towork every day and having such a
nice space to work out of.
So, yeah, I'm really, reallyhappy with the results and
customer feedback has beentremendous.
SHED GEEK (02:51):
I think it was a great move Gives you room to
upsell, to show people thatAbsolutely Top in class, you
know like top of the line whatto expect For sure.
Matthew Black (03:02):
Yeah, yeah, because most people want to come
in and say they want the bestand absolutely we'll quote you
the best and then we'll work youback from there.
You know what things trulymatter most to you.
Do you want the really nicecabinets, but you're okay with
the cheaper flooring, you know?
Do you need the higher-endshiplap paneling or do you want
(03:23):
to go another route?
Higher end um shiplap panelingor do you want to go another
route?
Um, you know we, it's mucheasier to sell off the high end
down than it is to sell off thelow end up.
Um, so we, we've got actually,another building that is kind of
our mid-tier model.
It's one of the sales offices,um, that Nathan Reagan is
actually in, so, um, we've kindof got a better and a best.
(03:47):
We still don't have a, a goodoffering, um, so that would be
our lowest, but we don't offerany crap.
So, the worst you're going toget from us is good stuff.
SHED GEEK (03:57):
Um, and then we work our way up from there.
Well, I like it.
I know you always put out agood product and, um, that's
exciting.
It's been just exciting get toknow you.
You've always been a supporterof Shed Geek, absolutely years,
and we appreciate that.
You've just been, uh, been um,yeah, you've been a, a friend of
the show, yes, sir, orsometimes so absolutely
(04:19):
appreciate that.
What are you said?
The industry's a littledifferent the end of last year
and this year.
What are you?
You seeing as some pain points.
Matthew Black (04:27):
Yeah, I think a lot of it actually has to do
with our customers.
So just the consumer confidencein making these large ticket
item purchases.
I think the hurdle is a littlehigher to overcome to make the
sales now than what it used tobe, simply because people are
(04:48):
more conscious of where theyspend their money.
You know we've had so far thisyear every month has been
tremendous, but once again we'redoing a lot of things to make
it.
So, I don't know that all shedcompanies are seeing that.
I've heard from many that arestruggling.
(05:10):
Maybe it's a regional thing,because I've seen certain areas
that seem to be doing reallywell while others are struggling
right now.
But overall, it just kind ofsolidifies the concept that we
should always be striving to bebetter.
So, in these times, especiallywhen you can see, you know,
(05:35):
declines happening or stagnation, where you're maybe where you
used to a growth.
These are the times when youdouble down, and you really work
on your company.
One of the things I like to sayabout our business is, you know
, there's a saying too big foryour britches.
(05:55):
I think we're too small for ourbritches at this point.
We've built systems andprocesses to allow our business
to grow into.
So, we're.
You know, we run EOS.
We we're very focused on whatwe're doing and how we're doing
it and who's doing it and whenit's going to be done, all of
(06:17):
the things involved, and it'sjust really helped us keep going
in the right direction.
But, like I said, avoiding thatstagnation and just constantly
bettering is definitely whatwe're focusing on
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SHED GEEK (08:28):
Do you think that that's a main difference?
You alluded to some companiesdoing well, some companies seem
to struggle.
What are the obviousdifferences that people should
look at, say, a big part of itis sales process related.
Matthew Black (08:50):
Um, you know how you're selling your sheds?
Um, definitely, sheds aren'tselling themselves as they were.
You know a few years ago wheresales were easy you simply had
to have sheds and you could sellthem.
Now it's critical that shedsellers know their product.
(09:15):
Product knowledge is thefoundation for any sales process
.
You must know your productinside and out, because your
customer will see if you have alack of confidence in a response
to a question about any of yourproducts, or even if you have
to say, well, I don't know, butI'll get you an answer.
Just those kind of things reallyaren't acceptable in a pristine
(09:39):
sales process.
You must know your product, youmust have the answers, you must
say them in the right way.
It's not just what you say,it's how you say it, what your
body language implies.
Everything is so important in asales process and I really
think right now you can see thesellers who are great sellers
(10:06):
and have invested in resourcesto help them constantly better
their craft, and those that areof inventory.
That does drive customers toyou.
But how much more sales wouldyou do if, if you were actively
(10:31):
in beyond just marketplace andall the, the norm or the normal
um marketing places for shedcompanies.
But are you actively, you know,seeking new leads and how are
you doing that and how are youhandling those leads once they
come and how much attention doyou really give them?
And you know just handling alead correctly?
(10:53):
We could do 10 podcasts onbecause that is such a in-depth
subject.
But that that really I guessyou know how you handle your
leads is really what separatesthe, the men, from the boys
right now.
SHED GEEK (11:08):
I think no, no, that's.
Uh, there's so much everybody's.
You know it's not, it's notlike everybody's in a panic.
I don't feel like um, becauseyou know you're, there are some
seeing success.
I think that you're just Idon't know.
But the question's always beenposed for years since I can
(11:29):
remember is like when do we hitour bubble that pops?
You know, when are weoversaturated in the market?
To me, you know thatoversaturation starts to create
conversations about acquisitions, because it's kind of like how
many more can you know thisguy's uncle and nephew and
brother?
start a shed company.
(11:50):
And then there's more and, uh,who's not going through?
You want to start a business,but it's kind of like do you
have all of the information ofwhat it takes to help make a
business successful, from thefrom the business management
side to the building?
Yes, you know, we've.
We've seen some companies wework with see increase and it
(12:13):
create a problem in another area.
Yes, so oh, we can helpyourselves.
Let's get you from seven tonine.
Then, all of a sudden, we don'thave the labor, yep, and we
don't have the labor and wedon't have the infrastructure to
be able to do this.
So it's, it's trying to move.
You know, turn that airplane ona small circle instead of this
(12:34):
big.
Absolutely, you got to take,you got to take the whole
business into consideration.
When you see an increase here,now you see, oh, no, we've got
to increase in our lumber buyingor metal or whatever components
you're needing, or you know,I'm struggling with adding a bay
yes.
That slows us down.
Matthew Black (12:51):
Those are all you know the good problems to have
is hey, I'm growing and I don'tknow.
You know I don't have capacityto produce buildings.
Well, find some wholesaledistributors.
I don't have a dealer network.
Go to existing dealer networksand see if they would carry your
product.
Um, you know, there's solutionsfor that.
I think more people are seeingthe downside, um where they,
(13:16):
like I said, probably a lot areplateaued.
Um, definitely, some are down,and one of the things that I'll
point out is, like you know,cash flow.
Um, cash flow is so important,but it's easy, when there's
strong cash flow, to not reallyfocus on your operations and not
(13:39):
optimize things, but in timeslike what they are now, it
becomes imperative that youunderstand your cash flow.
If you're, if you have, you know, large amounts of inventory
that have been produced for thisseason, and I'll even say this
I've you know, this is our, ourbusy season.
(14:00):
We're in spring.
I see companies offering 20%off their sheds right now and
it's like uh, this, this is notthe time when you would expect
to see people especially notthat heavy.
I mean we still, you know, thistime of year, uh, we'll still
discount.
I know there's a wholeconversation to be had about to
discount or not to discount anddoes it devalue the your brand
(14:23):
if you offer discounts even, noteven just discounts.
SHED GEEK (14:26):
But like um, me and Kyle used to talk about this, he
was always of the mindset ofsell when it's hot, yeah, when
things are going out the door,that's whenever you do the
discount.
I mean him would like argueback and forth and I was like,
no, you do, if you're going todo the discount you did when
(14:46):
sales are down.
He's like, why not hit it whileit's hard you have?
Any thoughts about that like isthere?
Is there a better time?
because we were just going offour emotions and guts.
I think exactly.
I think I don't know that wewere using data.
Matthew Black (14:57):
Absolutely yeah, we and we are very data driven
uh, we know our numbers down toour colors.
I mean, we track, we knowexactly what percent of the
buildings that we sell are of acertain color, filtered by month
and by season, which sizes sellbest in what areas, and that's
(15:21):
one of the advantages ofsoftware like MyShed we have all
that in the dashboard, so we douse a lot of that to make these
decisions and see what theresults of these decisions are.
I do agree with doing somevalue-added promotions during
this time of year when thingsare hot.
(15:42):
This time of year when thingsare hot, like you know, get, you
know, buy any building over$5,000 gets $200 worth of free
options or something Gotcha.
So, we, like this time of yearthat's what I feel is best is
like to add value, becausepeople are already looking to
buy.
We're not trying to convincethem to buy because we're
offering a discount.
So, if they're already lookingto buy, let's add value to what
(16:04):
we're offering a discount.
So, if they're already lookingto buy, let's add value to what
we're offering, above maybe whatour competition is doing, and
then they see that and they'llbe like well, I was looking at
this up the road, this companyis going to give me this in
addition.
So, we're not trying to turnnon-buyers into buyers, we're
just trying to steer buyers ourway.
Gotcha, that makes sense.
I like that quote.
SHED GEEK (16:23):
Like we're just trying to steer buyers our way.
Gotcha, that makes sense.
I like that quote.
Like we're not trying to turnnon-buyers into buyers, we're
just adding to the value ofthose who are buying.
So, people know you in theindustry is twofold.
You have this really cool likedouble-edged sword that you're
out there You've got Blacks andthen you've got MyShed and you
kind of use MyShed.
(16:43):
Maybe you know, maybe I'mspeaking for you.
Maybe it was started as acatalyst, maybe it was started
as a launching pad for to helpblacks.
Yeah, you know, because a lotof things happen in the industry
.
I've been, I've been havingthis conversation, and I want
your thoughts on it here lately.
But a lot of people who startthings in the industry start
them out of the reality thatthey have a need, and no one
(17:07):
serves that need and thensometimes it ends up to the
point where it's like, oh, otherpeople need the solution that I
offered.
So, I'm going to put this out.
Is that why, you breakit down, Because I'm going to
make a mess of it.
Matthew Black (17:24):
Yes, For sure.
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Matthew Black (18:55):
So, you know, MyShed to me is a platform that
helps me with Black's Buildingsto sell more sheds.
It helps my dealers during thesales process to sell quicker,
to sell with more confidence.
It is a great tool.
I did build this, or my teamand I.
(19:17):
We built this software for theindustry, but I definitely
benefit greatly from it.
We've just been working reallyhard on this product.
My shed is light years fromwhere we were a couple years ago
.
We've doubled down, we'velearned from our customers what
(19:41):
they really want and need in asoftware and we've tried to
provide that for them.
And we've even gone beyond that.
And you know, with our ERPsystem it's something that is
new that can literally be thedigital backbone of a shed
company to know your numbers uh,true, uh without having to do
(20:07):
all these calculations or havingspreadsheets.
And any shed company owner whohas sat down to figure their
true cost on sheds knows themess it is to pull all of your
supplier invoices together tosee your current cost on all
(20:27):
those with all of your buildsheets, what materials are
required for a certain building,and then put all that together
to give you a true cost ofmaterials.
Our system will do that on itsown.
We'll provide you a list ofmaterials needed to build the
shed, your total cost for theshed, so things like that.
(20:50):
With blacks this goes back.
We're a little small for ourbritches because we only have
the one manufacturing locationand this works fantastic for
that.
But even for these bigcompanies where they really need
this, if you've got multiplemanufacturing plants and you
can't be at all of them all thetime, this gives you invaluable
(21:14):
insight into what is going on,helps you track your inventory
and do all of that.
So, yes, blacks and MyShed kindof work together for the
betterment of each other.
We have learned through Blacksthings that we would like to
have.
For instance, you know fillableRTO contracts and you know
(21:43):
fillable RTO contracts andfinancing contracts within the
software things that are justnecessary to make the sales
process smoother instead ofhaving to switch back and forth
from here to there, havingthings just all in one place in
one process.
SHED GEEK (21:54):
What are, what are like some of the challenges
along the way that you guys haveexperienced, that you feel like
I wish I knew this, then what Iknow now, which is all our
lives, isn't it?
Matthew Black (22:10):
Absolutely.
SHED GEEK (22:10):
What are some of the things that you feel like you've
been able to overcome?
Matthew Black (22:15):
Yeah, we have listened to our users and there
has been a lot of growth inareas just the way orders are
processed through the system,the flow of things.
You know, at first, we hadideas that maybe they should
(22:37):
flow this way but throughtalking with customers we've
kind of changed some of that andthe speed of things.
There's been a lot of learningexperience, especially early on
when we first kind of releasedMyShed.
We learned a lot from that timeand that's allowed us to make
(22:59):
our product that much better.
We listen to our customers.
We've actually recently beenreaching out to all of our
customers and just solicitingfeedback and just, you know, we
want to meet our customers wherethey need us to be customers
(23:22):
where they need us to be.
So, if they need something, youknow we aggregate all of the
responses, and you know we kindof rate them on.
You know universal tasks thatshould be done or created and
yeah, we're always working togive our customers what they
want, need and expect.
SHED GEEK (23:41):
What I'm trying to think of things that other
people have faced along the way,whenever I think about just
technology in general and youcan use technology as a
universal description across theretail market.
Matthew Black (23:57):
Yeah.
SHED GEEK (23:57):
But tech has really hit the retail market in general
, but it's you've just reallyseen.
I remember writing a, anarticle, a column called with
the tech, and just talking aboutall of this explosion of
different things that have hitum, we kind of talked about your
(24:19):
why, kind of like you knowwhere it came about, the early
challenges that you've had toovercome, how, how do you feel
like you and others can adapt tothat?
Or maybe the better question is, how can the industry adapt to
it?
Because this is my personalopinion here.
Okay, this is my personal biascoming out here, but I tend to
(24:46):
judge things more harshly.
I don't understand.
Yes, it's easier to criticizethings when I don't understand
them, but as you begin, like theplayers that's maybe a terrible
way to say this, but theplayers of the industry, you
know they're embracing thesethings Absolutely.
They use these things to the,the, the, the full capability of
(25:09):
what they're able to be usedfor.
Matthew Black (25:11):
Yes.
SHED GEEK (25:12):
And you don't want to like present, like this
doomsday picture of like, if youdon't use it, you're gonna fall
apart.
Yeah, I still think you canbuild a shed and set it up by
the road, sell it and make aliving.
Absolutely.
The question is can you scale abusiness?
Because if you don't want to,then maybe you're fine, that's
exactly, but if you want, toscale a business yep, yeah, and
(25:35):
the software is definitelycrucial as you scale a business.
Matthew Black (25:41):
You're totally right.
There are a lot of people whoare just fine to build a shed
here and there and sell them andfeel content and not go after
more.
But there's a lot of us outhere who want to grow our
(26:01):
businesses.
I feel convicted that I shouldbe growing my businesses and
it's something that softwaredefinitely helps you with.
It will make it much lessdifficult as you scale just to
have a tight grasp on what ishappening and a good
(26:25):
understanding for maybe, what isto come.
But data is key to all of itand really just knowing where
you're headed and where you wantto be headed and then charting
that course and following thatway.
Planning is so crucial andsetting goals.
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Matthew Black (27:49):
Definitely, software is a key component to
any company that wants to grow.
I know for a fact there's stillplenty of companies out here
using spreadsheets to calculatetheir prices on sheds and they
handwrite their work orders, andthey fax it over to a
production plant.
All of that just gets a littlebit in disorder and then you
(28:13):
have things like change orderscome up and how is that handled?
The great thing about softwarelike MyShed is when it's changed
.
It's changed everywhere, soit's not chasing down pieces of
paper that got sent out and youknow no, don't build that, it
needs to be like this.
Oh, it's already gone intoproduction.
(28:34):
Sell it as inventory.
I'm sure many of us have seenthat before.
So, you know it's crucial for ashed company that wants to grow
to have some software solutionsin place, and definitely a 3D
configurator.
You know your dealers willthrive with a 3D configurator,
(28:57):
where without it, mostly they'llbe selling inventory.
So, if you want them to sellcustom buildings, that's a key
piece there.
But yeah, our customers arewanting more of an Amazon-like
experience, Like when you buyyou know what you're buying.
You get email that says youjust bought this and it's going
(29:20):
to be delivered in this timeperiod and then another email.
This is out for delivery.
Like um, the landscape of saleshas changed and the we call it
the customer journey.
What is?
What does our customer journeylook like?
And like with my?
One of our key features iscommunication.
(29:41):
We want to communicate with theend customer, the person buying
the shed, where their buildingis in the process, or, you know,
if we've received a deposit, weautomatically send out the
receipt.
When a building goes intoproduction, we will send them an
email saying, hey, we'vestarted building it.
(30:03):
If it's inventory, it doesn'tgo there, but we still send them
an email when it's scheduledfor delivery.
Just that way they have areceipt of sorts.
With that, Usually the driverhas spoken with them to
coordinate, but everything has atrail and it just makes them
feel better about their purchaseand the company that they
(30:24):
decided to go with.
Because you know these aren'tsmall purchases.
A shed is the third or fourthlargest purchase most people
will ever make, so we've got tobe considerate of that.
But the expectations for thecustomer journey and the
customer experience are changingrapidly, so we've got to be
(30:45):
prepared, as shed dealers andshed manufacturers, to deliver
on those expectations.
SHED GEEK (30:54):
Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.
What are your thoughts on sortof like the state of the
industry now?
What are the things that youthink that dealers struggle with
?
What do you want to create?
What kind of like experience doyou want them to get when
working with my shed, or evencalling blacks and asking for,
(31:19):
you know, advice or consultation?
Matthew Black (31:21):
yeah, absolutely so.
Uh, big things I think fordealers is having a, a
marketplace to actually selltheir sheds on, um, something of
a shop, not just like Facebookmarketplace where you can go and
list things, but an actual,actual point-of-sale system.
That way you can sell to peopleby sending them a link to your
(31:46):
inventory, just making thingslook really nice.
The dealer perspective is wherewe meet our customers, so that
experience needs to becultivated with great attention
to detail.
You know we go a little aboveand beyond at Black's, I would
(32:08):
say.
But like we have a fridge thatis always fully stocked with
probably 20 or more differenttypes of beverages and we always
ask our customers if they wouldlike something to drink and if
we do give them something, wealways restock immediately
afterwards.
So, it's always a perfectlyfull fridge of every assortment.
(32:30):
Just the little details,because the shed lot up the road
is not doing that.
So, chances are this will standout in that customer's mind and
just overall experience.
If you, you know, are doing yourbusiness, running your business
out of a shed, make sure thatshed is a nice shed that is, has
(32:50):
done well.
People really are noticing thesmall things as their buying
decisions become morecomplicated.
You really have to go above andbeyond with some of these
customers to actually get thesale now, and the little things
that differentiate you arereally important there.
(33:12):
Also, like with my shed, wehave CRM integration.
So, we've worked with Shed GeekMarketing Go High Level.
We've got some greatintegrations there that allow us
to do automations and really,when you look across your
(33:34):
network of dealers orsalespeople, it's really
valuable to invest in thingslike this for them.
These are investments that willpay off.
They can be pretty expensive upfront, just depending on how
you configure them, but this isan investment in your dealers,
(33:56):
make no mistake, and this willresult in them getting more
sales.
I'm not sure what other shedcompanies experience, but
working with Shed Geek Marketing, we've received a tremendous
amount of leads and we do everyday.
We expect I'm not going to giveany exact numbers, but quite a
(34:16):
good load of leads every daythrough our marketing endeavors,
and how we handle those leadsis a little different than a lot
of companies.
A lot of that is due to theautomations we have in place and
just the processes, and thatrelieves some of the pressure
off of our dealers orsalespeople, because some of the
(34:38):
things that they would manuallyhave to do before are now
getting done automatically, andwe've really seen some great
results there.
SHED GEEK (34:49):
So yeah, we're that is, that is something.
How do you combat that with themindset of I would rather a
robot not answer for me.
They're not going to have thesame personal touch that I have.
I have one example I will givein a minute, but I'm just
(35:10):
curious at how you can combatthat.
Matthew Black (35:12):
Absolutely yeah, and when I say these automations
, I get where you could construethat as a robot.
But you know, simply, you know,for every style that we have,
we have 28 different styles, wehave different email sequences
and text sequences, and maybethat does seem robotic,
(35:34):
especially with the texts, butyou know we formulate the
verbiage in there to not seemthat way and then if there is a
response, then it triggers us torespond back.
So, we stay away from kind ofthe appearance that they are not
dealing with a real person,though I don't think that's
(35:57):
something to be afraid of.
The real person, though I don'tthink that's something to be
afraid of.
I think people are becomingaccustomed to you know, more AI
involved experiences.
But you know, with what we'redoing, I don't feel like that
comes across and I say that weactually I got a message this
(36:17):
morning from one of my salespeople and, uh, it was a
response that somebody gave tothe automated message, um, and
it was just kind of funny.
It was like who is this?
And you know it's um.
Of course we get that messageand instead of them, but they,
we told them who we were.
You know, to start with um,that it's blacks buildings.
(36:39):
We're following up about theshed you designed, um, this
garden style shed.
Uh, just wanted to see if youhad any questions or if there's
something we could help you withthis essentially something
generic like that.
And then, um, maybe thiscustomer thought that it was a
robot, because they were likewho is this?
ADVERTISEMENT (37:03):
Oh no.
Sam, what's going on?
Are you okay?
Yes, I'm fine, Lisa.
I was just trying to get ascrewdriver and all this other
stuff fell down.
I'm ready to go buy a shed sowe can have some space in this
garage again.
I agree, I keep looking at theshed Mr Jenkins bought.
Let's ask him where I got his.
(37:30):
Howdy neighbor, we're wonderinghow do you like your shed?
I love it.
It's exactly what I needed, andI couldn't have asked for a
better service.
And where did you get it?
Hmm, I can't remember, but letme check Something.
This nice will probably havethe builder's name on it
(37:50):
somewhere.
Hmm, no, I'm sorry, I can'tfind a name anywhere.
Well, we finally got a shed.
Yes, I just hope we're happy.
The thing is a lot more shoddythan I expected, and I'm sure I
(38:15):
told them I wanted a window, butthey didn't have it in the
paperwork so I couldn't argue.
Boy is this a lousy shed.
We haven't even had it twoyears, have we?
Barely.
It was just a bad deal all theway around.
Mr Jenkins told me the otherday that he likes his shed so
much he wants to get a secondone, but he still can't remember
(38:37):
where he got it.
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SHED GEEK (38:55):
If you put all the customers out there in a box
that have a possibility ofpurchasing a shed in a 500 mile
radius, if you put all thecustomers out there and you have
a shed lot stationed every sooften and there's I don't know,
(39:17):
I know there's going to be waymore.
Matthew Black (39:18):
Oh, it's going to be a lot.
SHED GEEK (39:19):
But I'm just going to use for simple 10 to 12 lots
and I know that's probably morelike 10 to 1200, but yeah it
seems like at least uh, if youuse like the 10 lots most people
you can do fine with this brickand mortar location for the
people who drive by yourlocation absolutely but you can
(39:42):
actually get in front of thatentire population with the right
marketing that's right and thenonce you actually get a closed
or one of those leads on thereyes, it's the same as them
coming onto your lot.
Yes, theoretically, in a lot ofways, theoretically I understand
they're coming onto yourdigital lot, yes, instead of
(40:03):
coming onto your brick andmortar.
And we have been accustomed tofeeling comfortable already as
salespeople, where, if they cometo the lot, the influence of
buying the power is in thesalesperson's like psyche,
because the person came therelooking for a solution.
(40:25):
Yes, as opposed to you reachingout for them.
Yep, you know, reaching out tothem.
The psyche should still remainthe same when they reach out to
you, just because they're not infront of you absolutely.
Matthew Black (40:37):
Yeah, they're um, I get where you're going with
that and I have always been aproponent for online sales With
Blacks.
We do have some dealerlocations now.
For years we did not, but wehave always been successful with
our online presence and it'sdefinitely very important, and
(41:03):
how you handle that is veryimportant.
I would say that you know wehave different nets that we
throw out to catch customers,like with Facebook leads and
Facebook ads.
It's a big net, so when you say500 miles, we literally might
(41:24):
be going 500 miles wide withthis net and we catch lots and
lots of prospects that submitsome kind of lead.
And these are the places wherethose things like the
automations are extremelyimportant, because when you,
when you cast that broad of anet, then you need processes to
(41:44):
help you handle what's in thatnet.
And then you have things likegoogle ads, uh, where you know
you're.
These are customers that aremore likely searching out your
product, uh, because theirsearch terms are leading them to
see your ad, um, and so that'sa different net and we have
(42:04):
different processes to deal withall those.
In my shed.
We send a lot of our leadsdirectly to my shed.
We have a great system in placethere, some really neat
functionality that is unique tous that really allows your sales
(42:24):
process to be more informed andhave better conversion rates.
So, yeah, I think that it'swise for any dealer of a brick
and mortar location to alsoconsider using other advertising
methods online just to castthat broader net.
(42:47):
These aren't people who arenecessarily driving by every day
.
SHED GEEK (42:50):
Yeah, that's the thing, just catching these
people in this radius.
Online, you have a betteropportunity to sell.
Matthew Black (43:00):
Absolutely.
SHED GEEK (43:00):
Because they may never approach a lot.
Yes, and they may start theirprocess there, where, at a
minimum, they come to you yesyou know, and then you use all
of the tools that you have forsure to close this out
absolutely right, yeah andyou're saying my shed will help
the dealer with that absolutely.
Matthew Black (43:21):
Yeah, we, yeah, we will help intake those leads.
So, we have a lead sectionwhere it's essentially a lead
card at the beginning of thebuilder.
We ask for customer informationat the beginning and a lot of
business owners, when we startdiscussing you know my shed with
(43:44):
them have come to us with well,do we, you know, are customers
going to fill this out?
Are they?
Is this?
Do we really want to ask themtheir phone number?
Maybe they're just going to Xout of here?
And you know we have data forclick through on everything and
it is amazing, literally 95% ofpeople leave an accurate phone
number.
It's like 98 plus percent onthe emails.
(44:08):
So, it is very valuable to askfor this information and we
almost always receive it.
If somebody wants to, they canjust put in some random numbers
and some random email and getinto your builder that way.
But we do require that at thebeginning and through our
(44:29):
constant save state, I mean, itallows us to always know what
that person was designing whenthey left.
So even if you don't submit itfor like a quote or go through
the order process, we still havea lead tied into a building and
even a library of customdesigned buildings.
(44:49):
If that customer has designedmultiple buildings, it is
indexable for them so they canview every model they've
designed all in one place,without having to go through
their emails and click on thisone to see this building place,
without having to go throughtheir emails and click on this
one to see this building.
It's all in one nice screenwhere they can go through and
(45:09):
see everything they would havedesigned.
And, once again, as asalesperson, that's super useful
because you know what theinterest is when you call a
customer and say, hey, I'm withBlack's Buildings.
I saw you were on our 3Dconfigurator designing a shed.
It doesn't hit with the sameimpact as, hey, I see this 12 by
(45:30):
16 garden shed you designed.
I was wondering if you, youknow, like that window placement
or if you think the windowswould be better on the end.
You know just that betterinformed sales process just to
get a little more traction withyour potential customer.
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SHED GEEK (47:10):
So, Matt, we're probably 40 minutes in on
content, but outside of justtalking about things in the
industry, blacks my shed tryingto create, you know, powerful
content for people to listen to,something they can chew on and
take away.
What are some thoughts that youwant to give?
What are some other things withmy shed that are worth talking
(47:33):
about?
You know integrations, thingsthat you guys have done and
built.
You know, um, communication isa big thing in the shed industry
.
What are you, what?
Just what are your thoughts onthese?
Matthew Black (47:42):
yeah, no, absolutely so.
Great communication isimperative to all of us at my
shed we are literally doublingdown on our communication and
our customer service, and wehave three lines of customer
service, and we are workingdiligently to be known for that.
(48:06):
There's a lot of companies inthis software space that are
known for lack of communicationand at times we've even
experienced that.
But right now, that's thebiggest pain point that we know
our users have been experiencing, our potential users have been
experiencing with some of thecompanies other than ours.
(48:28):
It's just hard to communicate,it's hard to get things done,
hard to make changes, pricing,updates.
So that's where we're doublingdown.
I can guarantee that if youcall, somebody will answer or
will call you back within anhour during all US time, from 8
(48:51):
to 5, east Coast to West Coast.
So we have great customerservice there.
If it's after hours, we willreturn your call the next day
before noon.
We will return your call thenext day before noon.
We have policies in place thatreward our customer service
(49:11):
people for being on top of thesethings.
And this is going to allow usto address the pain point that
many of you have experiencedwith your software.
We are not that software.
We are the ones who will bethere, who will work with you,
who will stay on top of thingsfor you.
So, as far as integrations andthose type things are concerned,
we really work in the spirit ofpartnerships.
(49:38):
My brother-in-law has actuallycome on and is working with us.
He was the vice president ofpartnerships for Sage for many
years, which is a Fortune 100company, and we have really
looked at what integrations andwhat partnerships are adding
(49:59):
value.
And one of the most recent oneswe've completed is our
QuickBooks integration.
So, your bookkeeper oraccountant will be very happy
with the way things are done.
Without you having to compileit all.
You'll have a great look atyour business financially and it
(50:21):
just eliminates a lot of workfrom the bookkeeping side of
things.
So that's one of the mostrecent ones, but we're working
hard to engage in morepartnerships, particularly in
the software space.
Even within our industry, wehave opened our platform to
(50:44):
different stacks of modules thatwould allow us to partner with
another 3d design company.
If you want to use a differentcompany for your 3d tool and use
our back end, we have modulesfor you that don't require you
to buy the full stack.
We can sell you what you need.
So we.
(51:04):
So we're excited to be open inthat way.
Another key differentiator forMyShed is you know payments, how
you accept your payments.
Do we require you to use acertain processor, and a lot of
people may not know this, butthere are some software
(51:27):
companies that actually get akickback from the card company.
So they lock in a rate that islower than the presented rate
with the card company and theyrequire their users to use a
certain company Stripe or Squareor whatever for processing, but
(51:51):
they actually get a kickback ofthe difference in the price
that's charged to the shedcompany to process and the price
they're paying to the creditcard processing company.
So we're proud to say that wehave no such kickbacks in place.
We are open to differentpayment providers, so if you
(52:15):
have a different company thatyou want to use than Stripe or
Square, as long as they'rewilling to work with us and
create a API bridge, essentiallyjust connecting the two
platforms together, then we willwork with them.
Once again, we want to providethe things that our customers
(52:35):
need.
We're looking to add value toyour business, not take away.
SHED GEEK (52:41):
What's left for Matt Black man?
What's left?
you're gonna keep going
Matthew Black (52:45):
yeah, I, I'm just really excited for where we are
with my shed.
To be honest, it's um, it's soexciting.
We've built a really great team.
At first, it was myself and mypartner, Nathan, who does the uh
, the coding, or heads ourdevelopment team.
We do have a team of developers, but we didn't really have a
(53:07):
lot of software people involvedand now we have software people
and it's really showing and justthe progress we've made as well
as the milestones that we'vebeen achieving.
We're not just a shed softwarecompany, we are indeed a
(53:28):
software company.
So we are really proud of that,really, really proud of my team
at Blacks.
We've been growing and doublingdown on all of our processes
and just making them as good aspossible.
SHED GEEK (53:45):
I've got a question for you.
Now with our new adventure,e-commerce, is that going to
play into any of your software?
Matthew Black (53:56):
E-commerce.
In which way?
SHED GEEK (53:57):
Well, we just started working with ShedHub.
Matthew Black (54:00):
Yes.
SHED GEEK (54:01):
Managing partners now ownership um.
Is there a way to help moreshed sellers?
Matthew Black (54:10):
absolutely.
Yeah, I think it's imperativefor, like we were talking on
partnerships earlier, just toadd the value to both of our
potential clients.
You know, for things like theMyShed inventory shop to be
connected to ShedHub and thatway you know, when an inventory
(54:31):
is created or assigned to aShedBot then it automatically
populates in ShedHub and itwould be important that it's a
push-pull relationship where ifit's sold, it's also removed.
But yes, e-commerce is the waythings are going.
(54:52):
It's a space that I know from ashed manufacturer's point of
view, but I don't really knowfrom.
You know, like ShedH ub that'sa way different story the things
that have taken place there forthem to be, you know, top 10
(55:14):
search results nationwide, oramazing results.
These are things that JeffHuxmann has done a great job
there to really get it in frontof customers in a buying stage
without having to spend thatmoney on ads.
SHED GEEK (55:35):
You still have to prove it, man.
You still have to prove it tothe industry and I'm going to
tell you right now this industrycan be a hard one to sell to
some days, Absolutely.
Matthew Black (55:43):
Yeah, but I've heard you say it before If you
even just sell one shed a year,then it will cover.
You broke even two sheds.
SHED GEEK (55:52):
You made money, so it's only going to feed the
beast eventually.
I guess any of these platforms,every single platform you can
think of in one's name today,even if they're not successful I
would make the argument severalof them already are, but let's
just assume that they're not.
It doesn't matter because it'sthe future.
(56:12):
It doesn't matter becausesomeone will do it and it will
eventually and it's easy tofight back against that and just
kind of be like, well, I'llnever use it.
And it's like, and it's easy tofight back against that and
just kind of be like, well, I'llnever use it.
And it's like, you know, I'mgoing to get on a soapbox, ain't
I, I better get off.
I better get off now.
It's just, you know, becauseit's hard to again, it's easy to
(56:35):
insult things you don'tunderstand.
That's what.
I've done my whole life.
So then it's like you know,once I started learning things,
I started seeing them in adifferent light.
I'm just going to stop therebefore I get on the soapbox
We've had such a good podcast, Idon't want to ruin it with some
negative thoughts.
Matthew Black (56:52):
But I do have a little feedback on that.
So, I mean, the seeds have beenplanted for platforms like
ShedHub to be successful.
Are we seeing the results todaythat we will likely see in five
years from now?
No, we're not.
But the sales environment ischanging at a rapid pace.
There's so much happening withtechnology these days and it
(57:18):
happens as fast as we can blink.
Changes are happening, happensas fast as we can blink.
Uh, changes are happening.
So, uh, customers areincreasingly buying products
online across all things.
Uh, people buy their groceriesonline.
People buy.
SHED GEEK (57:35):
I don't know what the percentage is it's just a
changing of the world, it is thewhole world is changing, so you
know to be there and be presentand to be working on it.
Matthew Black (57:43):
Now.
Maybe you're not selling 100sheds a year off of Shed Hub,
but you know.
What does the future hold We'llsee.
But you can't have the fruitwithout planting the seed.
SHED GEEK (57:54):
That's right, what a good word, and that's awesome.
Any final thoughts, anyquestions for me, anything
that's just kind of on your mind, anything that you would want
to put out there.
Matthew Black (58:08):
Uh, the only thing I'll say is um, if
anybody's interested in my shed,uh, you can reach out to me
directly.
Uh, my email is Matt (M- A-T-T) @ my shed.
io.
Uh, you can also call me on mycell phone, 615-547-3299.
(58:29):
Willing to take any and allcalls.
I'd love to speak with youabout what we've got going on.
If you've had a demo before, Irecommend you get a demo again.
Let us show you what we'reworking with now.
We have some really awesome newfeatures and processes.
We're really, really proud ofwhat we have.
(58:51):
We do feel like we're truly thebest product in the industry.
Check us out for yourself, butgive me a call, Shoot me an
email.
Either way, we'd love to do ademo for you and show you what
we can do for your business.
SHED GEEK (59:05):
Excellent, all right, I don't have anything else,
unless you do.
I think it's I think we're good.
I think it's went really good.
I appreciate you being on herea third time.
Who knows, Maybe we'll have afourth a fifth, a sixth?
Matthew Black (59:16):
Yeah, I'm excited .
SHED GEEK (59:24):
We'll see what the future holds there.
Perfect.
Thank you, Matt.
Thank you,
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