In order to succeed, you have to grow

MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says that one way to excel in the industry is by offering specialized services.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Alex Tolle: Hello, I'm Alex Tolle with MetalCoffeeShop.com and I am back for another metal influencer topic with Randy. So our October question for MetalCoffeeShop is how can contractors expand their business by offering specialized metal construction services such as custom fabrication or architectural designs?

Randy Chaffee: You know, that's an interesting one, Alex, because I was thinking about that earlier today, surprisingly, about how do we get more share of the wallet as well, whether we're in the supply end or the construction end. And I think there;s a lot of other things that play into that whole concept of share of wallet. Are we just are — our contractors or installers just doing the basics, which is kind of the old, the more you do what you always did, the more you get what you always got. Right. Are you just doing that and trying to compete and trying to dig into the pricing scenario and trying to be competitive. All those things are important, but there's ways you can add to your bottom line and top line by getting out of just the standard stuff and getting into the things that a lot of these other guys don't want to touch. Not everybody wants to do that. So why don't you move yourself into areas where people don't want to be? Because then you get the price you want and you can keep your margins up.

So I think the key to that is all that you said. Get into those areas, but you got to promote it. You got to tell people what you're doing. And you got to hire the right people. We've talked about this, I think, several months ago on one of these influencer interviews. But you've got to hire people before you need them. You got to decide now what we're going to do in the spring or fall of next year even, and start looking for the right people. Put them in place; start the process; work with your trade schools, work with your high schools; get in to see the architects; do the lunch and learn things. Because a lot of us in the supply end are used to doing lunch and learns and those kind of things with architectural and engineering firms. But I think contractors and installers probably should do the same thing. Say, "Hey, look, we have this ability to do some of this custom work." Or if you're a supplier in that area, "We have the ability and the people and training to do these things."

But guess what? I think the key to this is if we don't have in place, we don't have a system, we don't have a program and we got to tell people we do it. And I think that's the key. I think the old day of hanging a shingle as they say, a sign out front and saying, hey, by the way, I do this, whatever this is. And we tell nobody that we do it. Guess what? People aren't just going to come search you out there, you that you gotta be on that forefront.

So I think it's a great place to go. And I love that question because share wallets are so important back to what I originally said, man, you doing the stuff that we do every day is great. But if it's not monotonous, you get yourself into a scenario where you just keep doing what you did. And you're not you're making whatever margin you're making. You're not making any interrode into other parts of the of the industry.

And I think we have to grow today. If we want to succeed, we got to grow. And I think it's a great way to offer those specialized services. So, I think it's a great way. You just got to do it. Put the people in place. Don't get ahead of yourself. Don't say we do all these great things and then try to figure it out later. I'm a big believer, and I've probably talked about this before, but I sometimes like the theory of climbing the 84th floor and then diving off and figuring out how to fly on the way down. And that works in some things. I wouldn't recommend it for this though. I think you might want to know how to fly first before you even start up the stairs, let alone dive off the building.

But I think it's an area you need to get involved with and now sooner than later, because as we keep getting more competitive and the industry gets more competitive, we get more players in the industry, we've got to find some areas to excel in where there's still some nice margins.

Alex Tolle: Yeah, absolutely. Well said, Randy. And thank you, as always, for sharing your insights on Metal Coffee Shop.

Randy Chaffee: Absolutely, anytime.