October 8, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. PT/ 2:30 p.m. ET

You won't want to miss this special Coffee Conversations®, sponsored by MetalVue by Sherwin-Williams, coming to you LIVE from METALCON 2026 in Orlando, Florida! Join us on day two of the show as we meet with industry leaders and experts from the metal industry. Guests include manufacturers, service providers and contractors who will share their insights and wisdom straight from the trade show floor. You can watch from the comfort of your home, on your mobile device or in person from outside our soundstage at booth #408. The topics will center around what's hot across the country including what is to come for the rest of 2026 and into 2027. Join us for this great Coffee Conversations LIVE from METALCON on October 8, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. PT/ 2:30 p.m. ET! 

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MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee emphasizes the importance of selling the benefits of metal's sustainabiliy, not just talking about it.

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversation with Randy Chaffee, partner of Source One Marketing. You can Read the transcript below, Listen to the interview or Watch the interview on YouTube.

Lauren White: Hello everyone, I'm Lauren White with MetalCoffeeShop.com and I am here for our September Metal Influencer Response with Randy Chafee. Randy, good to see you.

Randy Chaffee: Lauren it's good to see you as always. 

Lauren White: Well we're glad to have you here. Our topic for September is sustainability and resilience. So what do you have to share with our metal contractors out there?

Randy Chaffee: Well, I think the key there, and you know, I always come at these questions differently than some. I come from more of the sales and repping side of the world. And I think it's really important for the contractor and the supplier to work with their contractor to understand what that means. And I think we all understand what it means, but do we get that message to the end user? And I think that's where the miss is sometimes is they think metal roofing might be a little more expensive. Metal roofing may look a little different than what they're used to looking at. And and we all understand in the industry, the sustainability, the financial one and done, so to speak, or a long-term roof versus the two or three replacements that you do over the lifetime of a long roof.

And I think we need to be better as salespeople in this industry, whether you're at the supplier end or at the contractor end or the sales guy for the contractor, bringing that message to the end user, the homeowner, whether it be a business, industry or homeowner, to understand that there's the do good for the the environment part of it, right, which is important. and that comes in two two phases. Not only are you using a product that's probably been recycled at some point, but someday down the road, maybe not for you, but your kids or grandkids or great grandkids or somebody, that product's going to be recycled again.

And I think that different people have different views on how important that is. But from a sales standpoint, I think it's very important because that is a trigger point for a lot of people. So let's not forget it and let's use it to our advantage because it's real. Secondarily, from a financial standpoint, I've seen some good sales guys do this in the past and not to bore you with a whole bunch of numbers here, but they'll take the cost today of a metal roof, and let's say it's, you know, twenty percent higher versus an asphalt shingle roof or whatever. But they do the math. Fifteen, eighteen, twenty years they're going to spend whatever they were going to spend today again. And then twenty years later they're going to do it yet again, probably a time of their life that they don't really want to be spending money other than maybe to play, right? And to do fun stuff. And that's the gift that never stops giving, right? Where if you do a one and done and you spend a little bit more today, again, from a sustainability and from a financial standpoint, let's do it once. And you're not going to spend that money probably again in your lifetime. And I think it adds some resale value to your property. I think if you can why you may not get more necessarily because there's comps and there's all those things, okay? But if you're going to sell, if you can say, 'Hey, look, I got a roof you never have to replace, so I'm going to hold on my price just a little bit, right?' Because you know, I know you're looking at some other properties in the area, those are all single roofs, whatever the case may be, you're probably going to have to replace that roof. You buy my house, you don't. So there's those options too.

So I think as salespeople, especially at the contractor end of it, or with the end user, whomever that may be, let's make sure we sell the benefits of that, not just talk it. And any suppliers out there listening, we need to do a better job on our end to bring that message to our contractors so if they fully have what they need to go to battle on that front.

Lauren White: Yeah, absolutely. You make a lot of really good points. I like what you said about how the material that you use today can be recycled for generations to come. And I think that's really important.

Randy Chaffee: Exactly. And it's becoming more important every day and I think even people that aren't on the super recycle bandwagon, right, still understand even at the opposite end of that, if we don't have to throw stuff away in a dump someplace, it's just better, right? It's just better. Even if you're not highly into that belief, right? And there's different people at different I'm not making a statement either way.

I'm just saying that wherever you fall on that spectrum, it's hard to argue that you're never going to have to throw this in a dump someplace and pile tons of dirt on top of it and hope it goes away six thousand years from now, right? I just think that's important. It's not pushing anything, it's just talking truth. Just tell people what it is.

Lauren White: Definitely. Well, Randy, thank you so much. For those of you listening, make sure that you check out Randy's directory on metalcoffeeshop.com for more insights from him. And we will see you in October, Randy. 

Randy Chaffee: I'll be here. Sounds good. See you at METALCON.

MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says that communication is the key to adopting new technology. 

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.

Emma Richardson: Hi everyone, I'm Emma Richardson here with MetalCoffeeShop.com, and I'm here with our metal influencer Randy Chaffee to talk about our August influencer topic. Randy, how are you doing today?

Randy Chaffee: Emma, I'm doing wonderful, yourself?

Emma Richardson: I'm doing great, thank you. And I hear have some stuff to tell us about managing change through communication and training during tech rollouts.

Randy Chaffee: Well, we are in such a world of change today, right? And it's not going away with AI, with all the technology, all the digital, everything that's going on. Change has always been inevitable, but it comes at us at a pretty fast pace today. And that's not gonna change. It's not gonna go anywhere but faster.

I think two things I would say about the subject. One, accept it, adapt to it and understand it's coming and quit being afraid of it. Learn what you need to learn. Dive in, but because if you don't, you're gonna get left behind and very fast. Years ago, when something changed with technology, you might have weeks, months, years to adapt. It's almost nanoseconds now, right? It's it's so changing so fast. So we got to stay on that leading edge of that. It's just ultra important. And as I think a lot of subjects that that we talk about today, communication is key. If you're management, make sure you communicate. Because the biggest hurdle with people downstream in an organization is fear of the unknown. We all hate it. And I'm a pretty adaptable guy, but let's face it, at the end of the day, you still fear change. What's that mean? What's it gonna do? So I think the sooner we communicate that at all levels: here's what we're doing, here's why we're doing it, here's how it's gonna help us, here's why you don't need to worry about it, here's what we're gonna how we'll help train you.

If we do those things, and once you take the fear out, I think most people don't mind change. They mind the fear of change, right? They mind the concern about what that means. So if we take that away, then let's go have fun with this thing a little bit. Because some of these changes that we have with technology are pretty fun, right? You you learn new stuff. It's just kind of exciting. It's not the same-old-same-old that we that we've done. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. So my key there is to manage the change with your people as soon as you know what's going to be. Keep them in the loop, help them understand what it is, give them the training they need.

One of the biggest factors I think most people have as employees have, is the fear, but also not being trained properly, so they can't do the job that you want them to do. And then they get frustrated, then they get nervous and they get angry, and all those things that happen. We can take a lot of that away by just managing that up front. Bring them in early. You know, this is what we're doing. We're going to put this new CRM program, or we're going to do this new designs program. Don't just spring it on everybody one day in a meeting, if you knew about it four months ago or eight months ago. Talk to your people early and often and get their input. So that's what I would say is the key to that whole thing is manage it. Don't just spring it on people, and manage the fear, because once we know that we're gonna be okay, we're probably not gonna die doing this new thing, we're sort of okay with it, and then we get on board, right? And that's human nature.

Emma Richardson: Yeah. I think that through line of communication is so important. .

Randy Chaffee: It is. It's always about communication. And we all could be better, right? At every level. And the same thing as an employee or somebody downline. Don't be afraid to push back on your management, and your ownership and say, hey, I'm concerned about this, what's this mean for me? I I don't think I'm understanding. I don't think we got the training we need. Because I think most management, whether they're owners or managers, they want everybody downstream to suceed. Why wouldn't they? So they may not know what you're afraid of. They may not know what your fear is. They may not know that you don't have the right training. They may not know what you don't know, right? So it's it goes both ways, as good communication does.

Emma Richardson: Awesome, yes. Well thank you so much Randy. That was a really wonderful response. I'm excited to hear what some responses are to it. We will catch you next month for September. 

Randy Chaffee: Okay, awesome. Appreciate ya.

MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says to always start with the elephant in the room when it comes to talking about metal roofs with HOAs.

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.

Lauren White: Hello everyone, my name is Lauren White. I'm here with MetalCoffeeShop.com for our July Influencer, and I'm here with Randy Chafee. Randy, so good to see you.

Randy Chaffee: Lauren, good to see you.

Lauren White: Today for our July Influencer question, we are talking about navigating HOAs. So what do you have to share with people out there about metal roofing and navigating HOAs?

Randy Chaffee: Well, we all join in one thing. We pretty much all hate them, right? But we have to live with them. They can be a pain, and we all understand that. And I think we go into it, understanding that sometimes they're your friends, sometimes they're not, sometimes they have the right meaning or they're trying to do the job for the community and sometimes they're not. But at the end of the day, I think we understand that most of these people don't understand roofing and they don't understand metal roofing.

And I think the first thing we have to do, besides all of the things we can talk about in a second, is helping them to get away from the fear of metal. See, a lot of people think of metal roofing as I don't want a hog building roof on my my house. I don't want it to look like Taco Bell or the doctor's office or whatever you know ideas they get in their head. And I think the first thing we have to do if you're a metal salesperson working in that area is to take in lots of samples, lots of products and pictures and testimonials from other HOAs to let them know that it's not your take from an Oldsmobile ad years ago, you know, there used to be that's not your father's Oldsmobile. It's not your father's metal roofing anymore. With the colors that we have and with the panel designs we have with the stamp shingles the stone coated shingles the standing seams all the rib panels we can offer something today that's not what a lot of people think of as metal roofing. And I think that's the very first thing we have to get by if we're going to work with HOAs is get them to understand that this is not that ugly barn roof. And I say ugly, I do a lot in the agricultural world, but in their mind it's an ugly barn roof, I don't want that in our HOA. That's crazy. Once we get past that, we have to get them past the misperceptions. And we do that with fact. We do that with testimony.

And I think we hit them head on earlier in the process, so we can get these people to understand the problems or the objections they may have. You want them first, not last in the deal, right? Sometimes these things take months. Let's get them out of the way up front. Everybody thinks the lightning strikes, metal roof, it doesn't strike a metal roof anymore than it strikes anywhere else. They think that it's going to be noisy when it rains. Well, that's because they're going back to that hog building or that backyard building. Or if you have open purlins or open trusses, open attic, and you just got metal over purlins, of course it's noisy. It's loud, loud, loud. But we're putting a metal roof over a a substrate, a plywood or OSB substrate. We're putting down either some type of insulation board sometimes. We're putting down underlayments. So we have to dispel the fact that it's not noisy. Lightning's not going to strike it any sooner. It's not going to particularly interfere with your Wi-Fi or your cell phone service. I think we get past that right out of the gates.

And I would suggest to people selling metal roofs to HOAs or starting down that road, is hit those up front from the very start. Here's some things you've heard. There's probably some misconceptions. Let's show you some of these beautiful roofs. Let's show you some other HOAs that use metal. And let's get past some of these things that you're concerned about and get down to the pluses, which is one and done, right? A metal roof's going to last your homeowners the rest of their life. It's going to help uphold the resale value because the new owner's not going to have to put a new roof on 15 years after they buy the house. There's all those pluses.

But I've always felt like in the world of sales, if you know there's a proverbial elephant in the room, then let's talk about the elephant right off the get-go. Because we don't want to do that at the end after we've done all these things, and that's the last thing and they run out of time, and they don't have time for anymore. Maybe we'll invite you back to the next meeting, and then they leave with all the negative connotations that you're having discussed. So I I say get those out of the way first. Let's end the meeting with the pluses and the positives. So that's it in a nutshell. And that comes from a guy that's installed a million years ago, but I'm in the components world now and selling products into the industry. I'm coming a little bit more from a from a sales background. I think that, from my perspective, is the most important thing.

Lauren White: Yeah, absolutely. I think that education is key because people don't know what they don't know, right? And there are so many benefits to metal.

Randy Chaffee: They don't. And let's face it, depending on where you are in the country, I live in an area where clay and cement tile roofs are very popular. But if somebody is in the clay tile, metal, cement tile world, or somebody that's in the asphalt shingle world, and they know that HOA is talking to some metal people too, yeah, they're going to certainly plant reasons why you shouldn't go metal, right? So let's understand those negatives they're going to plant, and let's take them off the table first. And then all of a sudden we're back on equal footing. And I think at the end of the day, if we're on equal footing and getting those negatives out of the way, we're in a great position to sell metal.

Lauren White: Definitely. Yeah, I know I would love my HOA to do a metal roof the next time we re-roof. So fingers crossed it works out. Well, Randy, as always, thank you so much for all of your insights. And for those of you listening, make sure that you check out his directory on MetalCoffeeShop.com. And we will see you for the August question, Randy.

Randy Chaffee: Sounds good. I'm ready. Appreciate you, Lauren. Cheers.

By Emma Peterson. 

The importance of technology in both business marketing and employee retention.  

In the modern world, especially as a business, technology is no longer an option, it is a requirement for staying competitive. To dive into how this applies for roofing contractors and professionals, Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing came by MetalCoffeeShop™ for an episode of MetalCast™.  

He opened the conversation by highlighting the importance of incorporating technology into your business:  

I come from an era when we didn't even have websites. Now, it has become clear if you didn't have a website, you didn't exist. And it’s even gone further with social media as a needed presence to operating a business. You don't have to like it. But if you're not involved and have a presence, for a large part, you don't exist. 

This is especially true for young people, as Randy explained, “Your website and social media are often your first impression with young people. And whatever they see there, that’s what helps them as clients see if they want to work with you, or as jobhunters see if your business is a cultural fit for them as a workplace.” 

And technology as a competitive factor goes even further than just marketing! It is also a key to retention for the younger generation of employees. Randy elaborated, “I would caution folks maybe in my age group that are owners. We can have our opinions about the young generation’s shifting work culture, but no matter what we do, at some point we’re going to retire and who’s going to be hired? That new generation. So we better be paying attention to what these people want.”  

And largely, they are wanting work environments that are supportive, offer learning opportunities and incorporate tech in a modern, effective manner. Randy explained, “People want to perform and do work they enjoy in a comfortable environment. And for young people, they’re not going to feel comfortable or welcomed coming into an office with no computers around who are doing everything on paper. That’s not their world and not the world of business anymore.” 

Learn more by Listening to the episode or Watching the recording.

MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says none of us operate in the industry alone; every good job reflects well on the industry.

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.

Jenny Yu: Well, hello everyone. My name is Jenny Yu, and I'm here with MetalCoffeeShop®. And today I'm here for an Influencer response for the month of May with the Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing.

Randy Chaffee: Jenny, how are you?

Jenny Yu: I'm great. How are you doing?

Randy Chaffee: I'm doing great. It's great to be here, as always.

Jenny Yu: As always, thank you. We're so happy to have you. Because this May, we are talking about training and skill development for metal. So we were wondering if you could share your thoughts about strengthening training pipelines through industry partnerships.

Randy Chaffee: Yeah. I think that's super important, Jenny, because we're only as strong as the ability to get the roof or the metal building or whatever it is that we're doing, built or installed. And we all talk a lot about and worry about, and especially right now in today's environment, material availability and price increases and costs. And we talk a lot about how do we market and close more sales. But at the end of the day, none of that matters if we can't get the roof on or can't get the building built. And I think sometimes we lose touch with that. And I think there's two factors there that I think is important. We think sometimes that we have a labor shortage, and we do. I don't think there's any arguing that, but I would like to challenge everybody to think that maybe we also have a visibility shortage.

Maybe we're just not being visible enough in our industry to let young people especially know, this doesn't have to be just a job, this can be a career. It can be a career whether it's in sales, whether it's in administration, whether it's in procurement or whether it's out on the job site. And I think we are probably not as good as we should be as an industry in getting that message out. And in today's world with... No, I'm going to back up and say, shame on us for that, because in today's world, not only with the print media, but with all the social media, the virtual like we're doing right here, there's opportunities by the minute, by the second, to be exposing people and especially young people that there's nothing wrong with this industry. I think I could be a metal installer. That looks pretty interesting. Look at the amazing work that's being done.

And so, I think we need to do better with that. And then also, with the pipeline, you start local. Everything starts local. Work with your local work centers, whatever those might be. Work with your local schools. I know the people that do a really good job are the ones that go out to the school fairs, the job fairs and stuff. I know that's not overly sexy, right? That's not like, oh, that's what I want to do today is go stand and talk to a bunch of high school juniors about my business because they don't care. They act like they don't care. But what if you get one person, one guy or gal out of that group that says, you know what? I could see myself in this industry. That's a big win. Continually exposing yourself at that local level. And then also at the state and regional level with events and with shows.

And I think the other place that we need to work on is the associations, work with your associations, work in tandem with them, local chapters as well as national, to promote the idea that this is a career that's worth discovering. And finally, I'd throw this out there because I'm on the supplier side of things in our world. We, as suppliers, manufacturers, have a responsibility that, again, I'm going to challenge anybody that listens that's on my side of the fence. We don't do a very good job with that, and we should. We should do better with working with our distributors and our dealers who then work with the local communities to help those contractors, those installers, those builders train, prepare and hire the people to come work for them. Because here's this funny thing, and I know that this should go without saying, but I can make all the widgets that I make, but I'm only going to sell them if my distributor buys them from me, right? I know this is all elementary, but my distributor's only going to buy them from me if his contractor buys them from him. And the contractor's not going to buy them if he can sell all these jobs, but he can't get them installed. So there's a direct link for us suppliers.

So, please listen on this and let's do better together. Let's do better. We need to work with all these, every level to try to help the labor pool, to try to help train these people. And we also want, my parting words on this, I think, is not just get them hired. Oh yeah, I think I'll go be a metal roofer, that sounds like fun. We need you to be a good metal roofer because it hurts the whole industry if we don't. So let's just not hire people and convince them that this is a great place to be.

Let's have the proper training. And that comes from the suppliers and manufacturers. That comes from the trade associations. And if we don't work together on this, so we need to hire people and get them convinced they want a career — and hopefully a career not a job, because the job means I'm going to work until I find something else, and then we're in this constant cycle of retraining. So we want to find people that want a career, but we want to find people that want a career and want to learn to do it right. Or we're going to continually be firing somebody because they're doing bad work. Then we got all the bad issues and we got the costs and we got all those negative things. And every bad job, whether your company did it or our competitor did it, reflects badly upon the industry, right?

Every good job reflects good on the industry. So we as a supplier, if you don't buy my product, I need every product you buy from my competitor to work spectacular for you. If I'm an installer and I don't get the job, none of us get every job, never happens. None of us could handle all the work. I need you to do a great job, right? Because if you put on a subpar metal roof, that hurts all of us in the industry, right? But if you put on a great metal roof and everybody, oh my God, you got that metal roof that they built down at Joe's place. Do you see that? That thing is beautiful. Whether that was yours or not, you're going to reap the benefits of that day in and day out. So build the pipeline, work the pipeline top to bottom, in conjunction with the associations, in conjunction with your suppliers and just don't expect everybody else to do it. Get involved. Just get involved.

Jenny Yu: Yeah. I love it. I mean, it's such a holistic answer to this question. So thank you for really getting all those levels that are so important.

Randy Chaffee: Well thank you. You're welcome. And thank you for the opportunity because that's a hot button with me. None of us operate in the industry alone.

Jenny Yu: Exactly.

Randy Chaffee: And we can't operate alone. We have to operate together. We go compete for the job. And at the end of the day, if I'm competing against you, I'm going to do my best to get the job because that's what we do. But at the end of the day, we've got to keep making the pie bigger because even if I don't increase market share, which we're always trying to do, but 5% of a million dollars is better than 5% of $500,000. I mean, that's simple math. So let's just keep increasing the pie, and we all win. And so get involved. Get involved. You've just got to get involved. Awesome.

Jenny Yu: Thank you so much, Randy.

Randy Chaffee: You're welcome. I appreciate being able to chat about stuff I'm passionate about, so thank you.

Jenny Yu: Thank you. See you next time.

Randy Chaffee: Oh, you got it. Bye-bye.

MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says that by working together, mentors and their protégés can come up with the best solutions.

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.

Jenny Yu: Hi everyone, it's Jenny Yu here with MetalCoffeeShop® today, and I'm here for an Influencer response for the month of April with Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing. How are you?

Randy Chaffee: Hey Jenny, I'm good, how are you?

Jenny Yu: I'm doing great. Yeah, just a lovely, peaceful April so far.

Randy Chaffee: Yeah, good. Well, it's peaceful up here in New Hampshire where it's cold. I'm up here, as you can see, I'm in my car at a customer event. So came on, turned the heater on, ready to go.

Jenny Yu: I love it. Well, we're wondering if you could share your thoughts on this month's topic on recruitment, retention and quality. And specifically, we're hoping you could share your thoughts on building loyalty through mentorship and apprenticeship programs.

Randy Chaffee: Yeah, I love to. Yeah. And I think I love that subject, Jenny, because, you know, we spend so much time in any part of the industry, whether we're suppliers, or whether we're trying to get new people. And to continually turn over people is incredibly costly, not only just in dollars and cents for the whole recruiting and training process, but it's costly for team morale. Everybody wants to become part of a family, right? A team. When you have constant turnover, it just continually gets in the ways of those relationships. So, I think it's important to obtain good people, but then how do we keep them?

I think a lot of that is, at the early start: do we offer apprenticeship programs to help people find out, is this even for me? Because not always is everything a good fit. Maybe you just don't belong in the metal world, right? Maybe it just doesn't fit you. Well, then I think apprentice programs will help you get a feel for is this where I want to be as a young person, or it doesn't have to be so much age, but if you've never been in the metal, you're looking for a new career, as opposed to just, it's a job and we'll hire you cause we need people. Let's make sure it's a fit first, right? For both sides and make sure it's right. So I think that's where the apprenticeship comes in.

And I love the mentorship, Jenny, because, and I think my, what I would like to say about that is, is, is a term that I've kind of coined recently and like to use, which is a "hybrid mentorship." See, we think of mentorship as older people, whether it's age in general or length of time in an industry, teaching the younger. And that makes perfect sense. It has to happen. It needs to happen. But I think we should be more open to that and make that more available.

But I also think that we need to look at the reverse of that, which is taking the younger people and let them mentor the folks that are a little bit older, either again, in age or length of time, because the views of a 20 or 30 year old is not the same. They don't have any of the same life history to draw upon as somebody in their 50s, 60s and 70s. So I think while in the 50s, 60s and 70s, we've got experience, we've got all that miles under our belt, right? But we don't understand what you all are thinking if you're 25 years old. It's been a long time since we've been there, and the world's changed.

So I think if we can have situations where people mentor each other, and it's not just this old guy or old gal pointing fingers and palm at the desk and telling the young people, this is how I done it. This is how you need to do it. Let's ask questions and let's listen and say, well, this is what's worked for me, right, Jenny? But what do you see from your age group? What could work for me? What could I do differently?

Maybe I'm not communicating with you well at all, because I had a great example. I listened to a talk once two or three years ago, and he talked about the age differences, right? Many of us are in age that we were alive and knew exactly who we were with, what we were doing when 9/11 happened. That was not just something we read about or saw some video on TV someday. We listened to what happened. We saw it happen live, so to speak, right? It's a different experience than somebody that just was one year old or not even born yet or has read about it and seen some video. And I realized how important that is because I'm older, but I didn't live through World War II. I'm not that old. So I read the history books. I watched the video. I know what an incredibly horrible thing that whole thing was. But then I can go, okay, well, what's on TV? I didn't live it. Right. And so it's not the same to me as somebody that's 20, 30 years old. If they're still around that actually was a 20 year old when that happened.

So I think we have to draw upon what people's life experience is. If you're 20s and 30s, you don't have the same life experience I have. And I need to understand that. And I can't talk to you the same way I might talk to somebody my age, because somebody in that age group, you either don't understand, you don't have the same experience or it's almost like, shut up, old guy. I don't want to hear what you're saying because that makes no sense to me at all. Right?

So I think we can learn from each other. And I think if we build a mentorship program, Jenny, that helps in a perfect scenario, in my opinion, a team effort. You're not just me mentoring you as an old guy mentoring a younger person. I would like to be mentored back as well. I want to learn how to operate in your world because I can't expect in maybe today's world, I guess I'm a little more new age than some maybe. I don't feel I can demand as somebody a little bit older in the industry. You just got to come on my way and do it my way because I've been doing it forever, because you know what? Maybe my way isn't right. Or maybe there's adjustments we can make. Maybe together, as a younger and an older person working together, we can come up with the best alternative.

That's what I would say is, apprenticeship's important to make sure once you have the apprenticeship program, you're not done mentoring all day, every day. And I don't mean you don't set up to have a mentoring session every day, but I think it's a learning experience all day, every day for the rest of your career.

Jenny Yu: Definitely. I love that. We can learn from anyone, whether they're older or younger than us. And it really shows how we need to value everyone on the team, including the vets, including the new folks as well. So, thank you. 

Randy Chaffee: Anytime. Always a pleasure, Jenny, thank you.

Jenny Yu: Same, thank you.

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MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says social media shorts and live recordings both offer an incredible opportunity to build trust. 

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.

Jenny Yu: Hi everyone, this is Jenny Yu from MetalCoffeeShop® and today I'm here for an influencer response with Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing. How's it going today, Randy?

Randy Chaffee: That's going wonderful, Jenny. How are you?

Jenny Yu: It is March, it's almost spring too. It's right around the corner now. I can't wait. So this month for March we're talking about social media, and we were wondering if you could share your thoughts on using short form video and live content to build trust and authority.

Randy Chaffee: Oh man, I'll tell you, this is one of my favorite subjects. When I saw that, I was excited. I love, as you probably know, I love social media, I love the force multiplier effect that it brings and I really believe in short form. Long form's great, and it's got a spot. I think long form is great for educational opportunities or a podcast interview-type scenario, but what I really like about short form is it's quick, it's in and out.

And that's what we all want in today's world. I don't care who you are. I'm an older guy, been around forever. And I still, I'll find things like on TikTok that I'm interested in. And if they don't go to what I want to see in about seven nanoseconds, I'm already bored and flipping because I can't stand to wait like three seconds, you know. And I think everybody's that way now. We've been trained that way. So I think we need to give the audience, if you will, what they want, what they prefer.

I think shorts and lives both offer an incredible ability to build trust. An age old saying is people buy from who they know, like, trust and feel safe with, right? And that's an old Ben Gay-ism — a good friend of mine, author extraordinaire. And I think when you do shorts, when you do lives, you have an opportunity to be there in person as opposed to just a static post.

Those are fine too, but when you just put up a picture and some graphics, some verbiage, yeah, big deal. Everybody does that. They don't get to see your personality. They don't get to see who you really are. And so when we do that, you develop a real, I like to say, equals opportunity because it does. And so I like the shorts because of the fact that it's just short, and you can get right to the point quick.

I love lives. When I'm with customers, I like to do lives where I'm maybe at a trade show, an association meeting, whatever the case may be, because then you really bring the feeling of the road, the feeling of where you're at to the folks that are not there with you, right? It just brings a whole different feel to it. And again, because with lives especially, there's no fixing it, there's no editing, it's really who you are.

As somebody that's done a fair amount of these now over the years, I can tell you this: the biggest thing if you're not used to doing them is do them, just do them. And number two, nobody expects perfection. As a matter of fact, less perfection is better. If you're too perfect, people aren't gonna like it. I know that's counter to what a lot of people think, right Jenny? But people aren't looking for the Hollywood, and you're in LA, right? They're not looking for that Hollywood, whatever that little thing is that they clip down in the old days. You probably don't remember, that's old. I'm aging myself, but nobody wants that perfect Hollywood production. There may be places for that in a long form educational maybe but if you're jump on and spend 30, 40, 50, 60, 90 seconds with a thought just jump on and do it with your cell phone. You can say an "uh" or an "um" or you forget what you're gonna say for a minute — just keep on rolling. Don't go edit that out because that's what makes you real, raw, organic and authentic, and that's what people want.

I don't know that makes any sense at all, I was rambling for a minute. And I just took a short into a long almost, didn't I? See? Don't do what I just did. Exactly. Because I just saw what I thought about it. I mean, literally, you asked me the question 13 seconds before we went on. So that's the best way to do it right there.

Jenny Yu: Yes, and it was very authentic and organic.

Randy Chaffee: Exactly off the cuff.

Jenny Yu: Well, thank you so much Randy. We always count on you for authenticity.

Randy Chaffee: I'll be authentic if nothing else, that's all I got. Thank you. 

MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says it's time to get rid of old biases and embrace women in the metal industry.

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.

Jenny Yu: Hello everybody, my name is Jenny Yu with a MetalCoffeeShop® Influencer response. I'm here with Randy Chaffee of Source One Marketing. How's it going, Randy?

Randy Chaffee: Jenny, it's going great, how are you?

Jenny Yu: I'm doing well, thank you.

Randy Chaffee: Awesome. We always have some great chats, I love it.

Jenny Yu: We do, thank you. And this month we are going to chat about something that I care about, which is women in the workforce, specifically in metal. We were wondering if you could share your thoughts on specifically the role that men can play, male allies, in leadership to advance women in the industry.

Randy Chaffee: You know, that's a great question and I'm glad we're talking about it. I love women in the industry, right? I think that, as a matter of fact, that the National Frame Building Association (NFBA), which I'm on the board of directors for, we have a Women in Post Frame event, for example. I love to support that event because I've been around strong, good quality women for a long time, and I don't think it's even any more a matter of "should they" or "could they." It's like, why are we even thinking that way? There's an incredible amount of quality women that do things every bit as good or better — there I said it, whether you like it or not, men. So let's just forget that old school stuff and understand and support.

And you're exactly right, we can be their ally. We don't need to push them aside. They don't need to just — and I say just, I don't mean to be negative, but they're not just the office girl, right? If that's what it is, that's a great important part, but they could be a crew leader, they can be a superintendent, they can be an engineer, they can be a salesperson, they can be anything they want to be. And we're missing such a valuable — forget the social part of it — just from a business standpoint, they're so talented, and we're just silly to pass up on 50% of the quality people to do quality work.

And so I think as men know, we work and live in what's still somewhat of a male-dominated world, it is what it is. But the emphasis needs to come back onto us as the men in the industry to support women in a big way, to take them under our wing where they need it. Sometimes they don't need it. But if they do? Support them, be there for them, suggest them and work with them as equals and as true partners. It's a mindset that older school things creep into play sometimes. And I think we got to get rid of that.

And I go to this NFBA meeting coming up with the women of post frame. I attended it last year, Jenny, and I was a little scared because I was only one of one guys in the room of 100. I stayed by the door but still, with that said, it was just amazing to be around the high quality that's out there. We're shooting ourselves in the foot in the industry if we don't recognize that and just get rid of the old biases and all that stuff. Are you the best person for the job, regardless of all the stuff, right? I don't care who you are. If you're the best at the job, that's who we should have. And we should embrace that and promote it and love it. That's what we should do.

Jenny Yu: Excellent, I couldn't agree more.

Randy Chaffee: Awesome. I knew you'd agree. I'm pretty smart. Jenny, thank you.

Jenny Yu: You are. Thanks, Randy.