LIVE From IRE 2023 With Metal Sales!

Join Karen and Patrick as they discuss all things IRE and Metal Sales! 

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Patrick from Metal Sales. You can read the interview below or watch the YouTube video.

Karen Edwards: Hello. I told you we'd be back. I'm Karen Edwards, and we are live on the RoofersCoffeeShop sound stage at the 2023 International Roofing Expo in Dallas, Texas. And joining me today is Patrick from Metal Sales. Welcome.

Patrick: Hello. How are you doing?

Karen Edwards: Good, so Patrick, tell me, what do you do there?

Patrick: I'm the marketing manager at Metal Sales.

Karen Edwards: Oh.

Patrick: I've been there 19 years now, so quite a few years. I've been in the industry for longer than that, even, so yes, I love the company.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Fellow marketer here.

Patrick: Yes.

Karen Edwards: Love marketing, so tell me how the show's going for you. I mean, this is the last day. We're wrapping up. How's it been?

Patrick: Yeah, it's great. Yeah, I mean the traffic's been incredible. The first day they're flooding in, and we've had a lot of great traffic at our booth as well, so I can't complain.

Karen Edwards: Good. And where is your booth? What booth number?

Patrick: We're at 2705, so it's kind of the other side.

Karen Edwards: Way down there.

Patrick: Over there, yeah, toward the front, yes.

Karen Edwards: Trade show floor is very big. So tell me, what are contractors talking about? When they're coming into your booth, what kind of questions are they asking? What do they want to know?

Patrick: We do metal wall panels, we do metal roof panels, but the trends these days, it's a lot of metal wall, and there are a lot of roofers out there that do metal panels. The walls are another avenue for them to get revenue, so we have a lot of panels, a lot of different profiles that service that, depending on what they're being [inaudible 00:01:36] for.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Now, every time I turn around, I'm hearing more about metal. What do you attribute it, that growth, to?

Patrick: There's probably a lot of things, right, and there for a while was a big sustainability push, so metal's recyclable, it's made from recyclable material, steel, big in sustainability. But that part of it's kind of fueled that, but I think the people are seeing the benefits of the metal, the long lasting, the durability of it, the fire resistance, the hail resistance, those qualities of it. And they're learning that metal lasts a long time, so it's a little bit more initial work, but it lasts for a lot longer, so the value proposition is greater.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, metal is growing so much. We launched a sister site last year in 2022 called MetalCoffeeShop.com that is all things metal. I say, "All metal all the time," and it's not music.

Patrick: Yes.

Karen Edwards: It's metal. It's metal walls, it's metal frame building, it's metal roofing panels. And the goal is to educate, inform, and help contractors who maybe want to add walls. Maybe they've been doing metal roofs for a while and they want to add walls, so we want to help people succeed and get into that. And Metal Sales is part of the Sherwin Williams MetalVue program.

Patrick: Right. Yes.

Karen Edwards: Which is a program designed to help contractors add metal to their business or expand their existing metal business. So thank you for being involved in that.

Patrick: Yes.

Karen Edwards: We love having you on MetalCoffeeShop.

Patrick: Yeah, we love being here.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, so you'll be hearing a lot more from Metal Sales. If you are at the show, you said it was 20?

Patrick: 2705.

Karen Edwards: 2705. You've got two hours. If you're coming down, be sure to stop by, say "Hi" to Patrick, learn more about metal and what they can do for your business and the products that they can supply for you. If you're not at the show, it's okay. Go to MetalCoffeeShop.com. Visit their directory. All their information is there, how to contact them, links to their website, so we've got all the information that you need.

Two hours left, we made it. It's been a great show. Thank you so much, Patrick, for being here.

Patrick: Yes. Thank you for having me.

Karen Edwards: It's great to talk to you.

Patrick: Yes.

Karen Edwards: And stay tuned, because we're not done yet.