Technology is a crucial tool today

MCS Influencer Randy Chaffee says technology can make a person more present with their current customers, future customers and people in the industry.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Randy Chaffee. You can read the interview below or watch the full video.

Megan Ellsworth: ... hi, everyone. My name's Megan Ellsworth here at metalcoffeeshop.com, and I am back again for a May Influencer Response with the one and only Randy Chaffee.

Randy Chaffee: Hey, Megan.

Megan Ellsworth: Hi, Randy.

Randy Chaffee: How are you? Good thing there's only one of me.

Megan Ellsworth: I know. Good thing.

Randy Chaffee: Everybody that meets me says they're glad there's only one.

Megan Ellsworth: There's only one.

Randy Chaffee: I used to take that as a compliment, but now I'm not so sure.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. You might have to think about that.

Randy Chaffee: Exactly.

Megan Ellsworth: Well, I'm super excited for this month's topic. It's all about technology in metal construction, and I know that you are always ready to embrace technology. So this month's question is, why is it important that metal construction companies embrace technology? And what is your advice to stay current?

Randy Chaffee: Love it. Right up the alley of what I love to talk about, and as I had mentioned, anybody that knows me, I'm a rep and I embrace technology a lot in my rep world, so I'm going to speak a little more from the standpoint of using it from a virtual, from a sales and a marketing customer relation tool than I am from out in the field, because that's where my expertise is. My expertise is not in the field. When something goes wrong in my car, I go to a mechanic, okay?

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.

Randy Chaffee: I'm not that guy. But technology... I just did a post this morning, and I love the term force multiplier, and I even have a shirt that says force multiplier on it, because I like to remind myself of the force multiplier effect that technology can give us in today's world. I'm older, I had to put the er on there, I do remember the days of pulling up to the payphone with the ice all over the little thing, and... For anybody knowing a payphone, you just have the little rotary dial thing and then they went to buttons. Kind of dinosaur things, right?

Megan Ellsworth: Oh yeah, that thing.

Randy Chaffee: Yeah, exactly. And ice on it, you've got to dial in 7,000 numbers with this card number. Then of course, I call and talk to Megan and she's not in, she'll be back in 15 minutes. So, do I step by the payphone or do I drive down the road? So I come from that background. So I've really embrace the idea of what technology can do to make me better, to make me more present with my current customers, future customers, people in the industry. And so there's so much available to not use it, and it's so easy to use. There's what we're doing right now, there's podcasts. You've agreed to join me on a couple of podcasts that I do shortly as a guest.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes.

Randy Chaffee: The Coffee Shops that you do, the coatings, and metal, and roofing Coffee Shops are just so blatantly good use of technology, that it's amazing. 'Cause it allows you to bring the message to the industry and everybody else in the industry to communicate and to talk to each other and it opens up the doors. So virtual, use virtual, man. Whether it's podcasting, whether it's guesting on podcasts, whether it's doing videos. I'm a big believer in videos, I love to jump on. The old theory of a picture paints a thousand words, well, a video that's probably 10X or 100X or 1,000X. People want to see a short, quick video about what you're doing on the job site, a testimony with a customer, showing...

If you're in the equipment, or the manufacturing, or the components world, don't just show a screw. I like to sell screws, I sell millions of dollars of screws, I love screws, but they're not that exciting. But what's exciting is to maybe show it being installed on a job site with a customer that really... A builder that really loves these and why or showing a video from a manufacturing plant, seeing a little bit of a process of these things being spit out by the thousands. Talking to Billy, and Jolene or somebody, I made those names up... That way I don't have to get it signed off in case, right?

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, exactly.

Randy Chaffee: Yeah, we've got to stay professional here. But that they get to meet the real people, right?

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.

Randy Chaffee: And that's the beautiful thing, when we go virtual, when we use technology, you can be literally in front of thousands, if not more, per day. And let's go back to, let's say a contractor standpoint or an installer. How many customers could you see today? Especially if you're a smaller operation even or a medium size, you've got one or two sales guys, how many are they going to see in a given day? Not many. You've got to put the quotes together, you've got to do all the stuff. And you still have to do that, but what about while you're doing all that, you've got social working for you, you've got technology and virtual working for you? You've got posts out there, testimonies, videos of job sites.

And so, when you're out there, and this customer finally calls you, 'cause they realize, "I've seen this guy 1,000 times, man and seen his work. He must be pretty good." When they finally call you, A, it's not a cold call anymore, because they know you, even though you may not know them yet. They know who you are, they've seen you on a job site, they've seen stuff you might've posted doing with your family, whatever your comfort level is. So, you're in a real warm call scenario, where they know who you are and they trust you already. And so why not have as many opportunities for somebody to find you, as opposed to you always having to find somebody. And the last thing I'll say about using the technology besides embracing it and use it all, use the media, use the Zooms and the Teams and everything that's available, but if, at any given point... And these numbers can vary, but I read something the other day as I was preparing for a talk coming up, that 95% of a customer in your demographics is not ready to buy today.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.

Randy Chaffee: Think about it.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, that's so true.

Randy Chaffee: Think about if you're doing metal roofs. Believe it. Drive up and down your little small town, mid-America, and everybody in that town's not thinking about a metal roof today, they're not thinking about a roof at all today. Most of them are not thinking about a roof today, until they're forced to or they may be just starting. So, you've going to take care of that person today that's thinking, but what the virtual can do for you, the technology and being out there, is, your marketing to that person for six weeks from now, six months from now or six years from now. You're letting them know day, after day, after day, after day, that, "Megan is our person for roofing. I see them every day, and when I'm ready, I'm going to call Megan, because now I know her, I know what they do, I know what they're all about."

Because a lot of people that I've talked to, sometimes, Megan, those go, "Yeah, but you do all that stuff, but we're busy. We've got lots of business. We're booked." Well, one of these days you're not going to be booked. What if it slows down a little bit? What if a new player moves into town, starts telling everybody how great they are and showing these two or three testimonials and all these things, all of a sudden, you may be a little less busy. So you need to be constantly in front of these people, whether you're busy or not.

We're not marketing my opinion. People with a whole lot more letters after their name than mine might disagree with me, but you're marketing for today, but a big part of your marketing efforts, especially with social, is for down the road, whatever that means. So end the story with that is, man, use it. It's there, it's so easy to do and it takes... I mean, I'm a payphone guy back in the day. When I got a pager, I thought I was high-tech. And when I got a bag phone, I kept telling everybody, "Hey, it's Randy. I'm calling from my car." Because I thought I was cool, until I realized that cost 600 bucks the first month to do that. Then I didn't tell anybody, because it wasn't that... It wasn't 600 bucks cool. It might've been $60 cool-

Megan Ellsworth: No.

Randy Chaffee: ... but not 600 bucks cool.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah.

Randy Chaffee: My only point is, I am probably not of the demographic that you would think would grasp technology in a big way. And my only point of all that is, I don't care whether you're 23 years old and getting started in the business world or 60s or 70s and been around forever, let people know what you're doing, let them know what you're about. Use that to your advantage, and use the technology. That's it. That's all I got.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Absolutely. Randy, you knocked it out of the park again, per usual.

Randy Chaffee: Well, when you're old, you've just got a lot to say, and a little time to say it.

Megan Ellsworth: I love it. Well, thank you so much for that great response. Everyone out there listening, you heard the man, go get in front of all of the people in your audience via social media and all the different platforms. Check out metalcoffeeshop.com. Randy does influencer interviews every month with all sorts of great advice. So Randy, thanks again.

Randy Chaffee: Always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you. Cheers.

Megan Ellsworth: Thank you. We'll see you next month.

Randy Chaffee: All right. Bye-bye, all.