When my father started out in the shed industry fifty years ago, there were no Pine Hill trailers and Cardinal mules. It truly was a bootstrap operation.  Eli Miller, a local father-like figure to my dad, provided a place where sheds could be built out of the weather and some equipment that we used to transport the first sheds we built. Dad’s truck was a two-ton International, and he pulled a flatbed equipment trailer. Delivering a shed was a half-day affair – if it wasn’t too far away. The Handyman Jack was the workhorse of choice (if you don’t include the man who had to work it). 

Much has changed, over the past years, about the way we transport sheds.  For twenty-five years, the largest shed we hauled on a regular basis was a 12x16 (although there was the occasional terrifying ride with a 12x20 on the trailer).  Today, the 12x20 is the most popular size we sell and sizes range much larger than we could have imagined. The equipment has obviously been upgraded to accommodate these changes.

The value of our equipment is also quite a different matter. Our first delivery truck, a well-used model with a customized bed for deliveries, required an investment of $17,000 in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars. It was a basic bare-bones vehicle and required lots of heavy manual labor, but it carried and unloaded sheds effectively and helped to put bread on the table for years. The last rig our business outfitted for the road topped $250,000! However, I’m quite certain the distribution cost today as a percentage of retail value is significantly lower than it was back in the day. 

What hasn’t changed is the importance of “white glove service” for those involved in delivery and installation. This last facet of the process was incredibly important to my father back in 1972; and it remained so important that, although the company grew, deliveries were one of the last things he gave up. In fact, he was still delivering sheds in 2008, because that last touch, the all-important assurance that the client was well taken care of, remained a high priority to him. And in many ways, that represented the fundamental premise on which the company was built: not only a high attention to detail in the design, sale, and construction of the building, but also being sure that the final install was accomplished and warmed with genuine human connection. This was the foundation of an incredibly strong referral base for us.

Think about what takes place when you deliver and install a shed.  You are entering someone else’s property, with heavy equipment, to install something he has purchased to meet a specific need or desire. The client has had a vision for how this will suit his purposes, and now you are there to fulfill his dreams. It is the most memorable part of the entire transaction. Keep in mind that while delivery staff do this every day, for many of our clients it’s a once in a lifetime experience. The whole experience is highly significant to the customer, and you hold in your hands the power to make it a memorable delight or a nightmare. (Granted, some situations seem predetermined to be nightmarish; but given some creativity and a resolve to honor the client, even these can often be salvaged to become a positive memory.) My experience has been that delivery and installation are always memorable: the experience is either a “Wow!” or a “Whoa!”

Two basic categories to consider in making the install a referral-worthy experience are the property and the person. Challenges arise with both the “property” you are bringing and the property onto which you are planning to install it. The biggest challenges tend to occur around client expectations that have not been shaped adequately, in either the sales process or the schedule of the install. While a typical installer does not have control over the entire process leading up to his moment, he must take whatever exists and work to salvage it, redeem it, and give the client a great experience. 

For example, delivery access to the property is a common problem. An overly enthusiastic sales representative can give a glowing report about how installers can get a shed in almost anywhere, and “Your particular situation doesn’t sound difficult at all!” However, when the deliveryman arrives, it looks nearly impossible. 

The first moments after this realization are extremely important.  The deliveryman faces the choice of railing about the sales team or respecting them before the customer (even though it may require a face-to-face conversation at some point) as well as the challenge of maintaining a positive attitude while using his install genius to provide a “WOW” experience to the client. These sorts of issues demonstrate the importance of developing a high level of people skills. Proficiency in interpersonal relationships will pay huge dividends in difficult and potentially tense situations. 

The people side of the equation is always a part of any delivery issues. While there are those situations where you are working for a client that “WOWs” you, most times customers are ordinary people like us. They have their good days and bad days. Sometimes you become the thrashing post for a difficult encounter the customer had earlier in the day, and you have to take a deep breath – or a series of them – to stay cool, calm and collected. It’s worth the effort. Demonstrate that you are a true professional and can be trusted with their shed on their property. Demonstrate that the customer is a person worthy of respect – even if his behavior is not in alignment with that reality at the moment – and maintain your human dignity and his. Find a way to empathize with his anger, disappointment, or misunderstandings. Then provide the leadership required to salvage the situation.   

It may be helpful to remember that for a large portion of the population today, loneliness is a serious issue. That has only gotten worse since the isolation of the recent pandemic. To be attentive to the client, listening to his stories and taking a few moments for genuine human connection is often the key to making the experience truly memorable for him. And memorable experiences are what he will talk about to others – true for both positive and negative experiences. The positive experiences turn into raving fan referrals.  The negative ones? Well, statistics show those stories are ten times more likely to be retold. And it won’t help your future business. 

Remember the delight of the client who went out of his way to serve you? That extraordinary tip? That special gift? You are still talking about it! Return the favor and give them something special to talk about!

As a sales professional, you are on the front lines taking care of clients every day - answering the phone, responding to chat messages, replying to emails, and talking to prospects who show up at the store. Every single person is unique in personality and in his particular needs, dreams and budget. You have your own personality and perspective that you bring to each conversation – and, let’s be honest, you also bring the mindset of the moment. (…Mindset? That’s a topic for a later conversation!)

While initially there seems to be an infinite number of different kinds of buyers, they can be categorized into four particular groups or some blend of the four. Here is a quick overview.

The easiest buyer to identify is Decisive Dave, a task-oriented person who values efficiency and clear, concise communication. Very likely he is likely making declarative statements as soon as you meet rather than asking detailed analytical questions, and he will frequently lean forward and gesture while speaking.  He appears animated and confident. To win Dave, you will need to move this conversation along with clarity, confidence, and competence. Show him how your solution to his problem helps him succeed personally and catapults him to the head of the “neighborhood,” and closing the deal will happen while you are still catching your breath from your last sentence.

Friendly Finley values relationships and building rapport. She will bring social energy to the room; and while initially her approach may appear chaotic, she is attuned to the people in the process. She wants to feel connected to you and will also be keenly aware of how everyone else in her life will be impacted by the purchase she is considering. She wants everyone to be happy, and is willing to take time – lots of it, if necessary – to be sure everyone has had his input. Be sure to listen extremely closely to what she says, how she says it, and who she indicates are the critical players in the buying decision.  Help her to win their approval. Becoming her trusted advisor makes it more likely that she will bring any of her people’s objections directly to you.  Working together, you and Finley can formulate a good response. Friendly Finley, if served well, will become an enthusiastic advocate for you and your products.

One of the most delightful buyers you will encounter is Demonstrative Daisy. She is creative and spontaneous; she lights up a room when she walks in (unless she is extremely unhappy; then she lights it up with “FIRE!”) She wants mutual respect and expects loyalty. Try to be “all in” with her. Don’t get sidetracked and give her half an ear. While you may not be interested in a personal relationship, she will feel a personal bond with you if you disclose some details of your  life to her. As you work on designing a product for her, tell stories of other people you’ve served and how their lives were improved by getting this done well – of course, your expertise is what helped to create the great fit between dreams and reality. Give her case studies that make that point. It will be extremely important that you are prompt to your meetings, keep your promises, and don’t make off-handed comments about things on which you fail to follow through. Engage her in a partnership to create a truly mutually designed solution.

Analytical Albert is likely an engineer of some sort. Of all the possible buyers, he is most likely to be better educated on various aspects of your product than you are. Data, spreadsheets, and detailed questions help you identify this fellow. He will know your company, because he has already read not only your website but also several news articles. He will approach this purchase logically, but also very cautiously and analytically. Be sure that you ask him lots of questions, very detailed questions, in order to understand from him in great detail exactly what he hopes to accomplish. You don’t want to miss anything. The worst crime you can commit with Albert is to force some sort of rapport when quite honestly there is no natural chemistry between you. Work with his timeline, in his carefully choreographed process; get all the details down, and Analytical Albert will be a happy client. Rush him or ignore the details, and he’s gone forever.

Obviously, no one fits perfectly into any of these categories. However, we all have a preferred buying method.  One of these types tends to be our default, with one or two other traits playing a secondary or lesser role. Identifying the prospective client’s traits early in your relationship will help you to serve him in the way that feels right to him, resulting in a sales process that is satisfactory to both buyer and seller.

This article originally appeared in The Shed Magazine and is online here.