The Construction Leadership Podcast with Bradley Hartmann

In the September issue of the LBM Journal, sales consultant Bill Lee posed the question, "Is your team trained to deal with price objections?"

Short answer: no.

Upon reading Bill’s article, a sales manager from Wisconsin named Bobby reached out to me via Instagram. He asked, “What’s your thought on how someone should stand their ground to this 1-2 punch from a customer: I can get a better price somewhere else. Is this the best you can do?”

In this episode, Bradley Hartmann outlines a thoughtful methodology to use as a script.

The price objection—you know it’s coming. Prepare for it. Execute a response optimized to beat it.

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In episode 156, Bradley Hartmann is joined by Bonnie Mauldin of The Mauldin Group, an Atlanta-based web design and internet marketing firm that specializes in the construction industry.

Bonnie is the show's first empath (Don’t know what an empath is? Well, consider this an unexpected bonus then!) and she shares insights to improve your marketing to make your selling activities easier. Hartmann and Mauldin discuss:

• Perception and how perceived value in the mind of the customer is the essential element in marketing and effective positioning
• Brand Identity and the questions to ask to determine if you have an effective one
• How to differentiate your website even if you have a similar mission and values as your competition
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and cookies explained in a way that won’t put you to sleep . . . nor will it make you feel dumb
• How to generate more leads with less work

Thank you for listening. Enjoy the conversation with Bonnie Mauldin, CEO of the Mauldin Group.

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If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.

Sign up for the Behind Your Back Newsletter that arrives twice each month: https://www.behindyourbacksales.com/newsletter

For more info: www.behindyourbacksales.com/podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindyourbackceo

In episode 155, Bradley is joined by Charlie Coggins, Greenville-Spartanburg Market President at Professional Builders Supply. With the college football season lurching its way through October, we asked Charlie to share some leadership lessons he learned from being a long-snapper on the East Carolina University (Arrrrg, Pirates!) team. He talks about the importance of goal-setting and early specialization if required to achieve that goal—exactly what Charlie had to do to become a successful collegiate football player. After his college career, Charlie crashed the NFL Combine and shares a marketing story you'll never forget.

Charlie, 28, offers candid, actionable advice to tenured leaders who struggle to relate with the youngest generation in our industry as well as young leaders who aspire to contribute more to their organizations.

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If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.

Sign up for the Behind Your Back Newsletter that arrives twice each month: https://www.behindyourbacksales.com/newsletter

For more info: www.behindyourbacksales.com/podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindyourbackceo

In episode 154 of The Behind Your Back Podcast, Mike Wisnefski, co-founder and CEO of MaterialsXchange, joins the show. Mike discusses the (un)natural progression he made from Badger U (University of Wisconsin Madison) to professional international water skiing, to trading lumber options for Bloch Lumber in Chicago.

While an unusual path to the LBM industry, it did enable Mike to earn the insights he applies now leading MaterialsXchange (MX)—the NASDAQ of the lumber and building materials industry—enabling transparent, real-time price discovery, delivery logistics, and payment transfer. MX is touted as the digital marketplace for lumber and panels. Featured in Forbes, MX is described as bringing the lumber industry into the digital age.

Mike and host Bradley Hartmann candidly address who stands to gain—and lose—from their new technology and why now is the time for a platform like MX (earlier ventures similar in size and scope have failed) to succeed.

***

If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.

Sign up for the Behind Your Back Newsletter that arrives twice each month: https://www.behindyourbacksales.com/newsletter

For more info: www.behindyourbacksales.com/podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindyourbackceo

In episode 164, Brian Varisco, VP of Operations at Pebble Tec, joins the show to discuss customer service and how it can differentiate your brand—for better or worse.

In this episode Brian shares insights on:

• the intersection between sales and customer service
• the foundations of a good customer service team
• how to improve your empathy
• methods Jenny T. can use to control her emotions when college-age customers nearly drive her over the edge

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If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd sincerely appreciate it if you recommend this show to your friends and colleagues. Your network looks to people like you where to invest their time and attention and we'd love the opportunity to add value to more people in our community.

Since we're asking for things . . . we'd also love it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. The feedback helps improve the show and helps with our visibility as well. The more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it to make it even better.

Sign up for the Behind Your Back Newsletter that arrives twice each month and delivers insights and ideas to help you sell more, faster, at higher margins:

https://www.behindyourbacksales.com/newsletter

For more info: www.behindyourbacksales.com/podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindyourbackceo