Why Your Elevator Pitch is Failing You

0:09You're listening to The Vault Unlocked, where the real secrets of success are revealed. Every episode, one founder, one confession, one strategy that created income scale and unstoppable growth. The code is cracked. The vault is open. Today, we have Grant Fullerbach. How are we doing, Grant? Hey, doing well. Doing well. Can't complain on this. Awesome. Awesome. Where are you located, just so we know? Yeah, I'm in Fort Collins, Colorado. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Now, as we get into this, we always start off. Tell us a little bit about what you do, the product you have, service you have, and we'll go into it.

0:47Yeah, absolutely. So I own and operate a company called Gophers Consulting. We are relatively new. It started at the beginning of the year, but we help builders and remodelers essentially systematize their ops using practical AI and different tools. Okay. I love this. So consulting service, working with builders. So we're talking like home builders and stuff like this or? Bingo. Yep. You name it. I love this. So home services. So we're home services and you're getting them into AI. You're helping them with AI operations software. You got it. Yep. Tell me. I get it, but I want to know more because what does that mean, right?

1:30Those are all vague. So tell me exactly how you. I love the business because I know that this is a big business. So that's why I'm excited, but let's take a step back. My background's in VDC or visual design construction and tech. So I've been in tech sales selling construction software for over a decade at this point. Okay, I love it. And so I have a pretty extensive familiarity with both residential and commercial construction. and through that experience my my roles in in the companies i've worked for generally around like rev ops director of sales ops so i'm implementing a lot of tech for sales teams and marketing teams and through that i noticed well just in the industry i noticed that there's this tremendous gap between, you know, builders who are doing amazing work and actually running a solid like PNL or forecast or training their sales team on how to actually use their CRM.

2:38Right. Um, and so I dove in headfirst into that, just ultimately helping these guys alleviate some of the issues with like what's called lead flow and sales ops. And, um, then that expanded into basically all challenges. So everything from lead flow all the way to like talent and workflow or workforce management, right? Okay. Let's help you out here because this is just what I'm getting here. So the traditional bias, which I believe is to be true, right? These guys that own these building contract companies, they're just builders at heart. They're not actual business owners. They just want to do the job.

3:21They want to get the teams going. And that's where their focus kind of is. They don't really know how to build this system. So I mean, let's build the systems of the business. So when you're talking about the CRM, I was kind of, what's he talking about? And then it got to me. You mean you're helping them actually implement CRMs into their businesses so they can actually take leads, convert those leads, and turn those leads into customers that they can actually build for. So you're talking about business operations, right? You're talking about sales teams. They're sales teams. They don't know how to run sales teams.

3:49They're business owners. They're builders. They've never learned how to build a, let alone build a business, run actual sales teams. So you've come in and you do the tech side of that stuff. You nailed it. Exactly. Yep. So they can see reporting. They can, it sounds like not just reporting, but making sure the operations, the systems, things are firing. Salespeople are supported. Lead flows there. Understanding from lead, from opt-in, let's call it, or from the moment they say, I'm interested all the way down to the sale that the sale happened that it not happened. Is that correct? And now you've tied this into AI.

4:23Yep. Yeah. So a lot of those, the one big, I would say like hook that I use is it really doesn't matter what CRM you're using as a builder. We're not asking you to replace your tech stack. All the AI and the practical systems that we implement work alongside the tools you already have. okay is the ai that you have is it like is it a system that you guys built or do you guys build the ai for their system yeah so it's actually just me and i've built all these different have you ever heard the term vibe coding vibe coding yeah yeah no tell us what is this uh concept that you know you could take like uh an ai model and just talk to it and tell it an idea and it would actually code it out.

5:14It would build it out as it was a developer, right? Yeah. And so a lot of these tools that I've kind of brainstormed that work alongside these CRMs and whatnot, I've just built using Vibe coding applications. Okay. Okay. So we now have an idea of just so we're clear here. We know who you go after. You go after home builders and the problem you solve is business, I'm going to say business operations, logistics, really all the things that a typical home builder who owns a business doesn't want to deal with. They might not even know the problem even exists because they really have no idea. Is that correct?

5:52Yep. So what's your client acquisition strategy? How do you acquire your clients, i.e. these builders? How do you sell them? Tell me about the sales process. Great question. So the number one way that I've been able to so far is through lead magnets. And I found a channel on the NAHB or National Association of Home Builders, which is the biggest association in the US. And I literally every two weeks, I just drop a new lead magnet, which is basically just a new tool, right? This is fascinating. I'm so fascinated already. When you say this association is like an online community uh yeah and then there's also in so every more or less larger county has its own association too so so you're actually in person no no no i mean i can i can go to the larimer county or the fort collins and hb or i think it's called noco hb so north but but these but there's like an online community or something like they they all huddle somewhere online yeah so you're going online so you're getting free traffic is what i'm hearing here oh yeah yeah so you're going online and every two weeks you're just dropping value with a little authority yeah yeah and saying hey if you're having issues like this or hey did you know x get them hooked oh and then what and then basically i kick kickstart them onto a discovery call where i walk them through my three-step process do you have this is great before you get them on discovery call do you are you sending them to dms are you like dm setting yeah so i i use a lot of like drip campaigns and then i have i somebody said it i forget who said it but i like this idea of like constant gentle pressure right so like okay through email linkedin for different texts even occasionally basically i want i also have a newsletter that i create through ai and whatnot but um i keep them in the gauge yeah yeah yeah for everything that i release this is called list building just so we're clear so you you're list building you're getting their email you get the first name last name and then you're putting them onto a list and you're constantly speaking to them at all different levels of awareness and you're building a list that's what you're doing you're you're building your email newsletter list okay and then in through that, you give them a hand, a helping hand, which says book a call, book a strategy call.

8:31That's right. Who's taking those strategy calls? You or salespeople? Me. Yeah. Okay. Because you're just started. So that makes sense. And then they get on a call and you said you use a three-step process. So I was like, Oh, interesting. What's your three-step process? Yeah. So the discovery call is I basically just get a high level of where they're currently at, you know, and just talk them through this. And the three-step process is I do a diagnostic, or actually I don't, I invite them to the diagnostic and it's a 70, it takes about 75 minutes. It's a pretty extensive calculator form thing, but it does a deep, deep dive into their business.

9:11So their tech stack, their org chart, who are their IC, who's their ICP? How are they going about client acquisition? How are they finding talent? Everything, right? And then through that, I mean, if they've already filled out this form, I know that they're vested in the process. Then the second step is I take that and I run it through an AI model that says, where are the risks? And where's the issues in order if they're going to continue growing as they're growing. And then based off of that, I, well, first I, the second step is I enroll them into a, we do, sorry, let me back up. So they do the diagnostic.

9:55We do an assessment review where basically I take the results, walk them through, Hey, here's your risk. Here's how I can help yada, yada. Yeah. Then the second step in that is called a map and I call it a mutual action program. Basically, it's about a six-week program, consists of about six different modules that each have different assets and tools in them. That costs$5 ,500. And then after that, I enroll them into a builder academy, which is kind of like an agile project management phase, if you will. And that's three. So I'm here at a three-step. This is what you're saying, is a three-step process.

10:40On the call, your only job, then what I'm hearing is the first call is discovery. Is this the right client and do they have a problem? If I discover that they have a right problem and they are my right ICP, so let's talk about that. What is your ICP? So mine is basically builders who are over 1.5 million in ARR. I love it. Like most people, right? Don't even know that. Like home builders that are doing at least 1.5 million in ARR, right? What else? We got to have another one. What else? I don't know. I don't know home builders, so I don't know what else would it be. Yeah. One is if they've invested in a CRM like job tread or builder trend.

11:22Those are the two bigger ones that are usually pretty pricey. And, and they're having a good time with it. They're not having a good time with it or they don't even know. Like, uh, doesn't really matter that much. uh most of the time they're not having a good time because yeah i figured that but i love this like i love it and this is why you're probably doing something i could tell you're probably doing okay right now yeah yeah i can't complain yeah the reason why people how could came on tell very simple you know your icp so well you already knew what it was and if you know your icp you know how to speak to them at every level.

12:01So your ICP is very clear to me. Are you a home builder? Hey, do you have ARR at 1.5? I believe you said$1.5 million ARR, right? And did you invest into the CRM? If you don't have these three things, I don't help you. I can't help you. I don't want to help you. Amazing. So now we've identified that those three things happen on that discovery call. you then what you offer them a diagnostic you say hey come fill this form out correct yep exactly you charge for that no i don't why not uh because i realize that it's the way that i pitch it or the way that i present it is basically you know whether you want to move forward with me or not this is basically a resource that you can use to get a better understanding of where your gaps are at.

12:57Do you sell anything on that call or is the, is the next step just the diagnostic? Yeah. Usually the next step is yeah, exactly that. I have a channel partner network. So if they don't have a CRM in place or if they don't have a handful of these tools, but yeah, usually I don't sell anything. So they go, okay. And then they get out the phone and they got to self do this. Like you're not doing this for them. They're going to go input this information into the form. You wait for the form. You take the form. You put it through AI. AI gives and spits out what you need and you book a second call. Bingo.

13:34Yep. Do you book that second call on that first call to confirm? Yeah. Yeah. So I usually ask them, I walk them through the process and then I'll ask them how long it will take them to do that or if they can get it done by the end of the week. And then they agree to that. Then I say, all right, well, I'll tell you why don't we schedule our next follow-up call to review the assessment next Monday? And then you use that second call, step two call, to give them the outcomes. And then you upsell them into a$5K,$5 ,500 product. What's that product again? The map. So mutual action plan. So, hey, here's your problem.

14:18them. Here's what's going to happen if you keep going down this road, right? Here's a map of what you need to do to fix it. Is that correct? Yep. And that's done with you, done for you, done do it yourself. That one is a little bit of a combination because I jump on one call a week with them to basically walk through the tools that they have available that week and like how to implement them, how to get some consistent. And it's all, I have tutorials on all the tools. So it's a little bit of handholding, but most of it is done for them. Okay. I like that. And then at the end of that, the ones that actually implement and that you see that are actually doing the work, showing up, those are the ones where you offer the next level where what they bring you in to actually do the heavy lifting, to do the consulting.

15:17What are you doing at level three? Yeah. So from there, basically I have a really strong idea of where their gaps are. You know, the tools are, the tools are very helpful, but they're not a solve all. And so basically from there, we put together kind of a scope of what the next six months look like. Yeah. And, you know, I even have like a, if you're familiar with like agile, there's like a thing. Yeah. I know agile. Yeah. Yeah. Print points, you know? And so I kind of even have my own currency on how I dictate how much things are going to cost in that currency. And then we basically just take it from there.

15:54And then what's the third offer? Oh, yeah. I just call it the Builder Academy. And what does that get them? So that gets them basically two meetings a week with me where we go through. At the beginning, we're talking about what's going to be built out, how they're going to use it and what they're accountable for, like what I need from them. Yeah. The week, basically a, a synapse or a, just an assessment review of what's like a checkpoint of where we at, what's going, what's working the roadblocks. Yeah. I got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of that part is actually taken from like a EOS. Yeah. Like 90.

16:36And so we have us, we actually built a, like kind of a replicate of 90 and that I can track ever, all the KPIs off of. Yeah. And you have like rocks and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And, and, and it's, and I'm assuming it's working well, like the people that are going through it, loving it, it's going great. Yeah. How much is that third, that third product you 5 ,500 and then how much? Uh, so generally we're looking at like an average of maybe like 7 ,500 per month okay for a month nice okay there we go okay so i built out four levels um in the builder academy yeah and it's basically a roadmap it says you know you're here at phase two in order to get to phase three you need to do boom boom boom here's how long that'll take here's all the things that you need to do and so i already have my task list in front of me yeah i love it um so you're in an elevator someone says what is it you do grant what do you do what do you say yeah i help builders build better systems for their business i help builders build better systems for their business how's that work out so like um so i actually did a little bit of a role play um can i just kind of start over instead of doing an elevator pitch can I uh just say like yeah um hey Kayvon I uh thanks for taking this call I really appreciate it so prior to this I had a chance to actually look at your portfolio look at your Instagram and you make some kick-ass houses like I can absolutely tell you are a world-class if not best in class builder at least in in your area But I have to ask you, and this is just a hunch, but I'm going to assume that your backend systems might not be as buttoned up as the projects and the builds that you deliver on.

18:50Yeah, I can say that. What do you mean by backend systems? Sorry. Yeah, yeah, no problem. So basically like your sales process, how you're getting leads, how you're tracking all of that and your forecasts and also like how you're finding your subs and your talent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's quite a bit of a mess for sure. Yeah. Is that like so obviously you're doing something right or you're doing a handful of things, many things right because of the quality of projects that you're working on. but um you know apart from me just having this random conversation with you has that been something that you focused on in the past or that people have helped you kind of identify no it's not really a big uh i don't find like a big deal for me anyways i mean i we got so many projects on the go i can't even keep up yeah absolutely how are you finding those projects is it like word of mouth or are you spending i'd stop you right there stopping you right there because now we're doing some sales training here.

19:53I love it. You're asking about the project, but I just gave you something. I can't keep up. I did that on purpose to give you gold. Whoa. What do you mean? Don't assume. This is where a lot of salespeople go wrong. They assume. They just think. Even if you know, you know because you're an expert. You can't tell them where things are going wrong because of golden rule. when you say something, it means something. When they say something, it means everything. So the only way to get them to say it is by asking the question, whoa, what do you mean by can't keep up? What does that mean to you? Oh, well, it means this and that and go, how long has that been going on for?

20:38If that wasn't an issue, could you build more homes? Nice. Yep. Do you see the difference there? Now I want to go back to the elevator pitch because you didn't like that. But the reality is you're going to be around places. People are going, what is it you do? And I help builders build better systems. Like I wish I had the button. It doesn't work. But let's figure out what does work. What about AI? So this is the other thing. It's like I help builders use AI to... No, we're going to change it. This is one of my biggest, biggest things. It's either as a result of, meaning as a result of what i do here's what i do or did you know and i love the did you know or do you know yeah so how do you relate to them do you know how most builders are building i don't know your industry so you're gonna have to help me out here but do this work me do you know how most builders build like i'm gonna say the best quality homes whatever the worded verbiage is right you know million dollar homes but the back end is a mess or what's the pain they're in.

21:45Do you know how most business owners, builder business owners, right? Stay up at night wondering when the next project is going to come and or if they can even complete the project on time. But what I do is I eliminate, I've created. What I do is I help implement AI so that projects not only are on time, they get completed actually 80 % faster than most builders in the space now do i have your attention you're not telling me everything i'm you do what you're telling me is i know your problem i have the solution because then the next question is how do you do that yeah well how i do that exactly this i work with builders and then you get into it i love that that's the pitch yeah so that's the pitch do you know or did you know yeah it's either do you know or did you know or you can say as a result so what does he do well as a result of right as a result of business owners always being frustrated you know business uh home builders you know not knowing when the next job is coming you got to figure out what that pain is or as a result of the business of uh built home builders right uh not being able i almost think job completion is probably one i don't know anything about this industry but i'm thinking most likely job completion is probably one of the biggest issues they have.

23:06Oh, yeah. Right? So as a result of job completions not being done and business owners suffocating or being drowned by the bombardment of that, as a result of I've implemented an AI system that helps them get the job done faster, cleaner, more effective 90 % of the time. That's it. Get that out. Whatever that is, nail that. Because the only thing your job is there is not to sell yourself. This is what a lot of people think. I got to sell them on the pitch, on the other bit. you really think you're going to sell someone on a$50 ,000 or$5 ,000 or$2 ,000 in 30 seconds? No, what your only job is to get the second question that comes out of their mouth after what is it you do is how do you do that?

23:48Yeah, I love that. That's super. And then you have them hooked. Then you can take them to what you were trying to do with me. Ask them about questions. Yeah. Right. But you, I'll tell you what you're doing. I know we were on that podcast. we're trying to jump into it, coming to the end here. You are already trying to dictate where it should go, which is the wrong thing to do. You should just be present and ask the questions and let them dictate where it should go in the terms of what their problems are. So you are trying to force the problems onto me instead of just asking the right questions to discover what are the real problems this person has.

24:28Because here's what we do know. You know the problem they have is they have broken systems. They don't know how to hire. They don't have metrics. They don't have the thing working. They don't know when a lead comes in. They don't know when the project's going to complete. They're running around with their head cut off. But again, if you tell them that, it doesn't mean anything. And now here's the thing. They don't think that's the problem. They, I guarantee you, they think I can't find the right people. Or they think, oh, my clients are a pain in my ass. So if you sell them systems and AI, they're not asking for it.

25:04They don't know about AI. They don't know about this. They don't want to pay for it. I don't want more headaches. Not knowing that that very thing is the thing that's going to get them to where they want to go. So the whole golden rule in sales, you sell them what they want. You give them what they need. Sell the vacation.

25:26That's, sure. That's an old way of saying it. But like for me, it's actually sell them what they actually want because they might not want the fucking vacation. Yeah, they might not want a vacation. So why am I selling my vacation? Right. I want to sell them what they want. So in my industry, 90 % of the people I speak to think if I have a closer and a setter in my business, my life will change. So there's everyone selling. I'll place a closer and a setter in your business and your business will change. That's not what they actually need. They actually need what you're talking about. They need the right systems.

25:58They need the right process. They need the, because they don't even realize getting the right closer in is not going to solve their problem because the closer is going to leave because they don't want to be hanging around with the broken down systems. Yeah. But if we go to the market and I said, I'm going to help you find the right system so you can find the right. No, I'm not interested. I don't think that's my problem. It's the same thing here. And I can only imagine again, now I'm projecting never project your own bullshit, but I'm not, you're not my prospect. I'm not selling you. So I'm allowed to project whatever I want.

26:23I can only imagine the stubborn kind of pig-headed type of guys you're dealing with, the business owners. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. I'm just saying that's their mindset. It's like they know what they want. Nothing's changing. AI, what's AI? I don't need AI. So why are you selling them that? I think because even though they are stubborn, it's such a hot term nowadays. 100 % they're familiar with like chat GBT 100 % so you're not going to sell them AI but you're going to give them AI so sell them as a result of AI though as a result so let me ask you this what is the number one because we didn't even ask that what is the number one pain that these on average that these builders are in what's their number one the 2am problem the thing that keeps them up at night yeah yeah uh let's see let me see if i can reframe or like uh no no no no i'm asking the question yeah what is it it's distrust in marketing it's distrust in an agency or a lead flow if you want to call it that it's these guys are hold on hold on hold on i love this grant i love this i just don't want you to go down the wrong rabbit hole here yeah because there's gold here okay Their number one pain, their 2 a.m.

27:53pain is they don't trust marketing companies? Their 2 a.m. pain is that they think they're losing money in a marketing company. They think that they're getting the right leads. They think that they aren't getting the right type of projects. Okay, hold on. Now we're getting somewhere. Because I'll tell you right now, their 2 a.m. problem isn't that they don't have the right marketing company. I can tell you that. Their 2 a.m. problem could be, hey, I'm not getting the right projects. Okay, I might believe that. But what is their... This is back to your ICP. What is their actual 2 a.m. problem? guess is that they can't pay their people oh my god okay we're getting somewhere here we're not cutting this off by the way even though we're supposed to we ain't cutting this we're we have we are bringing this on because this is gold this is the real deal here you've just said it they wake up they stay up at night wondering how they're going to pay the bills okay so what's the stat i guarantee you if you did enough research there is a stat that says somewhere now do you know how 90 of home builders go out of business because they can't pay the bills for the next day well what i do is that's what you're selling bingo how do you do that how i do that very simple i I implement AI in sales process and tools.

29:44So we know exactly where the projects are, how they handle, how they get completed on time, how to pay your people, making sure you're not overpaying for all that stuff that they want to hear. But you don't have their attention yet. You got to get my attention by like, whoa, you're right. 90 % of home builders, just like we know this, what do they call it? Developers, developers, people think, oh, you make billions. They make billions, but they don't realize they're also worth negative billions too, any given day. Right? And that is scary as hell. So these builders, you know how builders want to keep getting jobs?

30:22And no matter how many jobs they keep getting, they still feel like they can't pay the bills. But what I do is I make them X. But what I do is I make sure that they never feel that pain again as a result of putting in the right people, tools, structure, and processes. so they know exactly where every dollar is going and every dollar is coming out. In fact, business owners who work with me not only end up having three months cash flow, they actually end up six months cash flow advance knowing they have six months to survive on the current cash they have that doesn't even include the new business I generate for them.

31:01Amazing. Do I have your attention now? Yeah. Oh, hell yeah. Is that a little bit better than I help business owners build better systems? Absolutely. Yeah. Grant, you've been great. That made my job. You've been great. This has been great. But here's where I got you wrong. I thought you knew your ICP. You do now, but you missed the one biggest thing. You know who you wanted to work with. That's one. But you also need to know what's the deepest, not the one deepest thing that keeps them up at night. that is their biggest problem, the thorn in their side, the thing that makes them like just crawl, their skin crawl.

31:42And from what we gathered here today, which I would see it because we're talking big dollars, a lot of contractors, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, is they don't know if they can pay the bills the next day. And you solve that problem. And to me, that's a massive problem. And that's a massive solve. Because I know if I was a business builder and you're telling me that I get to go to bed at night, not having to worry if I can pay the bills. I'll know exactly where I am at, AKA a cashflow sheet. I know how many days I have to be exist. I'll tell you this, why I said cashflow seat. I was in business for six years without a cash, like an actual real cashflow.

32:25I had P and L's and all that, but I had no idea when in my head, I had an idea of when I I would go out of business, but actually on paper. And what I thought was six months ended up being 12 months. 12 months. I used to operate like I only had six months. And I was like, I have a year at that time. Do you get what I'm saying? You changed my life. Changed everything. You changed the way I slept. Changed the way I made decisions. Changed the way how I hired. It changed the business. Oh, I love that. Do you recall, this is just out of curiosity, what the like trigger was for you to say like, I got to get this.

33:04I got to actually like put some time into this. I can't just rely on PNLs anymore. When I was telling someone on a private call, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go out of business. I only have 30 days and I'm going to business. They go, how do you only have 30 days? I'm like, because I have this expense in this. They're like, how much cash do you have? Like, I'm like, what do you mean cash? I go, I know what my expenses. I know my income is. It's only one, it's only 30 days. they're like, you don't actually have a cash flow sheet. I'm like, what are you talking about? You don't actually know how long you can actually really go before you're out.

33:34I'm like, no, I just know in my head, they're like, no. And they said this, no wonder why you're stressed out. No wonder why you don't sleep. And no wonder why you're acting erratic right now. And then right away you go, well, if I'm acting like that on a call with a stranger, how am I acting like that with my team as a leader with my people? Probably not great. right so what does that result get and then it was just like oh my god let's build it out we built it out and it's game changer i live by i actually live by it is the only thing i don't actually look at my pml i look the only thing i look is my cash flow because i just want to know how long i have to exist and my goal now is make that day every day farther and farther away i'll let my accountant deal with the pml i deal with the pml on the monthly basis i deal with my cash flow every single day and every day i sleep and i know where i'm at i don't have to make hard decisions or have to wonder can i afford or not i know exactly if i can afford i was just working on it today because i'm bringing on an extra 20 grand a month in expenses and i went right to the can i afford it if i if i don't make an extra dollar how much do i have this runs out before how much does that kill my advancement of my cash flow i know it all well what happens if this also in six months does it start producing even x dollars what okay and that produces x dollars so i have it all right there i can make way more effective decisions i don't have to hum and ah anymore and that clarity makes me a better business owner allows me to have the the the energy is where people don't understand the clarity allows me to have the energy to put in the right decision making to make more strategic decisions instead of foggy decisions that don't know if they work with me and these builders keep making these decisions they don't even know they're making decisions from their gut which is not always a bad thing but without actual facts data and stats to show if it's the right decision or not and you're coming in and i could tell you're an analytical guy you're coming in giving them the exact same thing they need so they can rest at night sleep at night and not worry about if they can pay their employees worse if we go deeper it's not here we go last one we're going to end it here three levels of pain the first level is what we call surface level.