Latest / Sales Trajectory Podcast / Navigating the Landscape of Composite Wood Products in Australia with Troy Cleyne

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Navigating the Landscape of Composite Wood Products in Australia with Troy Cleyne · Sales Trajectory Podcast

• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Sales Trajectory Podcast, where innovation meets execution in sales.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jason Howers, your host, a 35-year sales veteran and lifelong student of the game.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is for leaders and sales professionals with a growth mindset.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: You'll hear real sales stories about new products, motivating teams to prospect, and boost productivity.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We dive deep into sales process, cutting edge tech, and recruiting top sales performers.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get started.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Season two kickoff for the Sales Trajectory podcast.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm joined by Troy Klein.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Troy is the current VP of Australian Deck and Handrail Association and also National BDM for Everdeck, Timberlink.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome today, Troy.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Great to catch up with you again.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks, Jason.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Great to um to catch up with you, actually.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're discussing earlier, we've known each other for what, 20 years.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's always great to catch up with people, ex-colleagues, and season two for the podcast is about where innovation meets sales execution.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was thinking about innovation, I thought, how can you go past the composite deck market, something that you've been part of for the last 17 years?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Would love to know more about how you got into sales and also your experience that you can share with the composite decking market.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's been a been a long and um great journey, actually.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: So started off as a junior in in the sports industry, actually, working for um for Puma in the sports industry, which was fantastic for me as a learn, for learning.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then from there, you know, back those days, I had a young family.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Puma was great to work for, but again, it was long hours.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: It meant that I was away from home, you know, three weeks in every month.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and having a young family made a pretty telling telling on us.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: A friend introduced me into the into the timber industry when that's where it all all started and and still in the industry today, which is which is great.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's an interesting story because to go from Puma sports to the um timber industry is is a big change.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for a lot of us, I mean we tend to sort a lot of companies tend to stick with people from within the industry.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just talk just a little bit more about your time at Puma.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I also believe you're uh uh a bit of a not not bad with the Sharon as well.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So take us back a step there.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I had a bit of a um a go and tried tried it for uh for a while with the uh with the Sharon and and didn't do too bad, but it it led me to Puma when I I finished um my footy footy career.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And look, Puma was fantastic because it was such they were really big back on those days in training and development.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and the focus on sales techniques back those days was customer relations, you know, building relationships and everything like that.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: But it also was big on talking doing presentations and everything like that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it taught me how to speak in front of big crowds and conferences and everything like that.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's you know what what sort of took it to where where I am today.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of my big focuses today is still on that customer relationship type process.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and I've developed, you know, a lot of friendships and relationships outside of work uh over over those sort of 30 odd years actually in the in the industry as a whole.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: The good thing about starting in another industry, it's a it's an eye-opener.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think these days we find that a lot of people it's great to be, you know, to work only within your industry, but I think it's also good to see it from the other side.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and what I liked about your story there is that they're investing in their training and development for their team.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a big thing.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: When we um when we first met, you were you were in Melbourne and you were out there winning and creating new business.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So talk to us a little bit about your it was one of the buyers back then that actually turned to me and said, Look, Troy, your product's fantastic.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: We love dealing with you.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but your competitors are now the same product.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I need something that's different so we can continue buying from you.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to give us something else to offer.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: So and that led me back to go back to the management at the time.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm and and they gave me the free run to sort of say, look, Troy, you go and you go and find something, you know, you go and find something.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that's you know, I I went over to America to the IBS over there, which we which is an enormous trade show, and it takes two, three days to walk around.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: And everywhere I was going was composite decking.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Composite decking was just taking over.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it and I think, you know, there was only one other brand here in Australia at the time, which was Modwood, which was an Australian product.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, oh, wouldn't it be good to actually get the best brand in the world out out to Australia at the at the time, and that and that was Trex.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it actually took six months to convince them to actually come to Australia.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: It always sort of like, you know, why did we want to come to Little Australia?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're the biggest in the world, so why would we want to?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it took a bit of convincing to get them out, and we got them out and and look, they're a big presence here today.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's you know, so yeah, it was a it was a tough sell back then.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, standing at home shows, you know, trying to sell a plastic decking, you know, consumers walking up to the stand at the home show saying, you know, you know, what are you selling here?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're selling composite decking or plastic decking, you know, how much is it?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you can sort of say, you know, I'll look at$18 a metre and that's like you've got no chance.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: No chance.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So now now today it's probably you know 40% of the industry and it's still growing.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, I've got a lot of installers out there at the moment, even today, that haven't installed a timber depth for probably three years.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it so it is still a growing market and still relatively new.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting story, and and thanks for sharing that with us.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, yeah, if you go back, um, you know, I didn't I personally haven't had a lot to do with composite deckings, but I do know I always keep my eye on it, it's always been an interest of mine, the ability to have that wider board was starting to we can get something wider than you know 90 millimeters, and that's great.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And but I think the price obviously didn't um you know, didn't help being so expensive.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose just to go back a little bit here, Troy, and and part of the obviously what's really great to be able to talk with about yourself is back then, if you look at it, what what problems do you believe the composites were solving that enabled it to become such a big presence in the Australian market today?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Jason, the um the environment.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: We were making product that was that was great for the environment.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're using recycled timber and then we're using recycled milk bottles and plastic containers.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, they're using products that weren't going into landfill any longer, and they were actually going into made products and their and their end of life cycle was put back into other other products.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't wasn't going into landfill.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that was encouraging for the end consumer at the time.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and and there's a big focus on climate change and the environment and sustainability and all those sort of things, and that's and that's where the product has been a big factor in its success to today.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So just looking at you mentioned some pretty scary numbers to me uh before.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So how many composite deckings are there on the market right now?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's I suppose that's one of the biggest fears at the moment.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: So there is currently, you know, 67 brands out there in the market at the moment that I that I I can't, you know, I I count it.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it's it's funny, I suppose it's like any any product that's on the market, you know, once it gets accepted, everybody wants to have a crack at it.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: They sort of say, you know, well, I I can make money here and and money there.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And there is a lot of product on the market that is untried and untested.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and for that reason, there's just companies bringing in for a quick dollar, quick dollar.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, my fear at the moment is that um, you know, there is growth in the industry at the moment where we're rising pretty pretty quickly.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: But then a lot of these cheaper brands that are coming into the market as failures sort of start to appear, I suppose, you know, it could result in damage to consumer confidence going forward.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's what we don't want.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and when I say inferior product, you know, it's virge and plastics, it's it's using bamboo and all that sort of stuff in their products, and and that's not something we want for the environment um and sustainability going forwards.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's yeah, it it is a bit, it is the danger at the moment with the with the product as it, like I said, it's being accepted.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think um looking back, you know, and I know we always used to look at this when I was in wholesale timber products, is that price is not everything.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you do get what you pay for, and I think the concern that I always had was that there's a lot of long warranties out there and guarantees, and I still, this is just my opinion, I do highly question them because I think where the product is installed, how it's installed, the location of where it is, as you know, roof or no roof, no roof, different game in in tough climate areas, even more so.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the scary part.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So from a consumer perspective, if you were buying it yourself, what would be two or three key things that you would be looking for?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think where it's come from.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then if the testing is done in Australia, Jason, I've had plenty of instances, obviously being in this in this field for so many years.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: So that's so many people that sort of look and purchase composite decking there purely on colour.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it suits the it suits their flooring in their house.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: So they want to replicate that on on the on the deck.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then and you know, it's not really a pricing, but the pricing is more it's more colour at the moment that they're that they're looking for.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: So they'll say, you know, I've I've selected that board because of the colour.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, your your colour's not quite there.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: But nine times out of ten at the moment, it and it's becoming more and more regular, they'll ring me back and say, look, you know, I just wanted to see where I can get pricing on your product again.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, yes, I did go with that colour that I wanted, been down for three months, and we dragged an outdoor furniture chair on the deck and it's ripped ripped the cap.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tried to put in a claim with the company, but the company no longer is no the manufacturer no longer exists.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or they won't reply to messages.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, so I I think the education thing, it's it's getting that education to the consumer, which we're doing a lot, obviously through social media.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Instagram's been huge at the moment, especially with installers on Instagram, you know, with their with their sort of how do they use the product, what they think of the product, um, which which helps a lot.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I actually follow a couple of guys uh on Instagram, and yeah, some of the work they're doing is incredible.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: All the different features and curves and all that sort of stuff you can do these days with with composite is is quite amazing.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting, you're talking about the colour selection, and look, some of the products I've seen lately look fantastic.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no doubt about that, but obviously it's got to look good, but it's also got to perform good.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So what lengths what what's the predominant length these days of composite and what's the most common size?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so obviously the the bigger brands you know coming up with 6.1 um meter meter lengths.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously the company I'm working for now in Timberlink with the Eberdeck product is is 5.4.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's actually interesting to know, you know, for whatever reason in our industry, everyone wants long lengths.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Builders are always looking for the longer lengths, they don't want the short.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: So that that's why the manufacturers, you know, manufacturing these products have sort of said, look, we've got to go longer lengths because that's the choice of of the installers out there.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, obviously Australian made as well, which which is great for the economy.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to us about the the story of the Timberlink evolution of composite decking, Everdeck.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well yeah, I'm really excited about this this product.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously selling composite for so many years, a lot of the questions always came back with especially when you're when you're preaching the the environmental message is yeah, that's great for the US, that's great for other countries, but what about Australia?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we and we we've never had that before.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And and Timberlink is one that actually a few years ago looked at at getting into into composite decking.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: You've got their wood chips over at Bombay, over in Tasmania, and an excess amount of wood chips.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: What's something else we can do with those as opposed to just sending us exporting it out of the out of the country?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, let's let's go into composite, let's go into composite decking.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: So they bought their extrusions from Italy, so they've they've really invested a lot to make this a success.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: So they bought their extrusions from from Italy.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: The timber's obviously F SE rated, you know, because that's what Timberlink use in their forests over in in Tasmania.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then the our plastic is actually our plastic in Australia.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually recycled milk bottles and plastic containers.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, from a sustainability point of view, it's you know, it ticks all the boxes.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's great.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And and it started off really well.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really confident with a product that looks fantastic.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's yeah, look out.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: I suppose it's it's gonna be a um a big potential.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, great for the industry to have that local made product, you know, and and from what I've seen from some of the uh social media sort of work that's been going on so far.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like some of the uh you know the local companies have embraced that alternative to Australian-made product as well and and stocking it now.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you've you've got uh stockers surrounding uh right around Australia or more sort of yeah, no, we do.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: So even Ogre in West Australia, we've got um yeah, we've got stockers over there as well.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it's um yeah, it's it's growing really quickly.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I think more it's that Australian message, uh having a product here that we know that, you know, it it it is great for the environment.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's probably the only board in the industry that's got FSE rating on the timber.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: So so you know, straight from the start to the end, it's it's everything's quality.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I've been in you know, I've been really impressed with the team with the team at Timberlink, of how they've put it all together and you know, their their ta how they're gonna target to get it out to the market.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's been yeah, it's been refreshing, I suppose, to ha and and to have that support around.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um to actually have a you know, work for an Australian company that's got all that support around you with marketing departments and and a sales team, you know, a national sales team.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really enjoying it.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's excellent.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so what what's your main role?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: What does a day look like for yourself?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: So are you dealing with resellers, architects, designers, builders, all the above?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what does a day look like?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Look, I've been fortunate, I suppose, over over the years I've developed some really close friendships with the installers.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: So my my focus at the moment is is obviously the installer, installer market.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: And they're the ones that are in front of the consumer.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: So they're the ones installing the deck, they're showing the consumer the products that are available on the on the market, and then they that they take that thing to the the reseller.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: The um the installers are they're they're like a part of your sales team.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um they've really changed a lot.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of carpenters have actually changed their name to decking company names now, and you know, that's their focus because they're you know, they're becoming creative.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I I seriously think, Jason, we're probably starting to get ahead of the US market as you know, as far as how we install products, you know, with the with the bending the boards, you know, they've got the heat gun out and they're you know, they're not using miters anymore, they're using heat guns to fold decking boards over and everything like that.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my biggest market is the installer market.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then on, you know, specifiers and detailers um is a far is is a focus.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a few resellers um that I that I call on, but our our sales team at Timberlink, they're they're focused on that, on that reseller market, which they're they're doing a great job with.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, how many um how many colours is Timberlink have on uh Everdeck?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: We've got we've got six colours, six colours, but the beauty of it is that we've actually got only three um three boards, three boards.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: So because we've we've duplicate, we've doubled up the colours on on different sides.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got one colour on one side, you flip it over, you've got another colour, which is good.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it makes it easier for installers too, if they you know, if they want to get creative and they want to do picture frames and break boards in different colours, all they've got to do is flip over the board and they've got a different a different colour that will tie into the the colour they've actually selected.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, that's interesting.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's uh very innovative.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realise that.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's and it's great for the um the reseller too.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, instead of carrying six, six three.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's very smart.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great idea from an inventory.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I mean that's that's definitely solving a problem because uh products are expensive to have on the rack, let alone space.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's uh that's a great idea.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Any other innovation that you want to share with us?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Any other key areas that someone would want to, you know, use Ever Deck?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's more that that environmental message.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and obviously being produced in Australia, obviously our production costs, you know, one of the biggest costs bringing out bringing product over from the likes of the US, the freight costs are huge.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: So when you bring that over, it is an expensive product.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, the beauty of having a board manufactured in in Tasmania, um you know, the freight costs are relatively low.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it means we're bringing out a board that's got a great price point in the market.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you're getting a quality WPC board, um, you know, for that lower end price, which which is executive in the market.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I'd love to uh have a look at the the manufacturing uh facility one day.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: That'd that'd be awesome.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: How is it how many people operate the the uh manufacturing unit?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so at the moment we've got about six, six at work on the online down at Belle Bay.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's yeah, it's full steam ahead.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: So and like I said, the the the money that Timberlink has invested into uh developing this is just amazing.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like they could have gone and got exclusion from China or and everything like that, but they've chose the best, the best that you can get.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: So they've like I said, they've gone to Italy and they've support, you know, they've sourced the best that they can get.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why we're getting such great product and at the moment.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good to hear.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: So just a couple of quick questions for you.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I always look at this, it's a little bit like I used to love Sale of the Century, that show that was on TV, and they used to have the the speed round or the power round or whatever it is.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So what's one tool or resource that's been a game changer for you personally in your career?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Probably the relationships.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Relationships.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's a big time.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And what's the best piece of advice you've received about launching a new product?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Probably it's Australian made, I suppose.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's probably the biggest one that I've had.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um like I said earlier, I used to get the comment all the time, you know, it's great for the environment, but what about Australia?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um so now it's a sort of it's hooray, you've got a bit of product made in Australia.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's interesting, and I and I love the part you said, the investment that's been made by Timberlink, because unfortunately the stats are that like 95% of new products do fail.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're talking about 67 products and then you sort of do the numbers pretty quickly to work out how many are going to be successful, just from your your professional opinion and you've been in sales for a long time, and this is where we sort of find a lot of people get caught up, is that a lot of salespeople have never been taught how to launch new products or trained how to release new products.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So they're comfortable selling what's already in their basket or they're they're comfortable selling to existing customers that have those relationships.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: The challenges we see is is being able to bring a product to market that helps solve problems, that has reasons as to why people would want to buy it and use your product.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what's your opinion on on that?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, look, I'll t I suppose it it it actually takes me back to a conversation that we had many years ago when you know obviously the younger generation today that they get complacent.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: They get complacent, you know, they'll they'll go out and they'll they'll do their refills.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: and and everything like that.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well they'll look at they'll look at the GP of products and a all quick turnaround, you know, your basic bread of bread and butter.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've always been really competitive.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now I think that's probably stems back from my the football days is, you know, you don't like to lose.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: So so with a new product, it's actually it actually gives you more of a a thrill to win because you've actually got to spend time in that product.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: You've actually got to take time and educate the consumer on the features and benefits of that product.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: So for me it's a better to go out and just do a service call and and you know just get a stock order.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um really doesn't do much for me to be honest Jason.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's that being able to actually you know work hard to get something I'm I'm I'm selling I was selling product that was like$63 a meter to sell.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the biggest thrill at the end of the day to sort of get a customer that you know they're buying a high-end product you know and that and that was what was more rewarding.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I think really like I said earlier stem back to a conversation that we had a while ago the industry's changing so much.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you've got a lot of younger kids a lot of younger guys sorry that that are coming into the industry now and they're and they're tech savvy you know and they and and the industry's evolving too you know with sales techniques you know you're at CRMs and and all that sort of stuff now and and I think you know a lot of those younger sales guys are too focused on that and they forget about what really does sell and that is the interaction with a customer you know the one-on-one in their faces as opposed to doing it on on Teams.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: But it also relates back I think to to the older generation you know we've got that skill you know what we've had over the many years of talking to you know building relationships with with clients and everything like that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: But again we've had to we've had to evolve as well and adapt those new technologies in CRMs and and everything like that which what would what we do what we do.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's yeah it's it's a different time now.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: You see it over the 30 years I've been selling you know different cycles all the time.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know I've gone from customer relations to hard sell back to customer relations into hard sell again and now it's more strategic but I still think we need that customer reaction someone to walk into a hardware store and see what they're actually doing, build a relationship with them I think is more than you know what a lot of the younger guys are doing at the moment.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's great Troy I really appreciate your your time today and uh giving us giving us a bit of a rundown on on uh where you're at so from a from a contact point of view if you want to get in in contact with with Troy at Everdeck please reach out.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know I highly recommend if there's any building material resellers that are looking to partner with anybody for a product that can deliver you know innovation and a bit different to to trading commodity but again even if you if someone's an installer and and looking to to move into that area of composites and there's a lot of things happening at the moment in the timber industry.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I do appreciate your time to uh today Troy thanks again for catching up great to catch up.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: You too cheers got a product that's struggling or launching something new reach out we're inviting guests who want to make a real impact