Shawn Graser is interviewed on the challenges of opening a new cabinet showroom

Hey guys, we are back with the Crushing it with Kitchen Remodeling Podcast. And today we’re gonna talk a little bit about what happens when you’ve had some success in your home remodeling in your cabinetry, your kitchen model business, what not? You know, your showroom has gotten people coming in. You’ve been selling and you’re ready to open up that second showroom. You’re ready to open up a secondary market for you for you. So we have with us today, someone who actually has gone through the process of selling a cabinetry company of helping opening up a new showroom in a new market, a new location we have with us, Shawn Graser from Finecraft custom cabinetry.

They’re in Sarasota and Tampa Florida. So we are so lucky. You know, I can’t wait to talk to Shawn. Learn a little bit more about his journey, learn a little bit more about, you know, the journey of opening up the show. We’re going to do that guys just after this.

And we’re back uh and joining us today as, as I said before, is Shawn Graser from Finecraft custom cabinetry, Shawn. I’m so happy to have you on the show today. Thanks for having me, Mike. Oh, my pleasure. So Shawn, you know, you and I have known each other for a little bit of time here.

Um But for those people who don’t know who you are, tell us kind of who the heck is Shawn Graser? Who is Fine Cabin? What is it that you do? What is it that the company does? Well, my little, my story is I’ve pretty much been in the cabinet industry my whole entire life. Um From the time I was little with my father doing kitchen remodeling. Um He did a lot of um flipping when I was younger, I just had a, had a lot of love for it.

Um When I was 16 years old, I got a job at a local cabinet shop, started pushing a broom all the way up to managing the, the whole um facility there. I think at the time, we had 23 employees when I left, um, went from there and started my own shop in 2006. Um I had that shop for about 15 years. Um I left that moved to Florida, opened a small shop here, um, decided that uh I wanted to kind of get into more of the sales, sales and, and design aspect of it.

And um fine offered me a position and here I am today, that’s, that’s great. And Finecraft cabin is, I mean, tell us a little bit about them. Who, who are they, you know, where are they? So Finecraft was originated down in Sarasota. We do have this the original location down there. Um We recently opened another location in Tampa as well. Um uh There was multiple people um down in Sarasota. Um We kind of brought in a cabinet line called DR, which has been in the, in the market down there for about 30 years as well and they kind of merged those two.

And recently that, that has been um kind of our, is bringing those two together and that’s what’s made us pretty successful down there in Sarasota. That’s great and kind of all Southwest Florida. And I know as you guys are, you’re expanded into the Tampa market or, or you really call that Southwest Florida but you know, the, the general Gulf area there. Um So let’s talk a little bit about kind of what were some of the key factors that, that you guys considered when you decide to expand fine graft into that Tampa market?

Yeah, it, it was talked about for a little bit. Um We decided to expand as the companies have all been growing within the, the time. Um We had the possibility of really expanding and we just wanted to go into a, a closer market and kind of get our feet wet in that market as well. I can tell you that um Sarasota and Tampa are, are very different markets and um yourself has been helping us uh getting those locations going, um which has been a great improvement by having you as part of our team as well.

I appreciate that. So you, you know, you, you raise kind of an interesting thing is, you know, when you look at the map and you look at Tampa Tampa Bay, you look at Sarasota, it’s the same area, right? I mean, it’s, you know, it, it’s only a 503 50 minute drive from one to the other, but it really isn’t. And I think a lot of my listeners, they, they’re in that same situation, you know, and we work with companies in Los Angeles who work with companies in Dallas, you know, in, you know, in major areas where you’ve got these, you know, the, this, this small drive, but there are two totally different markets.

So, yeah, I mean, how, how do you go about dealing with L A? Do you, do you change your strategy at all when you’re dealing, you know, even though it’s, it’s southwest Florida, it’s the gulf coast. Yeah, I mean, we, we do really kind of change our strategy and, you know, to be honest, we’re still learning and growing um within that. Um as you are part of our team, we, you know, we are every week we’re talking about what we need to do differently and we are so based down in Sarasota and used to that way.

Um The biggest thing that I can say is that having an open mind and not just stick to one thing. Um As you know, in the marketing aspect, we’re, we’re doing multiple different things. Um We recently just did that TB A to kind of bring in two man, you know, one’s called fine custom cabinetry. The other is called Finecraft, Finecraft custom closets. That way we can actually market those two a little bit differently even though they’re all in one. trying to get our feet wet in certain aspects in certain areas with certain things.

That’s, that’s really, really interesting too if you think about entity marketing, which is something that, you know, larger companies certainly, you know, take into account with. But, you know, the people who are shopping for closets are not necessarily looking for cabinets and, and vice versa. You know what I mean? And I mean, just, just coming to mind is, you know, I might be putting in, you know, putting in a new garage and I need to organize that garage. I need to, I need to have the right cabinetry in there.

I might, you know, that’s not the same as I’m looking for a new walk-in closet in my bedroom and it’s a, it’s a totally different market. It’s a different message. Um And I think the mistake that a lot of people make is that they kind of try and combine it all into one, you know, one and, and you end up being that Jack of all trades master nun type of deal, at least in the perception of your audience and, and even in our, we have certain designers that do more in the closets and then do the cabinetry.

So it really makes a lot of sense that way and we can target different areas um within those things. So, you know, cabinetry, you know, in a certain area is in Hinton. So then we can talk about, you know, maybe doing a little more marketing for the closet side of things. Some of these areas have been just recently developed and built, the homeowners are ok with their cabinets, but they don’t have closets. So that was kind of the way of thinking to it. Um, and, uh, yeah, I mean, that, that makes a ton of sense too.

I mean, I mean, especially, I know, you know, in, in, on the Gulf coast in Florida you’ve got so many of these, you know, developers that are in here and they, and they’re building these, you know, luxury golf communities and, and they’re, and they’re building out all sorts of communities where, you know, people, they’re, they’re kind of buying a shell and they walk in and they, and they realize, you know, I brought all my stuff down from up north and I got no place to put it because I’ve got no organization in my office is uh a little of everything in here, you know.

Um So, yeah, it, it is. And, and, and I’m still learning, I’ve been down here for three years and, and I’m learning every day and I can tell you one of the biggest key points to my success in life period is just never stop learning. Always talk to people like yourself that are, you know, how much have you helped us? But, you know, we also throw ideas to you and you’re like, oh, that makes sense like, hey, let’s try it, you know, so open minded and never giving up and always, you know, striving to learn. Yeah.

It, it’s funny when you say that it reminds me of the, the greatest billboard I ever saw when I, you know, it, we used to, we used to be in Boston with a thing called the Southeast Expressway and the Boston Globe put it up and it said, read the Boston Globe. You’ll feel like, you know, so much that you think you’re 16 again. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. I mean, I, I, it don’t stop for me. I’m listening to podcast all the time as you know, um, I’m just always learning and growing and, uh, it’s just helped me get where I am today and, and I’ve had a lot of uh things that were bumps in the road as we gone and, and you know what?

Nothing is perfect and um she just keeps driving. Yeah, so just bring it back a little bit to, to fine and opening up the showroom and all that because I think that’s, that’s something that a lot of the listeners here have, have a lot of interest in it. You know, they’re thinking about. Should I bring open that second location? So I enter that secondary market when you guys did that, what challenges, you know, do you, do you think that you were facing uh in opening a new showroom?

You know, what, what were the biggest concerns you had? One is uh you know, obviously picking the right location, right? Um Kind of, you know, dissecting what’s gonna be around you. Where is your clientele gonna be coming from? How far out logistics wise, those key points play in it, you know, having two showrooms now, one down by CD Keys, basically down there and then one up here logistically how that marketing is gonna cross paths as well. Um You know, that that was a key point. One is obviously we’re dealing with a lot of snowbirds as well.

So, um you know, in our, you know, locations, those are all key points in trying to figure out a where to do it and why to do it there. Um Yeah, so that, that’s kind of interesting that you mentioned the snowbirds is not only is, is Tampa the number one growing uh real real estate market in the country and it has been since before the pandemic even. Um But you have all, you have this massive influx of people coming in and then you get the exit, literally, you know, every as my grandparents used to tell me every time the leaves grow on the trees, we’re coming back up north, right?

And um you have that. So how do you, how do you hand like typically, you know, when you think of the south and southeast especially, we don’t think of it as a seasonal business, but it really is down here. I mean, to be honest, Mike, we’re, we’re in a little bit of our slow time right now. Um Even the, the Floris who live here, they are, you know, a lot of our clientele is going to the north, they’re going to North Carolina into the hills for a little bit.

That’s their vacation. Um You know, we’ll start talking now, September, I, when a lot of people from the north start trickling down here, um, we see a majority obviously right around the Christmas time and then until, you know, March April May is kind of when they leave. Um So, yeah, I mean, we, we focus on some of these little islands and things on how many people are there and we do so much and we’re only able to do, um, some of the jobs in certain times of the year because of people coming and going.

You know, I, I think that that’s big and certainly one of the things I know that, that I always tell my clients is, you know, you gotta give an offer, you gotta, you have to give a reason why someone should work with you now rather than later. Um, you know, 11 of the things that I know you guys do is, you know, you make an offer for, uh, you know, a certain amount of money, $1500 off your custom closet design, 1500 off your cabinet tree. Um Have you found that those type of offers really have resonated with your audience?

Absolutely. Um Right now, now a lot of our leads are generated by giving back, um, when, when we have those lower months and, and, you know, you guys in your marketing team have, um, helped us see some of those things as well um That weren’t transparent to us. Um You really got to hit that marketing well, before those spots as well. Um You don’t wanna just mark it right when your area is dead, you need to get it before hand and get that working for you. Yeah, makes, makes a ton of sense.

So and, and, and I just kind of bringing it back to the fine and, and to the to the launching of the new, the new showroom here. Um You know, you, like you said, you guys have been in Sarasota for a long time. Um How did you leverage the, you know, the, the reputation in Sarasota or did you even leverage it? Did, did you kind of go in kind of as the new kid on the block in Tampa? Well, it’s funny you said that today I was at a meeting with somebody that actually has moved to Tampa that used us in the past in Sarasota.

Um And so, yeah, we, we, you know, we do have the reputation that does come with us, but in a way it’s almost starting over and, you know, there is some of it that people know from you down there, but I would say 75% is, is just like you’re opening a new location, like you said, it might be an hour away, but it’s a totally different clientele. Um their style, the styles of the cabinetry are slightly different, more modern in Sarasota, more traditional up here in Tampa. Um So yeah, we’re, we’re still learning as we’re going with this as well. Yeah.

And do, do you find like when you’re dealing with people in, in different markets, it’s not even, just the style, but even like the quality that they’re looking for. And, you know, and I, where I say this, I know in, in Sarasota, I mean, we again, we have all these massive, you know, properties that, you know, these, these golf communities and people I know are probably looking for, you know, ultra high end stuff where, you know, maybe if you get a, like the Clearwater area, um maybe not so much.

It’s, I mean, is that, is that something that you take into account when you’re, when you, I mean, you know what’s crazy about that is, you know, good work, speaks for itself and, you know, even in the Tampa market, we’re just trying to get in front of as many people as we can to show them what we can do and we believe and I’ve always taken analogy. Um I start with a small circle and every one of my customers carries a ring around it and the bigger that ring goes, it just builds it all in and, you know, it, it has to do with Mark, it has to do with workmanship, it has to do with customer relations.

It has to do all those things tie it in together, but it’s very difficult to get in front of them, especially today’s world without having somebody like yourself helping us on the marketing side. I appreciate, I appreciate you saying that. But I, I think one of the things that you kind of touched on just now, it is really a great tip is how do you take your customer base and turn them into your sales force? Because like you said, you know, you’re getting people who are giving you reviews on Google.

That’s fantastic. You’re getting people who are, you know, they’re talking about you on per the fuck yelp and on house and other places. Um But I mean, it, you know, nobody trusts what you have to say, right? Nobody trust stirs a lot from a marketing agency. Nobody trusts what I have to say. Um But what, but what they do, you know, I might as well be able to sell used cards, but what they do trust is what their neighbor has to say, right? And that, that I think that’s the best way to go about it.

And if, if you can get into a new market and you know, you do one or two jobs and people now you can leverage, hey, look what we did, you know, in bird key over here, look what we did, you know, whatever the, whatever that area is, it only takes one or two people I think. And if you get somebody with, and I don’t mean to sell them, like, with a big enough mouth. Right. Uh, and you get a everybody. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the biggest thing there is, uh, you know, back 30 years ago, think about how you had a brick and mortar place and they had a sign and you kind of walked in and it was a word of mouth between the two.

Now we have the internet. We have, you know, all these great technology, um, to, to help us, I mean, it was very hard 30 years ago to, to get new client base and it’s so important to do everything right now because of the internet and things. I mean, we strive to try to be 97%. We know we’ll never be perfect. But boy, it’s all about communication, communication, communication. Yeah. No, that, that definitely makes sense. And, you know, and I, I think obviously as technology evolves, I mean, even just right now in this day with, with A I and I mean, chat GP TS coming out and all these different automation are coming out.

We, you know, we’ve, we’ve adjusted the digital strategy but you actually told me a story um, about when you were back up in Wisconsin and you were your, your cabinet and you had some deal, I think it was an appliance store or something like that to be able to give away. And what was it some sort of appliance. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Um, that was, uh, we start, I started doing a lot of home shows that when I first started in 0607. I teamed up with Grand Appliance up there on, um, giving a free dishwasher away on, on the cabinet purchase.

Um, and, and that really worked out good. It, it, it helped both sides, believe it or not. And it, and it got us to engage with the client. They always, I had this little dishwasher sitting on the corner of my booth and, and it, they all used it and asked about it and, you know, we used that as a tool. No, that, that’s great. And that’s the whole idea is, I mean, you just gotta, you gotta reach your audience wherever you can and whether it’s an, you know, an existing audience like you guys have in Sarasota, whether it’s the new audience in Tampa, you know, and, and for those people who are listening or wherever you are, you know, it’s just, you’ve gotta give a correct and you know, whether that’s giving away a dishwasher, whether it’s giving them $2000 off their $50,000 kitchen remodel, you know, do something that’s gonna bring them into you.

You know, I look at the same way I think as airlines look at, you know, their, their seats, right, once the plane takes off, hey, it doesn’t matter if the seats filled or not. You, you can sell it for five bucks. It’s, you know, it’s five bucks that you lost if you didn’t. So, you know, it certainly comes into play. Um, you know, and, and I think the other thing that comes into play also obviously is understanding, you know, your local market. Um, and, you know, like I said, you, you kind of had to adapt that as you moved north as you’ve kind of gone away from Sarasota.

How do you, you know, can you kind of talk a little bit about just the importance of understanding what the local market is looking for when you were expanding, you know, the business, um you know, were there things that you knew that you were gonna have to change because you’re gonna be in a different market? Yeah, I, I mean, the biggest notice that I changed up here in Tampa is, you know, more on the design aspect. You know, I look down in Sarasota and we do a lot of modern and, you know, most of what we’re quoting and doing in the Tampa market are more traditional, right?

Um I got some designers that lean more towards designing modern stuff. So also finding what designer will match up real well with um AAA particular client. Um So I definitely, you know, that’s been AAA little bit of learning um in the beginning stages. So, so it sounds like it for sure. So, I mean, you’ve kind of gone through all the, you know, the ebbs and flows of the cabinet tree business and, and even the, the home approving the remodeling business between, you know what you had up in, up in the Midwest, which you have down here, if you could give one bit of advice to, to some, you know, a smaller cabin store owner or someone who’s looking to expand, looking, maybe to, to grow their business, looking to expand into another market.

What, what would that advice be right now? Well, I can tell you, Mike, you know, how much I believe in you. Um and your important piece to the team and, you know, it’s just being, you know, watching and observing and learning and really bringing on somebody like yourself that is an expert in, you know, seo and marketing strategies as well. I mean, you know, we all can hit an ad on the Facebook button for, you know, spend XYZ a day. But are you really getting in front of the right audience?

Um Are you putting out the right deal? Um You know, I, I just really learning through podcasts like this as well and, you know, finding someone that really fits like yourself with us and, and that’s been a huge important piece, huge important piece. I appreciate that. Um So let me ask you Michelle, when, when you look back at the journey of opening up the Tampa showroom um and ex and expanding the business and all that. Is there anything that you do differently if you were to open up a third location?

You know. Um, I, I would definitely would have started marketing a lot sooner. Um, I didn’t realize how hard it is to get people in the door because we did, we do believe in our product. And so because we do, we kind of thought going north was gonna be a lot easier like we’re breeding them with us, but it is almost like you’re in a whole different state and gotta start completely over and, you know, as well as I do, I mean, we’ve been in this market a little over a year and it has been a, a little bit slow process and that was because we didn’t get marketing more involved in the upfront, you know, timing, sure.

You know, and the same kind of ideas, you know, if you are, if you take your business out to Orland, if you take it to Miami to Naples, it’s, you know, the idea is you, you need to establish a presence before you’re actually present. Correct? Yeah. And I think that’s the, you know, definitely one of the biggest things that I see our struggle in the beginning was it’s taken a lot longer. You believe that your showroom isn’t quite ready. So you don’t want to bring people in and you get this in your mind like you wanna be fully open beforehand and then it, you realize it took six months to do all that work.

And at six months we didn’t have a, you know, even though I had a designer there, we really didn’t push for the marketing in the beginning. And if I look back, that would be something that I would have definitely got done sooner. That’s, that’s really interesting. There’s actually a, it reminds me of a, of a great quote that I heard last week when someone was talking about their market, they were talking actually about, um creating their first podcast and doing some videos and things like that. And what they said was that if you’re not embarrassed by the stuff you put out the first time you did it too slowly.

Yeah, that’s right. And you know, it, it’s all about speed to implementation because like you said, you know, you had a designer in place, you had the showroom in place, don’t, you didn’t have, you have a client. And yeah, you just, I did not realize how long and even when we get new designers, you know, um they’re, they’re, if they’re fresh in the market, you know, it takes six months before they really get that, that momentum going and, you know, we’re finally making good strides and, and I, you know, I know I’m saying, Mike’s been a key important piece to this and, and you have, um just because there’s a lot of things that can only do so much in the course of the day and if you really start limiting yourself because you’re running out of time, you’re better off paying somebody to kind of take that off you.

That, that makes a ton of sense. You know, and, and I mean, you, you’ve actually given us a lot to think about here. Um, you know, and I think, I think, you know, you’ve dropped some real golden nuggets of, of knowledge on us in terms of things to look at when you’re opening up a new show, when you’re entering a new marketplace. And, you know, that’s, that’s fantastic for those people who, you know, want to learn a little bit more about your journey. Wanna learn a little bit more about fine cabinetry.

How would they find you? How would they get a hold of you or the company even? How do they learn about you guys? Um So they can reach me uh, via email. It’s Shawn Shawn at fine crap cabinetry dot com. Um That’s probably the best way to get a hold of me. All right. And then the, and the company, of course, you’re in Sarasota, you’re in Tampa, fine cabinetry dot com. Fine craft closets dot com. Certainly. Um, you know, and, and Shawn can be seen all over the place.

I know that you’re kind of doing the circuit right now and you, you’re being invited to some podcasts here and there. You know, that’s, that’s great. That’s, and to anyone who’s listening and listen. That’s the best advice I can give anybody is just you be omnipresent, be everywhere where someone who may be interested in your services is. And you know, that’s what Shawn is doing. That’s what craft is doing, you know, and that, that’s what all the most successful cabinetry and remodeling companies, home improvement companies are doing across the country.

So, you know, kudos to you, Shawn for taking, taking action. Yeah. Yeah, it’s uh obviously come with your help, my friend. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. So Shawn, it was great having you on the show today. Um You know, for those of you who, like I said, who want to learn more about it? Reach out to them at fine cabinetry dot com, reach out to Shawn, reach out to, to the sales force over there. If you, you know, if you’re looking for, you know, some help.

If you happen to be a homeowner in the area, there’s no better place, you know, to upgrade your, your home, to add design, to add style and functionality, your bedroom kitchen, your bath and your garage, whatever it might be. Um But for, you know, for that said, we’re gonna, we’re gonna come to a close here today. Uh and we do that show and we always ask our guest one thing if there’s, you know, one thing, one message you wanna leave the audience with, what would that be?

One thing? Holy cow. Um my one thing is, is uh just I’ve been probably see it a couple of times on here, but learning growing with, with people around you, get the right people around you and communication, just working through all those small details to, to getting where you wanna be. All right. That’s awesome. Well, thanks for the advice Shawn. Thanks for the time today. I really appreciate you being on the show. Um, for those of you who, who watch the show, listen to it regularly. We’ll be back next week with a fantastic interview we’re actually gonna have with us, uh Jonathan Mass who is one of the foremost experts in the A I evolution.

Uh We’re gonna be talking to him about how you can use A I to really optimize and find real world business solutions. Um with that said for Shawn Graser for Mike Goldstein. This is supposed to crush it with Kitchen Podcast. Hope you have a great day. See you soon. Thank you. Thanks Mike. Yeah.

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