Slippery Rock Gazette

Justin Shaw

Stone Fabricator Elite

Hey folks, I’ve been chatting with a lot of you in the stone industry recently. And from these conversations, it’s clear that a lot of you fit into one of two groups when it comes to driving growth in your business. Let’s break it down. 

Camp One: The Post-Pandemic Struggle

First, there’s the group that scaled up during the pandemic. When demand was sky-high, you invested in new equipment, expanded your production facilities, and brought more people on board. But now, things have cooled off. Sales have slowed, and I’m often seeing a 30% decline for shops, leaving you with extra capacity and overhead. The pressure is real, and you’re feeling it. You’ve got the tools and the team, but the demand just isn’t matching up like it used to. It’s a tough spot to be in, and the stress of making ends meet with all that extra capacity can be overwhelming.

Camp Two: The Growth Plateau

Then there’s the second group. You’re stable, busy, and smart with your money. You’ve avoided racking up debt and have been saving for a rainy day or strategic investment. But now, you’ve hit a ceiling. You’re doing well, but pushing past your current level seems like an uphill battle without new strategies, systems, or skills. Growth feels just out of reach, and you’re not sure what your next move should be.

Shared Challenges

No matter which camp you find yourself in, there are some common hurdles we all face:

• Rising Costs: Prices for materials and overhead keep going up, squeez- ing your margins tighter and tighter.

• Skilled Labor Shortages: Finding good, skilled workers is like finding a needle in a haystack these days.

• Economic Uncertainty: With the economy all over the place, it’s hard to predict what the next month, let alone the next year, will look like.

These issues are real, and they make an already tough job even tougher. But here’s the thing: despite these pressures, there are ways to navigate through them and drive growth effectively.

Strategies for Success

Here’s what you can do to tackle these challenges head-on:

1. Maximizing Your Existing Resources: Whether you’ve got extra capacity or are running at full tilt, make the most of what you have. This includes optimizing your production processes and leveraging your current team’s strengths.

2. Cost Management Strategies: Learn how to manage rising costs without sacrificing quality. Dive into smart purchasing practices, negotiating with suppliers, and finding cost-effective solutions.

3. Attracting and Retaining Skilled Labor: Attract the right talent and keep them motivated. Create a workplace that skilled workers want to be a part of.

4. Adapting to Economic Changes: Stay flexible and responsive to economic shifts. Build a resilient and defensible business that can weather any storm.

5. Innovative Growth Strategies: Whether you need to drive more sales or break through a growth plateau, explore new strategies and systems that can help you achieve your goals. This is our specialty, and here’s an actionable guide you can leverage, regardless of which camp you fall into:

Step 1: Strategic Growth Game Plan

Start with a clear and detailed game plan. Identify your goals, constraints, the resources you have, and the steps you need to take to achieve growth. Be specific and realistic about what you can accomplish and set measurable milestones.

Step 2: Differentiate From Competitors

We are advocates of unlocking your competitive advantage and owning a specific percentage of the market. Determine what makes your business unique and how you can stand out from the competition. This differentiation will fuel your marketing efforts and help you carve out a distinct niche in the industry.

Step 3: Double Down on Marketing (But Shift Your Approach)

We believe that marketing is often done incorrectly. Many businesses target only the bottom of the funnel, ending up paying premium prices for leads and not getting the most out of their budget. Instead, shift your goal from simply lead generation to owning your position in the market and capturing the attention of the percentage of the market you want to dominate. When you set this up correctly you can pay far less per lead, while owning the mindshare of your market.

This is too technical to dive into fully here, but feel free to reach out if you have questions at  justin@stonefabricatorelite.com .

Step 4: Dial-In Your Sales Process & Performance

Refine your sales process to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Train your team to handle leads better and close deals faster. Measure performance regularly and continuously tweak your process to improve. Often, easy money is being left on the table. Improving conversion rates and addressing leaks and bottlenecks in the sales pipeline can provide a significant lift.

Stay in the Driver’s Seat

You don’t have to face these challenges alone. By learning from others in the industry, sharing experiences, and picking up new ideas, you can make a real difference in your business. It’s about building a community where we help each other succeed. Take a strategic and intentional approach to this next phase so that the second half of the year looks dramatically different than the first.

Justin Shaw has been helping stone fabricators and countertop companies since 2017 to implement the systems, strategies, and playbooks to grow their businesses more easily. He is the Founder of the 90-Day Growth Engine Program and CEO of Stone Fabricator Elite. You can email him directly at justin@stonefabricatorelite.com or to learn more visit: justinxshaw.com and stonefabricatorelite.com .