The Grit Blueprint

RESCUE!® scanned an insect's retina to design the pattern on its Indoor Fly TrapStik. Then the team put the simplest possible message on the box.

I'm live at the Do it Best Fall Market with Alyssa Ando, Director of Marketing at RESCUE!, who has spent 21 years, in her words, making bugs sexy. RESCUE! is a family-run company that does its own engineering, R&D, and manufacturing in one factory in Spokane, Washington, with organic chemists and a Ph.D. entomologist on the team.

We get into how a product goes from a bug problem to a package on your shelf, why the science lives on the back of the box, and why Alyssa says a RESCUE! product should sell itself on the shelf. I also share why the Indoor Fly TrapStik gets to stay out in my studio.

This episode is sponsored by RESCUE!

What's inside:

• The BugStik started when the company president pressed a FlyPad against his window. His wife refused to put her hand that close to a spider, so the team added a handle with a 3/4-inch thread for a broom handle or painter pole.

• Why Ant Baits packaging leads with what customers want: no mess, child-resistant packets, and dead ants, while the dual protein and carbohydrate lure is there for anyone who wants the detail.

• What a lumberyard can stock for job sites, from the Carpenter Bee TrapStik for siding, fences, and decks to ant and fly control before a project gets closed up.

• The Fly Bucket Top, launched after customers asked for a 5-gallon fly trap and a way to feed the flies to their backyard chickens.

Featuring:

Alyssa Ando, Director of Marketing at RESCUE!

Learn more about RESCUE! and find its full product line at rescue.com.

Educational Content & AI Disclosure
This video is for general education and information, not personalized professional advice. Some content may be created or enhanced with AI. Information and AI outputs may contain errors or become outdated. Verify information, use your own judgment, and seek qualified advice when needed. You are responsible for your decisions and how you apply this information. Examples and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Stefanie Couch | Grit Blueprint

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

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🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

Forty feet of brushes and rollers can stop a customer cold. A.J. Ernst says the right recommendation usually comes down to two or three questions.

I'm live on the floor at the Do it Best Fall Market in Indianapolis with A.J. Ernst, Director of Sales at The Wooster Brush Company. Wooster has made paint applicators since 1851, and that's their sole focus. A.J. shares the questions a store employee should ask, how he can tell when someone painted with a cheap brush, and what independent dealers should think about when they set their assortment.

This one is personal. My granddad was a painter, and Wooster was the only brush he would paint with. We sold the line in my dad's lumberyard and hardware store, too.

Sponsored by Wooster Brush

What's inside:

• Interior or exterior, coating, and finish: how each answer points to a brush or roller cover, and when to reach for an extra-firm brush

• GripTech®, GripTech MAX®, and the new GripTech® Sleeve, plus Flex & Fit® brushes shaped for corners, windows, and spindles

• How Wooster cut the first angle brush, and how it worked with DuPont on nylon filament during World War II

• Why A.J. says a lumberyard with no paint department still needs applicators, and how Discount Drug Mart does with an 8-foot Wooster set

• How Wooster's reps train store staff one on one, and why its packaging leads with the result instead of what's inside

Featuring:

A.J. Ernst, Director of Sales, The Wooster Brush Company

Chapter markers:

00:00 Why Wooster Only Makes Paint Applicators
01:23 Wooster Brush Turns 175: What Was Happening in 1851
04:21 3 Questions That Help Customers Pick the Right Paintbrush
06:26 Cheap Paintbrush vs Quality Brush: What's the Difference
07:39 How Wooster Invented the Angle Brush and Nylon Filament
09:03 GripTech and Flex & Fit Paint Brushes Explained
10:31 What Independent Dealers Should Know About Paint Applicators
11:45 Why Lumberyards Without Paint Should Still Sell Paintbrushes
13:18 How Wooster Trains Store Staff to Sell Paint Applicators

 14:33 How to Work With Wooster Brush as a Dealer

Learn more about The Wooster Brush Company at https://www.woosterbrush.com

Educational Content & AI Disclosure

This video is for general education and information, not personalized professional advice. Some content may be created or enhanced with AI. Information and AI outputs may contain errors or become outdated. Verify information, use your own judgment, and seek qualified advice when needed. You are responsible for your decisions and how you apply this information. Examples and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Stefanie Couch | Grit Blueprint

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

This house sits on the side of a cliff above Lake Burton, on a massive sheet of bedrock. Chuck Vazquez let the terrain decide how to build it.

In this episode of Behind The Build, I'm on Lake Burton near Clayton, Georgia, with Chuck Vazquez, Founder of CK Builders. The lot called for a ranch with a basement: three bedrooms on the main floor, a bonus room downstairs, and a little under 3,900 square feet. The main living area looks right out at the lake and mountains through massive windows.

Chuck partnered with David Ramey of Ramey Builders, a fourth-generation builder in Rabun County. Together they took this house from construction to finish in about a year, on a cliffside lot.

CK Builders is a Grit Blueprint client.

What's inside:

• The black aluminum Weather Shield Windows & Doors package from Reeves Building Supply, plus a solid pivot front door that frames the mountains

• Taj Mahal quartzite countertops by Precision Stoneworks, white oak, Thermador appliances, and a butler's pantry tucked behind the kitchen

• A fireplace hand-carved by Edwin Baxter, made with his own lightweight mortar and concrete mix so the basement didn't need extra support

• A basement wine bar with private-label Goat Cliff wine and a hidden room behind a canvas

• A plunge pool and hot tub that had to come in by crane, with a consult from Fred Gerhart of Gerhart Pools and Spas

Featuring:

Chuck Vazquez, Founder, CK Builders

Learn more about Weather Shield Windows & Doors at https://weathershield.com/

Visit Reeves Building Supply in Clayton, Georgia at https://reevesacehardware.com/reevesbuildingsupply/index.html

See countertops, cabinets, and tile from Precision Stoneworks at https://precisionstoneworks.com/

Explore Edwin Baxter's carved stone work at Petra Forma at https://petraforma.co/

Learn more about Gerhart Pools and Spas at https://gerhartpoolsandspas.com/about-us/

Learn more about The Waterfall Club at https://thewaterfallclub.com/

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

One phone call turned up three projects a dealer's sales team didn't know existed. Two weeks later, according to Ryan Dempsey of SalesJack, that rep had won an extra $250,000 in sales.

On this episode of the Grit Blueprint Podcast, I'm live on the show floor at the Do it Best True Value Market in Indianapolis with Ryan Dempsey, Founder & CEO of SalesJack, a sales platform built just for building suppliers. I bring him the complaints I hear about sales software all the time: I already entered that in my ERP, my reps won't use it, and it just creates more work.

Ryan walks through how SalesJack brings in building permit data for your market and matches it against your ERP, so your reps can see the active builders you aren't selling to yet and the jobs you're missing with customers you already have.

This episode is sponsored by SalesJack.

What's inside:

• Is permit data a lagging indicator? Ryan says delays run from about two weeks to six to eight weeks depending on the city or county, and why knowing which builders are most active matters more than any one address

• Why SalesJack groups quotes and orders by job address, including window orders built in a manufacturer's own system, so a rep can spot a full home package with the lumber and doors sold but no windows

• SalesJack Radar: ask your sales data a question in plain English, type it or say it on the mobile app while you drive, and get flagged opportunities, like a rep's top three window opportunities, as soon as you sign in

• What setup looks like, according to Ryan: about four weeks of integration with little work on the dealer's side, then in-person training for the team

Featuring:

Ryan Dempsey, Founder & CEO, SalesJack

SalesJack Radar

Chapter markers:

00:00 Finding Sales You Didn't Know You Were Missing
01:01 Three Ways Dealers Can Grow Sales With SalesJack
03:18 How Dealers Use Building Permit Data to Find Active Builders
04:55 How SalesJack Filters Permit Leads and Matches Them to Your ERP
06:20 How to Stop Double Entry Between Your ERP and Sales Software
07:35 How to Find Missing Categories on Every Job
08:53 Why Traditional CRMs Feel Like Babysitting Tools
11:20 What SalesJack Radar Does With Your Sales Data
13:46 How an Indiana Dealer Won an Extra $250,000 in Sales
15:05 How Long It Takes to Set Up SalesJack
16:29 How to Get Started With SalesJack

Learn more about SalesJack at salesjack.com

See how SalesJack Radar works at https://www.salesjack.com/feature/radar

Educational Content & AI Disclosure

This video is for general education and information, not personalized professional advice. Some content may be created or enhanced with AI. Information and AI outputs may contain errors or become outdated. Verify information, use your own judgment, and seek qualified advice when needed. You are responsible for your decisions and how you apply this information. Examples and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Stefanie Couch | Grit Blueprint

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

Drywall has owned the garage for decades. Joel Koops says Trusscore installs three to four times faster, and the installed cost lands close to finished, painted drywall.

In this episode of the Grit Blueprint Podcast, I'm on the Do it Best Fall Market floor with Joel Koops, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Trusscore, talking about how garage wall panels made from PVC went from barns and car washes into garages, basements, and mudrooms. We get into why contractor add-on services like a garage makeover fit on jobs you're already running, and why lumberyards can earn better margin on a drywall alternative that isn't a commodity. 

Ben and I put Trusscore SlatWall in our own studio, so I've got opinions on garage slatwall storage too. Check out our recent episode of Building Grit to see how it went: https://youtu.be/xGf369DE0hU

What's inside:

✅ How Joel and co-founder Steve Bosman started Trusscore after watching wood and steel rot inside agricultural buildings

✅ Why food processing plants, breweries, and car washes need PVC wall panels that survive daily washdowns

✅ How residential became Trusscore's fastest growing market after CEO Dave Caputo came in in 2019

✅ Trusscore Wall&CeilingBoard and Trusscore SlatWall explained: PVC extrusion, white and gray, and mixing the two

✅ Why garage slatwall storage beat pegboard and plywood for hanging camera gear in our Grit Studios

✅ How farmers put the first panels in their garages and neighbors spread the word

✅ Why lower skilled crews can install it, and how the Trusscore Trusted Installer Program brings in work

✅ Installed cost versus finished, painted drywall, and why install speed changes the math

✅ Why lumberyards and hardware stores can earn better margin on a product that isn't a commodity

✅ Cutting with a battery saw or snips, with no vinyl brake required

✅ Who to pitch: homeowners, contractors, commercial jobs, and custom home builders

✅ How Do it Best members can order through Boise Cascade and Palmer-Donavin, with product available in two to three days anywhere in the U.S.

Featuring:
Joel Koops, Executive Vice President, Trusscore

This episode is sponsored by Trusscore. Find a dealer, get an estimate, or find a Trusted Installer at trusscore.com.

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

I found Trusscore on the show floor at IBS 2026. Now it's on the walls of Ben's office.

This episode of Building Grit starts at the Trusscore booth at IBS 2026 with Joel Koops, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Trusscore. Joel says Trusscore goes on three or four times faster than drywall. It's waterproof, chemical-resistant, and you can wash down your garage after it's installed.

Ben, Heidi Pearl, and I framed up an 11 by 20 office for Ben, watched some install videos, and did our first Trusscore project ourselves. Trusscore gave us the panels for this build, and the finished 'Grit Garage' is exactly what I had in my mind.

What's inside:

✅ Joel Koops at on why Trusscore is a more durable drywall replacement

✅ Why it goes on three or four times faster than drywall and lasts as long as your house does

✅ Trusscore SlatWall and Wall&CeilingBoard, in white and gray

✅ The plan for Ben's 11 by 20 office: SlatWall in the middle, gray board at the top and bottom, and a 38-inch counter for gear

✅ How the panels click together, screw in, and go all the way up the wall

✅ The finished Grit Garage with Trusscore SlatWalls: tripods, selfie sticks, GoPros, lenses, and the gear we take to job sites

Featuring:
Stefanie Couch, Founder and CEO, Grit Blueprint
Ben Couch, Co-Founder and COO, Grit Blueprint
Joel Koops, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder, Trusscore
Heidi Pearl, Golden Retriever, Grit Blueprint

Companies and products featured:
Trusscore
Trusscore SlatWall
Trusscore Wall&CeilingBoard
Do it Best
Boise Cascade
Reeves Building Supply

Chapter markers:
00:00 Finding a Drywall Alternative at IBS 2026
01:12 Trusscore Install Day at Grit Studios
03:28 Grit Garage Tour: SlatWall Storage for Camera Gear
04:31 How Trusscore Panels Click Together and Install

Explore Trusscore at https://www.trusscore.com/

This project was provided in part by Trusscore in partnership with Do it Best. We got the material from Boise Cascade, and Reeves Building Supply, right across the street from us in Clayton, brought it over to us.

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

Your sales team just made a promise.

Now operations needs to deliver.

In this episode of the Grit Blueprint Podcast, I’m in Clayton, Georgia, with Ron Herrin, VP of Sales, and Lee Allen, VP of Manufacturing & Procurement at Tucker Door & Trim, talking about the relationship between sales and operations, what happens when things go wrong, and how communication and experience help teams keep the promises they make.

We talk about the challenges of selling highly customized products, the questions sales needs to ask before saying yes, why problems are an opportunity to build trust, and how Tucker Door & Trim has used technology to give customers more control over quoting, inventory, and delivery timelines.

What’s inside:

✅ The relationship between sales and operations, and why getting both sides aligned matters

✅ Why Tucker’s sales team is known for saying yes to complex and unusual projects—and why operations has to ask the right questions before making them happen

✅ The questions that should be asked before ordering a door or window, including where the product is going and how it will be used

✅ Why using the wrong product in the wrong application can create problems, claims, and unhappy customers

✅ Why communication may be the most important part of keeping a customer relationship on track

✅ The importance of saying, “I don’t know, but I will get you the answer,” instead of giving a customer the wrong answer

✅ Why Ron believes you should “run to the fire” when something goes wrong rather than avoid the problem

✅ How Tucker developed its design portal to let customers quote directly, see live inventory, track orders, and receive real-time delivery estimates

✅ How technology and configurators are helping educate customers, reduce mistakes, and change the way the millwork industry does business

✅ The role AI could play in manufacturing, production, and the skilled trades

✅ Why experience still matters in an increasingly technology-driven industry

✅ How Tucker develops its people from entry-level positions into long-term careers and leadership opportunities

✅ The challenges of industry consolidation and what can happen when companies become disconnected from their customers and talent

Featuring:
Ron Herrin, VP of Sales, Tucker Door & Trim
Lee Allen, VP of Manufacturing & Procurement, Tucker Door & Trim
Hosted by Stefanie Couch, Grit Blueprint

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

Do it Best and True Value members: Use code 'Pink Hat' for a one time 5% discount on your order from Service Partners, through October 31, 2026!

Call or visit Service Partners website: https://www.service-partners.com/

Today I'm joined by Chuck Lencheck of Service Partners, live on the shhow floor at the Do it Best Fall Market, to talk about the insulation products, service, and additional revenue opportunities dealers should be thinking about.

From choosing the right insulation for DIYers and pros to expanding into gutters, Chuck explains how dealers can evaluate their product mix, respond to changing building codes, and use Service Partners as a local extension of their own warehouse and sales operation.

What’s inside:

✅ How dealers can evaluate whether they are stocking the right insulation products for their customers

✅ The differences between serving DIY customers and professional contractors

✅ How Service Partners’ 80 distribution centers and 150 salespeople help dealers access product locally

 ✅ Insulation options including fiberglass, cellulose, mineral wool, rigid board, and foam

Featuring:
Chuck Lencheck, Senior Vice President, Channel Development, Service Partners
Hosted by Stefanie Couch, Grit Blueprint

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

My dad’s lumber yard spent two years supplying a 30,000 square foot custom home in Alpharetta. I have one photo to show for it.

I joined Megan Kacvinsky of Point to Point and Vardhan Mehta of ACELAB as a guest on Inside The Spec to talk about what that missing proof costs. We get into building materials marketing that shows the work, brand strategy for manufacturers who are tired of competing on price, and why personal branding for executives is the quickest win leadership teams keep skipping. I also share what to post on LinkedIn when your first post feels weird, and why the middle is where good companies go to die.

What’s inside:

✅ The 30,000 square foot Alpharetta home I have one photo of, and why proof is the job media has to do

✅ How Behind the Build started as product training: direct set vs. sash set transoms explained on video

✅ Pulling the thread up and down the channel, from the tree in the forest to the window in the wall

✅ My definition of brand, starting with cattle and John Dutton’s mark

✅ A $29 coffee maker, a $5,000 Miele, and why the middle of the price range is a death by a thousand paper cuts

✅ Why indifference is the enemy, and why showing up 15th out of 30 in ChatGPT means you’re invisible

✅ Megan on the sea of sameness and Gair Maxwell’s five-word website test

✅ Why executives should build their own brands first, and the Forbes profitability stat behind it

✅ Kodak, Blockbuster, and what hiding in the middle really costs

✅ Rage days, Bowser, and the #warpath bracelet that keeps me going

Featuring:
Stefanie Couch, Founder, Grit Blueprint
Megan Kacvinsky, Co-host of Inside the Spec, CEO of Point to Point
Vardhan Mehta, Co-host of Inside the Spec, CEO of ACELAB

Learn more about Inside The Spec: https://www.insidethespec.com/

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

You do great work. The right people should know it.

Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

📅 Book a Strategy Call

Ready to become more visible, more trusted, and easier to choose?

https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/stefanie-couch

📧 Join the Newsletter

Get practical strategies and tools to build your authority, grow your visibility, and strengthen your business.

https://421r60.share-na2.hsforms.com/2RMwQMXe2QLyk3sl9dv2gXQ

🎥 Watch More Grit Blueprint

Subscribe for honest conversations and growth strategies for the building industry.

https://www.youtube.com/@stefaniecouch

🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch

Most contractors lose market share slowly enough that they don't notice. 

Greg Rowland noticed.

When the suppliers in his market started installing siding themselves, the scope he had built a company around started shrinking. He didn't fight it on price. Instead, he added the services his customers needed. Roofing, then windows and doors, and turned GR Exteriors into a turnkey business that covers the full exterior. Along the way, he also started a manufacturing company because he got tired of waiting on gable vents.

Greg is the owner of three companies in the Atlanta market: GR Exteriors, SAM LLC (Synergistic Architectural Manufacturing), and co-owner of HarLand Windows & Doors along with Jonathan Harvey. 

We talk about the five minute conversation he had in 2005 that carried his company through the Great Recession, why diversification between multifamily and single family work is a survival strategy and not a growth strategy, the one rule he uses across all three businesses to build trust, and the moment he realized that spending $345 a year on marketing was the same as complaining you never win a lottery you never entered.

What's inside:

✅ Why turnkey is where construction is going

✅ The Warren Buffett rule Greg leans on in a downturn: be fearful when everyone else is brave, and brave when everyone else is fearful

✅ How waiting on gable vents, brackets, and columns turned into SAM LLC and a customer list that includes Builders FirstSource

✅ What ACRE is: a stainable synthetic wood product made from rice hulls, and why builders want the benefit of PVC with the option to stain

✅ Why Atlanta moved away from vinyl siding to fiber cement even though vinyl still leads nationally

✅ Why Greg treats service as a quality issue instead of a department

✅ Why this industry still hires personality and job site judgment over degrees

✅ Marketing for contractors: why a man who never chased business and never turned it away finally decided to buy the ticket

✅ How reputation building has changed, and what old school service plus digital visibility looks like together

Featuring:

Greg Rowland, Owner and General Manager, GR Exteriors, SAM LLC and Co-owner of HarLand Windows & Doors

Build Authority. Gain Visibility. Drive Growth.

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Grit Blueprint helps building industry companies and leaders build authority, increase visibility, earn trust, and turn that trust into revenue.

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🚀 About Stefanie Couch

Stefanie Couch is the founder of Grit Blueprint and a third-generation building industry professional.

Grit Blueprint helps manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service providers, and industry leaders build authority, grow visibility, and become unmistakable in their market.

🔗Learn more: https://gritblueprint.com
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