Laying the Foundation for a Customer-Obsessed Business with Chris Yancey

00:00
Robert Murray
Welcome back to another episode of the IM Landscape Growth podcast. From leadership to sales to recruiting and operational excellence, we cover the topics holding entrepreneurs back and share how to get past those bottlenecks with the best in the industry. Welcome back to another episode of the IM Landscape Growth podcast. Today, we are a very unique guest in terms of the story and perspective of the green industry. I’ve got Chris Yancey joining us today. Chris, thank you so much for doing this.

00:46
Chris Yancey
Oh, thanks for having me, Rob. It’s my pleasure.

00:49
Robert Murray
We had an opportunity to make meet in Dayton, Ohio, of all places, and we were at a SYNKD UP event, and there was a really cool site visit kind of after the conference, and Chris was there when we hadn’t had a chance to meet yet. And someone told the story about how you’re running your own hardscape business, but then you actually started a supply with a new product. So can you just give this audience a little bit of a rundown of, like, you know, how you’ve been in the industry, what 15, 20, 30? 30, 30 years. Yeah, so a couple of you’ve been there a hot minute. So yeah, just maybe Cole’s Notes summary of where you started in the green industry and then what you’re running right now on both fronts, the hardscape business but also on the perma paver side.

01:35
Chris Yancey
Sure, yeah. Try not to be too long-winded. I basically started by chance, you know, at a local nursery when I was, you know, 15 years old and worked there for a few years and got my hands on some hardscapes about 18 years old and worked with a local guy and worked for another company. I ended up running four crews for that guy into my early mid-20s, and another guy would design and build them. We quickly fell in love with it. So I think, you know, for a few years, I stumbled around with my own business, kind of one foot half in, so to speak, and basically started my own company in 2008 called Yanton’s Outdoor Living in Beaver Creek, Ohio, just outside of Dayton.

02:33
Chris Yancey
And you know, just early on, it was kind of like a lot of guys do, man. I was just taking every job I could get.

02:42
Robert Murray
A heartbeat and a check, right?

02:46
Chris Yancey
Yeah, you know, it was money struggles, you know, and you know, I don’t want to be the old guy here, but it’s really cool to see what the industry is like now compared to that. Back then, you know, it was just so, so much different. But anyway, you know, I believe somewhere around 2015 or so, maybe 14 or 15, I went into design and build hardscape. Only we no longer did landscaping. I mean, we would design plants and stuff like that in, but. But primarily just hardscapes, water features, fire features, those types of things. And yeah, we, you know, basically, you know, where we are today. At one point, you know, I thought I wanted to be this giant company and wanted, you know, 30 employees. And I realized pretty quickly that wasn’t what I wanted.

03:58
Chris Yancey
At one point, I think we had 16 employees, had four crews going out, and I just didn’t like the stress and the headache. So I realized that I wanted higher profit margin. And today, as we said, I just want run a crew of four guys.

04:15
Robert Murray
Nice.

04:16
Chris Yancey
Right now. And so we’re very concentrated. Typically, we’re all four on the same project. Sometimes we’ll split up. So yeah, that’s where we are today. I’m really fortunate. Couldn’t do it without the great group of guys. I’ve got one guy, my. My main guy’s been with me for 16 years, and they kind of just go on down the line. Another guy’s been there 11, another guy seven. And my new guy’s been here going on four years.

04:46
Robert Murray
Right. Yeah. Not very many people in the landscape business get to say their new guy’s been there for four years.

04:52
Chris Yancey
Yeah. So you know, it’s. It’s feast and famine, though. There’s times we go through, you know, I guess it’s been about four years ago now. We had some turnover, and I lost a really good guy a couple of years ago. He would have been with me today for about 14 years. Just. Just some unfortunate personal circumstances. But. But yeah, I’m blessed. I think anyone in this industry would have some guys and a team like that. It makes all the difference. There’s nothing worse than not having some guys that can stand behind you, just stand with you and help you build these dependable projects, you know.

05:40
Robert Murray
Right. And know what they’re doing for sure. And I mean. You guys are almost like a Navy SEAL team. Right? Like lean and mean. Everybody knows what’s going on. You come in, you parachute in, you make it awesome. Then you leave and sit back, maybe crack a beer, and say, wow, job well done.

05:53
Chris Yancey
Yeah, yeah. That’s a great way to put it.

05:55
Robert Murray
What made you even think about Perma Paver and, what is it and why did you start it? And this Perma Edge company, what is this all about?

06:06
Chris Yancey
Sure. You know, that was the beauty of it. You know, my dad’s an entrepreneur, and he’s always just like, you know what, you know, I’ve always had an inventive mind. I’ve always, I’m. Cause I’ve got a notebook. I’m just writing all these things down all the time. And part of it, obviously, that being in the industry, mine was just using spiked edging for so many years, and it was my biggest pet peeve. I was doing everything right by the book, so to speak, constantly learning and educating myself. But I was making sure that I wasn’t failing. What I did in my process and spiked edgings quickly became, I went back and looked at projects two, three, four, and five years later, and at the time, we would just do a one-year warranty on workmanship years ago.

07:03
Chris Yancey
So I wasn’t getting callbacks on it, but on my own, I could see things failing in the movement. And oh, years ago, they used to do a thing here in Ohio called the set show at Ohio State, and there were just all these training courses, and they had some ICPI classes and all these things you could take. And I ran into a guy there, probably going on 20 years ago, who said, man, I use concrete, and it works way better than spiked edgings, in my opinion. And so I went home that year, and I did some concrete edging at my house, and I liked the way that it performed better than the spiked edgings. But I also found some issues with it. You know, it wasn’t perfect either, but I did believe it worked better.

07:55
Chris Yancey
And so fast forward, I think we released permits in 2016, but a good six, seven years prior to that is when I started thinking about it, and I was adding my own admixtures, doing some things on my own, just things I was researching offline. And that’s when it just kind of hit me: hey, there are a lot of guys in this industry who have the same issue as I do. So if we could create a product that was quick to install like concrete and basically took the concrete platform and said, okay, it cracks easily, it deteriorates, it takes forever to dry out the freeze-thaw issues and Basically started. I tell you, one of the toughest things in the beginning, I’ll never forget a quick little story. I could not find an engineer that was enthusiastic to help me.

08:54
Chris Yancey
I knew, I kind of knew what I wanted to use, right? But I need a professional that knows what they’re doing. And I met with several of them and almost gave up. And a guy I met at the gym works for a big company around here. They build bridges and stuff. And he said I got a guy you need to talk to. And I’ll never forget I met him at Waffle House, of all places. Five in the morning. This guy’s like, man, I gotta be at work early. I’ll meet you. We met at five in the morning, and I left there with a whole new outlet. The guy had pavers at his house; they were failing. He, he’s like, oh yeah, man, I know, exactly. He was just; he understood the problem.

09:40
Chris Yancey
Yeah, he had the same problem that I was trying to solve at his own home. And I mean, this guy’s got about 8 degrees. He’d been the lead engineer on a six-billion-dollar bridge project. I mean, he was happy to work with me. And you know, a guy like him, I think he wrote down on a pad and paper what he thought needed to be in the product and.

10:07
Robert Murray
How many great ideas start on a napkin in a Waffle House?

10:11
Chris Yancey
He really did. It was, it was awesome. And so yeah, that was, you know, I wouldn’t have given up, but that was a turning point for me to have someone that was willing to work with this and happy, excited about it. So, you know, I did a lot of field testing in my house and started into the testing process, but at the end of the day, I found a problem in our industry, the industry I worked in. So I was happy about that. And the big thing, I think, is when you create a product or something that’s outside of your industry, I’m not sure if it matters as much as it did to me that it worked. Right? I mean, if I’m gonna bring something into my own industry that I have peers, they’re looking at me.

11:02
Chris Yancey
So, we did a lot of field testing, and we did a lot of testing to make sure that we weren’t going to sell a product that didn’t work. So that’s what drove me to develop. And the big thing was, even to this day, of course, I’d like to make some money. But the big thing is to change our industry for the better.

11:26
Robert Murray
Well, excuse me, you kind of alluded to that earlier about how much the industry has changed in the last 15 years. What did you mean by that? Because, I mean, there’s obviously been enhancements in technology and products coming to market. I feel like there was more to that from your perspective.

11:43
Chris Yancey
Absolutely. Social media is a huge part of that. I mean, just like the conversation we’re having now. I mean, 15 years ago, my little world was, you know, as the crow flies 20, 30 miles from my house.

12:01
Robert Murray
Right.

12:02
Chris Yancey
And those were all the people I knew. Everyone was extremely tight about their secrets or the way they did things. You know, how dare a competitor walk on your job site? Or any of that. Back in the day, that’s how it was around here. And so now I see, I was just telling someone this yesterday is, you know, our industry is a skills trade. And, and it’s not like, oh, you’re a landscaper. I think kids are excited about our industry. I see young folks excited and enthusiastic about being a part of this industry. There’s a ton of new equipment and new ways to do it. I mean, you can hardly keep up with it. Right. I mean, every year, you go to these shows, and you get tilt rotators and candy cons. You get all this stuff.

13:00
Robert Murray
Autonomous vehicles.

13:02
Chris Yancey
Oh, yeah, right. So it’s, yeah, there’s a lot that’s changed. I think the biggest part that I like is the networking. Like you’re doing this podcast, you know, some people are going to listen to it, they may gather some information. And, I feel like there’s really no excuse for anyone to say there’s not enough information because. Yeah, that’s cool.

13:26
Robert Murray
That’s a big shift.

13:29
Chris Yancey
Yeah.

13:29
Robert Murray
And the openness is unbelievable. We’ve worked in a lot of different industries over the years, and I gotta say, landscaping is probably the most willing-to-share, open, mentor, peer-oriented industry that we’ve ever worked in. And I mean, it’s a, it’s obviously a pun, but you know, it’s a bunch of down-to-earth people that work hard, play hard, willing to roll up their sleeves to get, you know, hard work done. Right. It’s pretty cool where it’s at right now. And the professionalism of the whole thing is just boom.

13:59
Chris Yancey
Yeah, I agree. I liked what you just said because early on, you know, prior to PG, I was still very local. Now, with PS, I’ve traveled the country and, obviously, even to some other countries. And I’ve got friendships with people that I have never had social media with, and I’ve not been here. I would never have had those friendships and those bonds. And I think, like what you said a second ago, is you meet these guys and some of them within an hour or two, and you feel like you’ve known them your whole life because their lives are so similar. Whether it’s that you have the same battles in your family life, you know, balancing the two, you do the same things, you enjoy the same things because you just, you went down the same road.

14:48
Robert Murray
Yeah, that’s cool. So now, with Perma, Edge, and Yanton, which one takes up more of your time?

14:58
Chris Yancey
You know, as I mentioned earlier, I’m blessed to have an amazing team of guys that help me. I can’t say that enough because I just wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if it wasn’t for those guys. Probably pretty close to 50. I still do all my own design and sales, but I don’t really have to be on-site for the projects at all. Yeah, okay, that’s pretty, guys are really good. So basically, I do my design and sales for Yantons and keep things organized. I’d say a little more time permits. We’ve got something pretty cool, something pretty stoked about coming next year. I can’t release it yet.

15:49
Robert Murray
That’s all good.

15:50
Chris Yancey
Yeah.

15:50
Robert Murray
All right.

15:50
Chris Yancey
Here today. So I get, I guess, just a little cliffhanger for anyone listening. What I’ve been telling people is it’s, it’s, it’s actually it’s going to be a better product, a little better than what it is today and more affordable and easier for us to ship.

16:13
Robert Murray
So check all the boxes. So, how many staff do you have over at Perma Edge right now?

16:19
Chris Yancey
We’re pretty small. About four.

16:23
Robert Murray
Yeah. Okay.

16:24
Chris Yancey
Yeah.

16:25
Robert Murray
And so what did you find? What’s the difference from growing a service business and then moving into a product based business? And did you find the challenges the same or are they, is it a different business altogether?

16:36
Chris Yancey
Completely different. Yeah. I’ve learned a lot. I have learned a lot. You know, obviously, I think the way you treat people is the same, but it’s the dynamic of selling a product. You know, some key points are, you know, I’ve never sold a product. I’ve never had to deal with wholesalers and dealers on the level that I do now most; 90% of my experience has been phenomenal with great relationships. One of the biggest things is to be careful what you say to some people. You have to learn who you can trust. And there is a little dog-eat-dog side to it. And a lot of that, I think, has to do with me. Right. Because I’m just a one-product, small guy on the block. Right? Sure.

17:31
Robert Murray
And there’s, and there’s some huge players in your space.

17:34
Chris Yancey
Massive, huge players. Definitely, a few things I probably would have done a little differently. I probably would have had all of my marketing P’s and Q’s in a row before I released the product. You know, not that we didn’t, but we, you know, probably would have raised a little more capital to really, I think if you’re doing a new product, I think you really got to smash it out of the chute right out the gate.

18:04
Robert Murray
You’ve gotta come out hot.

18:07
Chris Yancey
Yeah. And then, I mean, I thought we kind of did, but we also did a slow start because, for me, it was transitioning, you know, running my hardscape business. And you know, our very first skid sold was to a local dealer that was, you know, kind of like a sympathy buy. Right. I’ve been buying all these papers from you all these years. Oh, we’ll buy your first skid of Perma Edge. But yeah, it’s been a transition, you know, much different business. And you’re dealing with the shipping. And I’d say another thing is, you know, making sure that your price point is correct out of the gate because that’s a really hard thing to change. Right.

18:52
Chris Yancey
I mean, once you release a price on something, if you go, oops, I made a mistake where, you know, we’re losing money, or we’re not making money or whatever, that’s a really hard thing to change, especially mid-season now gracefully. I’m not saying we made that mistake.

19:11
Robert Murray
But it’s a really important piece to consider.

19:14
Chris Yancey
Very important piece.

19:16
Robert Murray
And so, how many dealers do you have? Now.

19:22
Chris Yancey
That’s a hard question to answer. We do have a dealer locator on our website, so if you type in your zip code, it’ll show all these dots, and you know, it will show the closest dealer to you. The reason I say that’s a hard question is that I mean, I’d say a few hundred, you know, like Unilock is a master distributor. So they may have it in a dealer that we don’t even know about. Right. You know, they’re supposed to contact us, and they do a great job. But, you know, there’s that. And, you know, some dealers may have sold it for a few years and didn’t do so hot with it. They’re not now. Or whatever. But that’s part of why we’re. We’re kind of changing our dynamic in 2025.

20:11
Chris Yancey
As you said earlier, there are some very large players in this game, and I don’t have anything bad to say about them. I mean, with my Hardscape company, I use a lot of products from a lot of my competitors. Sure.

20:24
Robert Murray
Yeah.

20:24
Chris Yancey
You know, SEK Alliance, Techneal. I think they all have some good, great products. I use a little bit of, you know, like, for example, I use a lot of SDK, Sands. So. But they are, for me, tough competition because they sell all the other products. And so when they go into deer lure, they can say, oh, we got you covered on Sands Glue, sealers, your edging. As a package deal, shipping for them is much easier.

21:04
Robert Murray
Oh, yeah. Way more efficient.

21:05
Chris Yancey
Yeah, it’s way more efficient. So the dealer, I, you know, I know I’m going to sound biased, but our product is a better product. But it’s also.

21:15
Robert Murray
Well, that’s the whole point of making it.

21:16
Chris Yancey
Right, right. And, and that’s. That was a difficult thing because as we were creating a product, there were a lot of things you could add to concrete, but you know, you’re not going to sell a product at five, six dollars a lineal foot for edging. So we had to make sure that we were competitive enough in pricing and that the quality mattered more to us than the price. And I don’t think everyone thinks that way. Well, I know they don’t. You know, there’s a.

21:53
Robert Murray
Companies with shareholders, you know, have different motivations.

21:58
Chris Yancey
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right. So that’s something that we’re learning and navigating. And I, I can just tell you know, we’re top of my list is selling a great product to make money. That, that obviously that’s nice. Right. Nobody wants to put in all this hard work and not make money. But I also want to. Want to produce and sell a product that we can stand behind and put our name.

22:30
Robert Murray
Sure. Well, and inside the industry, you’ve got peers, you know, across the country and in relationships. I think that’s important. Sure. We go back to this theme of the podcast around the primary growth constraint holding entrepreneurs back in the green industry. As a person who’s been in the industry for 35 years, who’s know, run a bunch of crews, grown a business up to, you know, almost 20 staff, and it’s now, you know, decided as a position as like a kind of a boutique craft design-build company. What would you say to somebody starting out in the green industry when it comes to what’s the biggest growth constraint they need to consider when growing their company?

23:14
Chris Yancey
In my opinion, I should be cautious of doing too much too fast.

23:24
Robert Murray
All right, break it down. I love where you’re going with this, but what do you mean by that?

23:29
Chris Yancey
Yeah, I even see myself as, I guess, a little more seasoned than a brand-new guy. You know, social media is amazing, and I see a lot of amazing things. I also don’t want guys to look at this because, oh, I’ve got to have a tilt rotate if I want to run a business, or I’ve got to have all this fancy equipment. You know, if you’re ground up with no capital, if you start making some money, I just think it could be enticing to buy. And I think you’ve been around long enough to know there are definitely highs and lows to this.

24:10
Chris Yancey
And if you don’t do your research, like just how we started talking in the beginning, sounds like you’ve done your research, you know, with what might be coming around the bin is I’ve even made a mistake, you know, back in 08 or not whenever that was, where, you know, you buy a bunch of equipment and the next year’s a dud.

24:31
Robert Murray
Oh, that’s tough.

24:33
Chris Yancey
Yeah, yeah. You know, you know, I think that’s an ongoing problem. I mean, with everyone is money. Right. But I guess I just try not to do too much too fast. And I made that mistake early on, too. I think my biggest piece of advice, and I think it’s one of the oldest sayings in the book, is to put your customer service number one. And I don’t. Thank you. I don’t think you can falter if you’re calling people when you say you’re going to call them if your communication is in check. I just think that’s an old adage that’ll never go away.

25:17
Robert Murray
Yeah, that’s cool. I mean, it was. It’s really interesting that you say that I just recently watched it. I had the opportunity to see a speech done by Warren Buffett to a group of young entrepreneurs, kind of, you know, early 20s, budding entrepreneurs. And one of the things he said that I thought was really interesting. It’s exactly echoing what you said. He’s like, I’ve never seen a customer-obsessed business go out of business.

25:46
Chris Yancey
That’s a cool way to put it. I’ve never heard that. I like that.

25:49
Robert Murray
And he’s kind of been around for a little bit. You know, he might have a couple of nuggets of wisdom to share. And I just thought it was so simple. And what you said, too, I think, illustrates the exact same thing. Like, if you’re customer service focused, and you’re there for the customer that you’re there to serve, and that’s your priority, it’s tough to go wrong.

26:08
Chris Yancey
Yeah, yeah. And I learned that the hard way, man. I mean, when I first created my business, I, I, I really did. I, I mean, I’ve heard a lot of other guys say the same thing, but I, I really did. I was one of those guys that I, you know, like now, I mean, we’re booked up, you know, four to nine months, you know, pretty steady.

26:34
Robert Murray
That’s a nice way to sleep.

26:36
Chris Yancey
But yeah, back then, it was, man, if I had two weeks of solid work, I wouldn’t have time to answer the phone. So I, then, of course, I’d run out of that two weeks of work, and I’d start calling the people that called me three weeks ago, and they’re not interested anymore. Right. And, on top of that is, you know, your current jobs, the people that have signed on, you just have to communicate. I mean, there were times that, you know, we got three weeks of rain, and I was worried about them being upset with me. Well, believe me, if you don’t call them and tell them that you’re running behind, they are going to be upset. If you know, a lot of people, man, they’re just like you and I, you just want to know that’s.

27:22
Chris Yancey
Yeah, I don’t need an excuse. I don’t need a lie. I, I don’t. You don’t even have to butter me up. Just let me know what I can expect.

27:30
Robert Murray
Just tell me what’s going to happen. Yeah, we use this analogy for customer service all the time, where when you go to a busy restaurant, and you take an order, and the kitchen slams, the waiter doesn’t tell you what’s going on. And so you’re just sitting there waiting and waiting. They come out, they never make eye contact, and then 45 minutes later, your food comes out. How does that feel? Like everybody hates it. And then you get the one waiter that comes to you and says, hey, we’re slammed tonight. Dinner’s gonna take 45 minutes to come out. Just wanna make sure you know that before we get started. If you’re cool with that, let’s do it. I’m like, okay, right, no problem, man. Is that simple?

28:03
Chris Yancey
Yeah, yeah, or yeah, if you just knew what, you know, we’re short-staffed, I’m running ten tables by myself. Please be patient with me. Other than just giving bad service with no knowledge of what’s going on. Yeah, that’s a good point. But yeah, I, I tell you, I, I hear it, man. Over 50% of the jobs I meet with, people have a bad story. Or, or, I mean, we’ve signed so many jobs just from people saying, hey, we really like the way you communicated, the way you stayed in touch with us. You know, I’ve had people say, you know, we’re going to get three quotes, and they call me two weeks later and say they’re ready to sign on. And, out of curiosity, I want to know what my competitors are doing.

28:59
Chris Yancey
Hey, just curious, you know, once they’ve signed on the dotted line, hey, yeah, tell me how your other quotes went. Oh, to be honest, they never showed up.

29:09
Robert Murray
Isn’t that insane? You know, so God bless him.

29:14
Chris Yancey
So I, I, I really think if upcoming guys getting in this industry just communicate if things fall off track, communicate that I, I get it, you know, you’re a little nervous or you feel bad, you don’t want to call the person to tell them something went wrong, but you’re better off doing that than just ghosting them. So I think if you do that and stick, you know, followed by follow-through and good workmanship,

29:42
Robert Murray
Yeah, of course, I agree.

29:45
Chris Yancey
Yeah. Followed with that. I don’t think anybody can make it in this industry, and I don’t think that you have a lot of money to get going. I think the mindset of owning a bunch of equipment’s got a little people sideways, too. I mean, I don’t particularly do it; I mean, we do lease a few pieces of equipment because it’s smarter. But you know, you can bid all your jobs out on rented equipment if you want.

30:12
Robert Murray
You have to get started, especially. Right?

30:15
Chris Yancey
Yeah, yeah.

30:16
Robert Murray
Okay. So, I love this idea of being customer-centric, customer-focused, and customer-obsessed. So everybody listening. And there’s definitely a page out of Chris Yancey’s book to take with you. Now, I have to ask, you’re wearing a pretty stylish cap. This is a hardscape mentor, I believe. Yeah. Can you share people? What, what’s up with that? And I mean, I’ve just heard great things about this group and how you’re involved.

30:47
Chris Yancey
Yeah, I, yeah, that’s, I’m glad you mentioned. And that’s why I wore it too. I tried to promote it as much as I can.

30:56
Robert Murray
They’re awesome.

30:57
Chris Yancey
I want to back up just a little bit and say that we, Perma Edge in particular, have been extremely blessed. We would not be where we are today with our sales and our branding without Instagram and social media, but mainly Instagram. I could sit here for a half hour and list off the names of people who have promoted us. But I think I got in at the right time, so to speak. When it all started kind of taking off, you had the Dan Prestons andy Molders and, you know, Cruz L. There’s just a lot of them, and I’m thankful for everyone who’s ever promoted us. I met Dan Preston, man, probably 5,5ish years ago at a Unilock in Wisconsin. A Unilot contractor event. I think he was wearing bib overhauls. Got to talk to him.

31:55
Chris Yancey
He told me he’s a one man show and very humble guy because I had no idea the type of projects he was building just from the conversation were having. And he liked the idea of Permage. And what meant more to me about our relationship is Dan didn’t just jump right into Permage. He was skeptical, did his homework.

32:15
Robert Murray
Right.

32:16
Chris Yancey
And I, I believe it was about a year and a half, two years later, he reached out to me and just said, I love your product, man. We’ve been. I’ve started using it, and I tested it out. I earned his support with the product, and we’ve had a relationship since then. I think it is not only a working relationship but a fringe. I consider Dan a friend, and I love everything that he does. His passion for the industry is why I’m wearing this hat.

32:52
Robert Murray
He is probably unmatched.

32:55
Chris Yancey
Yeah. Yeah. And, and again, no. I mean, there are a lot of other guys I deal with, too. They’re very passionate as well. But he has started this group, and obviously, you’re, you’ve seen it, and it’s just a great group of people, man. They’re bouncing questions and ideas, and I think he’s got a mobile app now, too, like, you know, if you have questions. There’s a lot of little videos and stuff on there. So I think it’s more just like a brotherhood, right, of this group of like-minded people like you mentioned earlier. And so I, I want to give, he has just shown us, I mean he’s constantly doing videos about Perma Edge and the other good thing about Dan, you know, and Luke is he, he only promotes products that he believes in. It’s not just a money thing, you.

33:51
Robert Murray
Know, like an influencer, you know. Sponsored Garbage Testimonial.

33:57
Chris Yancey
Right. So it was very organic early on and now we just, I try to support them and they support us as well. And I think the new stuff we got coming out 2025, I’ve kind of given the Hardscape mentor first opportunity to help us release it.

34:18
Robert Murray
Very cool. And so give people a bit of insight in terms of what’s involved with the group.

34:27
Chris Yancey
So you know, I, I am, I mean I’ll be straight up, I’m not as involved as a lot of the other members.

34:34
Robert Murray
Yeah, okay.

34:36
Chris Yancey
You know, I, I, I do know, I know Dan’s, they’ve got a really cool and pardon me if I say this wrong because he’s work, they’re working on a. Believe that it’s going to open up early next year. He’s building a brand new facility, like a state-of-the-art, very cool facility, where people can come and do filming and other things. However, I know the group does a monthly mastermind meeting, which is nice; everyone can go on and constantly be part of the private group. You know, you can, you know, hit questions and materials, and people react very quickly. I mean, if you say hey, what would you do in this situation? The other thing, too, you know, and I, again, love social media. I, you know, there’s so many of them. Right.

35:31
Chris Yancey
I mean, you go on Facebook, and there are, you know, Hardscapers in North America.

35:34
Robert Murray
There’s, there’s all, yeah, there’s tons.

35:36
Chris Yancey
And they’re, and they’re great. Some of them, you go on, if you ask a question and someone thinks it’s a dumb question, they’ll eat you alive.

35:45
Robert Murray
Right, right. That’s not, that’s not cool.

35:49
Chris Yancey
Yeah, it’s not cool, but it’s just a really good group. Like I said, I’m probably not the best. I mean, I think there are a lot of people who are way more involved. I’m, I’m involved to be a part of the group. I know when they do their monthly mastermind, we do a permit giveaway as well. Yeah. So, so we give like four buckets away. A permit or some swag or, you know, it depends on where they’re located, and that’s part of what I was with our new launch coming this year, which is going to help us. I’d mentioned, you know, we lost some dealers this year that had us rethinking, and we get a lot of weekly calls from contractors around the country that say, hey man, we love your product.

36:34
Chris Yancey
We’ve, they’ve either used it before, they want to use it and the problem is if we don’t have a dealer near you, it costs so much to ship it’s ridiculous. So they really want to use a product. But when the product say cost, you know, $500 to buy 12 or so buckets and the shipping costs $500 LTL shipping, you know, it’s, it’s not affordable for anybody. So we’re about to change all that.

37:05
Robert Murray
That’s epic. Well, I’m looking forward to it. When it happens. You have to come back on. Let me know what’s going on. So, long story short, a huge shout out to Dan Preston for an awesome group. And also, I think, going back to your point before, these types of organizations are the ones helping raise the professionalism of the industry. And this type of stuff didn’t exist 15 or 20 years ago. So maybe we’ll have to get them on the show.

37:27
Chris Yancey
Oh, that’d be great. Yeah, it’d be cool.

37:31
Robert Murray
Before we let you go, if somebody wants to learn more about Permaedge, what’s the best way for them to do that?

37:39
Chris Yancey
Well, I mean, obviously we have Instagram. We’d love to have you follow us on Instagram. We’ve got some videos. We do have a website, www.permapaveredging.com. There’s some videos and things on there as well. You can direct message. I mean, I handled Instagram, so, you know, that’s there.

38:00
Robert Murray
It’s at Perma Edge. Yeah, yeah, that’s a nice and simple handle on Instagram.

38:06
Chris Yancey
Yeah, but you know it, you know, I do have an office manager and some people that help me, but I try to handle as much directly as possible. You know, I’m happy to talk to people in person. As I said, we do have that dealer locator on there. If you’re looking for a dealer, and if you don’t have a dealer and you want to use our project product, please reach out to us. We are dealer-based. I want to work through our dealers as much as possible, and we support all of them. We’re not going to sell directly to people that have dealers, but we also start like to work with contractors that, if they can help us get into their local dealer, we like to make it worth their while as well.

38:44
Robert Murray
Very cool. Awesome. So Instagram you can find them online at permapaveredging.com find a locator or find a dealer near you. Chris thank you for doing this man.

38:56
Chris Yancey
I appreciate the time, Rob; I greatly appreciate it. It’s been a pleasure, man.

39:00
Robert Murray
And just remember, customer-obsessed, right? I have never seen a company that’s customer-obsessed go out of business.

39:06
Chris Yancey
Appreciate that. Never. No.