The Grit Blueprint
The Playbook for Building Unmistakable Brands in the Built World
You can be the best in your market and still get passed over by a competitor who simply shows up better and more consistently where their customers are looking.
The Grit Blueprint Podcast is where visibility, media, customer experience, and creative brand strategy turn trust into growth in the built world.
Hosted by Stefanie Couch, a lifelong building industry expert born and raised in the business, this show explores how companies in building materials, construction, manufacturing, and distribution position themselves to win before the first conversation even starts.
You’ll hear from executives, operators, and decision-makers who are rethinking how they show up in the market. You’ll also hear from Stefanie and the Grit Blueprint team as they share the systems, strategy, and content that make good brands impossible to ignore.
Every episode turns insight into action. Because in this space, great work alone isn’t enough. You have to be seen, be known, be chosen, and ultimately, become unmistakable.
Produced by Grit Media. Powered by Grit Blueprint.
The Grit Blueprint
The Power of Metrics, Drive & Team Culture in LBM Sales: Eric Knox | Sponsored by Do it Best Group
The market floor in Indy buzzed, but the real energy came from a simple idea: winning sales teams keep score and remove friction. Sitting with Eric Knox, Director of LBM Sales, we pull back the curtain on how a regional structure, clear metrics, and a new mindset around “no” transformed a team from scattered effort to compounding momentum. Eric’s story, from hauling bag goods to leading a hungry, data-driven crew, shows how clarity turns competition into culture, and how early stumbles can become the foundation for hockey-stick growth when you keep iterating.
We dig into the nuts and bolts of selling in the built world when big-box and mega-pro dealers loom large. The advantage for independents isn’t pretending to be bigger; it’s becoming easier. That means deploying tools like TOOLBX to streamline quotes and payments, giving dealers more time with contractors, and aligning field roles to support entire businesses, not just isolated categories. It also means modern outreach: we unpack how LinkedIn stops being a resume graveyard and starts working like a warm-intro engine.
Topics covered:
• Eric’s path from hardware retail to LBM leadership
• Drive, resilience, and the hockey-stick model of growth
• Publishing metrics and keeping score to focus the team
• Rolling out a regional structure for accountability and speed
• Using LinkedIn to replace cold starts with warm intros
• Training and tools that remove friction for contractors
• Merchandising small-footprint, high-ROI products
• Developing next-gen talent and gamifying performance
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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?
Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.
I'm very metric driven, data oriented. That's one of the biggest things you can do as a sales leader is basically tell a team this is how we're keeping score. There's winners and losers. There's ultimately gonna be that winner. You really got to have that drive to go out and make it happen, right? If you want to be successful at sales, you can't report the news. You gotta go out and make the news. You gotta pretty quickly learn that no just means not today. And if you you run away at the first no, it's gonna be a really long climb to get where you want to be.
Stefanie Couch:But then that moment where it starts to turn is always my favorite part. I call it the hockey stick momentum. You go down sometimes to go way back up exponentially.
Eric Knox:I'm just so excited for the momentum we're building, the leads that we're generating to help our members grow their business has just been awesome.
Stefanie Couch:Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast, the playbook for building unmistakable brands that grow, lead, and last in the built world. I'm Stephanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint, and I'm a lifelong building industry insider. I was raised here, built my career here, and now my team and I help others win here. The truth is, you can be the best option in your space and still lose to someone else who simply shows up better and more consistent. Each week on the Grit Blueprint, I'm going to show you how to stand out, earn trust, and turn your brand into a competitive advantage that lasts. If you're ready to be seen, known, chosen, and become unmistakable, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast. I'm your host, Stephanie Couch, and today I'm here in Indy with Eric Knox, the director of LBM Sales, right on the market floor. Welcome to the show, Eric.
Eric Knox:Thanks, Stephanie. Excited to be here.
Stefanie Couch:We have been here all weekend. We've been doing a lot of cool stuff. We've had booth activity, unlike any other show I've ever been to with you guys.
Eric Knox:It's been a lot of fun seeing the members come in and interact in the booth and uh just seeing the team interact with our new alignment and everything. It's been awesome.
Stefanie Couch:It's been a fun show. What actually got you into sales? Because I know we're both fiercely competitive people. We figured that out pretty quickly when we started talking. But what actually made you get into sales and then hardware or lumber sales?
Eric Knox:You know, I started at a very young age in a hardware store. And one of the things that I latched on to pretty early is when that customer or that contractor came in and said, I need this. And it was something we didn't have. And even better when they said, I need this, and I need a thousand of them.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah.
Eric Knox:Right. So now that hunt started. How do I find this? How do I get it? You know, how much, how much money can I make on selling this? And uh, I got that exposure working in the store, which was great, but then had opportunities throughout my career to evolve really more into that outside sales role and then really ultimately into sales leadership.
Stefanie Couch:Well, what's your very first role? And where was the store?
Eric Knox:I got my start uh lugging bag goods outside uh as a summer job, and it just it evolved from there. Uh the lawn and garden department closed for the the the fall and winter, and I migrated into the the hardware hardware portion of the store and sporting goods. And before you knew it, I was running hardware stores in my early 20s and uh you know evolved into outside sales in my early 30s and finally evolved and moved into the LBM business here uh uh over the last year and a half.
Stefanie Couch:It has been a a twisty turny ride for you for sure, going from hardware and retail more traditionally to the LBM. Tell me a little bit about that transition and what's the last year been like for you?
Eric Knox:The last year has been a whirlwind for many different reasons. Um, one, the the transition to LBM. Uh it wasn't that long ago. We were at the Houston market, and I came back from that and I got offered the opportunity to move over to LBM. And I'm like, I'm a hardware guy. What am I gonna do over there? And uh, you know, really one of the things that Nick Talerico talked with me about. He's like, he's like, Eric, you're a builder. He's like, we've evolved the sales team, we've done all this. You're you're you're close, you're almost there. That last 10% is gonna be the hardest part to get, and it's not nearly as fun as the first 90%. You can come over to the LBM team and really start that building process. And you know what? A year and a half later, I look back at it and Nick was right. It's been it's been a really fun ride.
Stefanie Couch:That's amazing. And we've actually been working together for really the last year since you moved over pretty, pretty closely. And uh we may be a dynamic duo. I don't know.
Eric Knox:We are. I mean, we similar fashion style, um, not so much there, but our competitive spirit, uh, passion for sales, absolutely.
Stefanie Couch:What do you think if you were talking to someone younger that wants to get into our business or maybe wants to get into sales, isn't sure, what does it take to be a successful salesperson in any industry, but you can specifically talk about this industry if you want?
Eric Knox:You really gotta have that drive to go out and make it happen, right? It it really, if you want to be successful at sales, you can't report the news. You got to go out and make the news. And um, you know, the other thing that has to happen is you you gotta pretty quickly learn that no just means not today, right? And and if you you run away at the first no, it's gonna be a really long climb to get where you want to be.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, and you're gonna try stuff that's gonna be a miserable failure. I mean, you're gonna try to sell some product lines that people don't want. You might go out to market and just, you know, pretty much get no's everywhere you go for a little while, but then that moment where it starts to turn is always my favorite part, is like when you feel I call it the hockey stick momentum, but you know, you go down sometimes to go way back up exponentially. I feel like that's where you guys are right now with the changes you've made in your sales team. So talk a little bit about that because you've expanded a lot since you come here. You put in a regional structure. Tell me about how that's working for the team.
Eric Knox:Yeah, I think it's it really comes down to a couple of different things. You know, I'm I'm very metric driven, data-oriented. And when I came over uh to the LBM side, we had sales numbers and all that, but it was not the main focus. It took me way too long to figure out what a sales sale was, how to report it. Uh, but ultimately we built out uh a plan, got that in front of the team, explained why it was important, and then we published those metrics. To me, that's one of the biggest things uh you can do as a sales leader is basically tell a team this is how we're keeping score, and there's there's winners and losers, and we're gonna track this. And you know, there's nothing better than everybody on the team can technically win, right? And it's just some there's ultimately gonna be that winner, right? And and I want that team that has that passion and drive and they're competing. And and we've been able to start making that happen, right? We're very early in the stages, we've been under a regional structure really since um since early March uh with the start of the fiscal year. It's really kind of solidified, and we're now in that execution stage, right? It's no longer, I'm no longer selling a vision and trying to instill this culture. We're now out there doing it. And that's kind of for me, it's been one of the best parts of market is actually sitting back and watching this strategy play out, seeing the team work together with members and looking at the entirety of their business as opposed to talking about one category at a time.
Stefanie Couch:Absolutely. And trying new things, like you said, you know, you're going to you have a lot of new members that have lumber and true value. That acquisition obviously changed the face of the company. And you have these new team members that are out there way more often. They're doing things like LinkedIn. So let's talk a little bit about that. LinkedIn is something that we've been partnering together on as a team to try to get more people to do that in your organization. How has that worked? And what do you think about LinkedIn so far?
Eric Knox:Well, I've learned it's really important that you should probably have a picture on your LinkedIn profile. Uh, I went a long time without one, but uh I've finally got that out there.
Stefanie Couch:A man of mystery, Eric Knox.
Eric Knox:Yeah, but uh, you know, credit to you, right? I I've never been a big fan of social media. I I've been, you know, resistant to it. But what I've realized is LinkedIn is really a great selling tool where I'd always kind of viewed it as hey, this is somewhere you go and you get connected with people you work with, and it's it's how you find your next job. But I've really spent a lot of time, you know, over the last few months building out my profile, connecting with people that I haven't worked with. And I now here at Market, you know, with with some of your assistants, I'm seeing the change in who is viewing my profile, who's commenting on it, who's liking it, which now allows me to follow up and do this. And I've actually seen relationships grow, personal relationships via LinkedIn that I would have never had before. People that would have typically been strangers walking up to you in the booth. There's now this rapport and relationship you have, which to me, not being a fan of social media is strange, but I hate to tell you, it it works, and we're seeing other successes on the team with it.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah. You thought that it was just all BS from a lady in a pink hat until you started hearing it, right?
Eric Knox:Yeah, I probably shouldn't really say what I thought about LinkedIn and social media when you first started pushing it, but uh, I am I am a believer at this point, that's for sure.
Stefanie Couch:Yes. Is that is that kind of as a W for me?
Eric Knox:As long as it's a W for me too. It's a W for both of us for sure. As long as it's not an L for me and you won because there's always a winner and loser, right? I just want to make sure that's it.
Stefanie Couch:We're on the same team, so we're both winning. I love that.
Eric Knox:No, it's definitely been a win.
Stefanie Couch:A few things about LinkedIn that I'll just say a lot of the things I do here, you you covered it. First of all, it's a resume platform. It's when you want a new job. Totally wrong. Second of all, you should be connected with everybody at your company and not your customers or your vendors or other people that could be customers, totally wrong. Third thing is that you can just post, you know, reshare your company things, never post anything else, never comment, never like. I call it the silent lurkers. So people that scroll on LinkedIn, they spend hours sometimes on LinkedIn, but they never do anything with it.
Eric Knox:Well, that was me six months ago. I I was a lurker. Occasionally I might like, but that was it.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, and that's really how you drive communication through it and build partnerships and build friendships. I mean, I have I've had so many people that don't ever like my stuff, don't comment, don't do anything, come up to me at shows like this and say, I've been following your content for years. I love your content. Um, thank you for posting this. They'll reference specific posts. And I just think that's amazing that you can have just a different avenue with LinkedIn to reach out to people. It doesn't mean you do away with word of mouth or your sales team or any of that.
Eric Knox:No, all that stuff still has to happen. I mean, you cannot replace the face-to-face contact, but it makes that face-to-face contact so much easier. I mean, the the the days of of cold calling should be over, right? We should, we should walk into any prospect call, you know, having already established that relationship online and and have some familiarity there, and it just makes that face-to-face contact so much easier.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah. And also another little known secret about LinkedIn is that because it's such a big website, it actually is great for searches on either Google or other AI platforms. So if someone went in and put in Eric Knox and you've been posting original content, it's gonna come up just like a blog post would, or just like something that, you know, you wrote in a magazine or any of that. It's actually gonna come up under your name. So people will know you're legit. And that's really a cool opportunity for them to know what you're all about. And like you said, there's no cold calling because they already know who you are.
Eric Knox:Well, and I think one of the other cool things is it's this market. Well, yeah, it's three days long. It might feel like it's two weeks long, but um this market. What day is today?
Stefanie Couch:I don't know.
Eric Knox:I have no idea. This market's gonna live on for weeks, yeah. Uh, if not longer. I mean, especially with you know, a lot of the great podcasts you've been recording. So we can just make it go on and on and on. And before you know it, we're gonna start releasing content on what's gonna happen in Denver.
Stefanie Couch:I agree. It's exciting to think about. And that's what I love about the LBM team, you and Russ and the rest of the team and the communications team have given an opportunity to try some new things. Some of it's worked really well, some of it hasn't. Some of it is working better now than the first time we tried it. That's the spirit of I think independent business with what your dealers are seeing too, is they need to be able to have room for margin to grow and have errors and keep trying new things.
Eric Knox:Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, when I first jumped into this role, uh, there were things that we tried right away and we failed on a couple things. And it's just we weren't, we weren't ready. It's not that the idea was bad, it's just we weren't capable and ready to execute. And we're just we're in this position today where I'm I'm just so excited for the momentum we're building and that's gonna build here for market and and really move on. The fact that we now have four people out in the field working directly with members, the feedback from that has been super positive. The leads that we're generating to help our members grow their business has just been awesome.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, it's been an incredible 12 months. It feels like a lot longer than that.
Eric Knox:I know it does.
Stefanie Couch:This episode of the Grit Blueprint Podcast was sponsored by Do It Best Group. Do It Best Group is the largest co-op in the world, and they help independent hardware and lumber yards all over North America win. Do It Best offers services, products, and people that can help you win long term. They are the champion of independence. It looks like we actually have some special visitors in the podcast booth.
Eric Knox:We are gonna have some special guests.
Stefanie Couch:Uh you like fuzzy baby chicks?
Eric Knox:You know me. I I love I love animals.
Stefanie Couch:Oh, hi, sweet baby. Um, this is actually Metzgers Farms, which is one of your hard line dealers that sells baby chicks. And I am also wearing burn apparel because I wanted to make sure I wasn't cold today. This baby chick is very active. She is very loud.
Eric Knox:My baby chick has like brown and dark colors.
Stefanie Couch:It's almost like we planned this. Come right here, Katie, so we can see you in the camera. Just stay right here. This is Katie. She is actually here with one of the other vendors. So thank you for coming in. I'm gonna give you my mic. Tell me just a little bit about your business and what you do here.
Katie from Metzer Farms:My name is Katie. Um, we are a third-generation family-run hatchery with locations in Memphis, Tennessee, and Gonzales, California. We hatch ducks, geese, chicks, um, guineas, and heritage turkeys. And so we hatch the birds at our hatchery and ship them to your stores. This is a white layer duckling that's really good for eggs. And this one's a ruined duckling.
Stefanie Couch:Did you give me the loudest one to match me in spirit? It feels like we're meant for each other. I hope my husband's really excited about hearing this all the way back to Georgia. We do have a bathtub that we could use for this bad boy. Hi, sweet baby. Well, Katie, thank you for coming in and bringing these sweet babies. And like Eric said, we are matched here. He's got one that has some darker, muted tones, just like him. And then I've got the bright yellow baby that won't shut up. So it's perfect for us. Thank you so much. I love it. All right, I'm gonna give this back begrudgingly. And if you're interested in amazing chickens and ducks, you need to come see Katie or talk to her about how you can sell these in your store. Thank you so much, Katie. Man, isn't that awesome? That was awesome, like totally awesome.
Eric Knox:Highlight of my market.
Stefanie Couch:Well, now that we've got baby ducks out of the way, that was a really cool moment. You have to admit, that's you're never gonna forget. Don't tease me with a good time, Eric. I do love puppies, and they are here on the market floor.
Eric Knox:I know they are.
Stefanie Couch:It's incredible.
Eric Knox:You've already seen them, haven't you?
Stefanie Couch:I have seen them. I walked by earlier. I did not touch any of them, which seems like an absolute crime. I do want to talk a little bit about this jacket that I got because it's pretty cool. It's in my pink color. So this is burn apparel. And this is actually a product that I don't think a lot of lumber yards might not think, hey, we could sell this. We talked recently about this is a great item to put by your counter. You've got a lot of merchandising experience. Tell me how you think this could work for lumber dealers.
Eric Knox:Yeah, I think you start looking at the the inside of uh of a store and just the the space that's available. Uh, the burn rack, it sits on about, you know, four square feet and uh holds all kinds of product. Uh, it's all available directly out of our warehouse, one piece at a time. You don't get stuck with a bunch of excess inventory. Really a great program. And and they've got all kinds of programs to help you get started, you know, rolling into the cooler months. What do we need? They've got racks that are all built out, ready to go, and get you set up, but really maximize that space inside of your store. So whether it's a burn apparel rack or some type of a flooring rack, just to find ways to really maximize that space to drive as many sales as you can.
Stefanie Couch:Absolutely. And it is getting a little chilly. That's why I'm wearing this because it's actually really cold in here. And this has really done the trick. So thank you. It is. Thank you to the guy, Josh, who gave it to me at the burn apparel booth. I love that. Well, let's get back to LBM sales. We've got a lot of exciting things happening. We're on the podcast booth floor here doing live events. This feels like a really incredible time to be a do-it-best independent member, but there is a lot going on in the macro outside with big box. There are huge pro dealers like BFS and other people. How does the independent win and thrive in this next few years?
Eric Knox:Well, I think it's how do you make it easy for your contractor? And it's one of the things we're focused on is how do we make it easier for the member to do business with us? And then really, how do we make it easier for our dealers to work directly with their contractors? So we've tried to focus on things like we brought toolbox in here at this market to really uh help make it easier for contractors to pay their bills, get quotes. We've done a lot of training and education. Anybody can kind of source products, but how can we support our dealers with programs and services that really free them up to spend more time selling and working with their contractors and customers?
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, reducing friction, increasing margins, all those things that we can do for dealers. There's been a lot of training at this market. And I think that's a big point of how you grow in the future is making sure that your next generation, I like to call them the ambitious next generation, are out there knowing the products, knowing what's available, and you're helping with technology like Toolbox to be able to help them sell and get paid easier.
Eric Knox:Yeah, I mean, that next generation is really important in this industry. And I think that's one of the things that I'm probably most excited about with our sales team here is we really started um five, six, seven years ago bringing in that younger generation into roles where they can kind of learn the industry and then they migrate into a trader role. And the cool thing is when we rolled out into this regional format, we tapped into that and and all of our candidates came internally. They're that younger generation, and the best thing is they're gonna be here for a long time and grow this business. And then on these teams, we now have these folks that have just rolled into that trader role. And yeah, there's some youth there, but they're learning quickly, they're sharp. They're and what I love the most is they're hungry. And oh, by the way, when I started keeping score and posting leaderboards, man, those guys were all over it.
Stefanie Couch:Nothing like some gamification to bring out the inner warrior.
Eric Knox:Yeah, well, I I knew instantly. I'm like, yeah, these guys got it, right? That we're keeping score and they want their name at the top.
Stefanie Couch:Even if you're not keeping score, there's always a score. You know, if we walk down the hallway, I'm gonna try to walk faster than you.
Eric Knox:Yeah, kind of like keeping score or number of attendees that sign up for your session, right?
Stefanie Couch:That does happen once or twice at market, but we won't name names. We'll just say if you know, you know.
Eric Knox:Yeah, that's right. Scoreboard.
Stefanie Couch:Well, thank you for joining me on the Grit Blueprint podcast. And thank you for everything you've done to support this effort and uh embracing things that you know were a little bit edgy and a little bit different, maybe a little bit pinker than normal.
Eric Knox:And a lot pinker than normal.
Stefanie Couch:And I will make sure that next episode you have a pink hat and a pink shirt, and maybe another baby duck.
Eric Knox:You keep threatening.
Stefanie Couch:I am threatening, but I feel like I can do more than threaten this time. I can make it happen. And so my handy assistant, Russ Catherine, has now made all of your back. Yeah, tag goes in the back. All of your pink cat dreams have now come true. How's that feel?
Eric Knox:Oh, awesome.
Stefanie Couch:Do you feel the power surging through that thing?
Eric Knox:No, not at all.
Stefanie Couch:Let's take a picture.
Eric Knox:Do you have anything in black or gray?
Stefanie Couch:I do not wear black. I'm a true spring, a light spring color palette, and I'm not actually allowed to put black on my body.
Eric Knox:No, it's not gonna be spring.
Stefanie Couch:I am always a light spring.
Eric Knox:Got it. Got it.
Stefanie Couch:Things you didn't know you needed to know on the Grit Blueprint podcast. Well, thank you for joining me, Eric, and thank you for being a good sport. And I think you might have worn it better than me, so you might be winning this one.
Eric Knox:Well, thank you. Appreciate it. It's been a fun ride and really looking forward to where we go over the next 12 months.
Stefanie Couch:Amazing. Thank you for listening to the Grit Blueprint Podcast. If this episode helped you think a little differently about how to show up, share it with someone in your building world who needs it. If you're ready to turn visibility into growth, then head to gritblueprint.com to learn more and book a call to talk to us about your growth strategy. Until next time, stay unmistakable.
