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Two weeks ago in this newsletter, we shared some advice from Erin Stetzer, a luxury home builder in Houston. I asked her about her team’s adoption of AI.
Here’s what she said:
“Anything we can do to speed things up, we’re going to let AI help us do that. We’re speeding up how we’re tracking modifications, how we’re capturing information and relaying it to our trades. So, for salespeople—do anything you can do to help a builder speed things up.”
I then lobbed out a small challenge to you: Copy Erin’s advice into whatever AI platform you use and ask where you might be slowing your customers down.
I promised I’d do the homework, too.
So, I did.
But I changed the assignment!
Instead of asking AI for answers, I made it interview me.
Sure, I could have asked my friend Chatty for 10 ways an LBM sales pro could help a builder be more efficient.
And Chatty would have dutifully coughed up 10 ways in an instant.
Then she’d try to be an overachiever and share another 10.
But Chatty doesn’t know my customers.
She doesn’t know what I sell.
And she doesn’t know how we work together.
So, I gave Chatty a new role to play: My sales coach.
Then I told her to interview me with a few questions, one at a time, before making any recommendations.
AI as Interviewer
For the exercise, I played the role of an OSR selling framing materials, roofing, and windows to custom and regional builders.
Chatty started probing.
What do customers constantly call, text, and email about?
Takeoffs.
Pricing.
Deliveries.
Which creates the most frustration?
Deliveries, I said.
The builder changes the schedule.
The framer must react on the fly.
I’m the go-between for the jobsite and office.
Dispatch is juggling trucks.
The weather changes.
Then the concrete guy tries to be the hero and beat the rain, so he pours the driveway on the exact day we’re supposed to deliver trusses.
This is the kind of chaos Chatty and I focused on.
After her mini-interview, Chatty recommended three simple experiments:
1. Weekly Delivery Preview
Give the builder, framer, and dispatch a preview of what’s scheduled for the week.
2. 24-Hour “You Sure We’re Ready?” Check
Before the truck gets loaded, confirm the handful of things most likely to blow up tomorrow’s delivery.
3. “Something Changed” Alert
When something changes, tell everyone affected the same four things: What changed → What it affects → New plan → Who needs to respond.
You can act on this today.
Buy lunch for the framer and his crew—and then ask: “What are the two or three things that usually change at the last minute and screw up a delivery?”
Then build a simple 24-hour check around the answer.
Test it for 30 days.
Then—once you know it works—figure out how AI or automation can make it faster.
Want to try the same exercise with your customers?
Copy everything in italics below and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or whatever AI tool you use:
A successful luxury home builder recently gave building-material salespeople this advice:
“For salespeople, do anything you can do to help a builder speed things up.”
I sell building materials to professional builders and contractors.
Act as my sales coach. Your goal is to help me identify three specific ways I may be unintentionally slowing down my customers and choose one practical idea I can test with a customer in the next 30 days.
Interview me by asking three questions, one question at a time. Wait for my answer before asking the next question.
Use your questions to understand who I sell to and what I sell; where my customers lose time, wait on us, chase information, repeat work or experience unnecessary friction; and what parts of that experience I can personally influence.
After my third answer, recommend my three best opportunities to help customers move faster.
For each, tell me:
- What friction I could eliminate.
- What I could do differently.
- One simple experiment I could run with a customer over the next 30 days.
- One question I could ask a customer this week to determine whether the idea would actually be valuable.
Prioritize practical ideas I can personally influence and execute.
Don’t assume the answer requires AI, new software, a company-wide initiative—or a budget, because I have no money.
AI as a Sales Strategy Partner
You + AI > You working alone.
Or AI working alone.
You know your market.
You know your customers, your competitors and the never-ending assortment of stupid things that happen on jobsites every day.
AI doesn’t.
But give AI that context.
Ask it to interview you.
One question at a time!
Then hit the microphone icon and start talking.
You’ll be surprised how quickly the two of you generate new ways to attack old problems.
And construction has plenty of old problems.
Your customers—and prospects—are dealing with them right now.
Erin Stetzer confirmed it.
So, find the friction.
Test the solution.
Then move to automation.
When done, hit reply and tell me what you tested and how it went!
Thanks for reading.
I’ll be back next week.
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Bradley Hartmann & Co.
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