Work Case study
The sales system before the first sales hire
Steel & Acre, a tech forward company selling engineered steel buildings, had one founder answering every inquiry, writing every quote and chasing every follow up. In three weeks we built the system a first salesperson would inherit: 48 buyers, 20 written quotes and $325K in open quoted pipeline.
- IndustryConstruction
- TeamFounder led
- TimelineThree weeks
- Websitesteelandacre.com
- First lead from paid ads
- Day 6
- Buyers in three weeks
- 48
- Written quotes
- 20
- Open quoted pipeline
- $325K
01 / Starting point
One founder, every deal, no system
Steel garages, workshops and carports, installed in 24 states. Buildings run from about $5,000 into six figures, and buyers compare several sellers.
On day one
- No website or quote form
- No tracking or ad pixel
- No pipeline or CRM routine
- Every deal lived in the founder’s head
Rules to work inside
- No prices on the company’s website
- No online price estimator
- The manufacturer is never named in marketing
So the site couldn’t show a price. It had to earn a quote request.
02 / The first week
What happened, day by day
- Day 1
Site live
Product pages, buyer guides, a quote form and a lead endpoint, built and hosted the same day.
- Day 2
Tracking on
An ad pixel firing on quote requests and call taps, plus website visitor identification.
- Day 3
First quote sent
A written quote and a picture of the building. Community posts and marketplace listings started.
- Day 4
A silent leak fixed
The spam filter was dropping real leads that the browser autofilled. Now every lead is saved and flagged.
- Day 5
Search and lead ads live
Google search in six focus states, the Facebook campaign rebuilt around leads, three retargeting audiences.
- Day 6
First lead from paid ads, $1.89
A quote request through the new lead campaign. The sales playbook was written the same day.
03 / The turning point
The buyers weren’t on the website, they were on Marketplace
Before
- Effort spread across search, ads and the website
- A first reply that took five and a half hours
- Quotes written by hand, one at a time
After
- New listings posted every morning
- Replies drafted within minutes, sent by a person
- A priced design in about 15 minutes, while the buyer is still shopping
Lesson: go where buyers already shop, then be the fastest to answer.
04 / Channels
Demand from more than one place
Test a few channels, keep what works, cut the rest. Here, 40 of 48 buyers came from Marketplace with no ad spend, so that is where the effort went. Elsewhere that means LinkedIn, events, partners and outbound.
Google search
Tested in six focus states, then paused so the budget could move to what was working.
Meta lead ads
An instant form that asks for building type, size, ZIP, phone and email.
Retargeting
Site visitors and people who reached the quote page but didn’t send it.
Marketplace
The winner: 84 live listings with real install photos, new ones posted every morning.
Community groups
Boat, ATV and homestead groups kept the posts. Large buy and sell groups didn’t.
Referrals and print
A referral program and partner one pager, plus yard sign, postcard and flyer.
05 / Sales system
Turning a lead into a conversation
Week one ended with 11 buyer conversations and 4 written quotes. Three weeks in, that was 48 buyers and 20 written quotes.
Where deals leaked
- A first reply that took five and a half hours
- Replies that asked the buyer nothing
- Follow ups that only sent a website link
- A price before anyone asked what the building was for
The playbook that fixed it
- Reply within minutes
- One question per message
- Use, ground and location before price
- One quote for their address, walked through on a call
- Follow up on day 1, 3, 7 and 14
- Log every lead the day it arrives
06 / Automation
Agents draft, a person sends
Once the playbook worked, agents took over the repetitive parts. Every message to a buyer is still read and approved by a person.
Listings every morning
New Marketplace listings go up on a schedule, paced to stay in good standing.
Replies drafted in minutes
Active chats are checked every 15 minutes and a reply is drafted. A person reads it and sends.
A priced design, fast
A buyer message becomes a priced 3D design and a drafted reply in about 15 minutes.
A CRM that updates itself
Forms, calls, texts and chats land in one pipeline with a next step and a follow up date.
Alerts on every lead
Forms and lead ads alert the founder’s phone, so nothing waits.
A playbook that learns
Calls and replies feed what works back into the next message.
07 / The handoff
What a first sales hire would inherit
Everything a new salesperson needs on day one, in one place.
Who to sell to
Focus regions, buyer types and the questions that qualify them.
Leads that arrive
Marketplace, lead ads and retargeting already running and measured.
No dropped leads
Every request saved, alerted and checked daily.
A written playbook
First reply, discovery, quoting, the call and follow up.
A CRM routine
Every lead logged the day it arrives, with clear stages.
Real conversations
48 buyers in the CRM, with threads reviewed for what worked.
A first salesperson should start with a system, not a blank page.
08 / Where it stands
Results so far
Deals pipeline
Steel buildings, all sources, first three weeks
- Buyers
- 48
- Written quotes
- 20
- Open pipeline
- $324,899
- From Marketplace
- 40 of 48
New
12No quotes yet- 30×40×12 garageQuote pendingMidland, TX
- 30×50×12 garageQuote pendingHouston, TX
Discovery
7$34,448- 30×52×16 garage + lean to$34,448Corpus Christi, TX
- 40×80 shop, 20 ft wallsQuote pendingTexas
Quote sent
12$253,480- 50×70×16 shop + slab$67,198Dripping Springs, TX
- 32×60×12 shop + extension$45,664San Angelo, TX
Follow up
3$36,971- 29×40×12 garage + shop$19,760Belton, TX
- 20×30×10 garage$10,502Bastrop County, TX
Hiring your first salesperson?
We build the system first, so they walk into real conversations.