Most independent hardware stores, lumberyards, and building materials dealers are the best-kept secret in their market. They have the knowledge, the people, and the service. What they do not have is visibility. In this session from the Do it Best Market in Denver, I break down how AI for hardware stores and intelligent branding can fix that.
I grew up in a family lumberyard, scaled a door division inside a large two-step distributor from 4 million to 200 million, and now run Grit Blueprint. I speak straight to the real challenges dealers face every day. Big box giants are buying up the market. People quitting and taking product knowledge with them. New products sitting on the shelf because nobody knows how to sell them. Phones ringing with no one to answer.
This session shows what to do about it. I give a live demo of AI training for retail employees built around a paint line in under ten minutes. You will hear a real AI voice agent selling a fiberglass door to a customer on a live call. You will get the numbers that matter: a five-minute response time makes you twenty-two times more likely to close, and sixty-eight percent of small business calls go unanswered.
I’ll also walk you through my four-step storytelling framework, Problem, Tension, Solution, Win, and explain why small business storytelling beats every paid ad you can run. We close with a 30 day playbook every dealer can start Monday morning. If you care about independent dealer growth, watch the full session and take the one action that fits your store first.
