Micro-Vertical Tech Advisory

You built software for the trades. We have sold software to them.

Mike ran sales at ArcSite while it grew from under $100K to over $10M in recurring revenue, selling to fence, deck, roofing and concrete contractors. Then we built StashGrade for the same owners. Now we help software companies get into these trades: who buys, what to charge, who to call first and how to sell it.

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FenceDeckOutdoor livingConcreteHardscapeRoofing

What the owner asks before he buys

  • ?
    “Who else around here is using it?”He buys what his friends already run.
  • ?
    “Does it work with QuickBooks?”And with the CRM and the drawing app he already pays for.
  • ?
    “Will my guys use it on a phone?”Most of the company never sits at a desk.
  • ?
    “What do I pay once the ground freezes?”Revenue drops in winter. Your bill should make sense then too.

If your sales pitch has no answer to these, the owner hangs up.

$10M+

ArcSite recurring revenue while Mike ran sales, up from under $100K and growing more than 70% a year

4.5 years

Justin at ArcSite, ending as director of the partners and integrations around it

$2M to $20.8M

sales pipeline Mike built at Blue Medora, later part of VMware

Where Trade Software Stalls

Four places an office software playbook loses a fence company.

The owner runs his crews from a truck and often decides on one phone call. A playbook built for office software misses him in four places. We have seen each one from the selling side.

What usually happens
What we do about it

What usually happens

Cold email and a 30-minute demo. The owner is on a job site and never sees either one.

With us

We sell the way owners buy: a short call, a referral from someone they trust, a face at the trade show.

What usually happens

Priced per seat. A company with 3 people in the office and 30 in the field cannot make the math work.

With us

Plans built around how these companies grow, with a price that still makes sense in January.

What usually happens

The account is sold and left empty. Nobody loads the products and prices, so the reps go back to paper.

With us

A setup and training plan that gets a crew using it in week one, the way we ran rollouts at ArcSite.

What usually happens

It does not talk to QuickBooks, the CRM or the drawing app, so the office types every job twice.

With us

We tell you which connections owners ask for first, and introduce you to the companies on the other end.

What We Do

From “should we go after fence?” to signed customers.

Pick one piece or hand us the whole thing. The first piece is always the fit review, because it tells both of us whether the rest is worth doing.

Fit review

Does this trade need what you built, and will it pay for it?

  • Which owners buy, and who in the company uses it
  • The one job your product should do first
  • The tools you have to work beside
  • A straight answer on whether to go

Product review from the field

We use your product the way an estimator, an office manager and an owner would.

  • What to cut and what is missing
  • Where a crew gets stuck on a phone
  • The words owners use, in place of yours
  • A short list in the order to build it

Pricing and packaging

Plans a five-person shop and a fifty-person company can both say yes to.

  • Per company, per user or per job
  • What goes in each plan
  • Setup fees and who does the setup
  • Winter, when revenue drops

First customers

We find the first owners to build with, and run the pilot so it ends in a paying account.

  • Owners who fit, chosen with you
  • What success means, agreed before day one
  • Setup and training on their real jobs
  • A story you can tell the next owner

Introductions

The people who decide what a fence company hears about next.

  • Trade associations and their shows
  • Suppliers, distributors and dealers
  • Software you should connect to
  • Owner groups and the people they listen to

Fractional sales

We run your sales into the trade for a stretch, then hand it to your team.

  • The sales playbook and demo, built for owners
  • Your first sales hires, found and trained
  • A trade show plan worth the booth
  • Weekly numbers until it runs without us

We Have Done This Before

More than once, and from both sides of the sale.

We have sold software to these owners, set it up in their offices and built our own. Every customer is a different song, but in this world they rhyme.

Who You Work With

Two founders who sold to these owners every day.

We met at ArcSite. You work with the two of us directly.

Mike Petroskey

Mike Petroskey

VP of Sales at ArcSite, cofounder of StashGrade

Twenty years selling software, from Compellent and Dell to Blue Medora and ArcSite. He builds the sales side: the pitch, the price, the first hires and the numbers you watch each week.

Justin Judy

Justin Judy

Director of Business Development and Partnerships at ArcSite, cofounder of StashGrade

Four and a half years in nearly every sales seat at ArcSite, working with fence, deck, roofing and concrete crews. He owns the partners, the integrations and the relationships that open doors.

How It Works

Four steps. You can stop after any of them.

  1. 1

    A free review

    One 30-minute call about your product, your customers today and the trade you want. We say what we would look at first.

  2. 2

    The fit review

    A written answer: who buys, what to fix, what to charge and whether to go. If the answer is no, we stop here.

  3. 3

    First customers

    Owners to build with, a pilot with a clear finish line and the first paying accounts.

  4. 4

    Sell it

    Introductions, the trade show and fractional sales until your own team carries it.

Who This Is Not For

We will tell you if this trade is wrong for you.

Some products do not fit a fence company. The owner does not have the problem, or will not pay to fix it. If the fit review says so, you hear it in writing and we stop there.

Questions

What software companies ask us first

Do you only work with fence software?
No. Fence is the trade we know best. We also work in deck, outdoor living, concrete, hardscape and roofing.
We are a large software company adding a trade version. Is this for us?
Yes. The fit review and the product review work the same way, and we work beside the team that owns the launch.
What does it cost?
It depends on two things: how far along you are, and how much of the selling you want us to do. After the free review we send a written scope and a price.
Can you get us a booth or a speaking slot?
We can introduce you to the people who run them and tell you which shows are worth the money for your product. The booth and the slot are theirs to give.

Start Here

Book a free review.

One 30-minute call. Tell us what you built and which trade you want. We will tell you what we would do first, and whether you need us at all.

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