Meet Susan Frair | Portable and Metal Building dealer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susan Frair and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The success of our Shed Gal Graceland Portable Buildings dealership is due to several critical things…perserverance despite obstacles, goals and an effective process that we use every day. The most important of those being the training of effective processes that we provide to all of our lots managers to ensure their success.

We are in the top 1% of dealers across the country and we take pride in being of service to our customers and providing an exemplary sales experience.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
5 years ago we were customers attempting to buy a portable shed. Although one might think that this would be a simple process, it turned into a nightmare. While visiting many dealers, with several differnt portable building companies, to try to buy a shed we found that customer service was nonexistent and that not one person at any dealership asked us any questions to determine what we wanted or needed. In addition, not one person explained how their buildings are built and/or what sets them apart.

We were able to finally find a small local company to purchase a shed from and the Shed Gal was born. During that process I mentioned that they could really use a good dealer in the area that we lived. That short conversation turned into a meeting that then resulted into me signing up to sell sheds.

I spent my last $44 to pay for my business license and order business cards. Without having the money to rent a lot to display the sheds I was now selling, I proceeded to sell 10 sheds my first month…without a display lot. This was all done by free Facebook Marketplace posts. At that time I knew I was onto something.

We soon became the number 1 portable building dealer in Washington state for all shed companies. Unfortunately, our high sales volume resulted in major supply chain and quality issues for the small local company.

In September of 2018 we came on board with Graceland Portable Buildings and have never looked back. Graceland offers the highest craftsmanship portable buildings on the market and we have great prices too. How our buildings are built is dramatically different than any other portable building company. We encourage all of our customers to check out the rest and then check out the best.

On April 30th of this year we turned the reigns of our Washington dealership over to one of our team members and are now exclusively representing Graceland Portable Buildings in Arizona.

Over the last 5 years we have put together a process that works and are now one of the top dealers in the state of Arizona and nationwide with Graceland Portable Buildings.

At our Shed Gal lots we ask the questions that are needed to assist our customers in determining what works best for their needs and wants.

I am most proud of the lot managers aka our team members that run our display lots. They are ALL incredible human beings. I do not hire people because of sales experience. I hire based on personality and the willingness to learn.

My greatest joy in this industry aside from working with our customers is giving back. We give a ton of great things away on our Facebook Shed Gal page. I also spent many hours a week working with dealers across the coutry to assist them in being the best dealers than can be.

Our goal is to not only be in the top 1% of dealers nationwide with Graceland Portable Buildings but to be the #1 dealer in the nation with Graceland in 2022. I have no doubt we will achieve our goal.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love to play tour guide and in having visited all 50 states…,many multiple times, I truly am a great tour guide.

In Arizona I love to show off the diversity our our beautiful state. Let’s take a drive up to Jerome for lunch at the Haunted Hamburger before exploring some local ruins. We will then head to Sedona to experience this amazing eclectic town. A stop at Slide Rock state park is in order and hey, let’s jump in a cool off with the VERY cold water that you will never forget.

We have a few days to explore so let’s head up to Williams and while there we will stop in and say hello to my lot manager Raegen before heading in to town to ride the new mountain roller coaster. Dinner at Miss Kitty’s Steakhouse. A ride on the Williams RR up to the Grand Canyon for the day sounds fun.

Loving a great road trip we are going to hit the 40, swing through Flagstaff and make our way over to Winslow where of course we will take pictures on the corner and visit the new “Art cars”. After leaving Winslow we are taking a drive through the Petrified Forest before heading down to Heber-Overgaard for a couple of days to look for aliens.

After this…where are we going?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
While growing up I worked at a variety store (in the mid 80s) in Monroe, WA called Ben Franklin. Adrian Taylor was the owner of Ben Franklin and spent a ton of time providing training that went above and beyond what you would normally receive at a mom and pop store variety store.

Adrian believed in teaching us the “why” of what we were hired to do. He did not just teach us how to work a cash register and price merchandise. Adrian taught us how to ask questions and to provide the best customer experience to everyone that came in.

He expected us to do the best we could do and to reach outside of our comfort zone to try new tasks and take on new responsibilities. He taught me that taking risks was a good thing to do and that without making mistakes along the way, growth was not possible.

Adrian passed away last year. Up until that time he was still a very present smiling face to customers that came into his store…albeit a much larger store than the one I had worked at.

Adrian taught me to always have integrity and to take ownership of mistakes. I have taken everything I learned many years ago from Adrian and continue to use those tools today.

Website: www.shedgal.com

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