Why Every Endless Customers Journey Starts with Alignment Day [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 131]

This transcript has been generated by AI and not checked for accuracy. 

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:04:21

Buz Artiano

Before Endless Customers, I didn't have a plan. We were trying things,

00:00:05:01 - 00:00:07:15

Buz Artiano

but we really couldn't say. This is the vision.

00:00:07:17 - 00:00:09:20

Buz Artiano

for generating high intent bias

00:00:09:22 - 00:00:15:13

Buz Artiano

I have intuition too. When I know something's right, and I knew right away this was right.

00:00:15:15 - 00:00:33:00

Bob Ruffolo

You're listening to the Endless Customers podcast, brought to you by the team at Impact. Ellis customers is the proven system to become the most known and trusted brand in your market. You want to start to learn the principles of endless customers and how you can implement them in your business. Pick up a copy of Endless Customers, the national bestseller.

00:00:33:00 - 00:00:54:17

Bob Ruffolo

Wherever books are sold. Ready to start implementing endless customers in your business? Talk to impact about how our coaching program can help you implement endless customers to success. And if you want experience endless customers in person, do not miss our upcoming conference! Endless Customers live in Chicago March 30th through April 1st, 2026. Registration is now open. And now onto the show.

00:00:54:17 - 00:00:56:17

Bob Ruffolo

Here's your host, Alex Winter.

00:00:56:19 - 00:01:17:23

Alex Winter

growing companies, marketing and sales can feel busy, but still disconnected. Leaders know they need better alignment, clearer messaging, and a more consistent experience for buyers. But it's not always obvious where to start. That's where an alignment day comes in. When teams slow down long enough to get on the same page around goals, roles and buyer questions, everything downstream gets easier.

00:01:17:23 - 00:01:37:21

Alex Winter

Today we're joined by Buzz Riano is the CEO of build X to talk about how Alignment Day help bring clarity across his team and set the foundation for their endless customers journey. In this episode, we'll talk about what Alignment Day look like for build X, how it changed the way sales and marketing work together, the early wins they've seen, and everything that's been happening so far along the way.

00:01:37:23 - 00:01:41:21

Alex Winter

Let's not waste any more time and get right into it. Buzz. Welcome to the show.

00:01:41:23 - 00:01:43:19

Buz Artiano

Alex. It's great to be here, bro.

00:01:43:20 - 00:01:48:17

Alex Winter

It's great to have you here. A fellow Massachusetts native like myself. It's, You're in good company,

00:01:48:23 - 00:01:58:17

Alex Winter

Just to kick things off, can you just set the stage for our viewers and our listeners and tell people about your company build ex what you guys do? Just let let people know what you're all about.

00:01:58:19 - 00:02:29:03

Buz Artiano

Absolutely. So build backs. We're located in Carver in Hanover, Massachusetts, and we are currently focusing on accessory dwelling units. State of Massachusetts passed the law in February of 2025, making them legal everywhere in Massachusetts up to 900ft². And we had built one previously that that in 24, excuse me, 2324 in Plymouth and had on a whim, had an open house just to see how many people would show up.

00:02:29:03 - 00:02:39:15

Buz Artiano

And the place was mobbed. And based on that, we pivoted Bill Dax to specialize in accessory dwelling units. And that's all we talk about now.

00:02:39:21 - 00:02:44:21

Alex Winter

Wow. That's incredible. And how long have you been in this, in this game or in this industry?

00:02:44:22 - 00:03:13:00

Buz Artiano

Yeah. Good question. So 8 in 1984, a while ago, started framing houses and then in 1991 started building and selling houses, buying land and building houses. At the same time, in 1991, I started doing insurance, repair work, fire and water damage repair, and at the same time continue to build houses. And then in 2001, I sold that first fire and water damage repair business to three employees.

00:03:13:02 - 00:03:38:23

Buz Artiano

And then I had a five year non-compete. And in 2007, I started another fire water damage repair company called Rebuild Decks. And I had a big exit in 2021 to a national company called blue Sky. And then I took out the R e and rebranded to build decks and, originally started focusing on custom building and honestly wasn't I didn't really like it that much.

00:03:39:04 - 00:04:05:01

Buz Artiano

And then the AB came along and love it. I love everything about it. It brings me back to my roots of building what I call first time homebuyer houses, and that bringing family together and that whole experience of of, people being excited about what they're building, you know, rather than building someone their third house or, you know, doing a $250,000 kitchen remodel and where, you know, worried about the Pantone of the paint.

00:04:05:03 - 00:04:06:08

Buz Artiano

It's not for me.

00:04:06:10 - 00:04:08:03

Alex Winter

So it's done. Understood.

00:04:08:05 - 00:04:21:05

Buz Artiano

Let's not that's not who I am. So along the way, I built and sold or repaired about $450 million worth of buildings over the last 40 years. So here I am.

00:04:21:05 - 00:04:32:11

Alex Winter

Wow. That's an incredible story. An incredible journey. You clearly have, a lot of experience. A seasoned veteran, $450 million over your career in and build out. That's that's so. Yeah.

00:04:32:11 - 00:04:40:09

Buz Artiano

So that's what we've got to get cranking on this impact plus endless journey so I can get that last 50 million in the box and be able to say, half a billion.

00:04:40:11 - 00:04:55:10

Alex Winter

I love hearing that. That's a great goal. And we're going to get you there. We're going to get you there. So that's a great segue to can you tell me a little bit about how you learned about impact and how you learned about the book and its customers, and just how that all came into into being for for you and for Bell?

00:04:55:10 - 00:04:56:21

Alex Winter

Dax.

00:04:56:23 - 00:05:21:14

Buz Artiano

Yeah, roughly six months ago, I was watching a little five minute video. My daughter owns a company as well, call restore. Now they actually do fire wanted damage repair. And we're on a product called Job Tread. And Marcus is going to be their guest speaker coming up here. I think this week or next week in Texas at their event.

00:05:21:16 - 00:05:39:02

Buz Artiano

And I got an email from Jim, tried saying, this is our guest speaker, and I normally don't click on those things, but I clicked on it and there was Marcus talking about what he does, and I said, wow, this makes sense what he's saying. So I went on his website. I didn't know about Impact Plus yet. It was just Marcus Sheridan.

00:05:39:02 - 00:06:00:02

Buz Artiano

And you know, they ask, you answer, which I had never heard of either person or the book. And I filled out an I read, watched a few more videos from him, and I said, this makes perfect sense because in the fire wanted damage repair business and in the new home building business, you don't the marketing for the fire and water damage is is more direct.

00:06:00:02 - 00:06:20:07

Buz Artiano

It's more about, you know, belly to belly with adjusters and, you know, you're actually going and meaning homeowners and, and there's not much discovery process because when you show up, the building is already damaged and they need to get it fixed. So there's not a the sales cycle can be really short, like 20 minutes. So it's a totally.

00:06:20:07 - 00:06:42:09

Buz Artiano

And then obviously when you're building a house, you, you know, put it MLS and you sell a house. So I really had no marketing chops. If you will, or no background. I had done a bunch of, customer testimonials under the rebuild decks, brand, but never did anything else with that. So that's when I started to build journey.

00:06:42:09 - 00:07:10:00

Buz Artiano

I quickly figured out that I really had no idea what I was doing as far as online presence, marketing, lead funnels, any of those things, and listening to Marcus talk about people asking questions and video. So long story short, fell in love. What he was saying. I filled out an online form. This was like a Saturday night about 5:00, filled an online form, and literally I had go and literally five minutes later my phone was ringing and it was Marcus himself.

00:07:10:02 - 00:07:39:14

Buz Artiano

Wow. And he said, I'm stuck in an airport. Tell me about what you're trying to accomplish. So we literally spoke for probably half hour, 45 minutes. And, I and he told me all about impact plus and the coaching and all those things. And I said, I'm in. My only request is that you know, you hook me up with people that have been a long time and also people that are very direct because I can be a handful and you have to have someone just be like, nope, do this.

00:07:39:18 - 00:07:52:04

Buz Artiano

So that was my only request. And I think literally from that phone call, I think we were in in Hartford, Connecticut, three weeks later at the live event. Wow. And I brought my whole team.

00:07:52:06 - 00:07:56:02

Alex Winter

And that's that. That's when I first met you. That's right. Correct. And, impact live. Yeah.

00:07:56:02 - 00:08:05:19

Buz Artiano

That was three. That was less than three weeks from me hitting that online form, the US being in Hartford, Connecticut, and I brought, I think, 12 or 14 people with us.

00:08:05:21 - 00:08:23:03

Alex Winter

Wow. This is a recurring theme that we see here at impact, and I really admire you for this. But the companies that tend to do well with endless customers and with this system and going through this process, it starts at the top from leadership. And there has to be that buy in. And you clearly are a leader that goes 110%.

00:08:23:03 - 00:08:38:12

Alex Winter

You don't do anything haphazardly. I can tell just from the moment I met you, your energy and just the way that you carry yourself. If you're going to do something, you're you're doing it. And it clearly has resonated through. So you brought your whole team to the event. What was it like being at the event for you and having your team there?

00:08:38:12 - 00:08:42:16

Alex Winter

And like, what was that? What was that? Experience like for you?

00:08:42:18 - 00:09:08:00

Buz Artiano

Yeah, it was it was interesting. So to buckle, embrace what you're saying. So I'm a firm believer of overkill. Right. So if we're going to do one, we're going to do 100. And everyone knows that here. So, I sent everyone the video from Marcus and we ordered a bunch of books even prior to coming. And we talked about it a couple times at our staff meeting, and I said, we're going, two people couldn't come because they had a prior PTO.

00:09:08:00 - 00:09:26:09

Buz Artiano

Agree. You know, they already had vacations planned so they could make it. But other than that, we brought everybody, one person stayed behind and I don't remember why, but we had everyone there, essentially. And, I didn't know what to expect. It was great for us. Hartford, Connecticut is about a three hour ride, a little less so.

00:09:26:09 - 00:09:45:08

Buz Artiano

It was fantastic for us. We didn't need to fly. It's an easy city, you know, it's a straight shot down the highway. So for us, it was an easy. It was an easy lift. Fantastic event. It's really fun meeting all the other companies and realizing that this is such a universal business system there will fit with.

00:09:45:10 - 00:10:07:03

Buz Artiano

I mean, there were people there. There were landscapers, there are accountants, there were doctors, there were real estate agents. There were, people selling industrial equipment, you name it. There was, you know, I, I didn't obviously get to speak to everyone, but I say I met about 20 different business owners or leaders and, you know, and they were all in different phases of being on the journey.

00:10:07:03 - 00:10:13:17

Buz Artiano

So for me, it was a fantastic opportunity to really reinforce that I had made the right decision.

00:10:13:18 - 00:10:32:16

Alex Winter

Yeah, I just couldn't agree more. It's such a it's such a melting pot of different industries and companies and leaders and people. And it's it's a really great way to not just network but to learn from other people and get inspired from other people as far as what you can, what you can do to apply to your business, and how the endless customer system can help your journey.

00:10:32:16 - 00:10:50:15

Alex Winter

So with that, the the major topic for today is talking about Alignment Day, and I really want to get into you committed to endless customers who came to the event. You brought your whole team or as many team members as you could. You knew this is what you wanted to do. What was the first step for Alignment Day, which is what we recommend.

00:10:50:17 - 00:11:03:03

Alex Winter

How was that for you? Like what was what was the process of having a coach come out to, to your organization? What what team members did you include in, like, just walk us through that experience for you and for your team?

00:11:03:05 - 00:11:26:02

Buz Artiano

100%. I think for us, it was probably a little different for the average person where they had already been to the event for two and a half days, so they were already aligned and we had already spent a lot of time talking about and not all. I forgot to say. Not only that did I not only have my team, but my web developer flew out separately and he was included.

00:11:26:04 - 00:11:37:09

Buz Artiano

He came as my guest. Wow. So the person who had my website was there, and literally while he was at the event, he was making changes to our website based on what he was hearing.

00:11:37:11 - 00:11:40:13

Alex Winter

No kidding. So in real time during the alignment day, making.

00:11:40:13 - 00:11:51:08

Buz Artiano

Sure, yeah, yes, he literally had his laptop out and he was he was changing stuff on the website and he's poking at me saying, what do you think about this? I'm like, leave me alone. I gotta pay attention.

00:11:51:10 - 00:11:55:03

Alex Winter

I love that I told you guys, but doesn't mess around. When he wants something, he gets it done.

00:11:55:04 - 00:12:25:21

Buz Artiano

So it was it was really good. So our alignment day at the office here. Right again I had everyone come, including all the field people, everyone that so that that meeting everyone was here because it was scheduled out well in advance and we knew when you know, when our coaches were coming, we had in our big conference room and, it was for them, I think it was much, I would say the word easier, but it was a probably a little bit different where everyone had already was already aligned, if you will.

00:12:25:21 - 00:12:28:13

Buz Artiano

And now we needed to figure out what we were supposed to do.

00:12:28:14 - 00:12:41:06

Alex Winter

Got it. So you already had that alignment. And why do you think that alignment is so important for you and for the team? Like, can you just walk us through a little bit of like, yeah, why that's such a precedent for you in the company.

00:12:41:07 - 00:12:49:03

Buz Artiano

So and as I say this, I'm everyone listening. I'm guilty of all the things I'm about to say in my past.

00:12:49:03 - 00:12:52:04

Alex Winter

Okay. Disclaimer we got it.

00:12:52:06 - 00:13:28:09

Buz Artiano

Okay, okay. Because I don't want anybody to think that I haven't broken these rules over the years. As the owner of a business, the leader, if you will. There are times when you have something in your head and you're probably not communicating it the way you need to the whole team. So, you know, you want to start this new, you know, thing, for lack of a better word, whether it's an email campaign or, you know, a podcast or whatever that may be, but you haven't really sat down with everybody in the room and say, here's what we're doing, here's why we're doing it, here's what we're going to do, here's the outcome we're seeking.

00:13:28:11 - 00:13:48:02

Buz Artiano

Here's all the tools. So, you know, that's a lot of work to get that ready. And I've been guilty of, you know you know, I'm, I'm a I'm a, I'm a person where I, you know, I shoot first and then aim later. Right. So, this was a good change for me to have a structured process that I knew that we should follow.

00:13:48:07 - 00:14:01:07

Buz Artiano

And my my commitment to, impact plus into my two coaches is that I would whatever they said we would discuss. But then once we agreement, I would follow what they said.

00:14:01:09 - 00:14:27:00

Alex Winter

Excellent. And that's the that's the key. We've seen this time and time again here at impact. And it it's much appreciated and respected just to have somebody, a business owner like yourself that that also sees the importance of that alignment because without it it's really a make or break. If one person gets it and the rest of the team doesn't, or certain people are brought in and other people aren't, buying is a huge piece of making sure that this system in this journey works.

00:14:27:00 - 00:14:42:10

Alex Winter

Because this isn't like, a button that you push and then you're you're off to the races. This is this is something you have to work on as a team over time. And it's a journey that last we like to say. So it's not an overnight flip, a switch and you're good to go. You have to really work at it and work together and collaborate as a team.

00:14:42:10 - 00:14:51:08

Alex Winter

So it's cool to see that and hear that we're there. Were there any moments during the alignment day? And I'm just curious, was it Thomas who was the coach that came out to see you guys there in an alignment day?

00:14:51:14 - 00:14:52:21

Buz Artiano

you guys. So Brian and Thomas

00:14:52:22 - 00:15:07:06

Buz Artiano

came out to the office and they were fantastic. So Brian obviously took the lead on the nuts and bolts of it very well. And, and then Thomas was more of the executive coach. But it was great to have both of them there.

00:15:07:08 - 00:15:33:13

Buz Artiano

You know, we we did the first part, if you will, which normally would be why are we doing this was more like we know why we're doing this. So it's a little bit segmented probably than it would normally be for another company, because we were already in alignment in an agreement, what we were doing. So it was it was more of a buckle embrace and recap and make sure everybody understood why we were doing what we were trying to accomplish and what it took to do it.

00:15:33:16 - 00:15:39:03

Alex Winter

Right. Right now. That's a great approach, especially coming out of an event and already having that alignment, like you said.

00:15:39:08 - 00:16:00:05

Buz Artiano

Yeah, if you can go to an event, just a plug for the event, if somehow you can get the majority of your people, the event, especially the people that are going to be the people pulling the levers, if you will, for the journey, they absolutely you have to invest that money and take your people there, because I know you have one coming up in Chicago soon, right?

00:16:00:07 - 00:16:16:12

Alex Winter

Yeah that's a great point buzzin for everybody out there. And let's Customers Live is a great event that happens twice a year. So go to endless customers.com/live. You can check out which one is happening in Chicago in the spring. March 30th through April 1st. And then there's also one in the fall in Hartford that's in October. The fifth through the seventh.

00:16:16:12 - 00:16:20:22

Alex Winter

So you can get your tickets. You can check everything out. And, stuff is the you don't want to miss.

00:16:21:00 - 00:16:39:02

Buz Artiano

Yeah, yeah. So you have time. You know, I'll put a plug in for you, Alex. Book your tickets now. You know, get get you people there. It's worth it. I know it. You look at it and say it's going to cost me five, six, $7,000 to go. It's well worth it. Just again, you get to meet all the team from impact.

00:16:39:02 - 00:16:57:02

Buz Artiano

Plus you get to meet the other customers. Marcus there, he's very available. He has his guest speakers there. They're available. You can have one on one conversations, and then you have the, vendors as well. That's how I met. Rule one from splash Dash. Shout out to rule one. Shout out to.

00:16:57:02 - 00:17:00:11

Alex Winter

Ron. He's a great, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that guy.

00:17:00:13 - 00:17:11:10

Buz Artiano

I'm actually his first paying customer. Wow. So at that event, I asked, I just happened to ask him. I said, how many paying customers do you have? He said, I don't have any. I ripped on my credit card. I say, well, you have your first one.

00:17:11:12 - 00:17:16:06

Alex Winter

That's amazing. Now Ron is great. And we actually had him on the show not too long ago.

00:17:16:06 - 00:17:18:09

Buz Artiano

And yeah, I saw him. Yeah. But yeah.

00:17:18:11 - 00:17:33:09

Alex Winter

Yeah. Which is also a great, great platform. Great tool. If you haven't heard of it, you should definitely check it out. Yeah. So let's go back to alignment. Was there you have Brian, you have Thomas. Your coaches are there. It's in person. Your whole team's there. It's a it's an all day. It's an all day thing.

00:17:33:11 - 00:17:35:01

Buz Artiano

Yeah. It was six hours. Yep.

00:17:35:02 - 00:17:51:18

Alex Winter

Yeah. It's a good amount of time invested here, right? Was there was there a moment or like, where a light bulb really went off or was there like that. Like, yes. This is, this is exactly why we did this. And I can go and immediately start getting after, you know, getting after it.

00:17:51:20 - 00:18:14:00

Buz Artiano

Yeah. 100%. So there were multiple moments. So whenever you start something, you think you know all the things that you're going to need. And then once you see the list, I can caution you that it's overwhelming when you realize how far behind you are. And I'm a person that I just need bite sized chunks to pick off. Knowing that there's a master plan.

00:18:14:02 - 00:18:31:06

Buz Artiano

But then, you know, do this, do this, do this. So for me, I need that. I'm going to call it a checklist if you will. Are marching orders. And then we just came you know for me it I love you know, it's just no different than a punch list when you get the cross off, when it's complete. Right.

00:18:31:06 - 00:18:43:21

Buz Artiano

And when you're on the job for me. Okay. We it's done. Let's move on. It's done. Move on. So I think that was the first realization for me is wow, this is fantastic. But wow, this is a lot of work.

00:18:43:23 - 00:19:06:03

Alex Winter

Yeah. How did that how did that reaction affect marketing sales leadership. Like how did how did you start to you're starting to see that it's a lot of work in that. But there's also in that worked as a lot of opportunity to optimize and to fix and to make things even better, to help grow your business. So how did that change the dynamic between sales and marketing and what you guys were going to do moving forward?

00:19:06:05 - 00:19:20:05

Buz Artiano

Well, so for us, you're looking at the current one and only sales person right now. So, that was an easy that was an easy bridge. But you know, when we started the journey, we already had two full time media people here at the company.

00:19:20:06 - 00:19:20:21

Alex Winter

Okay.

00:19:20:23 - 00:19:43:00

Buz Artiano

So that was an interesting look at because think again, I'm not going to say we were haphazard, but we really didn't have a plan with our marketing, our, you know, our online presence. We were doing a great job and it was working, but there was no system that we were following. So that worked for me. That was the first step to say, okay, this is what we need to transition to.

00:19:43:05 - 00:20:05:05

Buz Artiano

These are the questions we need to start asking. These are the questions we need to start answering. These are the questions we need to ask our customers during their testimonials, etc.. Right. And then also working through what's on our website. We're currently, I think about three weeks. We've currently put our prices on the models now on the website.

00:20:05:07 - 00:20:12:20

Buz Artiano

Excellent. We're two three weeks away from having the pricing tool live so people can price their ad use live.

00:20:12:22 - 00:20:15:06

Alex Winter

That's incredible. So you're starting to implement some self.

00:20:15:08 - 00:20:29:09

Buz Artiano

Selection and use tools system. So that is of all the things the moments if you will, of the oh my God moments that pricing, putting the pricing on the website is the scariest thing I've done in a long time.

00:20:29:11 - 00:20:46:10

Alex Winter

Really. Let's bar none. Let's talk about that a little bit more, because you're not the first person I've heard say that. And it is scary. In certain industries, it's almost like a faux pas. People don't put pricing. They they want to talk to the salesperson. They want you to come talk to people. Yeah. What made you realize you needed to be transparent about it and be honest about your pricing.

00:20:46:12 - 00:20:49:17

Buz Artiano

Markers told me to do it.

00:20:49:18 - 00:20:52:09

Alex Winter

Marcus told you to do it, and you trusted it. So I have you.

00:20:52:14 - 00:21:12:12

Buz Artiano

Well, no, I saw it took me. It's taken me. Whatever this has been now four months to finally say, you know, because I've been I've had all those fears. Gee, if I put the prices on, no one's going to call my phone number. If, all of my competitors are going to see my pricing, they're going to copy what I'm doing or this or that.

00:21:12:14 - 00:21:38:03

Buz Artiano

And honestly, having the pricing on the website, it's been three plus weeks, I believe, maybe a little less than a month. The, the reaction has been the opposite from, people. So we we conduct what we call 80 home tours every weekend. We're at, current 80 new that we have under construction, and we invite the public to come visit and cash to you for real.

00:21:38:05 - 00:21:56:04

Buz Artiano

Okay. And the reaction to the price pricing has actually eliminated a lot of fear of people coming in the door versus not having the price. I've seen the conversation shift tremendously over that short period of time of people call, you know, people showing up cold and walking in the door. Wow.

00:21:56:06 - 00:22:00:18

Alex Winter

That's that's incredible to hear because it has been a short amount of time and you're already starting to see.

00:22:00:20 - 00:22:04:13

Buz Artiano

Yeah. It was I mean, it was immediate. It was immediate was when that first week.

00:22:04:15 - 00:22:12:17

Alex Winter

So how do you see this affecting your sales approach and how how these conversations are going to be moving forward into the rest of the year.

00:22:12:19 - 00:22:22:18

Buz Artiano

So the so what I'm about. So a disclaimer, right. This is the plan today. So if you're watching this six months from now and I'm not doing it, don't call me and yell at me.

00:22:22:20 - 00:22:26:05

Alex Winter

Deal. You know we won't hold you to the fire on this one because we won't.

00:22:26:07 - 00:22:50:13

Buz Artiano

Right? So the plan is so what we've discovered, looking at our data from 2025, we had 697 families come through our edu home tours from May to December. Okay, okay. And when I say families, they come in groups from 2 to 10 people. So roughly 3000 people came through the doors over Saturday and Sundays in that time frame.

00:22:50:14 - 00:22:54:14

Buz Artiano

Wow. The goal this year is to have 1000 families come through.

00:22:54:16 - 00:23:20:00

Buz Artiano

The system, all of our. They ask, you answer all that. All our Facebook, everything now is driving everyone to come to a home tour. That's what we want you to do. First, come meet us. Take the fear out of it. Right of who we are and what we build. Get to meet the team. Take some plans. See the an actual Adu, see if it makes sense.

00:23:20:02 - 00:23:28:00

Buz Artiano

And then from there, either on site book a Project discovery call or we'll follow up with you in a couple weeks.

00:23:28:02 - 00:23:41:21

Buz Artiano

I think having the pricing guide already built, we can do two things. One, the people that come to the 80 home tour will have already pre priced their unit. You know a range, right.

00:23:41:21 - 00:23:44:09

Alex Winter

They'll have an idea of what what is going to cost. Yeah.

00:23:44:11 - 00:24:02:13

Buz Artiano

So they're not walking in and saying how much is this. And you're like well it's between X and Y. And you're starting that whole conversation live to let's assume and let's assume they haven't done that with the price guide. I think we can do it live right there with them at the home to it.

00:24:02:15 - 00:24:17:01

Alex Winter

Yeah. That's incredible. Great way to educate your buyers and build trust. I also heard just from what you were saying, that you have clearly defined stages. Now. It's like the social media and your website is driving traffic to come to these in person.

00:24:17:03 - 00:24:26:18

Buz Artiano

Yeah. That's we, we so we look back at the I think we signed 16 or 18 deals in 2025 and the goal is 36 this year.

00:24:26:19 - 00:24:27:20

Alex Winter

Okay.

00:24:27:22 - 00:24:38:22

Buz Artiano

So we went back and polled those 16 people that have, you know, raised the, you know, have hired us. They've given us money. They had some are still in pre-construction, but, you know, they sold

00:24:39:00 - 00:24:47:22

Buz Artiano

they the all the, the majority of those people heard about us either on the radio or by social media and came to an ad.

00:24:47:22 - 00:25:04:15

Buz Artiano

You home to them. Okay. And that started their journey. So based on that data, I said we're drive and we drive. Everything drives that we want to come to an 80 home tour, and then we book a discovery call and find out what's unique about their property. Yeah.

00:25:04:17 - 00:25:25:01

Alex Winter

It's a really interesting approach to basically assignment selling, because what you're doing is you're educating your buyers, you're attracting them through different outlets, whether it's radio, social media, your website, the self-service tools and then they come with at least a ballpark in mind and then be able to be in person. Seeing is believing, especially with the the service in the products that you're selling.

00:25:25:04 - 00:25:35:18

Alex Winter

So to to have a tangible experience, it just seems like a really great funnel and way to get people, to see and feel like they can trust you and not feel like they're getting. Yeah.

00:25:35:23 - 00:26:02:00

Buz Artiano

100, 100%. And and what you find, what you find is, the, the people that I'm going to call them high intent buyers, they come back multiple times, so they might come their first time by themselves weekend one the next weekend, and come back with this idea of being out there the weekend. Three. They come back with whoever's going to live in the eight you, their parents or their child or whatever that is.

00:26:02:02 - 00:26:13:08

Buz Artiano

And that weekend for they all come back together. So when I start seeing someone two and three times, I know that they're at the point where they're ready to get serious about building and ad you.

00:26:13:08 - 00:26:27:02

Alex Winter

Yeah, makes sense. And having these, these stages or these signals clearly defined really helps in the sales process because you can start to qualify and really understand who, who's really going to be a buyer and who and who's not, so that you can focus your energy.

00:26:27:02 - 00:26:47:15

Buz Artiano

Yeah. And and one I'm about to say is, is based on limited data. But I think, I think, you know, a normal lead, if you will, somewhere between 1 and 3% is ready to buy. I think the people that attend the home tours, I think it's 5 to 8%. They're ready to do something.

00:26:47:15 - 00:26:49:05

Alex Winter

Okay, gotcha.

00:26:49:07 - 00:27:03:21

Buz Artiano

They just hire it because they have to get in the car. So they they found us online. They've done some study or the other thing that the pricing on the website is done is the the time on the website is increased, doubled, since we put the pricing on.

00:27:04:01 - 00:27:06:18

Alex Winter

So time spent on pages doubled.

00:27:06:20 - 00:27:07:14

Buz Artiano

Yeah. Doubled.

00:27:07:14 - 00:27:08:12

Alex Winter

Wow. That's excellent.

00:27:08:12 - 00:27:13:07

Buz Artiano

So we were at two actually it's gone more than that. So we're at two minutes I think we're at five.

00:27:13:09 - 00:27:25:17

Alex Winter

it's more than double. And, you know, it's interesting too, because you you had mentioned your numbers from 2025 that you sold about 16 units. Is that right? Yeah. And that yeah. This this coming year, you're the goal is to basically double that as well.

00:27:25:19 - 00:27:27:09

Buz Artiano

Correct.

00:27:27:11 - 00:27:40:08

Alex Winter

You can you just I guess what I'm trying to get at here is previously before working with, you know, hearing about Marcus and this customer is working with impact, what is shifted or like, how do you see that shifting? And you're.

00:27:40:08 - 00:27:40:21

Buz Artiano

Everything.

00:27:40:21 - 00:27:51:23

Alex Winter

Well, you're talking about everything doubling your business, which, I mean, that's the any business owner that's listening, that's the dream, is to continually be doubling down and growing and expanding. So that's that's become this is a point.

00:27:51:23 - 00:28:11:15

Buz Artiano

And so having done this before. So just understand when I when I started back up in 2007, there's a point where you can double. And then after that you the most you can grow is like 2,025% a year because you'll blow up. So I think that there's a the stage is in their balance.

00:28:11:16 - 00:28:11:22

Alex Winter

Yeah.

00:28:11:22 - 00:28:32:05

Buz Artiano

Where you know, because you have that intersection of overhead versus profit. And then, you know, you have to get a lot more overhead and your profit goes down or even negative for a while until you get more sales. So, you know, just be just be careful with that because I've been on that. I've been on that roller coaster and many times and so.

00:28:32:09 - 00:28:34:22

Alex Winter

That's why we call it that's why we call it a journey though. There's peaks and.

00:28:34:22 - 00:29:03:14

Buz Artiano

Valleys. Yeah. It's a journey for sure. But the, the, the point of that story is when we before Marcus, I didn't have a plan. We were trying things, you know, they were working, but we really couldn't say. This is the vision. This is the this is the this is the operating system, if you will, for the front end, for generating high intent bias right prior to Marcus and prior to Impact plus.

00:29:03:16 - 00:29:21:19

Buz Artiano

And that's that I literally was watching that five minute video and then one hours website. And I don't remember what video I watched, but it was him explaining why you need to do this. And I'm paraphrasing now, I was like, he's right. You know what? He's right. You're right. I was thinking that, but I didn't understand it.

00:29:22:01 - 00:29:35:13

Buz Artiano

And the more he talked, the more I was like, wow, okay, this makes sense. And that literally caused me to fill out that form. And five minutes later I was talking to him. Now, I'm sure that's not going to happen. Everybody. But for me, it was, you know, let's, you know, some people say I have a lucky charm.

00:29:35:13 - 00:29:47:06

Buz Artiano

You know, a guardian angel or whatever, but that happens to me a lot, you know, I'll do something and then, you know, boom, it happens. So, I don't know, I just I have intuition to. When I know something's right, and I knew right away this was right.

00:29:47:08 - 00:30:06:12

Alex Winter

That's that's great to hear that. I love hearing that. You do have good gut instinct. And I also think, too, though, that you listen to your gut. There's a lot of people that don't do that. And I have to give you credit for taking the leap of faith. And when you have these lightbulb moments, just going for it and not not being afraid to shy away from what you think is going to be best for for you and for your business.

00:30:06:12 - 00:30:29:08

Buz Artiano

So yeah, kudos. Now the hardest part. I will tell you though, that let's talk about the hardest part. Yes, the hardest part about this system is a it takes a lot longer than you think to get started. Yeah. Because you're starting even for us with too many. You know, let's pretend you don't have any media people. Now you need to start hiring people in game.

00:30:29:10 - 00:30:35:21

Buz Artiano

And the problem is you gotta have a huge ignorance tax you have to pay down, right?

00:30:35:23 - 00:30:37:07

Alex Winter

I love that and.

00:30:37:09 - 00:31:01:02

Buz Artiano

Yeah, right. And I'm still that from Alex Mosley. Shout out to Alex Hamzi. So you've got to pay that ignorance tax down the and that can be very expensive. The good news is if you're working with your coach, you you know, Impact Plus already has the job description written. They already have the testing written. What you should look for, the scaling metrics all those things.

00:31:01:02 - 00:31:23:20

Buz Artiano

So you're going to it's going to be less painful then if you try if you just decided to hire a media person on your own prior to working with Impact Plus. Now in my case, I was very lucky that my first hire was Kevin Weldon and he's been a beast from day one. But that doesn't always happen. And then, he brought on Chris Patel that he knew personally.

00:31:23:20 - 00:31:43:20

Buz Artiano

So for me, and he's been awesome as well because Kevin, literally when Chris started, I think, was it two weeks, two weeks prior to Kevin leaving for eight weeks for maternity leave? Okay. Wow. Okay. So you and he jump right in and we already had the podcast studio set up. So yeah, you know, for me, I was very fortunate.

00:31:44:01 - 00:31:47:04

Buz Artiano

Now the hard part for us so far is we really haven't found that.

00:31:47:08 - 00:32:13:01

Buz Artiano

Content manager. But between having a on our website person and we already had Josh, who's been helping us with, you know, writing, they've kind of taken up that, you know, charge, if you will. So for us, I had a lot of the pieces and parts, but I will tell you, that's for that's going to be your heavy lift is to find that first hire and hopefully they're the right person.

00:32:1306 - 00:32:30:06

Buz Artiano

So I would say my caveat to this is listen to your coach. Do what they tell you to do about the hiring, the ads, the testing. And then, and then you probably still have a 5050 shot. Yeah.

00:32:30:08 - 00:32:42:10

Alex Winter

Now, it's true, though, the coaches and that's that's, that's a really great point that you make. We we've been doing this for a long time here at impact. And we're, we're experts in the endless customer system in that journey. And it's not always easy to find good talent

00:32:42:10 - 00:32:45:02

Alex Winter

Hiring good people is or finding good people is hard to find.

00:32:45:02 - 00:33:00:08

Buz Artiano

So when you're looking for a content manager, when you're looking for videographers and for people to help create this content because it is a lot of content, you have to create it. You know, it's nice to have a coach and to have some of these systems and guardrails in place to help you just make those decisions, especially if you're not familiar with it.

00:33:00:09 - 00:33:15:14

Buz Artiano

You know, if you're if you're a builder or if you're in, contracting or plumbing or whatever industry you're in, you're most likely not a video expert or a director of writing expert. Right? So it's hard to bridge those gaps sometimes, and there's definitely a lot of value there. What else is what else can you say working with the coaches.

00:33:15:14 - 00:33:17:04

Buz Artiano

So working with Brian and working with Thomas.

00:33:17:07 - 00:33:35:17

Alex Winter2

Well, I just one of the things that just popped through my head, I just want to say to everyone that's listening, that's an owner and just, you know, says, I don't want to be on camera. You need to be on camera. So you just get on camera. The first time you do it, it's gonna hurt. It's okay. Just film it.

00:33:35:18 - 00:33:53:11

Buz Artiano

And if you never use it, then film it again. You never use it. Film it again. And the more you do it, the easier to get. You know, when I first started this podcast, I wrote out this whole script of the questions I was going to ask on my first podcast. And about two minutes into, I just flipped the paper over and just started talking to in person.

00:33:53:13 - 00:33:57:23

Buz Artiano

So just just be yourself. Just be yourself. Get on camera, be yourself.

00:33:57:23 - 00:34:15:07

Alex Winter

It's great advice by itself. Absolutely great advice. Thanks for sharing all these insights. But as my last question for you, and I think this is an important one, what would you say to people that are listening and watching the podcast right now that maybe you're thinking of trying out? Endless customers are reading the book and they're like, I don't need an alignment day.

00:34:15:07 - 00:34:21:19

Buz Artiano

I can just I can just do this myself. What would you say to those people? And is it an alignment day really that important?

00:34:21:21 - 00:34:52:14

Buz Artiano

Yeah. So speaking for myself, guilty as charged. I've read lots of books over the years and said, I'm going to do that. I think I've read traction three times. I read, was Aesop three times, four times, you know, weight loss books. Meditation books, you name it. I've read a lot of books. Sure. And I'm sure I've done a little bit of each one, but I've never followed a system and been held accountable.

00:34:52:16 - 00:35:13:04

Buz Artiano

And that's why you need a coach, and that's why you need alignment Day. So everybody understands where we're headed. And then you have the little mini alignment days as you're going along. I think they're every 90 days. So you could you do it on your own? Sure. Are you going to do it on your own? I think the odds are slim.

00:35:13:06 - 00:35:27:09

Alex Winter

Yeah. Well said. I couldn't agree more. So last, last piece here. What do you. What do you see for the future? You know, we're just embarking into 2026. Are you excited for the future? It seems like there's a lot of growth potential heading your ways. Is that true?

00:35:27:11 - 00:35:52:00

Buz Artiano

So, you know, you never know, right? But I'll be able to tell you based on the traffic in the next couple three weeks. It's January if we're busy at home to is in the middle of January, I think this is going to be a banner year. Everything that I've seen around accessory dwelling units is there is a lot of people that are just even learning that there are legal, if you will or can do.

00:35:52:03 - 00:36:20:16

Buz Artiano

Can you remember for years people would have to go and do an in law and fight about a special permit. And you know, there's there's so many roadblocks. And now with it being as of right, you know, people are like, okay, what is this? Can I do it? Does it make sense for our family? Yeah. So I my personal opinion, if you extrapolate the numbers from California, to our population here it comes out to 6080 use per year in Massachusetts.

00:36:20:18 - 00:36:25:21

Buz Artiano

So I you know what what I need I need a half a of a percent. I think I can do it.

00:36:25:23 - 00:36:37:08

Alex Winter

I think you can do it too. That's really exciting. And, I'm curious. We we, track everything here, our coaches and our system through the scorecard that we have. The Endless Customer scorecard. Do you know what your score is right now?

00:36:37:10 - 00:36:39:04

Buz Artiano

It's it's pretty low.

00:36:39:05 - 00:36:44:16

Alex Winter

That's okay. That's okay. When you start out on the journey, it usually is. Ours was two. We did this when we did this here.

00:36:44:16 - 00:36:50:05

Buz Artiano

Yeah I want to I, I don't know for sure but it's in the teens I know that okay cool.

00:36:50:05 - 00:37:01:07

Alex Winter

Well buzz listen this is the first of many times we want to have you back on the show. We want to track your progress because it's exciting. And, I was just I had to ask because I want to make sure we compare. Yeah, 100% time so we can be like, hey.

00:37:01:10 - 00:37:06:15

Buz Artiano

Well, actually. So, remind me, when you set up the next one, I'll bring the scorecard and we'll talk about it.

00:37:06:16 - 00:37:10:08

Alex Winter

Sounds good. I think that'd be a fun episode for everyone to see and experience.

00:37:10:10 - 00:37:16:04

Buz Artiano

Yeah, I'll put it on the screen. I'll talk about, you know, all the pot that hurts. We'll talk about the wins and the losses.

00:37:16:04 - 00:37:20:17

Alex Winter

I love that word. I'm going to take you up on that. That sounds great. Yeah, well, but.

00:37:20:18 - 00:37:26:02

Buz Artiano

Other than that, hopefully someone will save. It'll save someone else some pain and suffering.

00:37:26:04 - 00:37:31:15

Alex Winter

I love that share. Sharing these experiences. You know, knowledge is power. That's what it's all about.

00:37:31:15 - 00:37:32:18

Alex Winter

So I.

00:37:32:20 - 00:37:40:23

Alex Winter

I really appreciate you being on the show and for sharing your story and for being so transparent and, just, just so much fun to talk to. So thanks. Thanks for your time because I really appreciate it.

00:37:40:23 - 00:37:51:22

Buz Artiano

Yeah. Love it. It was good to meet you and look forward to more episodes and I will. I'll see you when this, whenever the next one is. And I'm not coming to Chicago. But I'll be in. I'll be in Connecticut on the next one.

00:37:51:22 - 00:38:04:05

Alex Winter

That's right. We do two a year. So if you can't make it to Chicago in the spring, we have a great event here in Hartford in the fall. So go to endless customers.com. And you can check out, when the events are happening and sign up and get your tickets. But buzz thanks.

00:38:04:06 - 00:38:04:17

Buz Artiano

You got it.

00:38:04:20 - 00:38:05:09

Alex Winter

Yeah. Great to.

00:38:05:09 - 00:38:06:11

Buz Artiano

See. All right. Have a great day.

00:38:06:13 - 00:38:12:23

Alex Winter

All right. You too. Take care. And for everyone out there watching and listening, this is Endless Customers, I'm your host, Alex Winter, and we will see you on the next episode.