135%
115M
40M
TOP REP’S BOOK, UP FROM $2.5M
Three companies. Three sales cycles. One toolkit.
East Coast Lumber sells fast. A single phone call can close a sale. Industrial Wood Products has long, complex sales cycles measured in weeks or months. NC Lumber & Supply is a 13‑store retail chain where the sale happens face‑to‑face while the customer is on the floor. Three businesses, three sales motions that could not look more different.
Outgrow is the same in all three. The techniques are the same in all three. What changes is the script.
“We modify how we use Outgrow for each company, and I have different levels of expectations for each organization. But it is very customizable, and we’ve been able to apply it for each use case very well.”
Ryan Hilsinger, President
The toolkit, sized to the sale.
01
At East Coast Lumber, sellers pivot to the sale on every call
The wholesale distribution business moves fast. Sellers can buy and sell almost anything in the marketplace inside a single conversation. The pivot to the sale sounds like, “I have some coming in, do you want me to set it aside for you?” Ask the question. Wait. The sale happens on the same call.
02
At Industrial Wood Products, DYKs do the teaching the catalog can’t
The remanufacturing facility has a longer, more complex sales cycle. The team uses Did‑You‑Know questions to make sure customers know the full range of what the company can build, cut, regrade, and finish. The technique is the same. Its purpose is different. Educating the customer is half the sale.
03
At NC Lumber & Supply, the DYK happens on the sales floor
Retail face‑to‑face is its own discipline. “Have you thought about doing a painted tongue‑and‑groove on the ceiling?” is a different conversation than a phone call. Same Did‑You‑Know technique. Different cadence, different vocabulary, different moment.
Derek Houston: from $2.5M to $40M with one rDYK and the silence that follows.
When Outgrow selling was introduced at East Coast Lumber, Derek Houston was 26 years old and doing $2.5 million in annual personal sales. Seven years later, his personal book is $40 million. He estimates 95 percent of his sales come from Outgrow techniques and principles.
Derek’s favorite reverse Did‑You‑Know is seven words. “Is there anything else I can be looking out for?” He says customers name something about 50 percent of the time he asks. After he pivots to the sale, he uses silence. He asks the question, “I have 10 trucks of two‑by‑four that can hit your lumberyard today, do you want me to put these on the truck for you?” Then he stops. Ten full seconds. About 75 percent of his customers fill that silence with a yes.
“The fire to sell more was always burning for me. And Outgrow poured gasoline on the fire for me. It just took what I do to a new level.”
Derek Houston, Outside Salesperson, East Coast Lumber
$85 million to $200 million in seven years, because the techniques travel.
When the three companies started running Outgrow seven years ago, they had 150 total employees, 15 of them salespeople, and $85 million in annual sales. Today they have 300 employees, 30 salespeople, and $200 million in annual sales. Ryan estimates 50 to 75 percent of that growth is a direct result of Outgrow.
The other thing the system changed is the ramp time for new sellers. Before Outgrow, transitioning a new hire from salary to commission‑only took two years on average. Today it takes less than one. The techniques are simple enough that new salespeople pick them up fast, and powerful enough that they produce results in months, not years.
The techniques are the toolkit. They go wherever the sale goes.
Hilsinger Lumber is the cleanest proof of the technique claim. DYK, rDYK, Pivot, and the discipline of staying silent after a pivot. These work whether your sale closes in 60 seconds or six months. Whether your customer is on the phone, in the yard, or three weeks deep in a custom remanufacturing project. The toolkit travels. What changes is the script. What does not change is the math underneath it.
“Outgrow emboldens salespeople more than anything else out there. We’re not waiting for the phone to ring. We’re finding new opportunities on every call that’s already happening, and we’re picking up the phone to call people to create even more opportunities.”
Ryan Hilsinger, President