In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Stafford Sterner, co‑owner of SJF Material Handling Inc. Sterner shares a foundational sales story that emphasizes trust and unbiased value, illustrating how he secured a large equipment bid by positioning himself as the only non‑biased option for the client. He then explains the material handling sector, a roughly $100 billion U.S. industry that equips warehouses and docks, and argues that current globalization trends will fade within the next decade as AI and robotics enable reshoring of manufacturing, creating new domestic opportunities. Sterner offers broad business counsel—making a strong first impression, caring for customers, and keeping a notebook of fearless ideas—as well as personal reflections on happiness (doing what you love and getting paid), recommended reading ("Who Moved My Cheese?" and "Atlas Shrugged"), and a favorite quote about the fragility of customer relationships. The episode concludes with his website (SJF.com) and a brief plug for the Anchor podcast platform.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Stafford Sterner with us. He is the co-owner of SJF Material Handling Inc. Welcome to the show.
Thank you.
Of course, thanks for joining us. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you is, what What is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
It would be a story that I tell all my new salespeople when they come, and it's just a story about, it's a sales story. And it's basically when I first got in the business, I had an opportunity to bid a big project for some story drag for a large fastener company. And this individual was very wealthy. He could buy whatever he wanted. And he had 3 of us in there. One was a new company, one was a company selling used equipment, and then he had me because I was a relatively local here in Minnesota. So it was— so everybody had— so he said, okay. So he comes up to the person selling new and he says, so what's your pitch? And he goes, well, we have, you know, we're a large new distributor. We sell direct from the factory. Everything is factory fresh. It's all certified. It's clean. It's painted. It looks beautiful. You get a quality product for your warehouse. And, uh, he goes, okay. And then he went to the new— the used person. He says, well, so what's your compelling argument? He goes, well, first of all, I wouldn't buy new. I can save you 30 to 40%. And he says, all of my material is just as good. Steel, steel. Doesn't get old, uh, if it's not damaged, it should hold everything, do everything that the new stuff does, but at 30-40% less money. Matter of fact, you just take the money you save, you go buy yourself a new Porsche. But for you to pay all this money for used new equipment, you're just overpaying. So he— now it's my turn, and he comes up and he says, well, what's your story? He says, uh, you know, essentially, yeah, You know, what do you have to offer me? And I say, well, I don't have anything extra to offer you. He says, and frankly, for me, I don't care which one you buy because I'm a stocking distributor for new equipment. I can sell you the new equipment. I have 20 acres of used equipment. I'm one of the largest in the country. I could sell it to you used. And he says, so I really don't care which one you buy as long as you buy it from me. But I said, you know, this isn't about me, it's about you. And you want to know what's the best value for you. And I said, I'm the only one in this room that's qualified to give you a non-biased opinion. So we went to the other two people, he says, you two leave. He says, kid, you sit down. He says, you got my order. And I really like that story because it's really about trust. This person could have bought anything he wanted. He had the money to do it, but he wanted not to pay the most or to pay the least. He wanted the best value. And I gave him a reason to trust me that he could trust my opinion on having the best value because I sold both and the other two people didn't. So, uh, you know, I, I continue to impress that upon salespeople, that building those relationships And building that trust is the most important thing in making a sale.
Yes, amazing story. Thank you for sharing that. Um, and what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, material handling. It's funny because you mentioned material handling. What do you do for a living? I do material handling. They go, oh, that's really cool. Like, what is that? I have no idea. Well, it's a $100 billion industry in the United States. Essentially what it is, what I do is I outfit warehouses. Anybody that's got a dock or anybody that's got a business, large or small, they probably buy equipment that I sell. One of the things that I see that doesn't get a lot of press, we all hear about globalization, how everybody's exporting jobs. We need to bring jobs back. We're exporting jobs to China. Nothing's built in the USA. And the biggest thing that I can see is that within the next 5 to 10 years, that globalization, as far as we know it today, I think it's gonna be dead. It's not going to exist. And the reason why it's not going to exist is because everybody exports and builds things and buys things overseas because of cheap labor, cheap raw materials, just saving money. But what's very expensive when you do that is the logistics of it all. It's transporting a phone to, you know, the parts into China to be assembled or built, and then built and then exported all the way back to the US, and having to deal with foreign countries that don't speak the language and have strange tax laws that nationalize your industry if the government goes bad. And I think what you're going to see is because of the AI that we have today and the robotics that we have today is that business in the United States is going to bring all of that back home and build it in their own backyard by having essentially AI and robots build what now cheap labor does. And I think it's going to create an entire new industry. Um, you know, people go, oh, is, is it a bad deal that, you know, we're going to have robots replacing people to some degree. And I say, well, that's what exactly what the buggy whip makers said about the car industry. And last I looked, the car industry employed a lot more people than the buggy whip industry did when it was all said and done. So no, I think it'll be a very good thing.
And what is your best piece of overall business advice, and not necessarily industry specific?
Um, Again, I kind of, I'll give you a couple of them I like and they are kind of business related, but I guess the one is that you only have one chance to make a good first impression. And the other one would be, if you don't take care of your customers, somebody else will.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
To go out, get a notebook, and write down all the things you would do if you weren't afraid.
Oh, I like that. And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Well, again, I think it's a bit twofold. I think one thing is waking up in the morning, doing what you love most, and getting paid to do it. And if I would have told my mother when I was little that I could become a millionaire by being a reality TV star, she would say I was crazy. But you had people on Naked and Afraid, American Chopper, West Coast Customs, you know, uh, you know, Pawn Stars, uh, you know, Street Outlaws. Here, people that race cars, run pawn shops, do survival skills, and they could make a fortune doing it because they're doing what they love to do.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, my favorite book of all time is Atlas Shrugged, but that's like 1,000 pages long, so that's probably not one. But I would say, here's one for a beginner, is a book called Who Moved My Cheese? And it's about 100 pages long. I give it, I gave it to all of my employees a couple years ago for Christmas. And everybody absolutely loved it. And it teaches you about greed and fear and how it affects all of us. And it's a really great story, and everybody should read that book.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Um, it takes months to find a customer and seconds to lose one. And I guess the importance of that, again, is, you know, when it comes to Developing relationships, like one of the most powerful tools in the world can be a referral from a happy customer. And, uh, and on the other side of that coin, if you, uh, really PO a customer, he's not gonna, you know, you not only lose him, but yet everybody else that'll listen to him. So yeah, I would, uh, you definitely want to always never burn bridges, try to take care of your customer.
Yes, man. Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, that would be at S as in Sam, J as in Jim, F as in Frank dot com. SJF.com.
Perfect, man. Thank you again for joining us. We appreciate it.
Appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
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