Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Ross Thiebaud who sells metal roofs that run anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000, and he does almost all of it online.

No salesman in the home. No three-hour kitchen-table wrestling match. A husband and wife watch a video in the comfort of their own home, answer a few questions built right into it, sleep on it, and then get on a 15-minute call where all that's left to talk about is the price.

I love the elegance of it. By the time someone reaches out, they've already sold themselves.

We also talked about the nine-word email, which brings in 25% of Ross's business from people who didn't buy right away. That got me onto one of my favorite ideas lately, RevPUP, or revenue per unconverted prospect. The leads everyone writes off as junk are usually just buyers who aren't ready yet. Check back in 18 months and almost all of them bought a roof.

There's a lot here about patience, premium pricing, and treating your list like a time capsule of the customers you're going to have.

Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast, I'm sharing a very different kind of conversation with my longtime friend Joey Osborne, who just announced he's running for U.S. Congress in the mountains of North Carolina.

Joey's been an entrepreneur his whole life, someone who's always looking to fix broken systems. Now he's turning that problem-solving mindset toward politics, challenging a 20-year incumbent in his district. We talked about how the same principles we use in marketing apply directly to winning an election, from identifying persuadable voters to the math of reaching the 60,000 people who could change the outcome.

One thing that struck me was Joey's experience from his previous congressional run. The one precinct where he finished best was where he stood outside all day handing voters his card. Name recognition alone moved the needle because most people don't know who they're voting for when they get down the ballot.

Whether you're selling homes, insurance, or ideas, the strategy stays the same. Find the people who are persuadable and get your message in front of them at the right time.

Follow Joey's campaign at joey.vote, and stay tuned because this may become a series as we see how marketing principles work in the politics.