Cheers to Excellence
Above: Most of this year’s winners attended the first-ever awards celebration at Window & Door Dealer Days, where attendees helped to toast to the elevation of the industry (below right).(Images courtesy of Robb Cohen Photography & Video.)
Each year, Window & Door has the honor of learning about dealers that are an inspiration to the industry. We hear from companies that are experiencing growth and managing that growth wisely; no easy task. Others are investing in their marketing efforts and reaching out, using technology as a springboard to the future.
These same companies are also building connections with suppliers, employees, consumers and their communities. We were encouraged by stories of how dealers are giving back to those around them, and we heard from manufacturers’ reps who told us about the many ways their dealers are woven into the fabric of their community and why they deserve to be recognized.
And then we got to meet (most of) them, in person, at the first-ever Dealer of the Year Awards presentation at Window & Door Dealer Days in Atlanta. Joined by former dealers of the year and others determined to brave the storm, the last day of the event closed with a toast to those who keep raising the bar for our industry.
“It was a fitting way to close an event centered on best practices and professional development,” says Emily Thompson, editor in chief, Window & Door magazine, who also serves as a member liaison for the Window & Door Dealers Alliance, which organized the event. “It was incredible to see all of these companies that are doing amazing things talking to each other about how they want to get better, sharing their ideas about the big issues and, ultimately, helping further the professionalism of our industry.”
Day one of the event entailed meaningful round-table discussions moderated by esteemed business coaches. “Obviously, [Hurricane Irma] had a big impact on those who were able to attend but the dealers who were present got great, intimate time with some highly-regarded business experts,” Thompson continues. “And that’s not even mentioning the community these dealers formed within the group. Everyone was extremely engaged. You could tell how passionate they all are about what they do every day.”
In the “toast to the many things [you’re] all doing so well,” Thompson named the winners. “It’s always hard to narrow down the well-qualified nominees to our five Dealers of the Year,” she says, “but we are excited to have this new tradition to celebrate the spirit of innovation, entrepreneurism, ingenuity and care for others that exists in this pragmatic market.”
Read on to see how this year’s honorees exemplify the categories in which they are recognized.
Overall Excellence
Innovative Enterprise
Excellence in Installation
Best Showroom Design
Excellence in Community Service
Overall Excellence
Architectural Visions Inc.
A valuable resource to both the professional and the consumer
AVI serves three distinct market segments, including commercial, trade residential and in-home, with separate teams to cover each. “Our mission is to provide the experts to serve the customer and be the best supplier in each segment we serve,” says Peter Morrison, president. (Images courtesy of Architectural Visions Inc.)
Award-Winning Takeaways
• Don’t cut corners and avoid discounting as a practice. “If you’re always a discounter, then you don’t have any money to do the job the right way,” says Morrison.
• Provide in-house service; if there’s something that needs to be replaced or repaired, develop the ability to go out and take care of it yourselves.
• Showrooms are important, not just to show the window product to single customers, but as a space for Home Builder Association meetings and for architectural learning, including for CEU courses.
The Overall Excellence award in the Dealer of the Year program is usually awarded to two companies; one that serves homeowners and the other that caters to the professional market (builders/remodelers, general contractors, architects). Architectural Visions Inc. has accomplished the task of serving both segments well.
“AVI is one of Western’s longest-serving and most successful dealers,” says Tom O’Brien, eastern sales manager for Western Window Systems, one of the company’s manufacturing partners. “AVI is an amalgam of forward-thinking professionals that consistently sets new standards for sales, service and installation practices.”
AVI address the different markets in a variety of ways, but one principle is woven through everything the company does: connection. AVI exemplifies the notion of being united with customers, employees, manufacturers and the construction community, whether in person, online, on the jobsite or at one of the company’s seven showrooms.
In order to properly serve the distinct segments—commercial, trade residential and in-home (turn-key installed)—AVI has three separate sales teams, in addition to a team of company installers and a separate installation division that serves all three market segments.
On the builder side, the company offers shop drawings, installation training and continuing education unit credits for architects and builders. This spirit of education also carries through to the team that attends to homeowners. “We use a consultative sales approach,” says Peter Morrison, president of AVI. In fact, the in-home sales team uses the title “project manager” instead of “sales representative.”
Mark Antonuccio, architectural project manager for Marvin Windows, has worked with AVI in one capacity or another since 1998. He says that the variety of employees at the company have different levels of experience but are all well-trained, professional and well-spoken. The impression he gets of the “project managers” and other representatives in the showroom is that their message is more of a matter of ‘how can we help you today?’ than a high-pressure sale.
The Showroom Scene
AVI has showrooms in seven markets, throughout Georgia, Western North Carolina and Tennessee, in which all displays are exclusively window and door products. Morrison says the company chooses to be experts in windows and doors, “and not distracted by the selling of commodity items.” The showrooms serve as a gathering place for the building and design community, playing host to a variety of classes, meetings and social gatherings.
“AVI’s strategically-located showrooms are up-to-date with the very best in terms of product, quality and diversity of product lines,” Antonuccio says. “The Atlanta showroom is open to architects, contractors and other affiliated professionals; they are encouraged to come in, kick up their feet, have a cup of coffee. It’s a center of architecture and design excellence in the most prestigious part of Atlanta.”
The local home builders’ association utilizes the Macon, Georgia, showroom for meetings, and the local American Institute of Architects chapter also offers continuing education credit classes there twice-monthly with regular attendance of 20 to 25 students.
A People Industry
Morrison relates that the key to the company’s success is its people. “There is no doubt it is the team that gets up every day and works hard for the same common goal,” he says. This goes back to that earlier-stated principle—connection—and extends into the company’s partnerships as well. “When we work with a manufacturer, we want them to feel like they are part of our team and vice-versa,” he says.
O’Brien agrees with that assessment of the business relationship. He says, “AVI’s foresight, continuous-improvement practices, and its mission to deliver a unique value proposition to its builder-clientele make it a company worth emulating.”
Innovative Enterprise
Weather-Tek Windows & Doors
A focused, strategic approach to serve numerous market segments
Weather-Tek has an 8,000-square-foot showroom with display groups featuring a variety of manufacturers and teams of dedicated specialists grouped around market segments. (Images courtesy of Weather-Tek Windows & Doors.)
Weather-Tek has undergone a transformation into the super-store category, as it creates a dominant market presence with multiple major brands serving all market segments, including trade sales, production builders, installed sales, retail in-home sales, and commercial sales.
Award-Winning Takeaways
• People are the key to success. Traits that attract talent and build a reputation are honesty and being direct.
• Embrace change and be willing to try new things. It takes upfront investment and learning, but that’s how the company is innovative, Patchin explains. “They talk to people who are already doing something well.”
• “No one aspect of vendor relations is the most important,” Edberg says. “We are on the same team. Meeting regularly to make sure our goals are on track is an important part of our relationship.”
In recent years, Waukesha, Wisconsin-based Weather-Tek Windows & Doors has undergone a transformation, creating an organization with multiple major brands serving market segments. The company sells into the trade, production builder-installed, retail in-home, historic renovation and commercial sales markets.
Weather-Tek utilizes a variety of methods to support this fast-moving, diverse business. It has an 8,000 square-foot showroom with display groups featuring a variety of manufacturers and teams of dedicated specialists grouped around market segments. The company also uses a marketing agency to provide strategic direction and guidance and has a disciplined approach to rapid growth.
Weather-Tek utilizes an enterprise resource planning software system to manage the workflow and processes to support this multi-faceted approach. Craig Patchin, principal at Endao, the company’s software supplier, sums it up: “Weather-Tek has the power of a united message and united back end.” He says that they combine that with a different sales force for each segment.
Mark Edberg, president of Weather-Tek, discusses this business model. “With a history of trade and commercial sales, we decided to put a strong focus on our commercial division to balance our market exposure and grow sales at a perceived lower acquisition and capital cost,” he explains.
The company then developed a unique historic renovation segment, and the builder-installed team secured sales from three large volume production builders. Just last year, Weather-Tek had an opportunity to bring a seasoned retail/replacement sales manager on board, so decided to grow into that competitive market segment and hired a team of experienced replacement installers.
“This gives us a diversified sales base to help level out the ebbs and flows of the economy,” Edberg explains. “It also makes our company more attractive to manufacturers/vendors in terms of overall volume as well as functional, administrative and technical expertise.”
There are challenges of such an encompassing approach, Edberg tells us. These include having segregated management functions, allocating capital and human resources and the physical space needs, and figuring out “who plans the Christmas party,” he jokes.
Marketing Model
Weather-Tek works with a marketing agency, Mangold Creative, to provide strategic direction. The time commitment each side puts in to grow the business is fairly substantial, spending what amounts to almost a full day a month together. The firm assists with branding, the website, social media and advertising, and helps maintain a relationship with local trade association networks.
“The company has a ‘what’s next’ mentality; they very much have made a consistent choice to grow a certain aspect of their business, one at a time,” Mangold Creative owner Heather Mangold observes. She says Weather-Tek looks at where the opportunities are in the marketplace and puts resources behind those opportunities.
For example, she discusses historic renovation, one aspect of the market that has made a big impact for the company. Mangold explains that there has been a significant push in the historic renovation and revitalization of the city of Milwaukee, especially the downtown area. “Weather-Tek has been a really big part of that community—working with local municipalities and at the state level, the architectural community and developers—to become a real force, and resource, in that area,” she says.
For Edberg and his team, innovation evolves around staff strengths, their backgrounds, and making sure they listen to the customer at all levels of interaction—from accounting to sales to warehouse and delivery. He relates that internal innovation can be just as important as external programs, mentioning the company’s partnership with both an ERP and their marketing firm to illustrate. “We try to be entrepreneurial every day across all our segments,” he says.
Excellence in Installation
Tom Adams Windows and Carpets
Communication, training and service provide an unmatched installation experience
Above: Tom Adams employees at the company's Churchville, Pa. showroom. Below: Tom Adams strives to educate and train its installation teams and provide excellence in workmanship and service. (Images courtesy of Tom Adams Windows and Carpets.)
Award-Winning Takeaways
• Emphasize and market your niche. It is imperative to find what you do better than the competition— whether that is lower overhead, better service or faster turnaround—and do it.
• Hire, train and review installations to do the best installation possible the first time. Inspect your own work and reward installers for doing the job right.
• Surround yourself with honest people that share the same values and understanding of your business model.
• Every day is a teachable moment for employees and installers; show them how you want to be perceived in the marketplace by your actions, not just your words.
For sales manager Robert Barufkin, identifying and developing a company’s edge—that component of the work that you excel at—is the key to success. “At Tom Adams, our edge has been our people,” he relates. “We hire, train and review our installations to do the best installation possible the first time. We inspect our own work and reward installers for doing the job right. We have a mantra, ‘do the job right, the first time,’ which sounds easier than it really is.” Team members follow that mantra from the first meeting and needs analysis of the homeowner’s vision to the final phone call, thanking them for their business and asking if they are happy with the work that was completed.
The company has a comprehensive process that ensures every detail and concern is addressed; training, industry certifications and technology are the foundation of that process. It seems to work, as 78 percent of their business is repeat customers or referrals.
The staff works with the sales representative, project manager and home owner prior to the installation team’s measurement to ensure the client’s satisfaction. Salespeople take photos of the project with tablets, then create a slideshow for the customer of what the completed project will look like.
After installation, the sales representative calls their customer and sends an email to rate each part of the process and team. Less than a five-star rating gets a phone call from the sales manager to investigate what the staff could have done differently. “Customer satisfaction is our goal,” says Barufkin.
The company offers a lifetime warranty that covers the cost of labor, which, he says, “forces an installation that will stand the test of time and meet the expectations of the homeowner.”
Service trucks respond within 24 hours to any issues the installation team wasn’t able to resolve, and the company sends technicians out on service calls for work they didn’t initially do. “We go out on our competitor’s issues and solve and repair them, at a charge, to meet the customer’s needs and earn their business next time they need any of our services,” Barufkin explains.
Above: Installers wear Tom Adams-branded apparel to keep uniformity in appearance and to promote its sub-contractors as part of the team.
Training Program
Training is a key factor for Tom Adams. Staff and service teams receive training including AAMA classes, specialty manufacturer training programs, Marvin/Integrity and Provia Window and Door installation classes. “Our project managers are out in the field reviewing completed jobs and taking pictures to use for teaching and explaining to other installers about what our expectations are from an installation,” Barufkin says.
The company pursues a variety of certifications; lead safety certifications are renewed every five years, and all AAMA certifications are met prior to a new employee being hired. In terms of voluntary certifications, Tom Adams trains employees on all of the seven manufacturers the company represents, stating that it’s imperative to be an expert in each one, in order to be able to offer a lifetime installation warranty.
Manufacturers keep the company updated on installation and product and recommendations, Barufkin says, and remarks that employees read Window and Door magazine to see what is new, and to learn about industry challenges. “At the end of the day, we cannot control the manufacturing of the product, but we can control how we install it,” he says.
The all-important manufacturer relationship is yet another piece of the installation foundation. “Communication is the key to our relationships with our manufacturers, from product, pricing and services needed, to enhance our offerings to our customers,” Barufkin relates. “We are constantly in communication with the marketing, sales and installation departments of our manufacturers. We take feedback from our installers, warehouse, sales department and office and communicate that with our manufacturers to help both of us be better for our homeowners. Many of our manufacturers help in training our people, whether it is service, installation or sales; we take advantage of their classes, educational meetings, seminars and training as often as possible.”
Finding Labor in a Tight Market
It’s difficult to have a conversation about installation without acknowledging the labor crisis facing all industries, but especially skilled trades. So how does a company build such a stellar reputation with a limited talent pool?
Barufkin reports that Tom Adams looks to hire installers and pay them fairly for a quality installation. The company reviews their work before they hire and send employees through training based on their needs. Installers wear Tom Adams-branded apparel to keep uniformity in appearance and to promote its sub-contractors as part of the team.
“We look for opportunities to bring our teams, service and sub-contractors together and share the same goals in order to meet our customer’s expectations, he says. The company encourages installers to grow their business by hiring of apprentices. “Hopefully, that apprentice grows and eventually becomes a team leader for his installation crew.” Tom Adams also hosts an annual contractor day. This “party” is hosted by manufacturers and allows installers to take a day off and learn about new products and installing techniques from suppliers.
Best Showroom Design
Window and Door Design Center
This Ft. Lauderdale showroom echoes the design tastes of its Southern Florida clientele
Above: A large walkway allows easy access and operability of products while featuring displays and corner samples. Below: A commercial channel illuminated sign maximizes branding ability in the space. (Images courtesy of Window and Door Design Center.)
Award-Winning Takeaways
• Allow customers (architects and builders) to utilize the showroom as a selling tool by allowing access to conference rooms for meetings and product presentations.
• The showroom design should reflect what clients are looking for in your region—i.e. a clean, upscale, contemporary look, hurricane-rated products, etc.
• Choose partners carefully. It has to be a collaboration between dealer and the manufacturer. Think of manufacturers as business partners.
With existing locations in Jupiter, Tampa, Sarasota and Naples, Florida, Window and Door Design Center opened a new showroom in Ft. Lauderdale in 2017 to meet the demand of the company’s expanding market in the Broward and Miami-Dade area.
The showroom was designed to reflect the contemporary tastes of the surrounding community, as well as to showcase a product mix that caters to both homeowners and luxury home builders. The company has four business segments, including commodity/volume work, a custom home division, an ultra-luxury division, and a separately-branded, in-home window and door replacement line. Each segment is represented in the showroom.
Above: The WDDC showroom was designed to reflect the contemporary tastes of the surrounding community and to showcase products that cater to homeowners and luxury home builders.
Architects, builders and designers can meet with clients and utilize the showroom’s state-of-the-art equipment for multimedia presentations and a large conference table to lay out samples and blueprints. A second, more intimate conference room allows for presentations to smaller groups. Guests are welcomed with an espresso, cappuccino or cold water, and kiosks are strategically placed within the showroom to ensure that there is always a space for a sales consultant to lay out brochures and paperwork.
“Many clients have expressed the value of a showroom visit in the remodel or construction process,” Scott Brussard, one of the company’s four co-owners, says. “One of the greatest advantages of our design studio is the luxury of experiencing contours and dimensions such as riser heights, sliding glass door stacking and frame depths in order to illustrate unforeseen design features common in High Velocity Hurricane Zone-approved products, which are required in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.”
Above: A large conference room, that doubles as a Vivante display room, offers integrated technology and ample meeting space for staff and clients.
The 3,000 square-foot space features sleek lines and an upscale vibe, with cool, neutral colors and interactive experiences that help illustrate the functionality of the windows and doors on display. The sliding glass door display area doubles as a sound chamber to show the sound reduction offered by impact-resistant products, while the product mix includes materials ranging from stainless steel, solid bronze and wood to wood clad, aluminum, vinyl, fiberglass and iron.
“Being able to compare and contrast the weight, texture and feel of these materials also adds to the experience for our clients,” Brussard explains. The showroom features products from more than 20 manufacturers, including ultra-luxury brands Brombal and Vivante and Florida favorites PGT, CGI and Windoor.
Manufacturers also appreciate the upscale environment that the showroom offers. "Window & Door Design Center's new showroom expresses their devotion to a market that demands luxury and style while ensuring best-of-class performance,” says Dave Behan, CEO of Brombal USA. “They have built an impressive product portfolio from creating alliances with the world's top window and door manufacturers.”
Editor's Note: With locations throughout South Florida, Window & Door Design Center was vulnerable to the damaging effects of Hurricane Irma. But, the company and employees weathered the storm with minimal damage. "Our main challenge with the approaching storm was securing all active job sites and then picking up on those jobs once the storm passed," reports WDDC’s Elizabeth Dasch. "Aside from losing power for a few days, we are fortunate to have been spared any damage to our showrooms. Now that the immediate danger has passed, we are hoping to help rebuild the most impacted areas like the Florida Keys and the Caribbean."
Excellence in Community Service
Tundraland Home Improvements
Tundraland Home Improvements believes in doing well and doing good
Above: The Tundraland Cares program benefits a variety of different initiatives, including scholarships to music schools, bathroom remodels for veterans, and vacations for children with chronic illnesses. Below: Tundraland President Brian Gottlieb sums up the company's culture as one that strives “to do well and do good.” (Images courtesy of Tundraland Home Improvements.)
Award-Winning Takeaways
• Create a culture that has community service as a central part of the company mission.
• Give employees a vision of not only what you do, but why you do it. The what may change, but the why will remain the guiding principle.
At Tundraland Home Improvements, community service is not what they do, it’s who they are. This thinking weaves into the work of Tundraland President Brian Gottlieb and his team, as well as into their extensive community outreach. “The company has become more than just a trusted remodeler—they are fully woven into the communities they serve. It’s rare to see a business as involved as Tundraland is,” Ty King, CEO at Spectrum Communications & Consulting Inc., which partners with the Wisconsin-based business.
Tundraland sponsors philanthropic efforts that range from providing no-cost bathroom remodels for veterans to sending children with chronic illnesses on dream vacations. All of the company’s charitable notions are part of the Tundraland Cares initiative.
One of the many creative programs in Tundraland Cares is the annual Windows for a Cause campaign, where Tundraland hosts an artistic event to benefit a veteran or deserving family. For this auction-style fundraiser, the company sends window sashes that were pulled from remodel projects out to community leaders, local television anchors, sports figures, police and firefighters, and others. They ask that the recipients look through the window, imagine what community they see and, with that vision in mind, use the window to create a piece of art.
Above: Each year, Tundraland replaces more than 12,000 windows for its customers. Instead of throwing out the removed windows, the company puts them aside for its annual Windows for a Cause event, where local artists, community leaders and organizations turn them into beautiful works of art that are auctioned off to raise money for a local person in need.
This notion of reaching into the community through the work it already does daily is central to the Tundraland culture, which Gottlieb sums up as “to do well and do good.” He says, “The whole opportunity for a business owner, for a business, is to not just to make a decent profit, but to make a decent profit decently. When we create this type of culture, it changes the way we view our relationship with our employees, our customers and our community.”
Tim Musch, director of business development at CRM provider MarketSharp Software, nominated Tundraland for the Dealer of the Year awards. He recognizes that doing what Tundraland does elevates our image as an industry in the public’s eye. “The perception is often that we are just a bunch of hammer-swinging contractors who don’t often live up to our promises,” he says. “Any time we can present ourselves as a professionally-run business that does things to help the community, it can do nothing but good.”
Because the company is based in Green Bay Packer and Milwaukee Brewer country, they are able to work with both teams in various charitable capacities. They carry the notion of team spirit into their work life, as Musch explains, repeatedly iterating to the public the concept of ‘we are on your team.’
Musch sees how the Tundraland Community Cares program breaks down barriers with potential customers. “It really positions their company as an absolute leader whose core mission is to serve the community,” he says.
For Gottlieb, this concept is just as important for the internal culture of the company. “When people think they can come to work and really make a difference in someone’s life, truly make a positive impact for themselves, their co-workers, community and each other, what you’re doing is actually giving a story worth telling,” Gottlieb says. “The more people that have a story worth telling, the better the story of Tundraland.”