Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by P G T I University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host. Good morning. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are introducing some faces and voices that have been around for a while, but you may not have met them yet. And so today we have in studio Howard Shalin, who is our vice president of our out of state sales team. So welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 00:00:39 Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:00:40 Howard, give us just a brief overview of your background and your experience and, and just a little bit of your history if you would.
Speaker 2 00:00:48 I've been with uh, P G T since March of 2016, so I'm in my eighth year. I've been 50 years in this industry. I started working for a building supply dealer while I was in uh, college. I studied architecture early on and finished with a degree in business and I've been in this industry working for several of our competitors, but knew P G T very well and um, happy to be representing them.
Speaker 1 00:01:15 And you live near St. Augustine, you said?
Speaker 2 00:01:18 I do. Just south of St. Augustine. My wife's retired and I'm on the road every week
Speaker 1 00:01:23 <laugh>. That's amazing. And we've just had brief interactions at sales conferences and things like that. I know I rarely see you in the building, so I'm glad you were able to make time to do this with us.
Speaker 2 00:01:32 Happy to do it and uh, glad to be here. So
Speaker 1 00:01:35 Tell us about what your role and responsibilities other than traveling and outta state, what does that look like for you?
Speaker 2 00:01:42 Yeah, traveling is just sort of a byproduct of what we do is, I have to remind folks once in a while, but basically we built that team from scratch. We handle the Easy Breeze product line. We handle P G T vinyl, we handle Western Window Systems out of Phoenix. We also are working on starting up the LAN and we've got projects underway to introduce our new diamond glass and our thin triple in the northern markets where that's gonna be very important to us, uh, with our product line. But I have four regional managers now that work for me and a national sales manager of Easy Breeze and they have specific regions. So we are today a company that goes from Florida to Maine and all the way over to Texas. So it's a pretty big region. The guys, uh, spend a lot of time at it and uh, we've been successful in building a sustainable business and as we expand, as we have into garage doors now, we have a pretty good network started and plan to have probably, uh, you know, a good fair amount of dealers selling our garage doors by the end of this year.
Speaker 1 00:02:45 And so garage doors, are you talking about the wind door garage door?
Speaker 2 00:02:49 Well, actually both. It's funny you say that. We have sold the wind door garage door for impact and that's our go-to impact door. We're doing a good job with that up the coast, the I 95 corridor. And it also works well in restaurants and things like that. Sure. With the impact nature. So the security is important. Then the Martin garage door is more for the business that everybody asks, well where do you get your garage doors? And if you're in new construction, almost nobody knows who the guy is. It does, but it, they just end up installed on a job site. So we went through about a five month learning curve about the garage door business. We went out and learned what we needed to know and then uh, of course we spent time out at Martin and visiting with some of their distributors to understand how to take it to market, how to blend a install business and a service business into this. And uh, it's been very interesting to put that together. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:03:42 It's a different animal. It's completely different, but it's fun. Right. That's
Speaker 2 00:03:46 The fun part. When Jeff comes up with a new business for us to be in, we just bolt it right onto our repertoire and uh, there we go.
Speaker 1 00:03:54 That's awesome. And so I know, I mean, I've not been in the industry nearly the length that you have, but I know enough to know that the Florida market and the out-of-state markets are very different. Florida is obviously impact. We are concerned with the solar heat gain. We're not as concerned with U Factor. We're, you know, still strong in aluminum on the southern half of the state. But what are some of the similarities between Florida and the rest of the country?
Speaker 2 00:04:24 Well, everybody needs windows indoors, right? And they use all different types. You know, I spent a lot of time in the aluminum business in Texas and when I worked for a competitor there and for about the last 35 years, Florida has been part of my region no matter what company I had. And I always knew that there was an old saying in this business, guys can come down, they all want to come to Florida, but they're coming for the weather. And they don't understand the differences in construction. Just as people in Florida who creep up over the line don't understand, oh we don't build cinder block houses up here and things like this and there's plenty of frames. So we make windows that can go in either one. But if you really look at it, people were used to Florida windows and doors. And that's one reason I took this job is there really wasn't a big out-of-state market developed.
Speaker 2 00:05:18 And I admired P G T from the time I worked for 'EM as a competitor. As a matter of fact, they say the sincerest form of flattery is to imitate someone. I attended a lot of their seminars on impact when I was selling wood clad impact products and even vinyl impact products. So a lot of what I learned as their competitor, I admired their position in the business, the product that they had to sell. And I watched their marketing applications and the way they worked through their dealer base and it was educational to me and I actually did emulate it. So when I had the opportunity to come to work here, it wasn't new. It was just a great opportunity to do it. And easing into the impact side of it was very easy for us. But then again, you do have differences in construction and we've had to adapt and create, which the company was very good about creating, uh, new instructions that paid more attention to a frame type construction as opposed to a block wall construction. So those are the obvious things. We built a very large door business up there and they have to follow, you know, our NOAs for installation. But we were able to add in all the things we needed for that. So yeah, we didn't just create it overnight. We had a few trials and tribulations, but uh, the company was very supportive.
Speaker 1 00:06:36 Well, and I know like even though it feels like Florida is the target for all hurricanes <laugh>, obviously there are a lot of other states that are impacted by those kinds of events. And so like up towards Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and then all up the east coast, you know, Georgia, the Carolinas, like, we always kind of breathe a sigh of relief when a storm is heading that way. But I mean, we would never want anybody to have a storm. But because we are the impact leader, it is nice to be able to offer those same protections no matter what kind of a building they're in, whether it's a wood construction or whatever, like a, it's not concrete block in South Carolina, but they still need the impact protection. So, oh
Speaker 2 00:07:16 Yeah. And you will see the occasional, uh, concrete block house. I think you hit on a, a very important subject and I've covered all of those states and with other brands and with P G T and we do an excellent job I think of preparing people for that and selling that in as part of our main course. We sell impact as much for protection from violent storms. Some of our Northeastern storms are as strong as any hurricane and there've been a lot of them along the coast when we have some of those occur. In Texas for instance, you don't have Miami-Dade certification, you have Texas Department of Insurance and we meet those criteria as well. But you know, when you've got 140 mile an hour winds coming, as assure I would tell condo owners when we'd be, uh, discussing what brand to select, I said, well, at 10 o'clock when the hurricane was coming on shore, some people drove 200 miles north, some people turned out the lights and went to bed.
Speaker 2 00:08:17 And we're very fortunate our products have been able to sustain that and do a great job. And then one thing that I always credit P g T with is the hurricane relief. And until I had actually done one myself, I didn't truly understand it. And for us to show up with two tractor trailer loads, water of vital equipment, people need anything from flashlights and batteries to tarps and chainsaws and things like that, it's really quite gratifying to see the way it affects the community. And people are very appreciative of that. And when people say, well, you make, make your money off of disasters, I said, no, we don't. We make our money off of selling protection from those disasters. And it's quite gratifying. And each of my guys go through that and go out and distribute that material. And until you've done that and seen the impact it has, it's hard for people to understand. But that's fun to sell a product like this, that you're not just selling something and collecting money for it, you're actually doing good for somebody.
Speaker 1 00:09:21 Be sure to tune in for upcoming episodes to help you understand the fenestration industry, what you need to know when buying windows and doors and other related topics. You can find out more about
[email protected]. You can also find us on Facebook and LinkedIn. Right. That is how we got started. I mean, that was the whole reason that we were even invited into the new building code process is because we were first on the ground right behind the Red Cross when Andrew came through in 92. You know, homestead was flattened and we were first on the ground there. And even now, you know, we're very quick to respond to those kinds of events even when they're in our own backyard, which was last year with Ian. But beyond that, it's just the right thing to do for people.
Speaker 2 00:10:10 Well, it is, and I think that's what's carried on and made it um, easy. Not that anything's ever that easy, but it's easy. People have an understanding of who we are and what we represent to the industry. Many people travel to Florida on vacation. They've operated our products in a vacation home or a condo, and they go away going, wow, that's quite a door. That's quite a window. So when we go visit an architect and when we talk to builders up there, early on, it was a process of education, but people had heard of us and understood what we did. Some question, do I really need that up here? And I go, well, you only need one storm to be in trouble. I said, if I'm building my house, if I'm building my dream house, I want to put the best product in I can. And this is categorically the best you can put in for a storm. Builders have asked me, well, why should I use that? I said, well, frankly, 'cause ours work.
Speaker 1 00:11:05 Right. Well, I know I grew up in Eastern Iowa and it's not uncommon for them to have 60, 70 mile an hour winds with some of those crazy thunderstorms that come through. And you know, I was talking to my mom one time after they had a storm like that and I was like, man, you were in a category one hurricane. It's, she's like, I was <laugh>. So I mean obviously it's not the, not necessarily the same kind of rain and tide and surf and those kinds of things, but you know, wind is everywhere. Having
Speaker 2 00:11:34 Lived around the country, I can attest to that being my first sales territory, being in Chicago, the microbursts we get there, the storms that were the spawn of, you know, whether you had a tornado somewhere. And not that I think you can build a tornado proof window, but you get storms that are very violent after that in, in Texas. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> was much the same way. So seeing what weather can do and what it does just educates you that you wanna put the best doors and windows in that you can. Right.
Speaker 1 00:12:03 Okay. So we've kind of talked about the similarities and the differences. So I had one question about the doors because a lot of times people who are migrating south are interested in the same kinds of doors that they had up north, which is typically an inswing door because you can't do an outswing door in case you get five feet of snow overnight. Now you're trapped in inside your house because you can't open your door against all of that snow. So we primarily manufacture an outswing door for the customer base in Florida and some of the southern states that aren't facing snow, but up north that's not gonna fly. So how do we maneuver around that? Well, you
Speaker 2 00:12:45 Know, Florida predominantly, as I saw it in the industry, if they used a French door, was predominantly an outswing because the more the wind blows against it, the tighter it seals. And that's a great thought and a good idea. But I rather like doors and windows that don't take any room, whether you're out on your deck or porch or inside your home, I always love sliders. And that made it very easy to come to work for P G T. We have more combinations of multis slide doors and different configurations than any other manufacturer. And we were the people who truly started that in the vinyl business. And it was certainly something I had my eye on when we were developing a business in the OUTTA state. And we've done very well with that. We've got a lot of people who come behind and try to emulate or copy, but if you look at the construction of the door, the way they're certified, as I've said, to more than one builder or more than one homeowner, you need to buy the best one you can. And ours work.
Speaker 1 00:13:45 So our team has gotten a little bit more involved, especially as we've expanded our reach with Western content. And now Alan content is almost done. I'm still working on a couple things with them, but how has the university been able to help you, your team? Well,
Speaker 2 00:14:01 It's very good for helping educate not only our own sales force and our guys that are bolting on a new product, as I mentioned earlier, it helps us educate our dealer base. And people are able to take these classes, whether they're at home or many of their employers, allow 'em to work there on their computer. And if they've got the time they take a class, some of these classes take as little as 15 minutes, you know, and it's a good way to build your product education. And as a sales person, if you're somebody dealing with consumers, they've never been more educated than they are today. Sure. A builder needs you to be a consultant to him. Consumers need that. And our university does a pretty cool job of that, of helping us educate our base. And it allows my guys more time to sell. And it's when you're remote like we are and we're, uh, maybe in Baltimore, Maryland or Washington dc pretty costly to come down here. Most of our veterans do that after a while. They want to come visit the plant, see how they're made, they wanna see our showroom, but the nice thing about it, they can visit all of that virtually and see it and go through that class for nothing. I mean, it's, it's there on our website and I, I think that's probably the true success of our university.
Speaker 1 00:15:18 Well, and that's one of the things I love about getting to do the podcast is that homeowners are doing their own research. They are trying to understand, I mean, how often in your lifetime are you actually purchasing windows and doors? Usually not that often. And so even if you did a remodel 10 years ago, you know, the market's different, the products are different, the technologies are different now because everything's improving. And so, you know, to keep up with the latest trends, you know, you're online, you're listening, you're reading, you're watching YouTube. And so that's one of the reasons that we started the podcast is to help educate homeowners as well so that they don't have to start from the very beginning. It's not a three hour consultation now. Maybe it's an hour when you're meeting with someone and discussing the project for your house and we're the authority as far as you know, a lot of that goes. So it's nice for our dealer base to have that voice of authority behind them. Well,
Speaker 2 00:16:10 The education that goes along with not just selecting the correct door, helping people with understand what's available. You can have your doors slide to one side or you can have 'em slide to both sides. You can have fixed panels on the ends and panels that operate in the middle. There's so many good things. But what I always talk to people about is be aware of the wall you're installing that door into. It's one thing to buy a great product that's gonna perform. But I put a 1608 oh door in my house in O X X O here in Florida and it's a new home, but it had an aluminum door and I wanted something more. I wanted it for the safety for my wife when I'm traveling. And I also wanted the security from hurricanes. So we had to beef up the wall and I went and had to have an engineer come in.
Speaker 2 00:16:58 And because it's a hurricane home, the homes were designed for that. I had to make sure that when we went back in and put the headers in that we had the right wall to receive the right door. And I do talk to people about that a lot having done it for my own self. And that is a true value of our university system. People have seen what we did with our house and they go, well, I'd like to do that. And you can refer 'em to our website. You can show 'em how to go through that and what to do. Right.
Speaker 1 00:17:28 Education is so important, isn't it? Oh,
Speaker 2 00:17:31 You never stop <laugh>. Right.
Speaker 1 00:17:33 Successful people never stop. Some people stop, but successful people never stop learning. Now
Speaker 2 00:17:38 I very much admire our university system and I told the guys after it was put together, I said, you know, this rivals anything I've ever worked with before. And it's definitely a tool in our arsenal for moving forward. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:17:50 It's a fun team and we have a good time, but we take the work very seriously. We want people to know and understand what they're doing and how to stay out of trouble.
Speaker 2 00:17:58 That's a good way to do it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:18:00 Well it's like everything else, right? You get what you pay for and we don't charge anything for our content, but that's because we want people to understand how amazing our products are.
Speaker 2 00:18:08 I think you're right. And I think that's why, um, we have the brand recognition we have here in Florida, but now outta state. It's really funny to be in places like Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Charleston and Savannah people know our products very well up there and we're introducing them now. Uh, we put 'em throughout Virginia from Richmond to the coast. We have projects down there where buildings have been renovated and they want to go to something that does not give them the problems they had before. And now we're introducing 'em into the Baltimore, Washington area. It's very, uh, really the right product for up there. Right.
Speaker 1 00:18:43 And you've got a guy on Long Island now too.
Speaker 2 00:18:45 Yes, we do. And the storms up there are every bit as fierce as they are down here when you, people don't realize how far Long Island juts out there into the ocean, you know, from the mainland. And it goes a good ways out there. And even though it may not be code, many of the architectures are specifying hurricane impact products. So, uh, yeah, it's a viable, uh, market for us to develop.
Speaker 1 00:19:07 Well, it's exciting days and we'll see what continues to happen and grow as your team continues to grow. And we've got the vinyl expansion project here for our manufacturing plant to keep up with the vinyl demand that's happening north of Florida. And your team is gonna be well positioned to meet that.
Speaker 2 00:19:24 Well, thank you and glad to let people know a little bit more about what we do in OUTTA state.
Speaker 1 00:19:28 Awesome. Howard, thank you so much for your time today. Thank
Speaker 2 00:19:31 You.
Speaker 1 00:19:32 P G T I University is the customer education team for an entire family of brands. We began with the original Easy Breeze, porch enclosure line then became P G t, America's leading brand of impact resistant windows and doors. We then added C G I C G I C window, Western Window Systems, new South Windows, echo windows, and doors and land, windows and doors, and our latest acquisition Martin Garage doors. We create products built to withstand major storms, keeping people safe, secure, and prepared. Our exceptional brands give you the protection you need without compromising design or functionality. P G T I University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
