Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by PGTI University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sheri Connor and I am your host.
[00:00:22] Speaker C: So, good morning. We are here on the Clear Impact podcast and we have a very special guest with us today. And I'm excited that he is willing to do this, and so I'm going to let him introduce himself. But we are sitting today with Casey Thomas from Royal Palm Aluminum. Welcome to the podcast.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Thanks for having me, Sheri. Yeah. My name is Casey Thomas. I'm a sales executive with Royal Palm Aluminum, the window company. I've been in the fenestration industry for probably nine years officially, but I've been dealing with windows and doors most of my life, so.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Okay. And where is Royal Palm Aluminum?
[00:01:00] Speaker A: We're located in West Palm Beach. It's actually Lake Worth on the east coast of Florida.
[00:01:06] Speaker C: Okay, awesome. And so tell us a little bit about your career path and. And then we'll go into your current role and responsibilities there.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Sure. So with Royal Palm Aluminum, I started off working in the service department. I was doing service for approximately four years, and I was able to work my way into an installation role as a coordinator. From that point, I worked my way up to be installation director.
And I did that for about three and a half, four years. And recently I've jumped into the sales department.
So going from the bottom, working my way up.
[00:01:53] Speaker C: Right.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: And seeing all facets of the process.
[00:01:57] Speaker C: Yeah, but you had shared a story that when you were younger, you would go out with your dad, so your. Your career actually started before your career.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:02:07] Speaker C: You were that unpaid labor. Right?
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Growing up. Both my parents are tradespeople, so my mother was a plumber and electrician. My father was a carpenter and worked in windows and doors.
So after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, he would be going down into Homestead. He would work in a lot of different areas that needed Impact Windows, which is when impact became kind of the norm. And I would be right there with him. He would bring me on job sites during the weekends. I would kind of carry a bucket and follow him around, hand him tools that he would call out. So from a very early standpoint in my life, I was very much involved in, you can say the installation process.
[00:02:53] Speaker C: Right. That's awesome. But not everybody that has that experience learns how to do it correctly.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:00] Speaker C: Like, sounds like you were fortunate.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Yeah, My. My father did it. Right. He worked for a number of companies, and he followed the rules and regulations, and I learned from that. Just kind of seeing, you know, as a young Kid watching him do it and gave me an understanding of how the process worked. And as I got older, it was in my early, early teens that he would have me helping him lift products in.
[00:03:32] Speaker C: Sir.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: He would have me start running TapCons in. And before I knew it, I was installing.
[00:03:38] Speaker C: Nice. Yeah. Bring in the young labor. Right. Like, things are thing when things get heavy, like, I gotta find some strong young men to come and help with this.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: So it was a great bonding time with him. Yeah.
[00:03:50] Speaker C: That's awesome. And so the thing that we're really here to talk about today is your experience with the university. And you are on our first brand expert, not only for pgt, but also for cgi. And so for those that may not be familiar with our certification program, it kind of follows a collegiate path. And so the very basic certification levels are associates, and then it builds to the professional level, and then it goes up to the Master's level. And so with a Master's level, by the time someone hits that, they've invested a ton of hours, a ton of classes, they've gone through rigorous assessments, and there's two different paths on the Master's side. So you have the product side of things where you need to understand the product and how to sell it. Energy codes, you know, glass makeups, things that come into play when you're dealing with homeowners and customers. And then you have a whole other track on this as well, where it's installation and. And services and understanding building codes and water infiltration and how to be safe on a job site and, you know, all those kinds of things. So in the rare event, because this is a rare event, a person is able to achieve a Master's level for both tracks, not just the product, but also the installation that qualifies you for the brand expert experience, which is what we've been doing this week. And so congratulations, first of all, because that is a major accomplishment. There's only one other person who's hit that, and he'll be coming in in a few weeks, but there's nobody else even close. And I know you were top of the leaderboard for quite some time, and people have been chasing you since. So I want to talk a little bit about your experience with our company and then your experience in pursuing this certification.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Sure. Gosh. When I heard that PGT University became a thing, I believe it was in 2022 when it launched, and I got real excited because in my experience, I worked in service and I was running our installation department, and I had experience installing with my dad all those years. But the there was still something missing as far as the knowledge and I was able to immediately jump on. I talked with my boss and he was fully on board with me investigating and seeing what is this PGT University all about.
And as I began taking the course loads, the associate level process, I felt, okay, this all seems relatively common knowledge for me, but there were still some tidbits that I, I was able to say, okay, like that reinforces that knowledge base with me early on. One of the best resources in that course load was actually this podcast, the 101 series that when I listened to it, I remember I had set it up on my phone and I was actually doing yard work and I was listening to it and I found myself, as I was doing yard work, I found myself, I had stopped and I'm just kind of going, yeah, like this all is, it makes sense. And from my perspective as someone who has been in the industry, it all made perfect sense. But I also appreciated from the mindset of someone who may not be very familiar with fenestration, to be able to hear everything explained was very comforting. And seeing that when I heard that particular podcast, it made me go, okay, this is really going to be important for me and my growth not only as a professional in fenestration, but for my career. I knew that at that point it was going to be something that would help me. And in the time progressing from associate level to professional and seeing the information load kind of amp up and clearly going from professional to master, you know, it very much intensifies and I had a strong appreciation for what you guys are putting together. And again, as someone who in the industry I feel very, I felt exposed in that I had all this experience, but I needed to know more. And my hunger for the knowledge certainly quenched through the PGT University experience.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Wow. Well, thank you. I'm glad it's making a difference. That's, you know, our whole team works very hard to out content that we feel like is going to be relevant and helpful and you know, and not just for the newbies, but also for people who've been around for a while that maybe there's still a couple things out there that you don't quite know. And so what has been maybe something that surprised you in the certification process like as you went along?
[00:09:18] Speaker A: I think when I had taken a course with Jim Heiss, the NOA course that was, I guess, eye opening for me and it was really a game changing experience because recognizing when you as just the regular everyday person looking at an noa, it can be very overwhelming. You have no idea really what you're looking at. It's just a bunch of grids and numbers and. But when I went through that course and got that experience with Jim and having conversation and, you know, question and answering, I was able to really feel confident in not only being able to flip through and be able to read those NOA's and understand them, but I was able to kind of share that experience with others.
And my comfortability in the knowledge of that not only gives me a leg up in my industry and what I do, but it also gave me the ability to turn around and be a teacher as well. And you know, that was kind of an eye opener for me to be able to say, wow, like, not only am I learning this, but I can turn around and share this knowledge with others who it ultimately benefits, not just themselves in their comfortability with their job, but you know, our company.
[00:10:49] Speaker C: Right. And you told a story earlier this week about something specific around that. I think it was around an inspection.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:10:57] Speaker C: Do you want to talk about that?
[00:10:58] Speaker A: We've had many instances where I used to be the inspection layperson where I would get to go and camp out on a job site and wait for the city or municipality inspector to come and inspect the project and try to get it passed. And that can be a challenge at times, but having the knowledge and wherewithal of the NOA's and understanding that process, it helped me to be able to communicate with those building inspectors, to be able to share knowledge and information with them that they know. Sometimes it can get lost in translation or they may forget, but those guys know what they're doing and to be able to at least give them a sense of comfort that the people that they're working with understand what their process is all about. It gives them a sense of comfort in working with our company. And it helped me and our and Royal Palm Aluminum to be able to make the inspection process way more flawless in dealing with the different municipalities.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: Right. Do you have any numbers on that?
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I know prior to my work in PGT University, really with that NOA course, we were at like a 60, 75% conversion rate. And once I was fully comfortable and confident with the NOA's and understanding with experience in doing inspections with these city inspectors, it's near 100%.
[00:12:48] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: And we have, you know, our installers do a tremendous job in following suit in code. Our service technicians, wonderful in being able to clean things up and make those minor details flawless. But really it's a big part of our industry. When we're someone who not only as a production or distributor of PGT products, that we install it and service it, we help finish everything with the client. And the knowledge that when someone like me comes in and is able to talk with a city inspector, the homeowner has no idea what's going on.
[00:13:32] Speaker C: Sure, sure.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: But to be able to see the relationship and see that everything is fine, it gives that homeowner that much more confidence, not only in Royal Palm aluminum, but the products that we put in, knowing that everything is. Everything's going to be okay.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:14:06] Speaker C: Yeah, and that's where a lot of costs can really go outside your control. Right, sure. If there's any kind of discrepancy between what the inspector thinks and what you think and what the job is. Okay, now the clock is ticking.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: And now the crew still has to be there, or maybe the crew has to come back for, you know, another round. And now the inspector has to come. And now the homeowner still has their house not as they would like it. And there's still that ongoing construction where it's not quite finished yet. You know, that is, you know, you want to. You want to finish on a high note. You don't want to finish on that. Oh, now we have to go back. And now we have to correct. And now we have to make another trip. And you want to avoid that, right?
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Yeah. The biggest part of our job is not even the installing or the final capping, servicing. It is literally the last 2% of the job that once you finish it and you feel confident in that, in everything being completed, then the homeowner is satisfied. So up until that point, they're still kind of holding everything in and wanting to.
[00:15:25] Speaker C: So, yeah, yeah, it's a stressful process. I had windows and doors put into my place this fall. And, I mean, I knew the people who came and did it, and obviously they knew I worked for pgt, and so they were on their very best behavior, of course. But I was gone. I was here at work while they were at my house, and. And, you know, I came home one day and they had the, you know, everything was done, everything was put away, Everything was gone. I was like, oh, look at this. I mean, it was. It was awesome.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: That's the. That's the kind of client we like.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Give us the space to do what we do best.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: Yeah. So you transitioned from an installation manager overseeing several crews in your area, into sales. And so. So what was that experience like? And was there any benefit to the courses in helping you with that?
[00:16:19] Speaker A: I can tell you that when I first started with Royal Palm Aluminum, Steve McGurk, who was the owner, he had asked me. I had a long standing relationship with him and his family through my father, and he had asked me, where do you want to go? What do you want to do? And I turned around and asked him, where do you need the most help? And at that point in time, it was in the service department. So that's where I started.
After a few years, he saw my growth, and he saw my hunger to do more and be more. And they gave me this opportunity to be an installation manager in helping segue things from the sales department through installation, through service, and kind of overseeing, like a project manager of sorts. And after doing that for a few years, when Steve had passed In January of 2023, his son Sean had discussions with me about transitioning over into the sales role. We had a need to do more in sales, and he saw my work that I had put in through PGT University, and he had asked me about how comfortable I felt going into that. I'm not a typical salesperson, so. And I tell people that I'm not. I'm not an everyday sales guy. I'm not gonna try and upsell people on something that they don't need, just from my background and where I came from.
But with my knowledge through PGT University, the product knowledge, and also understanding how the installation process works, it really made it such an easy transition into sales, where I don't have to sell anybody. I just talk to people about what it is that they need as far as windows and doors, what it is they're looking for. And I do everything in my power to try and match up what it is that they're looking for to the products that are out there and available.
And from a. Just a sales perspective, I've seen salesmen in our industry go years and having struggles, ups and downs. And in my first year, I. I can proudly say that I'm. I'm happy being a salesman because it's helped me and my family, you know, maintain success. And I contribute or I attribute a lot of that to what I learned through PGT University. I don't think that I would be in the position that I am Right now without the information that I was able to absorb and learn from through this university.
[00:19:16] Speaker C: Wow. And you knocked it out of the park, too. I mean, it wasn't a small number that you did in your first year out.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: So working with Sean, you know, our sales team, we wanted to kind of set goals. And at the end of 2023, I had set myself a goal of 1.6 million, which for someone who's never done sales, I didn't know, you know, what, do I want to shoot for the moon and say that I could do like 6 million in sales? I know what's talking with Sean. I knew what was realistic and what wasn't. But to be able to say that I knocked that number out the park in my first year as a salesman, I know I can only contribute that or attribute that to the work that I put in with the university.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: That's amazing. That is amazing. And I'm not surprised. I mean, you're such a humble person and obviously, you know, people don't know what, like most people don't buy windows and doors very often. And even if they did do it 20 years ago, things have certainly changed, at least, you know, especially in our. In our market, there's so much more options as far as glass and energy and different requirements now. And so even if you are somewhat experienced in buying windows and doors, you still have to work with someone who knows more than you do and being able to be that consultant to them. And also, I love what you said about, I'm not selling them things that they don't need, you know, because window salesmen have that reputation. Kind of like a used car salesman, right? Like, oh, I've got a nice little classic over here for you. And, you know, and it's just the wheel and deal and get it done, and it's slick and almost, you know, kind of slimy. And it, you know, I love that that is not the approach that most of our customers don't engage in that kind of stuff. Obviously you don't engage in that. And that's just going to build. People are going to refer their friends to you. You know, you're not going to have to worry about, like, I wonder if I'm going to have any business next year.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Right. Steve really kind of helped set that trend. As far as what we as a company should be focusing on. It's not necessarily about the numbers and it's not about how much and how fast you can sell a product. We are building relationships within the community, much like what PGT and Mitre is about. We are focused on building those relationships with our clients throughout Palm beach county and Broward county and Miami Dade and with those builders and with the homeowners. And through those relationships, you gain trust. And through that trust, that's how you generate more business, right?
[00:22:06] Speaker C: Absolutely. And so we don't want to give away too many details, but we do want to just do a quick overview of your experience this week with us. So we started with a private tour of CGI because you're a CGI brand expert. And so we spent some time over there and then came over and did private tours yesterday with our ILAB team and then our glass plant operations team and then a floor tour with our assembly plant here at pgt.
And then later today we're going to go down to Fort Myers and tour that facility. And so overall, what has been, what's your feeling of the expert, the brand expert experience that you've had this week?
[00:22:55] Speaker A: I can tell you, when I first started taking courses through the university, I had no idea what to expect. And through taking the courses and the knowledge that I gained from it, I thought that was rewarding enough.
Certifications, placards and just the way that you guys had come over to visit and thank me for taking certain courses and getting certain certifications was really overwhelming for me at that point. Point. This brand expert experience is another level, is another world of. I'm still relatively overwhelmed with the amount of gratitude I have for you and for Jim, Jim Shank and those within PGT who have helped make this all possible. It's been, you know, I say overwhelming, but it's, it's truly been eye opening. I've come to the plant before and done the regular tours, the behind the scenes tours, if you will, were extraordinary. And I, I consider myself a window and door nerd and I certainly was geeking out the entire time.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: Perfect.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Being able to see everything and just the, the number of people, you know, get to interact with it truly was a phenomenal, otherworldly experience.
So, and it makes it, it certainly made me reflect last night I was talking with my wife about it and just saying how, man, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't think, you know, anything would come out of it more than a piece of paper. But to have this experience, I'll certainly remember it for a very, very long time.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: Well, we're thrilled that you could step away from your duties for a couple of days and that your wife could come and enjoy a couple of, you know, a couple of days in Sarasota and, you know, a few nice meals here and there and. But yeah, truly, you know, when we put out the invitations to our tour guides, we said, listen, this is a very special customer. Like, this is stuff that no one else gets to do. And so I'm glad that that that translated well. And, and we do, we do have an amazing team here and everybody loves to show off their departments and loves to, you know, they appreciate the university. And so we have a lot of respect amongst our colleagues here. And so, you know, it's not very often that we ask for things like that. And so they were more than happy to accommodate. But, yeah, it's been a blast having you guys this week and look forward to, you know, I don't know what comes next. I think we'll just keep going. And, And I know that if I post a new course, you're going to take it, whether it's. Whether it's, you know, part of what you have to do or what you want to do. But, but also we just appreciate the feedback, you know, and helping us become better at what we do and the company becoming better and, you know, and just that you're able to pass that information along to the rest of your team. So maybe you throw out a challenge and say, all right, who's next?
[00:26:15] Speaker A: That's. That's the goal. When I go back after this whole experience is having a meeting with the entire sales department and pretty much half of the company, and we're going to discuss about. Okay, some of you guys need to maybe not get on my level, but you need to start looking into some of this because this information is. Is a necessity in our industry, I think.
[00:26:41] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Well, Casey, thank you for recording with me this morning. We have one more tour to do and another meal, and then we are. Then we're done. So, anyway, it's been a fantastic week. Thank you, Sheri.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: Thank you so much.
[00:26:55] Speaker C: Have a great day.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: The Clear Impact podcast is brought to you by PGTI University. We are a part of Mitre Brands, a family of leading window and door brands united by our passion for quality and relentless pursuit of 100%. One of the missions of Mitre Brands is to unite and deliver the finest customer experience possible across the nation. Our window and door brands deliver regionalized expertise and products backed by a national company. PGTI University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
