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 Sherry Connor and I am your host.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: So good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are recording in Scottsdale at the 2024 CX event. And we've just been finding all kinds of interesting people to talk to. So at the table we have Stan Sullivan and Jerry Meyer. So welcome.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:00:42] Speaker D: Thanks for having us.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm going to let you guys introduce yourselves. Stan, we'll start with you.
[00:00:46] Speaker D: So my name is Stan Sullivan and I am the cultural ambassador for Mitre Brands.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: Okay, what is a cultural ambassador?
[00:00:53] Speaker D: Well, first of all, I'll start with. I've been with Mitre brands for about 38 years.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:00:58] Speaker D: So I started when I was right out of school, 22 years old. So the interesting thing about me is I've never had another job other than part time jobs. This is the only job I've ever had in my life.
[00:01:06] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:01:07] Speaker D: So start to finish, it's all been mi. So as I worked my way through MI and got opportunities to grow with the company, I got the opportunity to become the president of the division. And after the purchase of Milgard, I had approached Matt DeSoto and Mike DeSoto about starting to slow down a little bit. So from there we put out a search for my replacement and we were fortunate enough to get Rangel Brock Snyder over to take my position. And fortunately for Brock and myself, we got to spend a couple years together. And so once Brock was fully prepared for his position, I stepped aside and I had talked to Matt and Mike about still staying active in the business. And really what came of that was the culture ambassador. So the culture ambassador, the way I look at it is a person that has a rich history with mi.
[00:01:55] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:01:56] Speaker D: So I know a lot of things about the business. I'm very passionate about the business. I know the culture of the business, and I'm a pretty good salesman. So to go out there and talk about the culture and then also to spend a lot of time with the foundation, working with Gwen and Amanda.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Okay, nice. Well, I knew your name because Brock referenced you in the podcast I recorded with him a few months back. And then he mentioned your name again today from the stage. And so I looked up on my guest list and I was like, oh, Stan Sullivan is here. Okay. I think I need to see if I can wrangle this guy over to the table. And then, Jerry, you decided to come heckle Stan. And I said, have a seat. And Join us. And so that's what happens. So, Jerry, tell us a little bit about you.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: Okay. Well, good afternoon. My name's Jerry Meyer. I've been with MI for a little over 28 years now. Unlike Stan, I had one other job prior to this. So I joined Wick's Lumber when I was 16 years old, and I worked there for 23 years during the end of my career with W. At the time, I was MI's largest customer. I think about four and a half, $5 million. And I was selling into the hotel motel segment. I took a leap of faith and joined mi. And it was an interesting choice. WIX Lumber had filed several bankruptcies, and I knew it was time to kind of get out of there and do something different. So I started interviewing the vendors that I dealt with, right? That was Owens, Corning, Certainteed, Anderson Windows, and a couple others. And I fell upon mi, and they were by far not the largest, but they just had an interesting culture about themselves. Jane Crabb and some of the people in the inside sales group. And they were just wonderful to work with out of all the other people I worked with. So I took a real healthy pay cut, and I went from being home every night to my first year with MI. I put 92,000 miles on my company car. Yikes. MI at that time was about $100 million. And I hired another WIX guy, John Perkins, who. He's here giving commercial presentations today. So he and I joined mi, and I joined as the director of commercial sales. John Perkins was the first builder representative that we had. So when he would wake up in the morning, he would go call on builders. And when I woke up in the morning, I would go call on hotel, motel, assisted living, multifamily. So we brought in the Marriotts and the Hampton Inns and that sort of thing. And then after about a year of that, the president said, hey, you know, you're selling direct, and we're not supposed to sell direct. I said, oh, gosh, nobody told me that.
So $25 million in sales later, I'm like, I think we want to start running this to our distribution base, which we did. So then I became, wait, that's okay.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: That's just funny.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. Yeah, that's funny. I could go on forever with funny stories similar to that. But, yeah, it was funny. And I mean, literally, I would leave sometimes on a Sunday night and come back home Friday, get an oil change, and take off again. So my territory at that time was Illinois to Colorado, over to Pennsylvania, up North to Minnesota and all the way down to Texas.
[00:04:47] Speaker C: Oh, gosh.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: But it was a wonderful time and it really helped make who we are today. But nonetheless. So I always handled new construction, and Stan, for the most part, handled the retail and the replacement segment. So we were always competing against each other. We're kind of like Frick and Frack and that sort of stuff. So after a few years of that, then I became a regional manager and covered the same territories. And back then, you know, we pretty much put together the entire sales team and then took it to the next level. And like Stan, I'll be retiring at the end of this year and my last title was Senior VP of National Accounts, Senior VP of Sales prior to that. So it's been an awesome career. It's an awesome company, and I'm just so honored to be a part of it.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Yeah, that's amazing. So you would sit down at the sales meetings and be like, well, I have this much in sales and, well, I have this much in sales.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Yeah. My sales were usually more. And they were more profitable than his.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it's an easier sell.
It's an easier sell. Right. You know, you've got a building with how many units versus, you know, it's a little harder to earn it when you've got smaller units per order.
[00:05:51] Speaker D: Yeah. You actually have to sell the product. You don't just give a price.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: But my margins were always 10 points higher than his. I couldn't figure out why, but I supplemented the replacement segment. I like to think in my own mind.
[00:06:02] Speaker C: Okay. All right. So where are you based? Are you in Harrisburg?
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Yes. Pennsylvania.
[00:06:06] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: North of Harrisburg.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: And is that where you are as well, Stan?
[00:06:08] Speaker D: I'm based there for another three weeks.
[00:06:10] Speaker C: Okay, so and then you're headed to Florida?
[00:06:13] Speaker D: I'll be based out of Venice. Yes.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:06:15] Speaker D: Super excited. The weather's beautiful and the company's awesome and we're excited to be part of it.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: This time of year, the weather is awesome. Have you been on Anna Maria in August?
[00:06:24] Speaker D: No.
[00:06:25] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:06:26] Speaker D: No, that's. That'll be an eye opening experience. I think.
[00:06:31] 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.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: Yeah. There's a new term in the area. It's called a sunbird. So the snowbirds are the ones that live up north and then they come to Florida or Arizona in the winter. To escape the snow. Right. So those are the snowbirds in the summer. In Florida, we have what are called sunbirds, and they are the ones that go north for three months because it's unbelievably hot and humid in the summer. So July, August, September.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Like you want to be a sunbird.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. So don't burn any bridges in Harrisburg, because you might want to go there in the summer. Just saying. So is this probably your last CX event then?
[00:07:25] Speaker A: More than likely, yes. For me, it would be.
[00:07:27] Speaker C: So how many have you been to?
[00:07:28] Speaker A: Well, I have been at Olive. It's ironic. This is the first one I've never had active part in. Prior to the last couple years. It was usually Stan, myself, and a couple others putting them together. But okay. And we didn't do them nearly as nice as this. But, you know, it is what it is.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: Yeah, this is fancy.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: This is very fancy. Very nice.
[00:07:47] Speaker D: When we started, we had a small budget, so it was a little bit.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: When we started, we did it like a local hotel room at a Hampton Inn.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: Right, so now that you're kind of winding down and maybe not as involved or knee deep as you have been in the past, what are you getting out of today's sessions so far?
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Well, myself, what I'm getting out of it is I just love the diversity that we have today. All the different companies that we're integrating. It's really interesting to see and to see how we've evolved. The sessions are very good. The speaker today was just over the top. Awesome. I mean, really what I'm getting out of it is it's interesting to see where we are today and where we were when we started. When I started the hollow vinyl window industry, the vinyl window guys were kind of like creepy blue suede shoes. I really only came to work for MI because of the people that I met. I dealt with with the people for several years inside, and they were cool. Then I went to the plant, looked at that. But just looking at where we've gone, the sophistication, the quality of our speakers today, I mean, you know, Stan and I used to stand up here and stumble through these things. And, you know, these guys are doing a phenomenal job, way better than I ever could have, so.
[00:08:50] Speaker C: Well, I think they have teleprompters now. Well, I don't know that they memorized anything. I mean, I don't know.
[00:08:56] Speaker D: But we didn't have it in our day.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: We had overhead projectors and things like that. But, you know, we did learn how to use PowerPoint and things. And we had some teleprompters in the last couple.
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Okay, Stan, how about you? What are you getting at it today?
[00:09:07] Speaker D: You know, as Jerry said, this is a really inspiring event. The speaker's amazing. Brad was amazing. You know, just all the adversity he's been through and such a positive person. It's just amazing and it's wonderful to see. But the most important thing for me, I just see there's a really solid team. That's when you're leaving a business or you're slowing down in a business, you're always wondering if the next generation's coming up and stepping up and taking the. And I think they're going to do it much better than we did it. And it's inspiring to see how they continue to work together like Jerry and I did with our teams forever. It's really inspiring to know that we've handed it off to a wonderful group and that group is really taking it to the next level. And it's really fun to watch because I love the fact when I started with MI, we were $50 million. And now we're north of 3 billion. And it's been an incredible journey.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: Yeah, well, don't cut yourself short though, because you guys were doing this job before there was an Internet, right. Before you had MapQuest, before you had cell phones. Like you had to map out your territory and just hope for the best and get there. You can't call anybody. You gotta find a payphone to tell them I'm gonna be late. Or don't undercut yourself. Those were not easy days.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I can remember, to your point, printing out the maps for the territory and putting em in a file in the backseat of my Crown Victoria and trying to figure out where I was going and then going to the hotels. I still look for the banks of phones, Remember the banks of phones at breaks? You have those. But I spent many an afternoo stuck in the snow banks in my car in central Illinois trying to get to Chicago or St. Louis. And I would literally carry cold weather gear and military MREs.
[00:10:39] Speaker C: That's why I don't live in Iowa anymore.
All right. One of the things I love to ask people when I'm recording, especially on an introductory level, when I just met you both, I like to ask people what their favorite piece of advice is or a great piece of advice that they've received over the years. And so that's why I knew your name, Stan, because Brock attributed his to you.
[00:11:02] Speaker D: Yeah, a lot of these phrases and Brock's phrase obviously told him early on, you know, you're better off to make a mistake than not do anything, because if you're not doing anything, we don't need you.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: Right.
[00:11:11] Speaker D: So learn through those mistakes. It's what Pete told Jerry and I early on, and it's one of my favorite ones. There's two other ones with Pete that I love, and I say to my boys all the time, I have three boys. The harder I work, the luckier I get. I believe that to be true. I mean, there's been so many times where we just pushed our heads down and grinded through problems, and we got opportunities.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Right.
[00:11:31] Speaker D: And that's just a wonderful piece of advice from Pete. And another piece of advice. He always told us to lead by example. He said, don't ever ask a team member to do something you wouldn't do. And that's what we do. I think Jerry and I are very well respected in the business because we spend so much time in the plants. We spend time with the customers. If a customer's on our list, whether a big customer or small customer, they're a customer, and they're important to us. And I think those are a lot of things that we've learned from Pete. And of course, Pete passed that on to Matt and Mike, and they're doing a phenomenal job running the business. And, you know, obviously, Brock will learn more as he comes along, but it's just he's a very wise individual, and he's been a lot of fun to be part of the team with.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I really like him. How about you, Jerry? Any pieces of advice that stand out?
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Yeah, a couple. Someone recently asked me what I thought the success of my career would be, and it was really being all in is a way of life. In my past role as the senior VP of sales, you know, in building relationships, someone asked me, you need to find who your best customer is. I'm like, yeah, it's real easy. It has nothing to do with the size of the customer or their margins. But if my house burned down, tomorrow, they'd be the guys in my driveway to help me rebuild it. So over the last 28 years, my social circle is our customers. I mean, my best friends are our customers. So I would say, you know, things change. You've got different PowerPoints and different systems and different nuances that come down the pipeline with modern technology. But the one thing that does not change is if you enjoy people, you're sincere with that, and this is your career path, and you're all in, and I mean literally all in. That means you take phone calls on Sundays. The one thing any of our customers that I deal with, they could call me on a Sunday. They call me Saturday night, I bail them out of jail. I mean, I've done some crazy things with customers.
[00:13:09] Speaker C: There's some stories there. I don't know if we want to record those.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: No. You might want to cut some of this. But I think the point is you have to like people and you have to be available and you have to do whatever it takes and literally take the high road. I see today in a lot of businesses where people, they don't want to have hard discussions or they sidestep things. And I see some of them like politicians, I see our competition doing that. And, you know, you do what you can do, you always have an answer. And more than anything, you just take the high road every single time. If any of my customers or colleagues could say anything about me, they would say I was a straight shooter. I was always honest, and I was always available for them whether they need personal help or whatever. But you got to be all in. It comes naturally. Or choose a different career.
[00:13:50] Speaker C: Right. That's great advice. I love that. All right, well, gentlemen, thank you for being so willing and, you know, open to sitting down and recording with me. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your dedication and devotion to the organization and for spending a few minutes with me.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: All right, have a great day.
[00:14:09] 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.
