Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast brought to you by Mitre Brands University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sheri Conner and I am your host.
So good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact Pond podcast and we are talking about relationships and partnerships and Miter Brands really believes in strong relationships and we have a program called Excellence through Partnership, also known as etp.
And so every year as a way of rewarding our top performing dealers, there's a big annual ETP triple. So we wanted to kind of highlight that and what that looks like. And so today we're going to be chatting with Kelly Bryan from Florida Windows and Doors. So welcome to the podcast, Kelly.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Thank you. Great to be here.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm sorry that you couldn't take a field trip and come visit us in studio, but over the phone will work. And so, so thankful you could record today. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your company?
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Sure. I'm from Florida Windows and Doors. Our headquarters is in Pompano Beach, Florida and we do business around most of the peninsul portion of Florida. So we've got a location in Venice, Fort Myers and as I said, our headquarters is in Pompano beach and we extend up north on both coasts through about the Melbourne area and all the way south. We focus on builder track, home building, residential window and door installation.
So we do a lot of work with big builders in the state of Florida.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's excellent. And so how long has Florida Window and Door been in business, do you know?
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Yes, we've been in business for a little over 20 years. My mother and father are the founders of the company and we're a family owned business obviously and been a PGT dealer for a little over 20 years as well.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Wow, that's some great longevity. That's amazing.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Thank you. Very proud to be the successors over here.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Yeah, that's amazing. And so did you grow up in the business or how long have you been involved in the company?
[00:02:19] Speaker A: I did not grow up in the business. I've been here since about nine years now, since 2016. My background is in corporate finance and accounting and that's what I came over to the company to do and after a little while started taking on different roles and learning different things, you know, just through the guidance of my mom and dad.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: That's amazing. So I know that Florida Window and Door is not a new participant in the ETP trip, but this was your first time attending this year, right?
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Yes, it was mine and my husband who also works with us. Our first time attending.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Oh, that's excellent. And so the trip was in Cabo San Lucas, right?
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: That's awesome. I know. I wanted to go, but they said, no, it's okay.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: I think that was the way a lot of people felt.
Very, very cool place.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah. And so I know that there's different qualifications and different tiers of qualification, but for you guys, like, what did you do to qualify?
[00:03:20] Speaker A: So we are recognized as what's called a diamond dealer. So the top tier, and that comes with consistent sales and partnerships and maintaining our business portfolio around the state year in and year out. And what we do really to maintain that and to reach those levels of sales, dollars, and share of wallet and things like that is number one, managing our relationships the same way that Miter Brands nurtures their relationships. And it's by advocating for the Miter brand family of products sort of holistically around all of the partnerships that we have in the state of Florida.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: So is that easy? Is that difficult? Like, in your experience? How do you see that? Is it like a big stretch to hit the etp, or is it like, yeah, we just keep doing what we're doing and we'll be fine. How does that look?
[00:04:07] Speaker A: I mean, it changes, right? The economic climate is different year to year. I would say right now and in recent history, it's extremely difficult to maintain status quo, so to speak, and grow. Our market in particular is affected because we're not going out there and simply saying, this is Florida. Every year we get hit by hurricanes. So you need impact windows in your home. We're looking more at our home selling. Is new construction still at, you know, growing at the rate that it once was in the height of the market? What did Covid do to that? And it's a difficult battle every year. You know, we have to get creative with what we're doing. We have to go the extra mile in everything we do to make sure that we're first on the list of phone calls to make from all of our builder partners. And yes, it's an extreme challenge year to year, especially at this point in time where houses are not selling at the rate they once were.
[00:05:02] 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.
Yeah, the conditions are tough right now, for sure, but as our CEO shared with us earlier this week, we see that as an opportunity. So we're not going to back down or go slow. We're going to charge ahead. So is hitting that ETP is that a focus is like, okay, we're going to hit this this year, everybody. This is our goal.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: I would say business growth and the focus of the business, developing, making profit, nurturing our relationships is probably where the focus is. I wouldn't say that our goal every year is to make etp. That is something that comes along with. It's a massive benefit that's offered to us by Miter Brands, but it's not something that we focus on as a target every year. We strive to never go backwards. And as there are different levels of recognition in the ETP program, we never want to go from a diamond dealer to, I guess regress, so to speak, into one of the lower tiers. So certainly those two things go hand in hand.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: We just more holistically focus on keeping our business at or above the profit level. Sales, dollars, employees, longevity, things like that. As we were, you know, in years past.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Right, that makes sense. And so now for the fun part, what feedback can you share about the trip?
[00:06:36] Speaker A: First of all, it was wonderful. Whenever I explain to people that are not in the industry what, what exactly I was doing for a week in Mexico for quote, unquote, work, I describe it as a retreat. It's a little bit of business, it's a lot of networking and obviously a lot of fun all rolled into one. And I particularly enjoy the opportunity to connect with Mitre Brand's leadership, to share a little bit of a casual feel with them, but also to have the opportunity to have kind of one on one access in maybe not as formal of an environment as we often do with the leadership team, but it's also very fun, you know, for us as dealers to connect with members of management of other dealers. And it's not just to toss around ideas of, you know, what's working for you, what's not working for you, but it's really to build relationships across the industry that we don't really do otherwise. There's things like business associations and construction groups that everybody becomes a part of, but that's not really the place where you grow those types of relationships. And the ETP trip and other things that Mitre Brands has opened up to us has really been a nice networking and connection opportunity for other dealers in our market and across the country.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's getting bigger as we speak. So that's amazing, that's fun. And so what advice would you have for a dealer that is Maybe striving to hit those ETP levels. Maybe they're a newer dealer. Maybe they're kind of in a similar situation where it's a generational handoff. What advice would you have for them?
[00:08:15] Speaker A: I mean, to reach ETP status specifically? I mean, that's kind of on everybody's own accord, however they grow and develop their business. But in terms of getting to that level with Mitre Brands, really utilizing the resources that they have available in terms of training and guidance and connection with leadership, trips to the facilities, things like that, thoroughly embrace the product that you represent as a dealer. Be able to provide the knowledge, the expertise to your customers about the Mitre Brands product.
That is what's going to grow your business in terms of what you're able to sell, deal, install, what have you for the Mitre family of products. And Mitre really does provide a lot of opportunities to a lot of access to resources. I should say it's the change in leadership has really shown in all facets. Manufacturing, field, service, sales, all of those. And I would really encourage others who are maybe new to the market, newer to selling a lot of PGT or CGI here in Florida, Windows and doors. Really, really use the resources that Mitre Brands has to offer to your advantage.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: I couldn't have said that better myself. Thank you.
As the education team, we appreciate that. Shout out. And we do take a lot of pride in being able to provide those resources because your success is our success. And so we want everyone to feel comfortable with what they're doing and know what they're talking about and be that reliable resource and not just, you know, a fly by night kind of company that doesn't know what they're doing. So we appreciate that.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: We really value the triangular relationship and it's a breath of fresh air as far as being on the same team and really getting everybody in the same room, shooting for the same stars, reaching for the same goals. And yeah, it's been wonderful so far.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Well, I really appreciate that, Kelly, thank you so much for your time today and for speaking about this. And I'm sure next year will be an even better location. We'll see what happens. And in the meantime, keep doing what you're doing.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Awesome. Thanks so much for having me. I had a great time.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Awesome. Thank you, Kelly.
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