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.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: So, good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we're wrapping up a lovely week in Tacoma, Washington. We're finishing up some sales training and something about extra points for your team or your table if you recorded a podcast. Doesn't count for me. I'm not quite sure how that works. But anyway, these three guys have decided to jump in and join me. So I'm gonna just go around the table, let you introduce yourselves, talk about maybe how long you've been with the company, maybe a little bit of your background if you're in a different position, and then current role and responsibilities. So we'll start here.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Hello, my name is Brian Lazierowicz. I've been with Western Window Systems for about seven and a half years. I'm the vice president of sales. Currently. I joined Western in a director of commercial sales role, and that is the majority of my background is really in the commercial fenestration side. So residential has been a lot to learn and very fun, and I enjoy the technical side of it. So here I am and got a great team to work with. And yeah, it's been been interesting transitioning through that.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. Because you guys were acquired by PGT Innovations, what, five or six years ago, and then just in the past year and a half or so by Mitre Brand. So lots of change for you guys.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: And all three of us have been through multiple ownership and leadership changes.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. All right. It keeps us on our toes. All right.
[00:01:43] Speaker D: Monte Del Rio, regional sales manager for Western Window Systems in the West. So I support the California pac, Northwest, Mountain States, and Hawaiian markets. I've been here about eight years. Prior to my current role as RSM, I was a territory sales manager in NorCal.
Prior to that, I was at Milgard for about 13 years in a couple different roles there.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Okay, so you were at Milgard and then you went to Western, and now you're all on the same team again.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: Oh, that's fun.
[00:02:12] Speaker D: Yeah, a lot of familiar faces.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Good. But are you only handling Western product or are you also handling Milgard?
[00:02:18] Speaker D: Just Western.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: All right, that's fun. And Chris.
[00:02:21] Speaker E: I'm Chris Reed. I am the regional sales manager for Western Window Systems. I've been with Western Window Systems eight years, and I based out of Texas, but I cover everything from Arizona East.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Okay, so Galveston, Houston, San Antonio. All those fun places.
[00:02:37] Speaker E: All the fun places.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah. You guys get your share of hurricanes down there too?
Yeah. And just specifically Western.
[00:02:44] Speaker E: Specifically Western. I am interacting with the Mitre sales team on the east coast. They're helping us to cover the western product on the east.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: And I'm sure at some point maybe you'll have some PGT in your space. Who knows?
[00:02:54] Speaker E: Yeah, we have some of it, but typically it's the Mitre sales folk that are managing that.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: All right, so a lot of territory covered here.
So when you think about the Mitre acronym, which letter most resonates with your role, do you think I'll take?
[00:03:09] Speaker D: Probably the Miter. Most obvious one for the sales folks is the relationships. It's so critical that, you know, the customers trust us. They want to come back. As one of our operations leaders says, you know, it's our role to separate them from their money. And it's important that we've got good relationship and that we can support that and make that customer feel very comfortable coming back. And we're their advisor, we're their friend in a lot of cases, you know, that's so critical to the whole process for us.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Right. Because it's not just a one time transaction. Right. You're a repeated business. Right. You want them to continue ordering and continue buying so that we can continue building and supplying.
[00:03:45] Speaker D: Yeah. It's fun when you establish a good rapport and a good relationship with the customer. It's fun when they go, hey, I wasn't even thinking about you for this, but what do you think about this project? And they keep coming back and asking for your input. It's not always a fit for you or for us. It's not always the right project or the right timing or whatever. But that relationship is there to keep that flow of information back and forth. And the business is beneficial for both of us.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Anything you guys want to add to that?
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Well said.
[00:04:12] Speaker E: I agree. I mean, relationships would have been my first choice in what I find the most important in our role. It's funny how much gossip happens in the window world. And if you're really close to those people, you get a lot of the information first by having those really tight relationships.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah. They tell you what's the buzz around.
[00:04:28] Speaker E: Yep.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: All right. And so for the fun question, and you guys have had like you know, all of four minutes to think about this answer. So if you don't have anything, that's fine. But I mean, obviously we've been in a sales training the last two days. But what is that is interesting or weird or cool that you've been learning about lately. And it can be personal, professional, can be completely random. Doesn't have to be related to work. Anybody have anything?
[00:04:52] Speaker E: I mean, in my personal life, the thing that's affecting me the most right now, and some people have gone through it already, but teaching a teenager how to drive is one of the scariest things and a way to really test my patience.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: So how old is your teenager?
[00:05:06] Speaker E: Just turned 14.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Okay. And how are they doing?
[00:05:09] Speaker E: You know, better than expected, but I'm still tensed up the entire time.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you have that, like, ghost brake pedal on the passenger side where you, like, try to stop the car, but it's. Nothing's happening?
[00:05:21] Speaker E: I wish I did, or I wish they were still small enough to have them on your lap and be able to hit the brake, but it's not the case anymore.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: You take them to, like, an empty parking lot on a Sunday morning when there's nobody around and let them.
[00:05:34] Speaker E: I think you throw them to the fire, straight to the freeway.
[00:05:38] Speaker C: Is 14 actually legal?
[00:05:40] Speaker E: Negative.
[00:05:41] Speaker C: You do live in the U.S. right?
[00:05:42] Speaker E: I do. There's different rules in Texas.
[00:05:45] Speaker D: No, it's. It's Texas. It's not the U.S. it's a different animal. It's all. It's its own thing.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, the good news is that when they do get their license, then you don't have to chauffeur them anymore. And you can say, hey, on your way home, stop and get a gallon of milk or whatever.
[00:05:59] Speaker E: I can't wait for that.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Yeah, that's worth it. How about you, Monte?
[00:06:02] Speaker D: So toward the end of last year, I'm a car guy. I always wanted to build an engine, so I went through the process. I have an uncle who's been a mechanic forever, and he showed me the ropes and went through that process of assembling the engine and installing it. And now kind of the fun part is you get to drive the car with the engine that you built by hand, but the learning is continuous. You're learning how to keep it running, make sure you're adjusting the valves, you're moving the timing around. You're doing all these things to make sure that it runs well. So you're always learning, at least I'm always learning about how to be a little bit better at that. What to listen for, what to look for, all that stuff.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: So what kind of a car did you put your homemade engine in?
[00:06:40] Speaker D: It's a 65 Ford Mustang.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:06:43] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah, it's fun. It's been in the family for probably 35 years, so I got the keys to it a couple years back, and it's time to hot rod it. Time to put a little, you know, spicy little motor in it.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:54] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: So what'd you put in there?
[00:06:56] Speaker D: It's a 289, but it's got aluminum heads and a big cam and all kinds of stuff, so it's fun.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:03] Speaker D: It's pretty sporty.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: All right. That's fun. Don't let your teenagers drive that.
[00:07:06] Speaker D: No teenagers. My dogs can't drive. Yet. Yet.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yet.
Nice. How about you, Brian?
[00:07:13] Speaker C: Well, I am now in my 50s, my children are out of the house, and I've made it this far in a sales career being an absolutely horrendous golfer. So I've decided I'm gonna buckle down and take some lessons and stop being embarrassed and maybe actually get to the point. I'm okay with keeping my own score.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:32] Speaker C: And not just, you know, depending on everybody else to keep me out of harm's way.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:07:38] Speaker D: Are you into double digits now or still triple digits?
[00:07:41] Speaker C: Way into triple digits.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: You just bring two dozen balls with you every time you go home and.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: Come home with three.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. That's okay.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: Three balls, not three dozen.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Right, right, right. Yeah. No, I get it. Well, you're not having to dodge gators to get your stray balls in Arizona.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: No, we just have rattlesnakes in California.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, that's right. So you work for Western, but you don't live in Phoenix, you live in California.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: I would say I barely live in California. I probably spend more time in Phoenix.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. Golf is one of those things. You gotta have the time and the cash to keep it up because it's just all muscle memory.
All right, guys, well, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for recording. It's been a pleasure hanging out with you this week and Brian getting to see you again, and it's been a great time. So thank you.
[00:08:20] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: All right, take.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: The Clear Impact podcast is brought to you by Mitre Brands 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%. At Mitre Brands, our common purpose is to deliver value by manufacturing the finest products, services and customer experience every day, everywhere. Our window and door brands deliver regionalized expertise, expertise, products and services, all backed by a national company.
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