Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
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.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah, new windows are exciting for a lot of homeowners because a lot of times we'll put that project off because we're scared about what it's going to cost and what are they going to do to my house to put new windows in? So it's such a positive segment of home improvement because people get new windows that are typically much easier to clean, way more efficient than what they had. They add value to their house, the homeowner, they end up putting their house on the market to sell, and a potential buyer learns that they have brand new windows or windows that are somewhat new. That's just one less thing the new homeowner doesn't have to deal with. So it definitely adds value to, like I said, the homeowner's large asset, in most cases, their house.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact podcast and my guest today is Cormac Smith. Welcome.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Thank you. I appreciate it. Sheri.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah, welcome. I'm glad that you could record with me today. You and I met briefly at the Hershey event last October out on the golf course.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: I remember. Yes.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Yeah. It was great to connect and so I was thrilled that you were on the guest list for today.
So before we get into our topic at hand, tell us a little bit about you, like your background, your experience, and what you're doing currently.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Right. So I started in the building materials slash vinyl replacement window business 25 years ago.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: And I've always spent my time on the dealer development or manufacturer side of the business.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: So I've always been working with home improvement companies, in some cases one step distribution and two step distribution. But the core type of customer I've dealt with for the last 25 years, we refer to as a dealer, a home improvement company that sells and installs products for homeowners. And I would refer to myself as the head of sales or the sales manager for Sunrise windows, the Temperance, Michigan miter plant. I also cover a $15 million territory, which is something I felt passionate about when I agreed to become the leader of the Sunrise Collection sales team.
I wanted to still stay in touch with my existing customer base. So I'm very blessed to be able to not only lead a sales team, but still have my own customers that I take care of. And that would be customers in the Michigan region. And then with the Sunrise Collection, we're currently shipping, product and handling customers from the Midwest out to Denver, down to Little Rock, Arkansas, up through the Carolinas, through the Mid Atlantic, and then up into New England and the Boston, Massachusetts region. So we've got a pretty big footprint for the eastern business unit.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Wow. I did not realize the size of the territory that Sunrise was in. That's amazing.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: I'm not even going to ask you about your hobbies because you don't have time.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: I enjoy a little bit of golf
[00:03:21] Speaker A: here and there right when the weather allows. Are you based in Temperance?
[00:03:24] Speaker B: I live outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a little town called Ada. But I spend most of my time in the metropolitan Detroit area with my customers and then at the Temperance facility, which is about an hour south of the Detroit area.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Nice. I have yet to make it up there, but it's on my radar. I want to get up and visit, but it'll have to be between, like, July and September.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Yeah, we'd love to. That's a great time to visit Michigan.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: So that's what I understand.
And so today we are going to be talking about the process of replacing windows.
And this can apply to many different manufacturers, but obviously we're speaking to Miter brand's customers, or at least that's who we're hoping is listening. And so it's a big process to replace your windows. It's not like you just call somebody and they come out and then it's done. Right. There's a lot of different steps in the process. And so can you kind of walk us through what those steps are?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, when we talk about a homeowner identifying priorities, if they think they need new windows, it's usually they do. It can be overwhelming for homeowners because they're approached on tv, on radio, digitally. There's all sorts of different companies advertising what they offer. But I always think about when I put myself in the homeowner's shoes, first of all, what windows do you think need replacing? Because people can be overwhelmed and think that they have to replace all of their windows at the same time. And we have a number of dealers that are able to help homeowners start the window process or start their window project and do it in stages. So that's one of the most important things for homeowners to understand is that you don't necessarily have to do all the windows at the same time.
And then when it comes to, like, priorities, if folks feel like they're losing energy dollars because their windows are old, their windows aren't operating like they think they should. If the Windows are hard to clean. Homeowners know when their windows have become a liability in their largest asset, usually, which is their house. And then he talked a little bit about doing the research because there are so many window companies out there and home improvement companies out there. I know from talking to our Sunrise dealers around the country, the best lead they ever get is a referral. So word of mouth, that can be such a great way for a homeowner to figure out who they should maybe invite out to their house for a consultation. Do you have friends, family, or neighbors that had new windows put in, and was that a positive experience for them? And then there's other ways where we do have a lot of certain homeowners going online and doing a ton of research on their own. And that can be good and that can be bad because there's so much information on the Internet. It can be overwhelming. So doing research is important.
Finding out if you have somebody you know that's had new windows and whether it was a positive or if it's a negative, maybe stay away from that potential window dealer. If it's positive, maybe invite that company out for a quote on new windows.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I think locking arms with anybody in the construction industry can be a challenge. Right. You know, it's so easy to leave reviews these days.
One bad review could just mean that that homeowner was having a terrible day and decided to take it out on that contractor.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: Yeah, that is true. It can be such a slippery slope with that interaction between a home improvement company, a window dealer, and the homeowner and how that homeowner decides to share their view of how the process went. When we talk about qualified dealer partners, because I've been in the industry 25 years, and I've worked with home improvement companies and dealers that do whatever it takes to make the customer happy. And then there's other companies that don't feel that passionate about doing the right thing and taking care of homeowners, no matter what it is, make sure that they feel good about their experience with the home improvement company. So that comes up under reviews, obviously. And that can also just come up through word of mouth. Like, I bring the importance of the referral.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's always a great way to verify. Like, hey, you did Mr. Jones's windows, and he lives in my neighborhood, and he was really happy. Can we set up a time to come and get a quote? That's probably the safest, best way is that personal referral.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah. It's important for homeowners to make sure they Set boundaries, because a home improvement company, a window dealer, they need time to do, you know, an inspection on a homeowner's windows that they're looking to replace. They need time to talk about their company.
They need time to talk about the window product. But homeowners should also, you know, set boundaries on how much time do they have to meet with a potential window company that's going to do work on their house.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Right. And so once they decide that they're going to go forward with a project, and let's just say that they have chosen a reputable partner and that they've chosen the brand, and they've kind of said, okay, we're ready to do this and we want to work with you. What is the process from there?
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Well, every company might have a little bit different process, but overall, this is the way it goes. So a salesperson will do an initial measure when they come out to give a homeowner a quote on a window project. So that's the initial measuring process is typically done by a salesperson. And then, of course, some home improvement company and window dealers will send a quote from their office. They may go back and prepare a quote, and other companies prepare a quote right there on the first visit. But once they've decided to choose who they're going with, a company will send out a professional measure tech. So the exact sizing, because everything that Mitre Brands makes on the replacement side is custom.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: So after the homeowner has chosen who they're going to do business with, that company will typically send out a professional measure tech and identify if there's anything like maybe homeowners have blinds in their house, and maybe the salesperson didn't remind them that those are going to have to come down before the installation process could start. That's always something that kind of catches homeowners off guard. Oh, my gosh, I've got to take my blinds down or move furniture or kind of prepping their house for the installation process. And then another thing is once they've agreed to go forward with a company, you sometimes have to think about how quick that process is going to go, because some companies have longer, what we refer to as lead times, how long it's going to take for the windows to be ordered, manufactured, received, and then installed.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: So that's important for homeowners to consider. There's nothing wrong with a company being saying, hey, it's going to be a month, it's going to be two months. That means they're busy.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: 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.
Right. That would be an excellent lead time in our area to two months.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Oh, right. In Florida.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Right, right. Permitting is another big factor, at least in our area. I don't know if that's national, but you do have to allow time for the permitting process as well, right? Yeah.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: It would definitely be more of an issue in that Florida market where in the upper Midwest there's typically less pre work that has to be done as far as pulling permits. Sometimes you'll be in a condo association or a neighborhood where there's a hoa, a homeowner's association, where maybe some things have to be approved by somebody on the board there. But for the most part, it moves pretty quickly. We do not have as many of those issues as that come up in Florida.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Oh, nice. Well, lucky them.
Yeah. I'm in the process of doing some reno at my house and I was told recently that I needed to allow eight to 12 weeks for permitting. And I was like, what?
Like you can't do anything for 12 weeks? Like, oh, okay.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: Wow.
It certainly slows the process down.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Yes, it does. And so that's obviously fresh on my mind, but I'm glad to hear that's not the case for everyone.
And so then let's say somebody's replacing maybe living room, kitchen, family room. They're not doing any of the bedrooms, they're just doing the main rooms of the house.
What would the time frame be for the actual installers to be on site for a project like that?
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Yeah. So if it is what we refer to as a pure replacement job, where they're going to remove old product and replace that existing opening with new product that fits into that opening, there's companies that can get that done in one day, maybe a day and a half or two day tops. So that's best case scenario. That would be a more of a straightforward replacement job. Other times, maybe the company is going to do what we refer to as a full frame replacement, where they're going to open up the window openings and door opening down to the studs and rebuild a new buck frame and then put the windows in. That can sometimes cause the project to take a little bit longer. Or let's say a homeowner is taking out a window and putting a door wall or a patio door in that opening where you've got to increase the size of the opening. That can take a one day project out to a two or three day project. So it does depend a lot on the scope of the project.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: Right. And then is there an inspection process or is that just a Florida thing as well?
[00:13:26] Speaker B: Well, there are markets outside of Florida where a building inspector gets involved, or it really just depends on like the county, the city or the township.
There are some places where inspectors are involved on window replacements and then there's other markets where an inspector's not involved at all. So it really depends on where the homeowner lives.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: That makes sense. And so then after the job is complete and they have everything they need and all the mess is cleaned up and everything's been put away and the blinds are rehung and everything's good. Is there anything that a homeowner needs to be aware of in the post sale, post install?
[00:14:11] Speaker B: They certainly want to make sure that they're happy with the way the new product operates, with the way the product looks on the interior and the exterior. I mean, we are in the window and door business, so stuff happens sometimes where once a window is pulled out and a new one's put in, maybe the opening's not perfectly square, but most professional window dealers can make that work. So it's really the homeowner feeling good about the install process. And that has to do with the way they were treated by the installation team, how the installation team told the homeowner exactly what they were going to do. And then of course, there's companies that will send out a representative to do what I would refer to as a post installation visit.
So they're meeting with the homeowner to make sure that they are happy with their new windows and answering any questions that the homeowner may have. So homeowners definitely want to know exactly, exactly how their new windows are supposed to operate. And they want to make sure that they're real happy with the way it looks from the inside and out.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Right, that makes sense. And then they can just enjoy the view, enjoy the new product and how easy it is to open and close and lock and unlock.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: Yeah, new windows are exciting for a lot of homeowners because a lot of times we'll put that project off because we're scared about what it's going to cost or what are they going to do to my house to put new windows in. So it's such a positive segment of home improvement because people get new windows that are typically much easier to clean, way more efficient than what they had they add value to their house, the homeowner, they end up putting their house on the market to sell. And a potential buyer learns that they have brand new windows or windows that are somewhat new. That's just one less thing the new homeowner doesn't have to deal with. So it definitely adds value to, like I said, the homeowner's largest asset, in most cases, their house.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that makes sense. I would think it would be good also to jot down if you keep a file somewhere on all of your home improvement projects, you know, jot down the dates and who you worked with and what the warranty information is and you know your sales order number.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Yes. So many dealers now help homeowners register their warranties.
Some homeowners have no problems doing it, but there's a lot of dealers that add that as a value added service. They make sure that the homeowner's new windows and patio doors, their warranty is registered. And you're right. It's so funny how many people I've talked to over the years and they bring up windows. Oh, Cormac, you're in the window business. What kind of windows do you sell? We just got new windows. And I'll ask them who did it. And half the time they don't even remember who did their windows.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: It's just crazy to me. So it is important for homeowners to keep that file, whether it's a paper file or an electronic file on who installed and sold them those new windows. So if they have any issues, they can get back in touch with them. If they want to refer that company, they know who it is. So that's a great idea, Sher.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Because you know, if you have to call them back for some other issue, I mean, I know at pgt we have a whole team of people that take phone calls from homeowners because all they know is that it's a PGT product. They don't remember who put it in, or maybe they bought the house and they didn't even handle the replacement of the product. So I think just from a bookkeeping standpoint, it's always good to have files and records of what you did, who did it, when it was done. And then if you ever are in the position of selling your house, you have a file that you can hand right to your real estate agent and say, here's all the improvements that we've made and here's when we did them and here's how much we spent. And that way you can Turn around and recoup some of that.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: I totally agree with you. And you know, when I think about that topic, a lot of the Sunrise dealers that we work with around the country, they stay in contact with their customers.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Because there's some home improvement companies that just don't want to deal with that homeowner after they've sold and installed windows. They're just moving on. But I've seen a lot of success come with home improvement and window dealers staying in touch with their past customers because they may need something else down the road, and they certainly want that referral. If somebody's happy with the work you did, they're going to tell other people about it.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Exactly. I love that.
So, Cormac, I really appreciate your time. Thank you for walking us through that process.
Before we wrap it up, I do have one question for you, and I've been asking this of a lot of folks on the podcast lately.
Of the Mitre brand's DNA statements, which one resonates with you the most?
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Sherry, I would have to say, and it really ties in well with the topic we've discussed today. But, you know, when it comes to the Mitre brand DNA statements, integrity, doing what we say we're going to do when we say it, that is so important across all businesses. But in the home improvement, in the window and door manufacturing, it just really resonates with me because it's the way that myself and my sales team interact with our group of window dealers across the country. And more importantly, with what we've talked about is homeowners connecting with dealers that do what they say they're going to do when they say it.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Yeah, it's so important, especially if you're working in an area for any length of time, your integrity is going to get found out one way or the other. Yeah, people pay attention to that. So.
All right, well, I hope you have an amazing afternoon. Cormac, I really appreciate your time today. Thank you for enlightening us. And hopefully this will help a homeowner know what to expect and how to prepare for a major investment in their house.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: Well, Sheri, thanks again for reaching out, and I really enjoyed our conversation.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: Yeah, me too. Thank you.
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