Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by pg t I University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host.
Speaker 0 00:00:16 Good
Speaker 1 00:00:17 Morning. We are here on the Clear and Impact Podcast and today we are launching a new series around executive updates. So we'll have a lot of executives in this series, but maybe not all of the executives in this series. But today we're starting off with one of my personal favorites, Debbie Lap Penske is in studio. Welcome back Debbie. Thanks
Speaker 2 00:00:38 Sherry. It's nice to be back.
Speaker 1 00:00:39 It's good to have you. So there have been just a lot of changes in our organization over the last few months and a lot has happened including your role here at PG t I. So you've returned to your roots, so I wanna hear about all that. Well,
Speaker 2 00:00:55 It's interesting. I think one of the things that I've learned over the 32 years is never get too comfortable. Not that I was ever gonna say that I was comfortable in any particular role because we move and change so fast here at PG t I. But I think it's also important to note that we change as the business changes. And so the fact that we have executives that have diverse backgrounds that I would say multi-talented based on their experience, we can move and shift people around as the business requires us to be flexible. And as maybe many of you know, or maybe you don't know, we do strategic planning every year and our strategic planning also kind of guides, um, some of the structure and um, changes that we've made most recently. And mainly, um, my role, going back to my roots, as you said, being responsible for sales and marketing, we're probably at that pivotal point now as we've grown very large through acquisitions, but really bringing together the sales and marketing team for pg t I versus being maybe, uh, you know, separated by the business units, which worked at the time we were doing it.
Speaker 2 00:02:00 But now it seems like there's a lot more opportunity for synergy and leveraging talent across the enterprise.
Speaker 1 00:02:06 Nice. How long were you in the HR function? Close
Speaker 2 00:02:09 To 10 years. All
Speaker 1 00:02:10 Right. Well you gave it a good
Speaker 2 00:02:11 Run. I did, I did. The important part about that, and I'll just throw a little plug with my past HR hat, is that succession planning really does work. That's why we do it. So I had been working the last three years with Rachel Evans as my successor and she was ready and the time for the business and the need was ready. And so I challenge every leader that if you want to move in your career, make sure you have a successor lined up and ready to go because that is really what allows you to make adjustments and changes quickly when needed.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 Well I know the sales team is excited to have you back at the helm and Bob's off on another adventure and we're gonna talk to him later in this series to hear what he's up to. So tell us a little bit about the vision that you have for the sales team. So
Speaker 2 00:02:55 Bob's done a nice job and so is Mike Wolfie with the teams and the way they were structured from a southeast business unit and a Western business unit perspective. But as we start to look across and, and I actually really was able to witness and see some of this at the International Builder Show when I was watching specifically Melissa Stone interacting with the Western team, Eric Fch and the team out there on some of the builder relationships. And it dawned on me that, boy, if we could leverage experience and talent and resources across the enterprise, how much more powerful would we be as a sales organization? And so as we begin to look at the sales structure, I'm looking at what does the sales team look like that supports our traditional dealer distributor business? What does the sales team need to be in support of architectural sales?
Speaker 2 00:03:48 Which is, you know, maybe a little bit where we haven't had as much focus and we're gonna start building that. Um, the builder, as I mentioned with Melissa Stone and the Western team, the builder relationships and having a builder focus. So we're really not a company anymore that we can say it's a one size fits all in how we interact with our customers, which are these different channels and um, segments. It's more about what do we need to do to support our customers and the channels. And so we're gonna be looking at more synergies, more collaboration across the organization from the sales team.
Speaker 1 00:04:22 That's awesome. We have an amazing sales team. I get to deal with a lot of them through the university. As you know, we're very focused on the dealer training and sales support. So even though our team has had some shifts and changes, I'm still really focused on the outward facing training and everyone I interact with is so grateful for what we do. So I love being behind the scenes with them. They're great and I know they juggle a lot. So because this is gonna be airing prior to June 1st, I thought we would throw in a little plug about hurricane season <laugh>. Sure. So what would be a great way for our dealers to prep for hurricane season this year?
Speaker 2 00:04:59 Oh, that's a good question. So, you know, obviously we're prepping ourselves and as part of the structure and the transition, it's also included the marketing team as well. So now we're aligning our marketing focus with the different sales initiatives. So obviously hurricane season doesn't impact our western team as much, although Hawaii is definitely a market force and they do get hit with, uh, typhoons though for the dealers, I think it's important to leverage any resources that we can provide. But you know, right now we've got a lot of things going on. We've got the tax incentive that was introduced by Governor DeSantis, you know, myse, Florida and all these things that we should start educating the consumer. You hate to do that. And right before hurricane season, hopefully people understand, especially after the effects of Ian, that you should always be preparing for hurricane season.
Speaker 2 00:05:45 But fortunately we all tend to procrastinate. So I would say getting information out. Now many of our residents are what we call our snowbirds. They're seasonal residents and so they're not here, uh, during hurricane season. So the more we can get in front of them before they leave to talk about how do they mitigate and prepare their homes for hurricane season, and obviously that is by providing impact re resistant windows and doors so they don't have to worry about paying someone to shutter their home while they're not here. But I would say right now it's getting the information out to the end user. Obviously we're promoting the builders to make the transition more and more to um, making impact resistant windows and doors a standard in their homes versus an option. But for the dealers that are focused on the consumer, it's all about awareness and making sure that we stay ahead of them and updating them and preparing them.
Speaker 1 00:06:35 And so for anybody that's been unaware, it is a sales tax holiday. So that's, I think it's 6% statewide. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:06:43 For the preparedness that there is tax break that now the consumer gets for putting impact resistant windows and doors in their home. So making sure that that message gets passed onto the consumer. So they've got that, my say Florida and then also what they would receive in discounts from their homeowner's insurance by mitigating their homes. That's what it's all about, is mitigating your home to prevent, you know, serious damage from a hurricane.
Speaker 1 00:07:08 Sure. And I know the insurance companies have been really hit after Ian and still are dealing with a lot of cleanup and restoration not very far from right here. So we all had a wake up call last summer, especially for those that are new to the state, like yeah, this is what a hurricane is, <laugh>, you're gonna be without power, you're gonna be without internet, you're not gonna be able to just run to Publix and grab whatever you want the next day. So I'm so grateful that we're in the space that we are. And so just one last question. What can our dealers expect to see from us in the upcoming year?
Speaker 2 00:07:39 I think the most important thing is we need to acknowledge the fact that we've had some challenging times. Hopefully most of those are behind us, but you know, C O V I D had a tremendous impact on supply chain, on labor challenges. And quite honestly, we were struggling with those things ourselves. What I know is that our customers appreciate a company that they can rely on, right? So when we say we're gonna do something, we do it and we follow through, we're always gonna compete on price. But if you can provide and show the customer the reason why, the value of why they're paying more, not just for the product, but for the service that they're gonna get, I think they're willing to pay that. And so this coming year we're gonna see more emphasis on our interaction with our customer, which is our dealer distributor network, and making sure that we're easy to do business with, that we're responding and we're following up on things that we say we're gonna do.
Speaker 2 00:08:33 And when we do all those things, it's good quality products on time delivery, and then that service before and and after the sale. Those are the things that resonate with PGT innovations, even with our Western brands and what we hear from our western customers. The same thing holds true is we just want a company who's reliable. So I think most of our focus is gonna be getting back to those roots of what the legacy P G T was founded on and making sure that we carry that across all of our brands and all of our businesses.
Speaker 1 00:09:03 Well even all stars go to practice, right? That's right. So back to the fundamentals and just doing the right thing for the right reason at the right time.
Speaker 2 00:09:11 Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:09:12 Okay. Anything else?
Speaker 2 00:09:14 No, I think that's about everything. I'm just really glad to be back in this role and to be, um, providing the leadership support to take us to that next level.
Speaker 1 00:09:24 Wonderful. Well, I know everyone's glad to have you and it's been a pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you,
Speaker 2 00:09:28 Sherry. Same here. All
Speaker 1 00:09:29 Right, have a great day. Debbie. You too.
Speaker 1 00:09:32 P g PG t I University is the customer education team for an entire family of brands. We began with the original Easy Breeze, porch and closure line, then became P G t, America's leading brand of impact resistant windows and doors. We then added C G I C G I C window, Western Windows Systems, new South Windows, echo windows and doors, and lend windows and doors, and our latest acquisition Martin Garage doors. We create products built to withstand major storms, keeping people safe, secure and prepared. Our exceptional brands give you the protection you need without compromising design or functionality. P G T I University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
