Vice President And Sales Manager Debby Allmon
Schloegel Design Remodel
Kansas City, Mo.
To be a good salesperson, Debby Allmon says, you have to be “creative and a designer and a numbers person, and a detailoriented person as well. You can’t be abstract.” To hear owner Jake Schloegel, Allmon is all these and more. She wears three hats — sales manager, salesperson, and vice president. She’s also in charge of marketing. She holds a CR designation, is vice president of the local NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry) chapter, and answers remodeling questions for a column in The Kansas City Star.
“When I hired Debby 10 years ago, it was for an office manager position, figuring she’d work in that role for maybe 2 years. She had interior design experience from working with a home builder and tested well for sales aptitude. That, along with her personality, communications skills, and confidence … I knew she’d be successful.”
Schloegel’s educated guess was right on. Allmon learned sales by working closely with Schloegel; she also had two years of Sandler Sales Institute sales training and help from Remodelers Advantage Roundtables. As sales manager, Allmon has five people answering to her. Sales team morale is good, Schloegel says, and “Debby’s better at holding people accountable than I am.”
Responsible for 25% of the company’s sales, Allmon consistently sells about $1 million of its high-end residential design/build business each year. “I believe in the product and services we sell and have 100% confidence in what I can deliver,” says Allmon, who sees her role as helping make the remodeling experience “a less painful thing for people to buy.” She likes the client interaction and enjoys building relationships with people, and she says that what makes her good at sales is a “really strong desire to give clients what they want and not what I want to see in their houses. I spend a lot of time learning about how they live and what would make their lives better in their homes.”
Controller / Director of Operations Sue Ladd
Excel Interior Concepts & Construction
Lemoyne, Pa.
Everyone loved the steadfast, warm, and humorous Radar O’Reilly character from the TV show MASH. His ability to know what Colonel Potter wanted was as uncanny as it was essential to his success at his job. That would be an apt description of Sue Ladd. “She helps me make things happen, and a lot of the time she anticipates my needs before I ask her,” says Excel president Jim Mirando Jr., who sees Ladd as a key participant in making strategic decisions for the company. “I really rely on her a lot. I run most decisions by her to get her opinion.”
Ladd began as office manager nearly 10 year ago, but the job was a pared down version of what she does now. “It became apparent that she was capable and able to be much more,” Mirando says. Ladd, who worked for 20 years in the construction industry before coming to Excel, is now responsible for all the administration of running the business — human resources, the bookkeeping and accounting, employee benefits, as well as some marketing, advertising, and budgeting. She coordinates all company meetings and anything to do with office maintenance, computers, and supplies. She believes communication is key: “I need to understand what everyone needs to get their jobs done. That’s done by speaking with them and listening to what they have to say.”
Mirando says that she makes the office a warm and inviting place while maintaining high standards and expectations: “Given a problem, she’ll design a system to address it, communicate it to staff, sell it, implement it, and hold people accountable over time to make sure they continue to follow it.”
Ladd believes she’s good at what she does because of the organizational and communications skills she learned while working in the construction industry for 20 years before coming to Excel. At one point she worked for a drywaller who mentored her and showed her how to run an office. She also learned how to communicate with everyone from a carpenter to a production manager, owner, or designer. “I need to understand what they need to get their jobs done. That’s done by speaking with them and listening to what they have to say.”
Senior Superintendent / Project Manager Jim Yingling
Mark IV Builders
Bethesda, Md.
While some remodeling companies call the position Jim Yingling holds “lead carpenter,” his employer, Mark IV Builders, calls it “senior superintendent.”
On a basic level, says Tim Faller, head of Field Training Services in Westerly, R.I., a lead carpenter is a craftsperson who manages a jobsite. As with every job, however, there are many more aspects to the role: The lead carpenter is one of the frontline personnel on the jobsite, so he or she must know how to work with clients, manage other employees, as well as deal with subcontractors, vendors, and building inspectors. Lead carpenters must be good leaders in order to get people to work well. They have to manage physical resources or materials and have the ability to think ahead, accurately assess a situation, and adjust budgets. And they must have technical skills, yet make peace with paperwork.
After more than 30 years in construction, Jim Yingling can juggle all these efforts and consistently meet his goals. “He owns the job; he takes complete control,” says Mark IV production manager Andy Hannan, who adds, “I don’t pay supers to put their tools on. I pay them to manage the job.”
The company empowers its superintendents to take charge. “Working for Mark IV is almost like being in business for yourself without the headaches,” says Yingling, who has been with the company four years and has previous experience in his own business. His background enables him to feel confident in any situation. “There’s not much I can’t talk to a sub or supplier about and basically get what I want.”
Yingling has certified lead carpenter training and now teaches CLC classes to others. He judges his own success by how well he works with subcontractors, responses to customer satisfaction surveys, and whether a job is on time and on budget. Last year he did about $1 million worth of business. “A jovial attitude keeps you going,” he says. “You’ve got to have a sense of humor to keep up the momentum, keep morale up.”
Design Consultant Steve Walton
Marrokal Construction
San Diego
The word that comes up again and again when talking about Steve Walton with Gary Marrokal, founder and president of high-end design-build company Marrokal Construction, is “passion,” as in, “Steve is exceptional at what he does and in the passion he has. People feel that. When clients feel that, they trust you. And when they trust you, they come onboard.” A lot of clients come onboard. Walton sells as well as designs — typically around $5 million worth of business.
Walton came to Marrokal 8½ years ago after dissolving a design business he owned with architect Jean Paul Bourdier, one of Walton’s professors at University of California, Berkeley. He met Marrokal when they were in the same Business Networks peer group.
With a degree in architecture, a minor in structural engineering, and hands-on experience building from a young age, Walton’s solid design sense is augmented by his creative vision and listening skills. Says Marrokal, “Most designers want to design it their way. Steve is talented at taking [a client’s] style —of their home and life — and making it a grand slam when it’s done.” He describes a Walton-designed family-room and kitchen that were situated at the back of a home. “Steve did enhancements on the home that invited you through the house,” engaging a visitor along the way to the project, Marrokal says. He’s detail-oriented and “has that type of vision.”
Walton’s success in sales, he believes, comes directly from his architectural vocabulary and his ability to come at a sale from a design angle. “I don’t come on as a strong salesperson. I’m working with clients as the designer preparing developed concept drawings, plans, project estimates, and, finally, writing the contractual agreement.”
Marrokal is quick to point out that his six other design consultants, as well as the entire staff, support Walton’s success. “A great quarterback, unless he’s surrounded by a great team, is nothing,” he says. “The company’s culture helps take him to his potential.”