“Chased,” in this scenario, is another word for “left many unreturned messages.” Renewal by Andersen at the time was in the throes of management changes and not all that interested in taking on new affiliates. Finally, after three months, Shepherd called the manufacturer’s Minnesota headquarters and announced he was not getting off the phone until he’d spoken to “someone upstairs.” In 2003, his and Orf’s company was RBA’s only new affiliate.
The company and its new product proved to be ideally suited. In 2004, RBA of Colorado Springs was named Window & Door magazine’s Dealer of the Year and, at the instigation of the RBA corporate office, bought out the struggling operation in Denver. In 2005, the company was RBA’s Best of the Best, a designation earned by a combination of sales growth and near-perfect levels of customer satisfaction. In 2006, it was again Best of the Best; last year, it ranked second among the 105 RBA affiliates.
RED CARPET INSTALLATION Around the time that RBA of Colorado Springs expanded into the Denver market, Ortengren says, the company began to notice that newspaper advertising, even TV and radio ads, produced fewer responses, and at higher cost.
So, in 2005, at the suggestion of the marketing firm that was then revamping the company’s Web site, RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver decided to take a look at who its customers were and why they had bought. That information would then be used to shape the company’s marketing, and to improve its sales and customer service processes. The market research, which involved interviewing 100 people over a three-month period, “wasn’t cheap, but it was worth every dime,” Shepherd says.
“What it showed us was that people buy from our company because of trust and quality,” Ortengren says, “not price.” Moreover, the research showed that buyers for RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver’s product — at an average price of $950 per opening — were aged 35 or older, had an annual income of at least $60,000, and owned a home valued at a minimum of $250,000. RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver took that back to the companies that do its media and direct-mail advertising so they could target that particular demographic. Instead of blasting out ads and direct-mail pieces to hundreds of thousands of people across a broad swath of ZIP codes, the company began to direct its advertising dollars toward the upper middle class homeowners who wanted, and could afford, its product.
A second change was that RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver put more of its marketing money into face-to-face — rather than media — marketing. Canvassing and show/event marketing now produce 35% of leads. Management reasoned that the company had a far better chance to create customer contacts through canvassing — especially shows and events — than by casting the wide net of direct mail. After 2005, RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver got more involved in community and event marketing, eventually sponsoring or participating in more than 70 home shows or community events annually. The company opened up two more showrooms, including the one in the former Chevy’s.
The customer interviews proved formative in other respects as well. The company’s sales process at that point focused on product benefits — specifically, the proclaimed superiority of (Andersen composite) Fibrex to vinyl. Now company reps began to stress “service, process, credibility” as well as product features.
To promise (and sell) customers an experience, you first have to create that experience. So on the production side, RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver created its Red Carpet installation system. “One of our discoveries,” Shepherd says, “was that there’s this huge disconnect in the home improvement business between sales guys doing their presentation and the actual expectations of the customer.” What typically happens in window replacement is that reps show homeowners a brochure and a sample, leave with the signed contract, and the company isn’t heard from again until installers show up, unannounced, eight weeks later. RBA Colorado Springs and Denver created a system, complete with a timeline and pre-construction meeting. When installers appear at the door, they drop an actual red carpet — it’s a 6-foot-long runner — just past the doorway, then cover the floors and furniture with dropcloths and tarps. No tool can touch a customer’s floor or furniture.
“We sat back and identified what the expectations were,” Ortengren says. “We established expectations on the client side and on our side, then put in measurable matrixes.”
THINK LIKE ONE Several years back, at the end of a long day, an installer working for the company found himself out of insulation. So he tucked scraps of balled up newspaper into the opening above a door. Bad move. “That was his last job for this company,” Shepherd says.
Everyone hired by RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver undergoes mandatory “Think Like A Customer” training. The idea is simple and is spelled out in a manual that answers this question: How does your department and your job affect a customer?
So now the question is: Where do they go from here? In three to five years, Shepherd says, he and Orf would like to see the company doing $35 million annually. They intend to do that without leaving the state or opening other branches. “We want to capitalize on the happy customers we have,” Orf says. RBA of Colorado Springs and Denver has now brought on a window covering line and a jamb system; next up is an entry door system. But bet on anything and everything added to their repertoire being carefully thought through.
“In times past, we pulled the trigger prematurely and then had to retract,” Orf says. “Now we do a lot of analysis and research. We measure it and then decide if it adds value for our customers, our employees, and for our bottom line. If any one of the three is missing, we don’t do it.”
