In five years Melani Bros. was TEMO’s top dealer, and, for a while at least, the biggest sunroom retailer in the U.S. “Those days were great,” Ron recalls. “We were rockin’.”
GOOD STUDENTS Vaulting to the top of the heap in sunrooms was no small feat, given the product, a $15,000 to $20,000 (at the time) item sold on a one-call close and fraught, potentially, with installation and service problems. The Melanis discovered that bigger businesses come with their own specific difficulties.
“Nino showed them how to get into the business,” industry consultant Dave Yoho (www.daveyoho.com) says. “They started to get the volume. And they started to get into trouble.”
The Melanis hired an “executive coach” named Greg Richardson to provide CEO training. Among other things, he advised them not to manage below a certain position within the company. They contracted with Dave Yoho Associates for consulting and sales training. As the company moved from the $5 million level toward $10 million, the Melanis recruited someone to manage their finance department, to oversee operations, and to manage human resources. Finally they had their accounting firm help them find a CFO.
By the time Lowe’s pulled the plug, fate had managed to locate the company’s one inherent weakness: its dependence on a single lead source. But although it caused them no small amount of anxiety, the Melanis concede that the Lowe’s SFI experience had forced them to sell off a price list. As a result, reps had to be more skillful to get the sale since they couldn’t rely on price drops to close, like many competitors could.
PEER AMONG PEERS After Lowe’s, the Melanis decided to change key aspects of their business. First, they’d never depend on any single lead source for more than 15% of sales, unless it was repeat or referral. Second, they would diversify their product mix, adding windows, then siding, then gutter protection.
In three years they had built a $5 million window replacement business. Last year, Melani Bros. sold 501 sunroom jobs and 501 window jobs.
Something else that changed was not only a willingness to hire experts, but to allow those experts the autonomy to run things their way, as long as they produced the necessary results. The owners of Melani Bros. came to realize that, like it or not, a company has a culture, and that culture is shaped by its leaders. A healthy culture makes for loyalty, creativity, and business growth.
“Home improvement companies go out of business for three reasons,” Ray says. “Their marketing costs are too high, they’re not responding to service calls, or they’re not attracting the right people.”
The right people would be people such as Zack Reddick (see “Sell Confidence,” page 60), who started in the telemarketing department and went on to become a top window sales rep. “Like attracts like,” he says. What helps him sell, Reddick points out, besides strong consumer awareness, are product guarantees and an often-reiterated promise of lifelong service.
