Building Savvy recently hosted Matt Poulter at one of its education classes, titled Going From Good to Great. He offered the builder attendees tips on motivating their employees, shaping strategy, building a company culture and a brand, balancing work/life goals, and gaining more satisfaction and more profit.
All of these are things that Poulter has put into practice with great success since becoming the new Pella Dallas-Fort Worth Owner and President. This year's sales have increased double-digit, and the team says that is only the start.
Poulter explained the local Pella team has three primary goals:
- To become the dominate brand in the channel of choice for builders.
- To drive profitable growth that will create jobs and fuel innovation.
- To be a premier employer that emphasizes treating employees the way Pella wants them to treat their best customers.
Poulter began his career working the night shift at Pella as an operations department manager at the Shenandoah, Iowa facility, about 20 years ago. He went on to fill various roles within the company, including General Manager at sales locations in Dallas/Fort Worth and Southern California, and then the Director of Retail, Trade, and Commercial Sales for Pella's Direct Sales Network nationally. In 2016 he moved into an executive role as the Vice President of Sales, responsible for Pella's largest sales channel spanning North America. During that time, the opportunity to take over the reins in one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the country, North Texas, presented itself.
"In my years of working for this great company, I moved my family to a number of places, but the Dallas-Fort Worth market was the place that my wife and I identified as the one we would most like to call home. It offered the best opportunity to achieve our life goals-both career goals and personal goals," Poulter said. "After years of commitment and success, Pella Corporation was generous enough to grant our wish of returning to North Texas and owning the business, which has proven to be one of the best moves we ever made."
While Pella is the most recognized brand among consumers in northern states, its brand awareness in the South is not quite as strong-yet, Poulter said. He said that Pella will continue to make its mark as a supporter of local communities and volunteer opportunities. To complement the existing strong leadership team directed by Jamie Ogle, Poulter brought with him to Dallas some of the key members of the team that he has worked with over the years, including David Moore who he moved from Arizona to be General Manager of Business Development.
"David's primary responsibility is to increase our awareness and consideration among local architects, builders, contractors, and homeowners of how Pella can help them achieve their goals." In all cases, we have added new roles such as his to bolster our business here in North Texas, and everyone who has come here is just as excited about our opportunity as I am," he said.
A lot of people may know that Pella offers a wide array of products (vinyl, fiberglass and wood) that span all price points. But a lot of builders, Poulter said, don't know that Pella can save them precious time and money with design assistance on the front end, and Single Family New installation services on the job site.
Pella Dallas/Ft. Worth Team
"At Pella, we're constantly innovating. This year we've released larger sizes in our contemporary line, more colors, and more interior finish options to save builders and contractors time and money. This month we introduce our newest innovation like nothing the market has seen: the double-hung and single-hung Rolscreen. With our new Rolscreen, builders no longer have to hide the details of their window choice behind screens, as this products has an integrated screen that appears when the window is open and is hidden when it closes. What's more, it's easily detached to allow items to be passed through the windows, and easily re-engages the next time the window is closed. This simple and sleek feature is only available from us, and is sure to make a lasting impression with homeowners and increase value for any semi-custom or custom builder," Poulter said.
"Creating windows and doors to meet the diverse design challenges faced by construction professionals has always been Pella's mission. Pella wants to be your partner in the process, starting with saving you a great deal of time and effort at the blueprint stage, while assuring you make an educated choice about the ideal product for the location, site, budget and style of the project. When it comes time for your products to be delivered, we pride ourselves on prompt and professional service. We understand that communication throughout each stage of the project is critical, that includes having the product you ordered there when you need it. And, finally, we can even do the installation. Having the Pella team install helps you with the labor challenges, and you'll also rest assured knowing the windows and doors are installed according to manufacturer instructions to reduce risk and ensure the full value of the warranty."
"We're dedicated to Texas builder success. We make and sell the industry's best products and warranties, but what our most loyal customers find saves them the most money is the expertise of their dedicated sales team," Poulter emphasized. "In North Texas alone, we have 16 account managers and an equally large service and support team dedicated to builders and contractors. The team is there to help builders avoid costly mistakes, help them save time and manage project costs, and focus on getting the job done right the first time."
"This is a great market and growing market, and we plan to make the most of it," Poulter said.