How to Write Your Own Ticket
With Dewayne Thomas, CSI CCPR, https://www.linkedin.com/in/dewaynerthomas/
https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=15946235
Dewayne Thomas joins the show to talk about owning a multi-line manufacturer’s rep business, changes in the industry and more.
More About the Show
The Build Perspectives podcast shares insider knowledge to build connections and community in the building materials industry. Tim and Carolina are friends, colleagues and former coworkers who love the construction industry and their clients, and want to share their passion and insights to attract future talent to the industry.
In this episode, Tim and Carolina talk to Dewayne Thomas from Eco Spec about being a multi-line manufacturer’s rep, glass ceilings, starting your own business and more.
All About Eco Spec
Dewayne owns Eco Spec, Inc, which is one of the largest minority-owned manufacturer’s rep firm in the country, covering most of the Southeast and Midwest. They are a team of nine, with backgrounds ranging from construction to pharmacy to business to manufacturing to education.
They work in three segments: exterior wall cladding systems, interior cladding systems and concrete add mixtures. They also do some waterproofing and weather barriers as well; for instance, they represent Georgia Pacific’s dens element product line.
To keep on top of all the changes in the industry and multiple product categories and companies, they do a lot of reading and follow a lot of companies online. Dewayne reads at least 25 articles a week. When architects are looking for something specific for their project, the offering can be vast.
They are also part of a lot of organizations, such as CSI, AIA, AGCS, and follow them and read their updates as well. Dewayne’s favorite organization to follow is CSI (Construction Specifications Institute). He was even the Chapter President for the Birmingham Chapter. CSI gives you a great opportunity to interact with both younger and older players in the industry. They also put out a lot of content so you are always learning something new every month.
Organizations have been what has helped Eco Spec grow the most. Being a manufacturer’s representative, Dewayne has had the opportunity to work with hundreds of manufacturers. And he’s seen the good and the ugly, what works and what doesn’t work — all for free. Because of this, he’s been able to pick out what works and what doesn’t work across the country, which has helped in their success.
The best companies Dewayne has worked with have been smaller businesses. The owners have great ideas and great products. Those owners are really there to put their products out and they have a real stake. They’ve created a solution and want that solution out in the market. When it comes to larger companies, Eco Spec can sometimes become the person trying to push the product along with no help from middle management.
Mentoring
Dewayne got a Bachelor of Science in Construction from what’s now called Kennesaw State. Right out of college, he started with Atlas Roofing Company designing tapered roof systems. His manager became a mentor whose goal was to make sure Dewanye could communicate properly, via written and verbal communication, helping him with vocabulary, dialect pace, diction, clarity, etc. He also taught Dewayne how to understand if you are performing well and how to clarify your performance to your manager or evaluator.
Dewayne worked with him for five more years and he was mentored in decision making, relationship building, pace, patience: Everything you need to know to be successful. And they still keep in touch.
He learned from that mentor that one of the most important skillset for people is verbal communication. When you need to present and train and sell, your vocabulary needs to be as long as your thought process to be successful.
To earn clients’ trust, you have to have one or two items they are really interested in. Once they go through training, they realize that Eco Spec is really only there to educate them on the product and help the client understand if it’s a good fit or not, the relationship goes well. Dewayne has walked away from a lot of projects when he doesn’t think he has the right solution for them. Once that relationship is set, they’ll get hte question, what else do you work with? Because now the client is interested in understanding everything they do since they know they aren’t going to be sold to just to sell to.
Pros & Cons of Multiline
Dewayne and Eco Spec’s biggest selling point is their technical acumen. Some architects prefer to work with them because they can provide multiple solutions for one project, enabling the architects to talk to one person instead of five.
While they are always a liaison between the architect and the manufacturer, they do sometimes act as a specifier and installer consultant when needed.
The biggest disadvantage of multiline selling is time management and land evaluation. For instance, sometimes, after you’ve already found the right product for the budget, the budget gets changed. And the architect needs you to find a similar solution at a smaller price. Manufacturers don’t think that’s a friendly position because they want to either hold the number or lose the project. But Eco Spec works with these architects every day, so they prefer to have an alternative to ensure the architect gets the best scenario.
Dewayne’s team also gives manufacturers advice and ideas based on what they hear from the field. Sometimes they want to hear it — sometimes they don’t. The relationship between Eco Spec and manufacturers is the most important one they build because they are Eco Spec’s customers first. They represent them, they’re an extension of them.
Sometimes Dewayne’s team works with the in-house sales team and sometimes they work independently.
Glass Ceilings are Only Glass
Eco Spec changed its name to Eco Spec after the 2008 downturn. They used to be called Open Air sales, but after the downturn, they split the company. Around 2010, eco-friendly products were hot and eco was the new buzz word, so they when with that name, as they represented a lot of eco-friendly products at the time.
It became not just what they do, but the products they represent. Right now, 95% of all the products they represent are eco-friendly in some way.
It’s also important that Eco Spec is minority-owned. There are not a lot of minorities in construction, especially as manufacturer’s representatives.
“A manufacturer’s rep is a way of promoting yourself past the glass ceiling and also allowing you to expand your capabilities and your knowledge in a particular industry. So you’re not just in a sense, locked in as a company representative if you have higher aspirations to be a business owner. So you can use your skillset of basically being a sales rep in construction products to become a business owner. So that’s the main goal,” says Dewayne.
Plus, it is a family-owned business: Dewayne’s mother and sister-in-law both work with him. And the sales team has worked together for over 25 years. Most of the team are friends he recruited from their other jobs (one from being a pharmacist at CVS, on from Harley Davidson, one from graduate school).
Starting Your Own Firm
If you wanted to start your own multiline firm, Dewayne has some advice. First, if you’re already working with a company, ask that company if they would let you become an independent rep for that territory you are already representing, and expand into other territories in the surrounding area.
Second, try to find two or three other product lines. Dewayne suggests having five options, with some being short pipelines and some with long pipelines, so you always have money coming in. You should have experience in your industry. He suggests at least three years of selling experience with your company, so they can transfer you to a 1099 status and you can start your company with the knowledge that income will be coming in since you’ll already have a pipeline of revenue that can sustain you until you get the other product lines up and running.
Three, be very active in your local chapters of CSI (or whatever industry you’re in). You need to be a part of three or four chapters to expand your network. Sometimes you can get reimbursed on those membership fees but sometimes it’s out of pocket. Be aware that you may not get reimbursed if you were used to that at the company you used to work with. Once you have your own business, most of those fees are not reimbursed; all of those expenses are yours.
You may be able to negotiate a budget based on your sales numbers, and some may even handle the first year for you, but know upfront what will be covered and make sure it’s part of your negotiation process. Most manufacturers have a standard they use, so be aware they may not budge on pricing.
For instance, if you are traveling to a meeting or a show, most manufacturers will handle hotel and meals, while you handle flights and travel. Just make sure you know what you are expected to pay for and budget accordingly.
COVID-19 Effects
With COVID, there’s no face to face meetings right now for Eco Spec. They are having anywhere from 3-12 Zoom meetings a week with architects or firms. Lunch and learns got pushed back, but now that everyone is realizing that this is going to at least be going on through the end of the year, most presentations are being booked through Zoom. Currently, his team is picking certain days that they focus on a particular town or product line and setting gup at least three Zooms that day with architects to try and get back to daily meetings or one-on-ones to move the product forward.
The largest difference is that you used to have 15-50 people show up for lunch and learns. Now, you have 1-50 people show up. There’s a lot of one-on-ones happening for AIA credits right now.
Industry Challenges
Right now, Dewayne sees a recruitment challenge of getting younger talent. Newer architects and employees are not as well prepared as they used to be when Dewayne first started. Nowadays, they need to gauge their understanding of if they understand what Dewayne is talking about to make sure everyone is on board and on the same page with the same understanding.
So levels of education and understanding right out of architectural or construction academies are a challenge. Since they can’t go back to school and schools aren’t currently changing, Dewayne’s team makes sure to start over and educate on whatever the topic is that the new professionals don’t understand or have knowledge of.
Join the Conversation
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this week’s episode! Shoot us an email at buildperspectives@gmail.com.