What an honor to be chosen as the 3rd WDDA Member of the Year! Relatively new to the industry, Beacon Windows started in the midst of
one of the most challenging economies many of us have experienced in our
lifetime. As a new business I was
thrilled to find out about the WDDA.
To me, the WDDA represented solidarity of purpose, a voice
in a crowd that could speak for us as dealers.
Thank you WDDA for being there for all of us and I look
forward to growing with your membership!
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| Owner Lizette LaForge |
Beacon Windows History: My history in the window industry began 8
years ago as a sales rep for others. 5
years ago I became sales rep/project manager for another company and singlehandedly
completed over 1.5 million in sales/project management within an 18 month
period of time. Armed with that experience, I took my own license and in
2009 Beacon Windows was born!
Things were a little challenging at first, but throughout
the learning curve of putting together a business from scratch came some
amazing life lessons. Here’s one idea
I’d like to share with other window and door dealers. Consider doing some
repair work alongside your installation work.
We live in a beach community area with a LOT
of high rise condos and hotels. Because
of this, we have a lot of older sliding glass doors that have aggressive
corrosion issues. Due to the economy,
most people are not seriously considering replacing with high impact sliders.
One day one of my commercial door buddies suggested to me
that we consider repairing sliding glass doors.
I thought he was crazy until he told me how much he made in a morning
all by himself. So, with a little effort
we learned the repair business. We
launched this division just over a year ago.
You could say “Business is on a
ROLL!” No matter what troubles our
clients might have, we get them “back on
track” and we certainly can “get a
handle on it!”
The funny thing was that using the same diligence and
excellence in our slider repair business that we require in the window and door
installation side has had an unexpected blessing. We have been covered up with calls for window
installation. We aren’t even advertising
for this, but the word of mouth has been tremendous. They meet us for the slider repair, learn
about our window side, and the calls just come in. Because we have established ourselves with
excellence on the initial call, we have a very high probability of being the
ONLY one they ask for a quote.
Another great way to establish a strong connection with the
clients is to become a center of influence for them. Personally, I LOVE connecting people to their dream referrals. Active in several networking groups locally,
I make it a point to mention this to each and every client we have. We help them find solutions to other things
they need and we do this selflessly.
This creates a sense of loyalty with our clients and many of them become
friends that we keep in touch with for years.
In addition, if they have a business, I try to connect them to ways that
will make them money. One of my favorite
games to play is to see if I can “make” them more money through connections I
assist them with than it cost for our services.
As you can see, connecting is in my blood. With that have come some absolutely amazing
stories from clients I have met. One
just recently involved a slider repair client that has a fantastic building
system. You may be familiar with SIPs
systems, but this particular company makes one that is not only highly
insulated, light weight, easy to install, fire and mildew resistant, but also
HURRICANE and Earthquake resistant. This was pretty awesome news for a Florida
So let me ask YOU… what is your dream referral and how can I
help YOU find it? Let me know what you
need and you never know… I might just bring it on. I am connected to many businesses throughout
the US
To me, the WDDA represents a group with a common interest
that seeks to help one another. It’s up
to us to pool our resources to the greater good of our industry. If there is
ever anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to call me directly at 727-641-8106, visit us online at www.SliderRepair.com or www.Beacon-Windows.com, as it would be my pleasure to assist you!
