Behind many glazing industry products and systems, there’s an independent sales rep. It’s those reps who are spending hours, weeks, months, maybe even years, building relationships that help put their products on the building.
A rep’s life comes with plenty of excitement, opportunities and challenges. This is something that Keith Sportack, Bryan Abrisz, Philip Blair and Randall Stevens know all too well. They are all independent reps and have seen the highs and lows that can come with this business.
Good Times
Before becoming an independent rep, Keith Sportack, owner and president of Pace Representatives in Braintree, Massachusetts, started his career as a company rep at Dow Chemical.
“What I found was I could help the customer more and the architect more [as an independent rep] because [in that role] you have products that can help complete the whole package. If you’re just selling a component, you can’t be as useful to the architectural or the contractor community. You’re just selling one unit or one item.”
Bryan Abrisz, president of TSC Associates in Richmond, Virginia, agrees that being an independent rep offers the opportunity to be closely involved in a project on many levels, from start to finish.
“You get to deal with that whole gamut … working with the architect, helping to design and specify a project … watching it ship and get installed, and then the [completed] building … to me, that’s the exciting part, especially if it’s a high-profile job.”
Philip Blair, president of MJD Associates of CNY Inc. in Fabius, New York, agrees that working with architects is one of the best parts about being a rep.
“They [architects] can’t be an expert in everything,” he says. “They can come to you with a design, saying, ‘Here’s what I have envisioned. Here’s what I’d like to do,’ and then we get to bring all our knowledge and our manufacturers together and say, ‘All right, here’s how we see that through completion.’
“To see that work come in, and at the end of the job when they’re satisfied with their project, that’s probably the most rewarding,” says Blair.
Randall Stevens, principal with WCJ Sales in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metro area, voices a similar sentiment.
“You get that initial email or phone call from the architect, and you’re in their office the next day. They show you a schematic design rendering, and then you get to help them through that stage of designing it.”
He continues, “You then get to go into the estimating part and get the final number out there and see [the project] all the way to fruition, to where you’re literally the person doing the closeout documents on the job. Then, being able to go and see that building, whether it’s a mixed-use or a K through 12 school where you’re going to send your kids, you get to walk by it and say, ‘Hey, I did that job.’”
Of course, Stevens adds, the opposite can also be the worst part.
“I often remember the jobs I lose better than I remember the jobs I win,” he says. “The worst part is losing a job, and then having to walk by that building that you spent 12 months on with an architect, or having to look at it on your drive to work every day, going, ‘Man, I lost that building because of this …'”
Challenges
For all the good that comes with the job, there are also challenges.
“I think you have more responsibility as an owner when you’re employing people. Everyone [of us] knows what it’s like to go from being a salesperson, to being an entrepreneur and hiring people and giving them good jobs, and that’s hard,” says Sportack. “You want to get the best team that you can. That’s probably the biggest challenge; making sure we have enough team players and the right ones.”
Abrisz agrees that the biggest challenges come with being a business owner and running a business.
“Because I still want to go sell. That’s what I like to do,” he says. “Dealing with the complexities of business ownership is the hardest part.”
New Opportunities
Securing new opportunities and product lines is essential for independent reps. But taking on a new brand isn’t something to take lightly.
“As an independent rep, when you take that product on, you’re financing the promotion of it, and nobody’s paying you until it’s sold,” says Sportack. “And the cycle for architectural sales can be three-plus years in some cases. So, you’re fronting all that money, not just for the promotion, but also to get up to speed technically so you can help others. That’s expensive. You have to be really careful about what you take on.”
Blair adds, “When we sign up with a new company, it’s our reputation that’s online as well. Our customers and the architects that we serve depend on us. It’s very important to us that we find a partner and a teammate that we can join with that we trust as well.”
Recently, the time was right for all four to secure a new partner. Each decided to join the Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope® (OBE) network across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas. MJD Associates of CNY Inc. represents New York, excluding New York City and Long Island; PACE represents Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; TSC Associates has Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia; and WCJ Sales has North Carolina and South Carolina.
According to Mark Adamson, CEO of Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, this is a significant move for the company. The new agencies aren’t selling just one piece of the building envelope but taking on the entire portfolio.
“Through CRL, OBE, Graham Architectural Products and U.S. Aluminum, these agencies will now bring customers solutions spanning architectural glass, metal systems, windows, railing systems, and architectural hardware supported by OBE’s national scale, manufacturing capabilities, distribution network and industry expertise,” reads the OBE announcement.
“This significant move for Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope is another example of how we intend to continue leading this industry. We didn’t simply add coverage; we added proven industry leaders. We know these teams,” says Adamson. “We know the relationships they’ve built. And we know what becomes possible when we combine that local strength with OBE’s proven scale and full portfolio. That’s a powerful combination, and we’re just getting started.”
As independent reps, Abrisz says you have to always be looking at how you can improve and how you can grow your business.
“Anytime you can make a change this significant with the opportunity potential that OBE brings, it creates buzz inside your business and excites people,” he says.
Stevens adds, “I think it comes down to their product portfolio. It covers every sort of project that we have ever done since the 1970s. When you add in the fact that they’re going to bring in all [of their] other entities … it just was a no-brainer.”
OBE says the expansion is backed by its continued investment in manufacturing capacity, operational capabilities, inventory and customer support, giving its representatives the resources to pursue more opportunities while continuing to deliver for existing customers.
“We intend to compete for more of the project, more of the customer relationship and more of the market,” adds Eric Kowalewski, OBE’s chief commercial officer. “OBE is bringing together architectural glass, metal systems, windows and hardware into one powerful offering backed by the scale, footprint and expertise to deliver. The industry doesn’t need more suppliers. It needs true business partners.”