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On the fipside, Power Home Remodeling of Chester, Pa., employs a more traditional, professional-sales-organization approach to achieve its hugely dynam- ic growth in recent years. In markets around the Northeast and Midwest, Power drives an aston- ishing 44 percent of its leads for new business via good, old-fashioned can- vassing. Tis is quite a feat considering the frm sold more than 25,000 jobs last year on $242.6 million in revenue. Indeed, no single home improvement company is exactly like another. Each has its own secret sauce, a mix of lead sources with a variety of marketing mes- sages, all sold with difering methods. Tat is why the Exterior 200 continues to fascinate. It is a compilation of the biggest specialty/replacement frms from around the country, all with a diferent blend of jobs. While windows, siding and roofng is the most common combination — thus the t is often convenient to view home im- provement frms as all being cut from the same cloth. Nothing can be further from the truth. Take the two biggest companies on this year's Exterior 200 list — Window World and Power Home Remodeling. Window World turned the industry on its ear 20 years ago when Leon Whitworth and his son Todd Whitworth began selling windows out of a single location in North Wilkesboro, N.C. Until that point, most window sales op- erations tried to obtain the highest price per window that they could get — $700, $800 up to $1,200 an opening, by only revealing the price at the end of a customer meeting. Today, more than 200 Window World dealers often achieve those same target prices per opening, but they do so by starting low, $189 for a basic single-hung. By giving a basic price upfront, Window World takes tension out of the sales process. Clients are quickly put at ease to pick the features they want — divided lites, Low-E glass, etc. — to ultimately get to a price-prod- uct combination agreeable to all. Window World is naturally a strong mar- keter. Te $189 message is everywhere on bill- boards, on radio, on television and the Internet, among other venues. Te result for our No. 1 Exterior 200 company was 146,000 jobs sold on $463.9 million in revenue last year. Exterior moniker — there are many Exterior 200 frms who ofer interior solutions, cabinet refacing, replacement bathrooms, basement sealing, etc. Our columnist Dave Yoho likes to categorize remodeling companies in two groups: those who make a market and those who take a market. By and large, the Exterior 200 is composed of make mar- keters. Tey spend about 10 percent of their top- line sales to drive leads for new business. Tere are thousands of make mar- keters beyond these 200, but sufce to say they have an outsized contribution to the industry's band- width. Numbers posted by Exterior 200 this time total $3.2 billion in gross sales on 605,761 jobs. Given that there are ap- proximately 130 million households in the U.S., the impact, engagement, innovation and opportunity coming out of this sector of the remodeling market is noteworthy. | Entrepreneurship & innovation drive opportunity By Patrick L. O'Toole Home improvement's biggest frms show there are many pathways to success I Gross sales: $3,215,189,250 Gross jobs: 605,761 Avg. % of rev. on marketing: 10.18 Avg. % of rev. on by lead source: Newspapers .............. 2.6% Radio............................. 2.8% Magazines .................. 1.6% Home Shows ............. 11.3% Internet ........................ 12.6% Canvassing ................. 11.4% Direct Mail .................. 6.0% Billboards ................... 0.4% Company Signage ... 4.4% Repeat Business ...... 15.5% Referrals ..................... 17.2% Yellow Pages............. 1.9% Television ................... 4.3% FAST FACTS about the 2014 Exterior 200 32 December 2014 QR ForResidentialPros.com