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reason for the overhead for a fourth location until I maximize these three." Unique spends about 19 percent of its bud- get on marketing, a number that Dillon would like to drop down into the 15 to 18 percent range after edging up the past few years. Fewer people are watching TV, he says, which has made media marketing less cost-effective. Events have grown fastest among lead sources as the economy recovers, and the results from them continue to improve. e company offers its salespeople a base salary in addition to commission from the start to attract higher-quality candidates, Dillon notes. If a potential customer com- plains about a sales presentation being too long or aggressive, Unique figures out what happened and explains that it is a one-call- close business but does not mean to pres- sure—before giving homeowners a gift card. "Our challenges are simply finding the right people and developing the right people, whether it's installation or sales or adminis- tration," says Dillon, who conducts surveys to gauge the satisfaction levels of Unique cli- ents. "We're constantly trying to improve our recruiting and our training of people." | help retirees stay in their houses longer and remain autonomous. "With baby boomers growing older and people wanting to live independently at home, anything we can do to assist those people in doing that, we feel like we're doing a good service," he adds. In 2014 Unique opened a second branch in northeastern Ohio—where its window man- ufacturer is located—to serve the Cleveland- Akron market. e company scouted, hired and trained new employees at its Indianapolis headquarters with pay before returning them to Ohio. Following a struggle in the early going, business there picked up in the second half of 2015, Dillon explains. Encouraged by this success, Unique ac- quired Columbus-based Larmco Windows a nd Siding in December 2015 and expanded into cen- tral Ohio. e com- pany upgraded all Larmco warranties to Unique Home Solutions warran- ties and assured previous Larmco customers their ser- vice needs would be performed by trained and insured Unique employees rather than subcontractors. "New locations are definitely in our growth plan; whether that comes next year or the year after will depend mostly on how quickly we're able to develop [our] people and how quickly we're able to attain [our marketing targets for Indianapolis, Cleveland-Akron and Columbus]," Dillon says. "I don't see any fter purchasing Unique Window and Door in 1993, Bob Dillon stopped using subcontractors to install product lines for the com- pany. He made a commitment to training and insuring employees who can perform instal- lations and cover warranties—enabling the business to add offerings such as siding, roof- ing, gutters, kitchens and baths—and evolve the company into Unique Home Solutions. "It gives you more control over the installa- tion process because as an employee, we can tell them exactly how we want the job done," says Dillon, who created an employee stock option program at Unique in 2008. "Since we offer benefits, we get more career-minded people in the installation department; [and] so they take a little more pride in it because they take pride in the company." In 2012 Unique launched a handy- man division to provide the "fix-it" services that homes require as they age and break down. e company offers two complimentary hours of this work to people who agree to a home shopping visit for any of its product lines, and the handyman service unit strives overall to generate repeat customers from the familiarity and loyalty it breeds with homeowners. "We have found that if we come out and do a small $500 to $1,500 handyman job for you, then when you're looking for a $20,000 job, you tend to think of us first," says Dillon, who added a home safety division in 2013 to Sales and Mentoring No. 45 Unique Home Solutions trains its employees to carry out product installations and uphold warranties for clients. By Kyle Clapham A BOB DILLON, President COMPANY: Unique Home Solutions DESCRIPTION: Exterior/replacement contractor HEADQUARTERS: Indianapolis, Ind. TOP 500: No. 45 We're constantly trying to improve our recruiting and our training of people. Bob Dillon, president 68 February 2017 QR QualifiedRemodeler.com PROFILE 2O16 TOP