Garage door industry magazine for garage door dealers, garage door manufacturers, garage door distributors, garage door installers, loading docks, garage door operators and openers, gates, and tools for the door industry.
Issue link: https://idoi.epubxp.com/i/134362
DOORDEALERDIALOG (continued from page 22) Christine, meanwhile, enjoys speaking of a segment of her company's customer base as fuzzy slipper customers. "We get so caught up in technology and the rush of modern day life that we forget there are still people out there with a rotary phone hanging on the wall in their kitchen, that looks just like the one we used to run this business from," Christine said. "There are a lot of customers who look at a new garage door as a major purchase, because for them, it is. It may be the only time they've ever needed one, and the garage door we are replacing may have been put there by their grandfather 60 years ago. These are who we affectionately call our fuzzy slipper customers, and they need to be given a lot of attention and a lot of care. We give that to them." Another important lesson that Christine instills in her team members is that all customers deserve to be treated with respect and compassion, even if they are diffcult to deal with. A customer with a bad attitude may be a good person going through a diffcult time. "Everybody has a life, but not everybody is having a good one all the time," Christine said. "You never know what people are going through. I was reminded of that one day talking to an elderly lady about her door. She said it needed to be fxed because it wasn't working, and she couldn't have it open because that created a draft and made it colder in the house. Then she explained that she couldn't have that happen for the time being because her husband was in the house and he was dying." operation. She is under the tutelage of her Aunt Christine, who applauds her niece for learning the technical side of the business. "I learned back in the early days that a woman in the construction business has to be better at what she does in order to be respected," Christine said. "There are still people who will call here and say I would like to speak with a man, but when they are talking with Melissa, there aren't any men available who know more about installing doors than she does." Melissa's 25-year-old brother is taking after dad, working in the feld and planning to eventually join his sister as an equal partner in Carl's Door Service. Both Melissa and Adam refect the family traditions and values that have been used to build the company during its frst two generations. "We want to always be the door company in this area that the people of the community think of frst," Melissa said. "That's the way people around here have always thought of Carl's Door Service, and that's the way we will make sure they continue to think of us." Continued on page 26 Michael and Paula Whitacre, examining a gate operator that had been modifed in some very creative ways by a handiman. For Michael, that DODA convention in Orlando also sparked an interest in being more involved in his industry organizations. Christine was among the frst group of IDEA Accreditation candidates in Nashville in 1997, and Michael has sinces been appointed by IDA to the IDEA Board of Directors. Now in his second term, he says the work of the group is important to the industry and therefore to his company. "I've always believed our industry should be recognized as a profession, and the people working in it should be seen as professionals," Michael said. "We need to have high industry standards, we should be able to offer our employees a good quality of life in return for the services they perform, our training and professional development should be on par with other professions and the public should be able to recognize quality in our industry." The Next Generation Having recalled that she and her brother took over the helm of Carl's Door Service in 1979, Christine Miller notes that things are on track for the next generation of brothersister owners. Michael's daughter Melissa has earned her stripes, having learned the business the old fashioned way: in the feld. She spent nearly a decade as an installer for the company before being brought into the offce to learn the business side of the V o l u m e 4 6 i s s u e 3 2 0 1 3 25