Hi there, I didn’t want to write a stuffy third person introduction so I’ll just let you know who I am and what I’m up to. If I can help you with a story about windows, home improvement, the housing industry, turning a brick and mortar business into a digital business or almost anything else please feel free to reach out to me at media@TheWindowDog.com.
We’ve recently been featured in several trade magazines and we have several other articles in the works. It seems like we’re making some waves all of the sudden and I love talking about windows and business. If I can help you with a story just drop me a line.
Here is some info on my background:
Window Universe
I’m one of the founders of Window Universe, a replacement window dealer currently serving customers in 16 markets across the country. My partner and I started the company from a small one-bedroom apartment with a savings account and a credit card back in 2008.
She had worked on Wall Street after getting her MBA at Cornell and I had worked all over the window industry from manufacturing, distribution, sales and more. It was obvious to us back then that we could run a better window company. We built up the nerve to quit our cushy corporate jobs while on a camping trip to the Outer Banks and Window Universe was born. It certainly hasn’t been easy and we’ve had some ups and downs over the years. By now we have it figured out which is a pretty nice feeling.
In addition to providing great products and service to our customers we’ve changed the game a little bit by skipping the sales tactics that are so common in this business. Instead, we focus on offering a genuinely good value to our customers. It was a novel idea.
We don’t do a one-call close, we don’t do a model home discount and we love one-leggers. In fact, in many markets, we don’t even have salespeople. Instead we sell windows via email saving our customers a fortune. With us they don’t pay the cost of a sales commission or marketing costs that most old-fashioned dealers endure. They also don’t need to spend 3 hours listing to some sales consultant’s top closes. We just offer our customers a great value and they pick it.
We can offer our customers a better value than our competitors because our costs are lower which creates a genuine competitive advantage. Our competitors can’t match us and our customers save time and money without sacrificing quality. We call it the future of replacement windows.
TheWindowDog.com
I started this very website in early 2014 after thinking about it for several years. I hesitated for a very long time because I thought customers wouldn’t take the time to read this much about windows. Ha, I was 100% wrong about that.
We started by posting information about window ratings, product reviews and common sales tactics. Things grew pretty quickly from there.
If you’re not familiar with this industry I can tell you that there are many companies that only exist because of their ability to lie to their customers. It gives our whole industry a bad name and you’d be shocked at how many people think the only way to sell a window is to lie about it.
To give them the benefit of the doubt, many of those angry salespeople don’t know they’re lying to their customers. They know what their boss told them and they believe it. Unfortunately a lot of what is being said by window salespeople sitting around kitchen tables all over the country just isn’t true.
Customers are getting more knowledgeable, not less. The companies that rely on misleading folks with their clever sales pitch, price drops and model home discounts will continue to find suckers, but they’ll be fewer and farther between. Companies that rely on being honest with their customers will continue to thrive. I know which camp I want to be in.
I’ll be happy to help with your interview, blog post or article. Connect with me on LinkedIn here or email me at media@thewindowdog.com. I will personally respond to every inquiry.
Thanks for coming by!
Dan Schweihs
Founder and CEO – Window Universe
Founder and Executive Editor – TheWindowDog.com