A Day in the Life of Tony Poleo

By Heidi J. Ellsworth, RCS Partner.

The highlights of being a regional business manager with Weatherproofing Technologies, Inc (WTI).

As part of an ongoing series of articles, RoofersCoffeeShop® is proud to highlight a Day in the Life of Weatherproofing Technologies, Inc (WTI) employees.  WTI is a subsidiary of Tremco Roofing and has a wealth of interesting and challenging positions for people interested in construction.  WTI provides construction services for building owners along with their vast network of Tremco contractors. 

Today we are visiting with Tony Poleo who is a Regional Business Manager with WTI’s southwest region.  He is responsible for leading and managing all aspects of his region which includes setting strategic direction, providing customer service and sales support, managing all regional personnel, ensuring regional profitability and performance, and contributing to a culture of teamwork and quality. Tony is a leader that has made a difference at WTI and Tremco.  He is the liaison for the region and coordinates all communications, keeping WTI customers and employees informed and happy. 

I talked to him about his history and current position.  I asked him to share how he started with his current position and talk about the day-to-day sense of accomplishment he has in his role.  Following is Tony’s firsthand account:

Well, I'm probably a unique case to Tremco and the roofing industry, because I came in with zero experience, not only in construction, but in roofing. I started on the sales side. I have a technology and communications background, and about 10 years ago, I had a friend who worked at Tremco as a sales rep call me about the company.  He said, "Hey, hear me out here.  Roofing is a different industry maybe not the most exciting or sexy job in the world, but Tremco is a great company to work for.  They do great things for their employees and are very family oriented.  You should listen to what they have to offer."

One thing led to another, and I joined as a field sales representative first. I was comfortable doing it because of the extensive training that they provided. Tremco and WTI look for self-driven, go getters.  During one of my first interviews, they asked if I had ever owned a business, because we really run our own businesses within our regions.  That is a critical skill set, for many of the positions here, especially with WTI.  

When I started with Tremco, they provided extensive training out of the gate for people from all fields and backgrounds; six weeks in Cleveland, minimum, training, three weeks at a time. And they provided a great support team to help educate us about the roofing industry and get us into the mode of selling to our client base quickly.

I worked in sales for five years from the ground up with no experience, meeting with business owners and facility managers and starting to understand what it takes to be successful in the industry.  One of the key components of Tremco on the manufacturing side are the sales reps out in the field selling.  I really enjoyed it, but I was introduced to WTI, which I believe is one of the biggest and greatest service organizations in the industry.  I saw that side of our business, and I saw room for growth.  I thought it was an exciting move for me to explore joining the service team and help support this great selling organization that we have from the other side.

I joined WTI probably five years ago as regional business manager of the southwest region.  At that time, it also included the northwest region and I focused primarily on the general services side of the business.  It includes all of our technician teams, all of the folks who do our leak response, service calls, warranty calls, inspections and the reports that generate future opportunities for sales teams.

Another great part of the culture here, is the ability to manage your own business. You jump in and you go. People trust you just to go and build your own processes, focus on continuous improvement, build your own teams. At the regional level, we are empowered to build our own strategies that are specific to the market we support, because our business is so diverse across the country, basically due to weather and types of systems that we put down and support.  It's really critical that we don't have a cookie cutter approach, because something that is effective in New York, is not going to be the same flow and processes and strategies in Los Angeles, California, which I support.

In the south, we have the great opportunity to not only roof but support, restore and service year-round, where my counterparts in the Midwest are limited, from a technician's standpoint, throughout the winter. But a great part of the business, is that we have an amazing team of regional business managers on the service side. Obviously, we meet weekly, we all know what our strengths and weaknesses are, our capabilities, our resources, and we pull from each other. That happens daily, not only throughout the seasons, but every day of the year that we have needs that are critical or higher priority.

To learn more about regional manager positions with Tremco WTI and the great people who work there visit their career page at their Careers Page or visit their directory here on RCS.