Jon Gardner - The Industry’s University - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Jon Gardner of Owens Corning. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast. 

Speaker 1:
Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a long term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. This is Heidi Ellsworth, and I'm here today with, I have to tell you, kind of a legend in roofing. Very excited, I'm road tripping east over to meet with Jon Gardner of Owens Corning. Jon, welcome to the show.

Jon Gardner:
My gosh.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I think everybody knows you, Jon. That's just how we do this.

Jon Gardner:
Yeah, well, I guess that's what happens when you've already been in the industry since, I'm going to say it, since the nineties.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes, me too. I know.

Jon Gardner:
I mean, let's face it, Heidi. We're super fortunate to say that we've been in this industry and with the industry for so many years.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Jon Gardner:
And so, yeah, I'm not sure about legend, but I'll take it today. Thank you.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, I started in 1993, so next year will be 30 years, so-

Jon Gardner:
Oh yeah.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know.

Jon Gardner:
You and I, we started exact same year. In '93 was when I got into the business.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And once you get in roofing, you never leave, right?

Jon Gardner:
Right, and what's weird is both you and I look so young.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I know. No one would ever know.

Jon Gardner:
No. No.

Heidi Ellsworth:
We get younger with age. I love it. Okay. For those few people out there, jon, can you introduce yourself and a little bit about your role at OC and just overall?

Jon Gardner:
For sure. First of all, Heidi, thank you so much for inviting me on to this and having an opportunity to speak with you today, so wanted to get that out there first and foremost and number two, before I get into myself is mentioned that you've been in the business since '93 and boy, I can't thank you enough. I think the industry owes you a debt of gratitude, too, for what you've put into the industry and what you give to the industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Thank you, Jon.

Jon Gardner:
From original days until today. So it means a lot for me to be invited onto this and really do appreciate that, so.

Heidi Ellsworth:
It means a lot to have you. Thank you. Wow.

Jon Gardner:
And so a little bit about me. I'd mentioned I've been in the industry since 1993 and through that time, I've always been focused on the manufacturing side of the roofing industry. Today, I head up our training and development platform for all of our contractors and for contractors even outside of our network. Been with Owens Corning for 10 years, and I've had the opportunity and pleasure of working both on the sales and marketing side and now on the training side so really at the end of the day, part of what gets me jazzed up and provides so much of the opportunity is just over the past 25 or 30 years, the industry has made such considerable changes that now training's super important and development is super important and so excited to see that our contractors and contractors within the industry are investing in themselves and investing in their employees, investing in what will be a finished product on the roof for happy homeowners and happy customers.

Jon Gardner:
So, yeah, that's a little bit about me and I've been in this role here for the last four years or so, and we've done quite a bit with Owens Corning University, which we'll get into in a little bit and just I love it and really proud of Owens Corning for investing in contractors.

Heidi Ellsworth:
That's the thing, it's that investment that I love and when ... I mean, for all of you out there who are listening, if you're listening to Jon's voice and you're kind of like, "I know that voice," it's because Jon, you do webinars, I mean a couple every month if not every week throughout a good part of the year where you're bringing new technologies, new services. So I've done ... I've been lucky enough to do a couple with you. We did one on diversity. That kind of continuing education is so important to the industry and you're doing it with ... I mean, I know Owens Corning contractors out there are coming every week to find out what's happening.

Jon Gardner:
Yeah, and you have folks that are following you and that really attach themselves to the Roofer's Coffee Shop and Owens Corning and Owens Corning University has the same and so once again, you got to paint yourself and say, "Thank you," to the contractors for making that investment and seeing that there's some value in what Owens Corning and Roofer's Coffee Shop is bringing and like you, Heidi, many of the resources and the learnings that we get are from our travels and seeing what's really going on out there and the successful contractors that are making it. What are they doing and trying to understand that and helping them grow even more and implementing some of those same strategies with contractors that are looking for growth opportunities.

Heidi Ellsworth:
They do, and the Owens Corning contractors, I sit down with ... You and I were just, I don't know, a couple months ago with Derek Stole, who just does amazing stuff out there. You just listen to them and hear what's happening and you know this needs to be shared and they're so willing to share and they're such a strong part of both of the Owens Corning platinum, but also the bigger Owens Corning community and also Roofer's Coffee Shop so you're right. I love this. I love being able to do this. So let's talk ... I want to talk more about Owens Corning University. Can you kind of share with everybody what that's all about?

Jon Gardner:
Yeah, and appreciate the question and so what is Owens Corning University? At the end of the day, it's a vehicle for our contractors in the industry to leverage training and development content simply to help them get better and help them with their growth strategies and specifically help them with what their current issues are. With regard to Owens Corning University, we look at the ... Talk a little bit about the content and we'll talk about where it's available, but the content, obviously when you think about what makes an unbelievably successful roofing company, it starts with the basics. What are the roofing systems that contractors should be focused on and the application of those systems are super important and contractors that have been in the industry for 5, 10, 15, 20 years, the owners of the companies, certainly know all of the techniques and the correct ways of installation, but imagine all the new employees that are coming in from outside the industry, from selling carpeting to automobiles or something else, they know nothing about the roofing industry.

Jon Gardner:
So part of Owens Corning University is making sure that the foundational elements of roofing and roofing training and development are focused on those critical skills, which are the application and the system and the product training, which is really, as I mentioned, just the foundation of how to get better. Then when you look at the other skills that are required by roofing contractors mean you're basically looking at a business that requires everything from the application, which we just talked about, to understanding what it means to run a successful production environment, to sales, to marketing, to branding, and all those elements are what creates some of the most successful roofing companies out there that have really dialed in on those pieces and part of what Owens Corning University delivers is all of those pieces so when we look at a contractor's business, there's not one element that's not as important as the other. All of it works together to create what we see as super successful and really proud Owens Corning folks when working with these contractors that made that investment.

Jon Gardner:
And so when you think about, to answer your question, when you think about what is Owens Corning University, it is that location where our contractors in the industry can kind of immerse themselves into content to help them with those different elements of the business and so we're really proud of that in and part of, as I mentioned to you before, part of the success of Owens Corning University is really understanding some of those trends and what's going on in the industry and listening to our contractors about the problems that they're having, and then really doing some groundwork to find the solutions for our contractors and that is where the magic happens because this roofing industry is filled with just really amazing folks, amazing technologies, amazing businesses, folks like you, Heidi, that when you leverage collectively, you can really bring some amazing content to contractors.

Jon Gardner:
So in addition to that, our company is very focused on this. Our business, our contractor team, our sales organization, our marketing team, where do we point to when we look at what we do every single day? We point to our contractors. We point to our contractors and we ask ourselves the question, "Is this going to help our contractors grow their business?" And no matter if it's product marketing, sales aids, OCU training, that's the focus and so it's collective effort with regard to all of the folks that work in Owen's Corning, so got great team all across the board and collectively we put some effort into making Owen's Corning University successful for our contractors and they decide if it's successful or not, and we're hearing that it's doing some good stuff for them.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes. I hear that all the time out there that people are using that and I think one of the things that is so amazing about Owens Corning University, too, is what you said is that it's for every part of the business. I love the fact that you can send your installers in there to learn about first of all just basic installation of the product, but also then what are some of the new techniques? And you've been coming out with so many product innovations that that's important. You kind of think about, well, you want to have this base of information for new people coming to the industry, but at the same time for some of us who've been in the industry for a long time, things are changing so fast with technology, product innovations and you really do a great job of covering that and staying on the front end.

Jon Gardner:
Well, and that's one of the most exciting parts of the industry today is the ... Think about trends that are going on. First of all, I think you have to be under a rock not to recognize that there's some serious consolidation going on in the industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah, definitely.

Jon Gardner:
And that's a good thing because what it's saying is that investors look at the roofing industry and all aspects of it to say, "That's a market and that's a segment. That's a vertical that's strong enough to invest in for today and for the future," so that's great. And then number two is with regard to outside of a consolidation, the typical profile of a company that's under consolidation is a certain size, right? It's a larger size and it's a company that's either larger or done extremely well in a regional environment but the other part that's super interesting is the contractors that may not be interested in consolidation or may not be in that certain framework for consideration for consolidation are also making significant investments in the business and what's allowing that to happen is much like the investors that are saying, "Hey, this is an industry in a vertical worth looking at," the technologies and the companies that are invested in technology that could go to any industry ... They could go to HVAC, they can go to consumer products. They're really targeting the roofing industry because they see and they're actually looking at the return on the investment for themselves, but also for the contractors.

Jon Gardner:
So when I mentioned these smaller contractors and these could be folks that are a million, 2 million, three, five, it really doesn't matter the size. It's really the framework and the investment around that company because that company today is going to be hopefully larger or in some way, shape or form better next year. So this technology that these companies have invested within the roofing industry is something that our company and the contractor team and me specifically focus a lot of energy on in terms of what technologies are going to make the most amount of return and investment for our contractors and that ROI is really focused on whatever that technology is and how it impacts the business.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Jon Gardner:
And within our contractor network, we have partnerships, sometimes exclusive partnerships, with some of the best technologies in the industry, and our contractor team, our sales organization, work tirelessly to connect the dots and to help our contractors understand what they are and in many cases implement those technologies, create those partnerships with those companies.

Jon Gardner:
So the consolidation is super interesting, but this investment in technologies is even more interesting and we had talked about OCU and I'm bringing that up again because what's the third trend that I'm seeing and that we're seeing is boy, it just been an absolute reinvestment, if you can believe it, in training, in development.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes. Yes.

Jon Gardner:
And our industry has finally shaken off all the weight that's on our shoulders with regard to not being able to travel with COVID and saying, "You know what? I'm doubling down, I'm really going to make the investment," and part of Owens Corning University is providing various vehicles for contractors to absorb content and to develop and one of those is our live training and that training happens across the United States. In many cases, it's with folks within Owens Corning that are experts at the topic but in other cases, we have relationships and partnerships with some of the industries best, in terms of training, and so our contractors take advantage of this training across the United States, from sales to marketing to production to business development and everything in between and so if our contractors aren't investing in training live, then we're seeing a huge uptick in the online training and that's Owens Corning's other vehicle for helping our contractors. Many of them they're just like, "Hey, my day's done and I kind of want to get into something. It's seven o'clock at night. How do I get into-

Heidi Ellsworth:
On demand.

Jon Gardner:
On demand. So those that's ... Just thinking through where we are today, I just want to make mention of those three pieces. That's what I'm seeing from my side and maybe, Heidi, you may be seeing some similar things there.

Heidi Ellsworth:
I'm seeing exactly the same things. I mean, it's training, technology and then how to put it all together, which is one of the things I love about what you do with OCU and your business accelerators, which people can find all ... We have the business accelerators, so much information on Roofer's Coffee Shop on that and on OCU, but I love the fact that a lot of times people will give information out, right? Say, "Oh, here's a great technology," or, "Here's the thing," but there's no, "How do you make it work within your business?" And so many contractors now, when they look at the applications they have, they might have 20 different applications that they're using. How does that stack? What's that technology stack? How does it all go together? Do they play well together? And I think you've done a great job of bringing people together to talk about that and to partner. They partner with Owens Corning, but they also partner with each other, which is making it easier for the contractors.

Jon Gardner:
I'm glad you brought that up because the shiny new object syndrome occurs in this industry and every other industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yeah.

Jon Gardner:
Something new comes in and people say, "I got to have that, because that sounds like something that's going to change my business," and that's great but with the advent of more technology and the speed of which technology is both coming in as well as the effect on the business, it's super important to make sure that technology is the right one and number two, if you're investing in multiple technologies, how do they communicate with one another and are they the right technologies to connect to one another? So the technology stack, that's kind of what the industry calls it and what you're referring to, is a huge element of consideration with regard to any technology that we bring into the contractor network and the offerings that we provide our contractors.

Jon Gardner:
And then even more so, we actually work together collectively as a team, meaning some of these technology companies and Owens Corning collectively just do some group work to understand where the best integrations can take place and how do we formulate that so that when we deliver it to the contractor, much of that work has already been done so you don't have to do a lot of test and learn in the field. You don't have to do a lot of, "Well, I hope it works," because we're working on the back end with these technology companies to make sure that it's the right fit and it works the way it's intended to work collectively so that you're not having to take two steps back to get one step forward.

Heidi Ellsworth:
To get forward. And I know ... I mean, you and I share names all the time. We're doing introductions back and forth all the time saying, "Hey, have you heard about this technology? Have you seen this?" And I think that is really key to kind of bringing that together and one of the things that I love is the feedback you get from your contractors on what's working and what's not working so because like you said, you can put it out there, but if people are like, "Hey, this doesn't work," you kind of need to know that too or what other elements do they need to make it work?

Jon Gardner:
Yes and then what just came to mind with regard to that is the approach which we're able to help contractors, and so when we think about the whole technology stack and how do we get that information into a place where a contractor can learn when they want to learn? So we figured it all out and so what's the best vehicle to help our contractors? Well, obviously our webinars, we talked a lot about this, and we also provide video content on OCU that we talk about this but the other investment that we make at a high level is with our own sales organization. Part of the sales team's strengths are the fact that they understand the technologies and that they can listen to what the concerns are, the needs are, the growth strategies of our contractors are, and they can quickly discern, "Okay, what technologies might be a good fit? What resources might be a good fit," and begin to implement them and because we work together as a team, it's not uncommon for sales organization to reach out to the contractor team or to the contractor sales organization that you know we have and we will work collectively as a team to make sure that the contractor is in great shape. So part of that, our responsibility too, is making sure that our group understands the questions to ask and put our contractors in at least in a good direction where they can learn.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, and I love that too. I mean, I had the honor of coming and actually presenting to some of your sales team and working with Molly. I mean, you guys just have amazing sales, but the thing that's even bigger than that is that training, marketing, sales all work together.

Jon Gardner:
That's true.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And so many times over both of our histories, I've seen it when they don't work together and you don't get nearly as far and that's a real game changer. And speaking of working together, I think one of the things we talk a lot about with for the roofing companies is how do you bring your leadership team together with all of those elements, operation, sales, marketing, finance, leadership, ownership, and how do you incorporate ongoing education for all of your employees? And we kind of started out talking about that, that the breadth of the OCU education really does incorporate the entire company and all the people, but maybe share just some of your thoughts. I'm a contractor, how do I incorporate this into my business?

Jon Gardner:
Yeah, well, I think first of all, we made mention to this when we started off, is so much change with an accelerated change in the last 5, 6, 7 years or five to ten years, and what I mean by that is going back again to the industry really putting itself in what it saw as a vision in the future in terms of leveling up contractors and providing the resources they need to get better and so outside of Owens Corning University, I just want to make mention that there's some awesome resources out there that all contractors should consider and one of them is obviously NRCA.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Jon Gardner:
NRCA is the roofing industry's association, really, and it is filled and packed with content and really smart people that are there to help our contractors but they also have amazing insight because they're obviously on a national level and an international level and the folks there are completely dedicated to do one thing, support the industry and help contractors. So what better place to go to if you're thinking, "What's a good resource and a place that I can hang my hat?" NRCA, for sure.

Jon Gardner:
I would also consider that when you look at, "Where can I get resources", it's manufacturing companies like Owens Corning that have made the investment in because ... Go back at one second here, Heidi, and just kind of restate the obvious, is why are we investing in training, in development? Because it's our obligation to do that, number one, and number two is our success is predicated a hundred percent on the success of our contractors and so it is a shared partnership, our contractors, because they're owning their business. They take the brunt of that stressful day in and day out, but we do our best to make sure that we bring it to our contractors to help them.

Jon Gardner:
So with that being said is when you look at something like Owens Corning University, we alluded to it before, but we intentionally built the content so that it can help support all aspects of the business and we intentionally built it into a learning management platform so that every contractor and every employee within that contractor can have a unique experience, an experience that is important to them so that they can leverage it, number one, and they can manage how well they're doing against the training content. And so as an owner of a company, as a sales manager, as a marketing manager, as an employee, who's looking to get better, the Owens Corning University is a resource that is set up so that you can go through those different elements of the business, the ones that are most important to you for sales manager, sales training, sales process is important to me, understanding how to motivate sales folks is important to me. The business acumen is important to me.

Jon Gardner:
If I'm on installation side, of course then the install elements are important to me and we built those pieces out in a way that it's easy for our contractors to locate the content, take the course, measure themselves against it with taking quizzes and then rewarding themselves with certificate of completion and then obviously presenting that to the customer to say, "Look, I'm invested in this business and I know my stuff and so here amongst all the other things that I've been doing, I'm part of Owens Corning, I'm a preferred or platinum contractor, and I've invested a hundred percent in making sure that I'm committed to development and training."

Jon Gardner:
And so that's a quick example of the online side of it and of course, one of the other things I also wanted to mention, Heidi, is ... So we're so fortunate to have thousands of contractors in our network, but for those thousands of contractors in our network, there's thousands that are not in our network, but they're important contractors, too, because they're putting on good roof systems and they're doing their best for the industry and for their company and so we also wanted to make an investment to the industry. Just because you're in the network, you have to go through a certain sequence and get yourself logged into Owen's Corning, right, into our OC Connect, but if you're outside the industry, you don't have access to that. We want to provide content to our contractors for training free of charge and that's available to anybody and that's through the hub.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Jon Gardner:
So that's a great place for contractors to start. If they're just looking for, "Hey, what's Owens Corning all about? How can I learn a bit more about the network," and everything in between, so it's kind of like your starting place if you're not within the network with Owens Corning.

Jon Gardner:
To get there, it's owenscorning.com/ocuhub. O-C-U-H-U-B, and that'll get you into the hub. The reason why I bring that up Heidi, is contractors, all shapes and sizes, both inside network, outside network, we are all for the industry. Got to make sure that we deliver the content to the industry.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And obviously we have the exact same philosophies. It needs to be open. Everyone needs to be able to learn and then when you want to go deeper, you can and there's great ways of getting involved and being able to do that and I wanted to connect back on what you said, also, as contractors are out there listening right now and saying, "Well, I'm going to go to the hub and get started to see things," or maybe you're already an OOC contractor so you need to get more involved in OCU, I really believe there is a huge cultural benefit for your company, also. When you are talking to your employees and saying, "Hey, go and check out these marketing classes, go check out these sales classes, go check out these new installation," or, "Hey, there's a new wind uplift program that is being worked on," I'm just throwing that out there, but I think culturally, that also sends a message to the employees within your company that you care and that you are finding ongoing information, that's going to help them do their jobs and make their life a little bit richer.

Jon Gardner:
Yeah. I think you hit the nail in the head and through COVID, over the last five years or so or a little bit less than that, we've witnessed all sorts of social change throughout the world and so how am I drawing a parallel to that? Well, I'll give it a shot. The empowerment with regard to employees is very high right now and what I mean by that is as an employee, I don't care what company you're working for, you want to feel like you're part of the organization. You want to feel like you're contributing to it. You want to feel like you're growing with the organization. You want to feel like, "I have an opportunity to grow with the organization and I want to feel connected to the ownership and what their vision is to the business, because that's how I grow and that's how I feel like I'm part of it," and that's how I feel with Owens Corning. That's probably how you feel with all of your employees and that's how anybody feels. That is my connection there with the real motivation of employees and people in general, to feel that.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Yes.

Jon Gardner:
So with regard to ... you asked the question and you made a statement in regard to why, why, why? If you think about an employee, they have to feel invested. They have to feel confident. They have to feel like, "I have an opportunity for growth short term and even ongoing. I want to make the money that I deserve." So all that combined is really about enabling somebody to invest in their future and that's an employee perspective.

Jon Gardner:
From an employer perspective, the same thing could be true is my employees are super competitive, meaning that I've got potential opportunities to lose an employee if I'm not investing in my employee because they're going to go somewhere where they feel those things that we just talked about.

Jon Gardner:
More so than that, if I'm not investing in my employee and this employee is actually putting a roof on in a home and they're not invested and understand if it's a sales process, if it's in production, if it's installation, if it's my marketing, what lead gen I'm going to, I don't care what part of the business it is, if as an employer, my folks aren't doing the right thing, I just lost a lot of money. I've lost a lot of money opportunity. I've lost a lot of good faith out there. I've lost time. So those things are critical to an employer and so part of what we tried to do is, "Okay, so you've got five things that you're working on in your business, which is amazing. What are those most critical elements of it?"

Jon Gardner:
And so our sales organization will try to get in there, our whole company try to get in there, and if it looks like, "Here, here's an opportunity to help take that organization to the next level," this is a great time to invest in some of our what we call our business accelerators and these are folks like Art Unlimited, Yes, in terms of putting in the processes into your business and of course, sales, sales, management, business management. These are resources within Owens Corning adversity that absolutely step your foot on the gas pedal and accelerate the business. These are key elements of the business that we are providing our contractors to invest in. It's called Business Accelerator.

Heidi Ellsworth:
And it's that one step deeper that you can go. Starting with the hub, going to OCU and then going and that ... And the live events. I mean the live events are so powerful.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, Jon, thank you. This has been a wealth of knowledge and we're totally on the same page. I love this. For all the contractors out there, please get involved. This is the kind of continuing education that you can bring to your employees and also then turn it into new business when you really share with your customers what you're doing and how knowledgeable and how you're continuing to grow your business using technology, product innovation, all these different things. It's huge. Jon, thank you so much for all this information and for being on a Roofing Road Trip.

Jon Gardner:
Well, I loved it and obviously it was amazing to talk to you and connect with you again. Once again, Heidi, can't thank you enough for all that you do for the industry and supporting contractors and look forward to talking with you again in the near future. Until then, thank you so much and look forward to hearing any comments and feedback that contractors and folks that visit Roofer's Coffee Shop may have. So please reach out if you have any questions. I'm here to help.

Heidi Ellsworth:
Well, I want to say thank you also. I mean, you and I are on ... We're on RT three together. We do a lot of things in the industry. Jon, you give back so much and Owens Corning, National Women In Roofing, I mean, oh my gosh, just the list goes on and on. So thank you and definitely we want everyone to tell us what you think. Give us your information back. You can find the Owens Corning directory on Roofers Coffee Shop, lots of places where you can give information back. There is huge amounts of information, eBooks, interviews with the accelerators to really talk about how to grow your business, along with how to sign up and get involved with the hub and OCU.

Heidi Ellsworth:
So be sure to get online and I want to thank everyone for listening. Thank you for being here today, listening to this podcast. Be sure to catch all the podcasts which are on rooferscoffeeshop.com under the RLW section and Roofing Road Trips or on your favorite podcast channel. Be sure to subscribe and set it for notifications so you don't miss a single one and we'll see you next time on Roofing Road Trips.

Speaker 1:
Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi from the rooferscoffeeshop.com.