Keeping your Customers Front & Center - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Jeff Hung & Marisol Masferrer from Kool Seal, a Sherwin-Williams' brand. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the video.

Intro: Welcome to CoatingsCast, the ultimate podcast dedicated to the science, art and innovation of liquid and fluid-applied roofing, coatings for surfaces and waterproofing. It's time to roll up our sleeves, put on our lab coats and dive headfirst into the world of liquid protection that keeps your roofs and surfaces in prime condition. The future is here and it's liquid, so don't miss out. This is CoatingsCast, where every drop counts in the world of roof and service protection.

Karen Edwards: Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode of CoatingsCast from CoatingsCoffeeShop. My name's Karen Edwards. And in today's episode, we are going to be talking all about Kool Seal reflective roofing and patch and repair. And I'm really excited to welcome the Kool Seal team here today. I would like to ask you guys to introduce yourself. Jeff, let's start with you.

Jeff Hung: Yes, thanks, Karen. My name is Jeff Hung. I am the National Sales Manager for our external side of the business, which covers Kool Seal and also GSL Brands. I've been with the company for 25 years now and have six direct reports. And we cover Kool Seal business from Canada, U.S., to the Caribbean.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Well thanks for being here, Jeff. Marisol, how about you? Introduce yourself, please.

Marisol Masferrer: Hi, I am Marisol Masferrer. I've been with Sherwin-Williams for 13 years and in the roof coating industry for about 23. So I'm the National Sales Manager for the internal business, and that means that I manage all of our brands that are sold through our stores. So any Sherwin-Williams stores.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Welcome. And Patrick, last but not least, tell us about yourself.

Patrick Noble: My name is Patrick Noble. I'm the Director of Sales for our roofing solutions group, which covers Jeff's business and Marisol's business, and roofing really in general for the entire Sherwin-Williams company. And we sell again through Canada, the U.S. through distribution, through our stores as well and the Caribbean as well. And excited to be here today.

Karen Edwards: All right. So we heard that Kool Seal is part of the Sherwin-Williams family. We'll get to that a little bit later about what that means. But first of all, I'd like to start with maybe just a brief history of Kool Seal. Jeff, do you want to get us started with that, please?

Jeff Hung: Yeah, sure, no problem. So, Kool Seal is a brand that was part of a company called KST Coatings and that was started up in 1906. So, the brand's been around for a little while. We're not new, not a new product at all. So first to come out with the aluminum products and then also our Elastomeric was introduced in the early 80s as well. So been primarily more sold through the retail chains, originally. And now, Sherwin-Williams acquired KST, Kool Seal back in 2000 and fully integrated with Sherwin-Williams now. And now, our target and focus is more on the commercial side of the business. And that's where my team focuses on, through the roofing distribution houses. So full line of products, acrylics, silicones. And like we mentioned, patch and repair as well.

Karen Edwards: Wow, 1906. That's incredible.

Jeff Hung: 1906. Yeah.

Karen Edwards: Not many can say that. So congratulations.

Jeff Hung: Correct. Thank you.
Karen Edwards: That's a long, successful proven track record as well, right?

Jeff Hung: Correct.

Karen Edwards: All right. So I'd love... We just keep hearing more and more about coatings and the rise in popularity. So I would like to ask you guys, because you're out in the field, right? You're talking to contractors. What are you hearing about the coating space in your travels around and your interactions out in the field? Patrick, why don't you get us started?

Patrick Noble: So, we work a lot with the NRCA and a lot of different distribution, our stores and external distribution and roofing distribution. And really, we've kind of view coatings as the fastest growing commercial roofing application in the space. There's a lot of roofers that do traditional roofing that do coatings. And there's also a lot more and more. We see a lot of companies that focus solely on fluid-applied roofing systems. So really, Kool Seal fits right into that. And all of our different points of distribution really helps with growing that market. And there's a lot of benefits, sustainability, cost savings, renewability, a lot of benefits to using coatings versus traditional roofing systems.

Karen Edwards: All right. Marisol, what are you hearing out there?

Marisol Masferrer: Yeah. And to add to that, I echo what Pat said as well. It's the only UV stable system that's out there. So it's there to protect and to prolong and provide a longer performance life to any type of existing roofs. So I feel that since we're running out of landfill space and we're trying to be more sustainable with companies initiatives, contractors are definitely jumping on board to become more restoration roofers than they are re-roofers. And they see it as a big value. When it comes to the labor incentives in the sense of less labor, more margins for them, coatings is definitely high up there with that margin cost. So it brings them more money and it's easier to apply when they can do a restoration system that's more cost-effective to the building owner.

Karen Edwards: It's a win for everybody, right? It's a win for the contractors, it's a win for the building owner, it's a win for the environment. So it just makes sense. Jeff, how about you? What kind of things are you hearing out there in your travels?

Jeff Hung: Yeah. I'm going to speak to more on the building owner's side of it, where they're getting more educated and they're seeing this as a viable option, a preventative maintenance measure to catch a roof, catch the roof and have options to extend the life of it. So as they are getting more educated, products and Kool Seal products are getting more innovative. Technology has come a long way in the last 10 years, let alone in the last a hundred years. So it's becoming a viable option for everybody where, hey, this is a true tried and improving system that can be used to catch a roof at a certain time and extend the life of it for many, many years past its original life cycle. So it's becoming more accepted as a viable option in the roofing industry.

Karen Edwards: Okay. And we said this is one of the fastest growing sectors, and there's a lot of manufacturers out there that want to sell their products, right? But you guys kind of take a different approach and you're very customer-centric in your mindset. And I wonder, everybody wants to make a sale, but how do you foster that customer-centric mindset within your team? And how do you get them to think that way, put the customer first? Patrick, can you talk a little bit about that for me?

Patrick Noble: We have a process or a program or whatever you want to call it within Sherwin-Williams that we call it trademark customer service. And really, we've kind of carried that over to our Kool Seal business, our roofing business, whereas we have our own training programs and we're completely vertically integrated. So obviously, we're not going to be successful, and ultimately the end user customers who buys our coatings. And we're not going to be successful unless that customer's happy and that customer sees the value of buying from Sherwin-Williams. And so we try to provide as much value as possible. We typically aren't the low price option, but we try to provide as much value as we can from our Kool Seal University program where we're training end user contractors and also our distribution as well, as well as we have, again, we hold our own warranties, we have our own technical team, we manufacture our own products, we have our own delivery services. So everything's completely vertically integrated.

So when you're dealing with Kool Seal, you are typically dealing with an employee that works for Sherwin-Williams, and is working with you directly and/or an extension of that. So we really try to focus on building that customer relationship, building that customer loyalty. And then we also, on the other side, Jeff had mentioned building owners. We do a lot with building owners as well, as far as giving them a comfort level that when we put our fluid-applied roofing system on their roof, a Kool Seal system, that's going to be a viable, like Marisol mentioned, a viable system. We stand behind, we warrant and we've been in business for 158 years, so we're not going anywhere and we'll support you on that.

Karen Edwards: Right. Yeah, that's a long time. And it's kind of like, if you build it, they will come. If you build the relationships, if you build the support, the sales follow, right?

Patrick Noble: Yeah. And you get a lot of word of mouth as well to that point. We've really built, in Jeff's business in particular, we've really built, there's been a lot of word of mouth, so a lot of roofers talk, right? So, they talk to each other, they buy from the same distributors and then they talk amongst each other and be like, "Hey, this is a great training program and a great product line." And "Hey, you guys should get on the board with this." And they collaborate a lot as well, so that helps as well.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. So Jeff, you mentioned Patrick, Kool Seal University. And when we were chatting a little bit before we started this podcast, we talked about examples of building relationships with contractors with the great service, maybe helping them through a trouble, helping them solve a problem. Jeff, talk to me a little more about the Kool Seal University. And maybe give me some examples of how you've been able to help.

Jeff Hung: Yeah, yeah. Kool Seal University is a program that we put together as an approval process, part of the approval process for Kool Seal contractors to be eligible for our warranty systems. So it is required for these contractors to go through at least one session. It's a full day with classroom and hands-on. So we go through basically best practices, what our coatings can do, what our patch and repairs can do and then also follow up with a hands-on. So they're going to get their hands dirty with some of our products, especially for our key products. That way they get a comfort level of what our expectations are with the brand and also get a feel for what they have, what the experience they have as well. And once they complete this class, then we continue to network with them, provide service, provide field support, walk jobs with them and help them through the process from either putting a quote together for a customer all the way down to the final inspection of a project.

So we're going to support that contractor from the start all the way to the finish on each project that they need us on. So that's part of Kool Seal University. Some examples is, when we have these universities, there's always side conversations with contractors. Say, "Hey, what do you think about this situation?" We tell people, we have our specifications written down, but we know there's many ways to skin a cat or however they say it. Just communicate. Communicate, we're a partner, tell us how you're going to do things. And then we may or may not agree on it, but we always say, "Get us in the boat with you at the beginning. Don't come look for us at the end after you've done something and we didn't agree upon it."

Karen Edwards: Right.

Jeff Hung: So those are the communications that we really foster at our universities, meaning, hey, we're here to help support you, but make sure you understand what our expectations are because it's different from other manufacturers and we hear that. But hey, if you're going to be on board with Kool Seal, these are some of the key things that you'll learn at the university. And then we'll continue to ingrain that in our contractors throughout the process from when they go to the university and beyond. We've had a lot of loyal customers and followers just from that class alone and the program has grown exponentially in the last four years.

Karen Edwards: Wow.

Jeff Hung: [inaudible 00:12:58] with it.

Karen Edwards: Well, training is so important because if you don't install it properly, it's not going to perform properly, it's not going to last. So I'm curious how often you have Kool Seal University, where is it held, or does it move around?

Jeff Hung: It does move around. So we try to hold these either in the late spring or late fall, early winter. It's kind of the down times of the season because it's hard to hold the training in the summer when people are busy working. So it's hard to get that attendance and then a level of commitment to it. So typically, it's late spring, late fall, early winter. So mid-second quarter to early fourth quarter is usually our times when we hold these. And we've held them across the country. As long as we have a good base, a good interest level. And we'll work with our distributor partners to identify opportunities, meaning, hey, do we have a group of contractors that are interested in learning about Kool Seal? And if we have enough, then we'll put on a university with it.

Karen Edwards: Yeah. And I bet it's not hard to find a group of contractors that's interested, right?

Jeff Hung: No. No. As we mentioned earlier, this is the fastest, one of the fastest growing segments in the roofing space. And there are a lot of options out there, but I think this class, these universities kind of set us apart. And we get that feedback from the contractors after they've taken the class of, hey, some of the comments is, this is the best training we've ever been to. So those are great to hear, and we always want to expound on that as well for future training.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, it really shows your support of the contractors. And I'm going to ask you, Marisol, about what you guys do as a sales team that makes the most difference to the contractors. Like what do they appreciate most about you being so customer-centric?

Marisol Masferrer: Yeah. Making ourselves available consistently. If anybody has a question, you have multiple different touches of people that you can go to, from our technical people to a regional account managers. Jeff and myself are always available to our contractors, as is Pat. We're fully committed in order of growing their business and making sure that they're fully supported, and that's very different than in other areas or other manufacturers. We do have a great group of folks here with our roofing solutions team, and we're always available to answer questions. And all of our information also is on our websites. So really they don't need, if they have a basic question pertaining to the application spread rate, data pages, or anything like that. Our resources are all online, and that makes it easy for them to not have to wait for us to get a hold of them if, God forbid, they can't get a hold of anybody.

They really appreciate that partnership that we create with them. And also teaching them not just about our products, but best practices. Like Jeff said, the verification and qualification of a roof prior to coating that roof is really important. And we really dig deep into those types of situations so that they know that when they're going to go on a roof, what they need to do prior to the start of that coating job in order to make sure that they have a successful application. And not a lot of people teach about that. That's really important to us because not only does the contractor matter, but the building owner matters. Limiting their exposure and their liability and really showing a genuine interest in doing so really shows them that we definitely separate ourselves from the rest.

Karen Edwards: Okay. I'm curious, because there's a lot of different kinds of groups out there, right? There's single plies, there's modified, there's built ups, there's... And if a contractor is on a job and they're just not sure if the roof is going to be a candidate for a restoration, what does it look like? Will you send someone out there? How does that work?

Marisol Masferrer: I can answer that as well, I guess. We have partnered up with third party consultants as well as drone services for moisture scans. We do have a program internally that we offer that service to our contractors and to our building owners, because really the roadmap to success is going to be a moisture scan analysis to identify wet insulation, make sure that the roof does not have more than 25% of wet insulation. That can be a great candidate for a restoration system. Replacing the wet insulation and bringing it up to a coatable roof is going to be the best place. So none of us have x-ray vision. You can't just walk on a roof and assess that roof visually like that.

So that is definitely one of the processes that we require for material and labor warranties. And really focus on making sure that our contractors are equipped with the right equipment, with Tramex machines, that we are partnered up with them and sell them as well and teach them how to utilize them, but also have that third-party consultant or drone service available for their use. Cost-effective, it shows anomalies. They go out there, do core cuts and verify whether there's two roofs in place or not and then do the proper repairs. So we can work with our team and with our contractors with all of those initiatives. And we offer them. And not every manufacturer does that as well.

Karen Edwards: [inaudible 00:18:30]

Patrick Noble: And Karen, just to add something really quick on that, we had a project last year in Tennessee Market where we were not the low-price option. Our contractor was considerably higher, but they offered that moisture scan technology and that moisture scan information and took it a little step further for the building owner. And we were able to secure the projects, even though our pricing was substantially higher to do the projects. They felt a comfort level in dealing with us. And we were able to secure those projects by offering that additional customer service and that additional peace of mind for the building owners. And so again, the-

Marisol Masferrer: And a contractor, right?

Patrick Noble: And a contractor as well. Yeah.

Marisol Masferrer: Nobody wants to go back on a roof to correct it because they did it incorrectly. Yeah.

Karen Edwards: That's right. And that just shows that it's not always all about price. And the low price isn't always the right choice because there's additional value that comes with those services that you offer that's going to ensure that that roof is going to perform for many, many years and be backed by Sherwin-Williams, right?

Patrick Noble: Yeah, right.

Marisol Masferrer: Absolutely.

Patrick Noble: Being backed by the largest paint and coating manufacturer isn't a bad thing.

Karen Edwards: That's right. So this is a great segue because we mentioned at the beginning that Kool Seal is part of the Sherwin-Williams family. And I'd like to hear from you, Patrick, about how does Kool Seal benefit by being in the Sherwin-Williams family of brands, and how does that help you offer more things to contractors?

Patrick Noble: So, we have a really good synergy with a lot of our other groups. So when it comes to services like Kool Seal University, like I mentioned, we're completely vertically integrated. So we manufacture our own products. We have our own delivery services, we have our own distribution, we have our own technical team. We hold our own warranties and provide the warranties and back them to our company. And so really, it's kind of a one-stop shop. Whereas, I think Marisol mentioned earlier, a lot of times with other distribution, you might have multiple points of contact that you have to deal with. Whereas with us, you can deal with one or two points of contact.

And when you get ahold of us, we can handle whatever challenges, or questions, or opportunities that you bring to the table. And like I mentioned, we've been in business for 158 years. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. And Kool Seal is just one of our many Sherwin-Williams brands that allows us to really service our customers. And we try to have that, like I mentioned earlier, that same consistent customer service approach. No matter if it's a distributor or an end-user contractor or even our stores group, we try to support them and service them to a high level so that... Because fluid-applied roofing is one of our largest growing segments within Sherwin-Williams. And we really try to strive to make sure we go that extra mile.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So if-

Marisol Masferrer: If I can add to that though?

Karen Edwards: Sure. Yeah.

Marisol Masferrer: Sherwin-Williams, I feel like everybody sees that logo. They know that logo. We cover the earth. When we're having these conversations with building owners and we mention that we are part of Sherwin-William, that really kind of feels... They recognize that brand. So we are one of the largest recognized brands out there. And in addition to that, on my team, we can also service residential, not just fluid-applied commercial with our Kool Seal roof paints, because we can tint those roof paints as well. And we can paint residential metal roofs or residential cement tile roofs. And that for them is a comfort. Just knowing that they recognize Sherwin-Williams, are probably already using it on their interiors and exteriors. And then when you say that this also is a brand of Sherwin, that kind of brings them a little piece of mind as well.

Karen Edwards: Sure. Yeah. It adds credibility to, oh yeah, this is Sherwin-Williams. Then yeah, I know it's going to be good. So if someone, a contractor, is out there listening to this podcast and they said, you know what? I've been thinking about adding coatings to my mix, and I like what I'm hearing about Kool Seal, I want to get started. What do they need to do?

Jeff Hung: Yeah. For our side of the business, definitely reach out to your external distribution partner. So, whoever you're buying products from, engage with them. And then they can reach out to us as our... We have a whole team of independent reps that represent our brands across the countries. So if they are interested in Kool Seal, we're free to go that route. Or just contact us through our customer service line, email, through our website. You can reach out to us there as well. And then, I don't know, Karen, if you're going to provide our contact information here, but definitely reach out to us, any three of us as well.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. So we've got... Kool Seal has a directory on coatingscoffeeshop.com, and that has all the contact information as well as additional product information on there. So you can find that there. Or you can visit Kool Seal's website, which is...

Jeff Hung: Koolseal.com.

Karen Edwards: Koolseal.com. And that's Kool with a K.

Patrick Noble: Kool Seal with a K.

Karen Edwards: With a K.

Patrick Noble: Kool Seal with a K.

Marisol Masferrer: Exactly.

Karen Edwards: Yes. So use that K. Koolseal.com. I want to thank Jeff, Marisol, Patrick. I want to thank you all for being here today and having this conversation. I hope we've been able to provide a little information and education out there for the industry for those who are looking for it.

Patrick Noble: Yeah. Thank you, Karen. And really, I think this is a great platform for roofers to really get a general idea of companies like ourselves that... What services we can provide and how we can do business and collaborate with them. So appreciate the opportunity.

Karen Edwards: Thanks, Patrick. Thank you Marisol and Jeff.

Marisol Masferrer: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Jeff Hung: Thank you, Karen.

Marisol Masferrer: Okay.

Jeff Hung: Thanks.

Karen Edwards: All right. And thank you all out there for listening. Please be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And we will see you on a future episode of CoatingsCast.

Outro: Thanks for joining us on this coating adventure. Stay tuned for more episodes. And in the meantime, be sure to follow us on social media to stay updated with all things roof coatings. Until next time, stay coated. For more information, go to coatingscoffeeshop.com.