IDAExpo™ A Success for Wayne Dalton: New Products and Xtreme Door Makeover Contest Winners

It’s hard to believe that the 2013 IDAExpo^™ has already come and gone, but we are happy to say it was a huge success for Wayne Dalton. The opportunity to see so many of our dealers, customers and potential partners was exciting, too.

Carriage House Steel Model 6600

In case you missed it, here’s a quick overview. Wayne Dalton had the pleasure of introducing four new doors at this year’s expo in Nashville, Tenn.: one residential model, two residential designs and one commercial sectional door. Needless to say, our engineers have been hard at work over the past twelve months. The new Model 6600 Carriage House Steel door will provide dealers and their customers with a premium door that offers the highest R-Value in the Wayne Dalton carriage house steel collection. The new Walnut and Golden Oak wood-grain color finishes will soon be available in the Sonoma panel on the Classic Steel Model 8300.Our latest commercial sectional door was on display at the show, too. The 3-inch-thick ThermoMark 530 is designed to deliver optimal performance and is rated as one of the strongest, most thermally efficient commercial sectional doors on the market.

The grand prize winner, Dan Madsen, Jr., from Dutchess Overhead Door in Poughkeepsie, New York submitted the above photos of a wood door enhancement on a 100-year-old home.

Another highlight of the Wayne Dalton booth was the big reveal of our Xtreme Door Makeover Contest Winners. This year’s contest was a huge success! With 34 entries, we had plenty of excellent before-and-after photos to choose from. Our top three winners did a great job of enhancing curb appeal for their customers. Check out their winning photos below.

The second place winner, Mike Toyooka of West Coast Overhead Door in Fillmore, California demonstrated how accessorizing a new door with windows and hardware can make big enhancements to curb appeal.

Third place winner, Chris Schwerdt from Midway Sales & Distributing in Topeka, Kansas, did an excellent job enhancing the look of this home’s front façade – which is heavily comprised of garage doors.

Did we see you at the IDAExpo^™? Let us know in the “Leave a Reply” section below what has you most excited after this year’s expo.

Opening Up with Wayne Dalton: Wayne Dalton of Central Iowa

Wayne Dalton dealers are some of the most successful and knowledgeable in the industry. Thanks to our series, Opening Up with Wayne Dalton, we have had the opportunity to share several of their stories with you.  This month instead of interviewing the owner of a dealership, we talked to Victoria Tracey, the person responsible for residential sales and marketing for Wayne Dalton of Central Iowa (WD Door) in Ankeny, Iowa.

How did you get your start with Wayne Dalton?
I was working as a salesperson in another field within the construction industry when I was approached by Steve Bouchard and Jeff Myers, owners of WD Door.  The pair had recently purchased the dealership and were the only salesmen for the company.  They were looking for someone to help them drive awareness of the dealership. I told them I would give them one year of public relations, marketing and sales. Here it is 7 years later, and I’m still selling and marketing garage doors.

Wayne Dalton Supports St. Jude: Winner Announced

In February we announced that The Wayne Dalton Genie Sales Center of Peoria agreed to donate two Classic Steel Model 9600 Sonoma doors for the 2013 St. Jude Home Dream Home Giveaway in Peoria, Illinois. We are proud to announce the fundraiser was a huge success. In all, 6,000 raffle tickets were sold for the home which raised $602,400 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The home, built by Dean Custom Builders, encompasses 2,400 square feet. It has four bedrooms and 3.5 baths, an open floor plan and a great room with a fireplace. Wayne Dalton’s Model 9600 doors feature pinch-resistant door panels, polyurethane foamed-in-place insulation, and an R-value of 11. The home has an estimated value of $335,000.

Wayne Dalton is proud to partner with charitable organizations such as St. Jude.  Special thanks go to Troy Skoog and the Wayne Dalton Genie Sales Center of Peoria for leading the charge!

Three Ways to Improve Customer Satisfaction this Spring

Customer service is critical to the success of any business, and that’s no different in the garage door industry. Not only do positive customer experiences enhance the reputation of your brand, they can also lead to increased sales and repeat business. That’s why we’re sharing a few tactics door dealers should keep in mind in order to improve satisfaction and keep customers coming back for their future garage door system needs.

1. Listen and Learn

Listening might be one of the most underestimated, yet most important, skills needed to ensure customer satisfaction. Show that you are listening to your customers by taking notes and paying attention to everything they have to say. Listen to how they react to what you say, and learn from what you hear by offering solutions based on their reactions.

Voting is Now Open!

All Wayne Dalton Xtreme Door Makeover Photo Contest entries are in!  Now it is YOUR turn to help us decide which one displays the best transformation.  Now through Sunday, April 7th, please go to our Xtreme Door Makeover Photo Contest web page and vote for the Showcase you like the best by hitting the Facebook ‘Like’ button on the page.

Once voting closes, Wayne Dalton will contact the prize winners directly by April 12. The winners will be announced at the IDA Expo in Nashville, TN on May 10, 2013.

• Grand Prize $3,000 CASH + Apple® iPad® + Trip to Nashville to Attend IDA*
• 2ND PRIZE $2,000 CASH + Apple® iPad®
• 3RD PRIZE $1,000 CASH + Apple® iPad®

Thank you to all of you who participated this year.  You are all doing a fantastic job showing homeowners how a Wayne Dalton garage door can enhance a home’s curb appeal!

*Trip expenses include airfare and hotel up to a $2,000 value. At least one member from the dealership must attend the IDA Expo.

Enhancing Curb Appeal One Garage at a Time

Warmer weather is approaching, and that means homeowners will soon be thinking about remodeling projects and ways to enhance curb appeal. As innovators in the industry since 1954, Wayne Dalton and Wayne Dalton dealers know garage doors better than anyone in the business. This means we are all well-suited to advise homeowners on how garage door replacement can have a great impact on curb appeal.

Whether a customer is in the process of selling their home or they plan to stay in their current home for years to come, investing in a new garage door is a smart choice. It increases resale value, improves a home’s thermal efficiency and increases security. Plus, garage doors can be purchased and installed at a low cost compared to other home improvement investments, as reported in REMODELING magazine’s 2012 – 2013 Cost vs. Value report.

If you really want to see the difference a new garage door can make, take a look at these dramatic garage door transformations from the finalists of last year’s Xtreme Door Makeover Photo Contest.

This transformation was done by Dutchess Overhead Doors in Poughkeepsie, NY and features model 311 from the Wood Garage Door Collection

This upgrade was completed by Pioneer Overhead Door in Lincoln, NE, using Model 9700 from the Carriage House Steel Collection in a Lexington finish.

Does your dealership have an exceptional transformation to share? Send your before-and-after photos to DealerUpdates@Wayne-Dalton.com to be featured in future blog posts.

Opening Up with Wayne Dalton: The Total Garage Store

Garage door dealers continue to be the driving force behind the growth of our company; therefore, we want continue honoring those outstanding partners that have made Wayne Dalton what it is today. Join us in learning more about the next dealer in our Opening Up with Wayne Dalton series, Bill Earnest, owner of The Total Garage Store in Knoxville, Tenn.

How long have you owned The Total Garage Store?
I’ve owned The Total Garage Store since May 19, 2008. When we started the business, we focused solely on residential products. Recently, we’ve started selling commercial doors and that now makes up about 30 percent of our business.

What locations does The Total Garage Store serve?
In terms of service, we operate in five cities: Knoxville, Nashville, Jackson, and Clarksville, Tenn., and Bowling Green, Ky. We generally serve the entire state of Tennessee, southern Kentucky and southwest Virginia. We also dip into northern Mississippi and northern Alabama.