Enhance and extend your reputation.
It used to be branding involved newborn animals, hot iron, and singed hair. Today, though, branding now relates more closely to how we view products, how they're sold, and how they're represented than it does the permanent identification of livestock. In building products, particularly windows, remodeling contractors hold a unique position in the branding process--somewhere between the handle and the searing heat of the brand itself. Contractors both represent the brands they install and use brand-name identity to help sell their services.

Your clients count on it.
Brand name has become so important because of changes in perception by consumers. In 1995, Yankelovich Partners, a market research firm, reported that studies of consumers showed an almost incomprehensible increase in reliance on brand names. In two years, the percentage of American consumers who said brand names figured significantly in their product decisions jumped from 52 percent to 67 percent. One Yankelovich researcher said that when their analysts see a 2 point jump, they throw a party. A 15-point jump is almost unexplainable.

But there is an explanation. As every contractor knows, homeowners have less time now than they ever have. Trying to pin a remodeling client down to make product decisions requires nearly as much negotiation as the original contract. Given that time crunch, American consumers are more likely to rely on a proven brand name than branch into unexplored territory.

Ease your clients' worries.
On big ticket items, such as windows, the importance of a proven brand can ease the homeowners worries, speed the selection process, and provide a contractor with an identity that extends beyond his local reputation.

Contractors use brand-name identity to help sell their services. There are almost no identifiable brand name contractors. For contractors serving the middle to high-end market this is especially true. Certainly, some contractors, especially multi-generational companies, have strong identities in their communities. But you would be hard-pressed to find a contractor who could be accurately characterized as a brand name. Carrying products with strong brand identity, and using that identity in your marketing and sales approach, strengthens your position with the homeowner.

Serve up a winner.
In an industry characterized by large numbers of fly-by-night contractors, having ties to a strong corporate image can serve as a huge reassurance for homeowners.

The other element of contractors and brand identity that is unique is how contractors serve as a company's representative. Not only can contractors use that identity to help sell and market their services, manufacturers can use contractors as their on-site corporate representatives. At REMODELING Magazine, we call this role, "the brand manager."

Americans have grown to expect a much higher level of service than they ever had in the past. Oldsmobile, for example, now offers 24-hour roadside service. Five years ago, such an investment in service in a mid-priced car would have been unthinkable. The same is true with remodeling services. Windows are represented on the job site and in the home by the contractor who specifies, installs, and services them. If a homeowner has problems with a window, he calls the contractor first. How a contractor responds to homeowner inquiries from initial interest in the window to potential service calls reflects directly on the reputation and brand name of that window.

It is, then, essential that contractors associate themselves not only with strong brand names, but also with companies capable of providing the service necessary to back up the ever-increasing demands of homeowners. It is only through such a cooperative arrangement that quality work, satisfied customers, great craftsmanship, and beautiful design can be achieved.