Training Pt 3: Bringing it all Together - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Jeff Romero from Progressive Materials. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

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. 

Hello everyone. Welcome back to this very special three-part series of CoatingsCast with Progressive Materials with my friend Jeff Romero. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at Coatings Coffee Shop and  you're listening to CoatingsCast. So, hi Jeff Romero. How are you? 

Jeff Romero: I am doing well. Looking forward to doing the third one, but I'm quite sad that it's the last one, so we'll have to set up something again to do another one soon. 

Megan Ellsworth: We totally will have to do that. I am also a little sad, but also excited to bring it all together, what it's titled today and wrap it all up. So let's dive in and have you just tell us about yourself and Progressive Materials. 

Jeff Romero: Yep. My name is Jeff Romero. I am the technical and education coordinator for Progressive Materials. At Progressive Materials we manufacture a full line of high-quality silicone and acrylic products and roof systems. 

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. Amazing. Okay. So we've asked this question in the previous two episodes as well, but let's dive in even farther into why the relationship between the contractor and manufacturer is so important and why is it so central to Progressive Materials and how you all train? 

Jeff Romero: We believe that the relationship between our contractors and ourselves is the key to successful jobs, providing the level of service that we want to provide and providing the level of products that we want to provide. So that relationship is central to that. That's the nucleus of the whole thing. The training, that initial contact, if you will, that first contact is really where we start to develop that relationship with our contractors. It's where our contractors really learn who we are and  quite frankly, it's where we present who we are to them. And inevitably, most of them are a little skeptical. Well, are they really going to do the things they say they're going to do, that kind of thing. So that sets the expectation that our contractors have for us. And then as the relationship develops, we have that opportunity to prove that to them. 

And it also sets the expectation with our contractor on what we expect. We talk about the standard we hold our products and ourselves to and  the standard that we're going to hold our contractors to. So it puts everybody in their place in the relationship and what we want out of it and what they want out of it. And if either side doesn't want that, well then we can walk away right then and there. If everybody wants to move forward, which is usually the case, then we do and  it's usually a beautiful thing. 

Megan Ellsworth: Love it. Love that. Amazing. Okay. So how do you keep hoop jumping from becoming a part of this process? 

Jeff Romero: Well, a certain level of hoop jumping unfortunately, is just a necessary evil. The trainings that we do could be looked at as a hoop you got to jump through. We try to limit the hoops. With other training programs and other manufacturers, they're going to put you in a room with tons of other contractors and they're going to throw a bunch of information at you so that they can say they did. So on the backside of your job when there's a warranty issue and you made a mistake as the contractor, they can say, "Well, we told you, you're on your own." And I would never call out any manufacturers, but there are a couple out there that have a reputation for doing those types of things. That's not what we are. I don't want to speak too much to that. I'd much rather talk about how great PM is. 

We try to limit the hoops. We truly want to bring education to the forefront of our trainings. We don't want to just call something a training when it's really just a information dump. That's not what our intention is. That's why we do the trainings one-on-one. That's why we come to you. We schedule one a day. All the things we've previously talked about it's to limit those hoops. We genuinely want to inform and educate our contractors, whether they need tons of education or whether they just need a few little blanks filled in. That's genuinely what our motives are. So I guess the short answer is we reduce the hoops that you have to jump through. We make you jump through the ones that we can't avoid. That's the bottom line. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. I think that just being upfront and honest, you all are, that is key to that relationship and keeping a genuine relationship between you and the contractor and the contractor and the manufacturer. 

Jeff Romero: And you can ask anybody that's dealt with me and certainly dealt with Jay, my boss, we are nothing if not honest and direct. We are not going to sugarcoat things. We are going to tell you yes or no. And personally, I prefer the directness and the honesty over just trying to sell me something. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. I would agree with that. So can you describe what a typical training session looks like, whether at your facility or in the field? I know you've talked about it, but maybe what does it look like in the field? 

Jeff Romero: So in the field, we've already talked about the process. The contractor gets in touch with the regional manager, regional manager passes them along to me. We have a conversation. So I can go into that training or John or other trainer can go into that training with the correct mindset on what your goals are, where you're trying to get what you're doing, what you're trying to do, whatever it might be. But generally, you dictate the time. You dictate the location. Most of the time we'll be in a conference room at that roofer's office, so their home turf. If they don't have a conference room, that's fine. We'll locate a meeting room at a hotel near them. And we'll set up. We have a TV, we have a PowerPoint that we go through. And as I've previously mentioned, the first thing I say is, I want this to be conversational. I want this to be friendly to you guys and fill in the blanks that you have. 

So usually it ends up being a lot more like a big chat session with everybody in the room and myself. I'm a very loosey-goosey guy. I'm not the guy that's going to come in and say, "Please hold your questions to the end." That's not how I operate. John's the same way. We love to crack jokes. There's a lot of stories. As I've said before, both of us are, we're roofers, so we've got tons of funny stories, horror stories, great stories about great jobs. So we incorporate that into the training. For instances, if we're explaining the SL 800 and how much we use on this job, for instance, one time I had a job where we did this and  it's really a relaxed atmosphere. Almost every time we'll bring in lunch or breakfast. It's just a really friendly, dare I say, fun environment. And it's really what you make it as the contractor. If you come into it with an open mind ... And look, I was a contractor, I know the trainings can be burdensome and they take up time and  I could be doing this or whatever it is. But if you come into it with a mindset of we're going to cut up a little bit, we're going to learn a bunch of stuff and  we're going to have every question that we have answered, then it's a fun thing. So that's what it looks like in the field. 

I prefer to do them in the field because it's a blast. We also offer them online. It's hard to bring that same atmosphere to an online a session, but it's still the same thing. I love whenever we're using ... We use Teams a lot, Microsoft Teams, so they have the little hand on there. And I just think that's the funniest feature in the world so I always tell people, click the little hand. It makes me giggle. So we use that a lot and we laugh about it. It's really a lot of fun. 

And then the other side of that is at our facility, we don't require anybody to come to our facility for training, but if you prefer that, that's probably a better time than just looking at me for three hours. Our facility is state-of-the-art, it's wonderful. Anybody that comes to our facility for a training, we have a training room. It's a classroom set up specifically for those types of things. Immediately next door, we have a warehouse, little hands-on area, so you get the hands-on part. We'll usually set some things up for you in there. That's hard to do out in the field. And it also comes with a tour of our whole facility, which is always a lot of fun. People are always just absolutely amazed. I'm still amazed. I've been through it a million times. And every time I'm in town, I make sure and go walk through the plant just to see how everything works. It's just an amazing state-of-the-art facility that's a lot of fun to see and understand how everything works. 

There's no guys dumping things in the buckets. Everything is plumbed throughout, dry ingredients, wet ingredients. They're all plumbed throughout the facility and  it's a good time. And then we always take you to a dinner or something after the training at some cool restaurant down in southern Indiana where we're based out of. And what's really cool when you come to the plant is Ms. Danielle, our president, she'll pop in every now and again. So you get to meet her. TJ, our head chemist will pop in. 

Megan Ellsworth: Very cool. 

Jeff Romero: And then Dick will come in, who runs production. Just all these people that you wouldn't otherwise get an opportunity to meet you get to meet him and see who PM is at their core, which is really cool. Everybody thinks PM is this big, huge company and we make more material than just about anybody else. But the reality is we're only about 65, 70 people total. So yeah. It's really cool to get there and really feel how not this big monster that we are. The plant is great. I love going there. I love to get to see everybody. I love to take contractors there. And look, if I do a training with you in the field and  that's all done, but you want to visit the facility, we love to do visits just for the sake of doing a visit. Contact your regional manager and say, "Hey, I want to go to the facility. Let's set up a date." And they'll set it up and it's a good time. It's a blast. 

Megan Ellsworth: I love it. I love it. Now your facility ... Where's your manufacturing facility too? Is that the same location? 

Jeff Romero: That's all in southern Indiana. Yeah. Yeah. So we have our ... I don't know the official title, but it's like our central office is less than a quarter mile from the manufacturing facility. They're literally right down the road. It takes you two minutes to drive from one to the other. So the main office is right there and  then the big manufacturing facility is also right down the road. 

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. Love it. It's incredible. Well, I hope I get a visit someday. 

Jeff Romero: Oh, say the word. We'd love to have you. What are you doing next week? I'll be there. 

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, okay. Oh my gosh. I don't know, but maybe I'll see you there. 

Jeff Romero: Yeah. That'd be fun. 

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. So you've spent hours and hours training lots of different crews and people and  you've spent over five hours training a single team before. 

Jeff Romero: Sure. Yeah. 

Megan Ellsworth: What drives that level of commitment? 

Jeff Romero: Well, I think it goes back to the fact that I was a roofer. That roofing background is really what drives all of that. We've been where our contractors are. We've sat through the trainings, we've sat through the sales pitches. We've dealt with the lack of follow through on those things. That's the motivation is the experiences that we've had that didn't live up to what we thought they would maybe I guess. Just trying to be better. Just because something has been done in a certain way doesn't mean that it's necessarily the right way to do it. So we're just trying to find a better way. We're just trying to find a better way to develop the relationship. We're trying to find a better way to educate. We're trying to find better ways to service. That's the bottom line to it is just we're just trying to be better. That's it. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. I love it. So refreshing. That's so refreshing. And what a great partner to have for your business. 

Jeff Romero: And just so we're clear ... It's certainly a mindset that I buy into, but those are not just Jeff Romero's ideas or ideals or ideology or whatever you want to call it. That comes from the top of PM. Every meeting we have where Ms. Danielle is involved, our president, that's the message. We just want to be better. Whether it means selling more. What does it take to sell more, right? It's being better. How do we sell more? It's attract higher quality contractors that are doing higher quality jobs. And it all boils down to us individually taking ownership of what we are doing and trying to be better every day. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Incredible. So why do you say you don't buy from a manufacturer, you buy from your friends? 

Jeff Romero: I'm sure everybody anywhere has heard some version of that. But that comes from an old mentor of mine that used to say that a lot. And that one was mine. I'll take credit for that one. But the idea behind it is not only mine. Again, it's something that we believe at PM. Anybody can have a product that's good. And we certainly do. And there's other manufacturers that have products that are good. But your friend, your buddy, your pal is going to be the one that's there when you need them. They're going to be the ones that when you pick up the phone and you're on that job that we've previously discussed, that nothing is going right. You got three guys calling sick, the weather's not cooperating and  everything's just crumbling around you. When you need help, that's when you need it. Nobody needs help when they're on the top of their game. They need help when things are going south. So that's the mentality behind that is we are going to be there, whether you're calling to brag about a job you landed or you're calling to tell us, look, man, I really think we screwed the pooch on this job. No sweat. Let's figure out what we got to do to get it up to standard. That's what that means to me. 

Megan Ellsworth: I love that. I think as just a consumer myself ... Obviously we're all buyers, consumers. I believe in that totally wholeheartedly. I would much rather buy a product from someone that is a friend and I know is going to take care of me. And the outcome then ... Could be just as great of a product, but we're not friends. So I think- 

Jeff Romero: Well, we don't always use products. Like I said, we don't always use great products in the best way. And whenever you paint yourself into a corner in that situation, you need to be bailed out sometimes and  we want to be there to bail you out whenever you get in a bind. 

Megan Ellsworth: That's fabulous. Okay. So for any contractors out there listening to this episode and they want to get into coatings, what is that first step they should take? 

Jeff Romero: The first step is going to be reaching out to your regional manager. And honestly before that ... And I met with a contractor recently, I can't remember where he was from. I want to say Minnesota. I trained him. Small operation father and son. They're not looking to do these big massive jobs and work all over the country. But what he did was he went to our website. I think he literally read every word on our website because he was asking questions about this spec ... Really specific questions. 

So I don't know if I would really recommend diving that deep into it, but go take a look at our website. Look at the different products that we have. Look at our TDSs, our tech data sheets. Go and just familiarize yourself with the products and stuff like that, because inevitably in the process of doing that, you're not going to understand something. So now you have questions that you can bring to the regional manager. Talk to him and just say, "Hey, man, look, I'm looking to get into this. How do I dive a little deeper?" And there's jobs for everybody, right? 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Jeff Romero: The small guy I was just talking about, he doesn't want to do anything more than about 50, 80 squares. He doesn't have to crew for it. He doesn't want to do that. But there's also companies that would walk away from a 50, 60 square job. So he fills those voids. But yeah, just ask questions, man. We would certainly love it to be with us, but just get somebody on the phone and start grilling them a little bit. What's this look like? What do you do? I would recommend and  I'm very confident in saying this, if you've never been into coatings and you're wanting to get into it, call three or four different manufacturers, talk to all of them. I would encourage you to include us as one of those for sure, because I know ... So I was a history major in college and  I'm naturally a researcher. I want to know everything. I want to pick everything apart. So whenever I was a contractor, PM was the second one we started working with and  I certainly loved them, but I literally was trying to replace PM constantly as our manufacturer. 

And I got samples from any and everybody who would send them. I talked to them, I read their specs, I went through all that stuff. And honestly, I kept landing back at PM just because of accessibility to my sales guy, Randy, who's great. He's retiring actually next month. He's about to retire. We're going to miss Randy a lot. He's a great guy. He's actually the reason I'm with PM. He was the reason that I was a customer with PM. He's been a very, very powerful force in my life, my career for sure. He's a great guy. 

But I always ended up back at PM because of that accessibility. I could call the office and ask questions to Jay.The Jay back then. That's really what it was. And I just went off on a tangent. I don't even remember the question. 

To get into it. So to wrap up that question ... I'm sorry. 

Megan Ellsworth: No. That's great. 

Jeff Romero: I'm originally from South Louisiana. Anybody watching that's from there you know how we are. We can just talk and talk and talk. So to wrap that question up, I would recommend reaching out to a few different manufacturers. Include us in it and you'll see why we're different. That's my answer to that question. Just ask questions. Get involved. 

Megan Ellsworth: I love it. I love it. I love it. Okay. So to wrap this up, I'd love to know ... This is a left-field question here, but I'd love to know any feedback that you have gotten from crews or people that have taken the CLA courses with y'all and what their feedback is. 

Jeff Romero: So most of the time, the immediate feedback, whenever I'm packing my bag up and leaving is, Hey, thanks for taking the time to come and meet with us here. That's the immediate and  then usually two, three jobs in, I'll always get those calls of, Hey, we ran into this situation and I remember during the training somebody asked a question and you addressed this issue and I remembered it, that a thing. It's generally positive. We do have some people that aren't as chatty as I am and they say, "That was a little long-winded," or whatever the saying is. But generally it's positive. A lot of times we'll get people, contractors that I'll run into at a trade show or something and they'll say, "Hey, man, it was great doing the training with you. We got on this job and everything we talked about we did and everything worked out." That kind of stuff. That's generally the feedback I get. Unfortunately, I don't get as much feedback. Because for me with the training specifically, it's I train these guys and send them off into the world and  then if they need me, they call me. And usually the conversations are, Hey, I have this job. It's got this weird thing on it. What do I do here? That's usually the conversations from then on. 

It's mostly positive feedback. Again, like I said, we cut up a little bit. I try to get good food for everybody, so that's usually a positive. 

Megan Ellsworth: That's important. 

Jeff Romero: It's very important. Yeah. 

Megan Ellsworth: Well, Jeff Romero, thank you so much for shining a light on everything that PM does and for chatting with me over the course of these three episodes. I really appreciate your time. 

Jeff Romero: Yeah. I appreciate you having us, man. It's been a blast. I look forward to the next one that we do. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yay. Everyone, please make sure you go to the Progressive Materials directory on coatingscoffeeshop.com and then Jeff Romero, one last time, what is your website? 

Jeff Romero: Pmsilicone.com. 

Megan Ellsworth: Perfect. Thank you so much for your time and chatting with me and  hopefully I'll see you on another CoatingsCast very soon. 

Jeff Romero: Looking forward to it, Megan. Can't wait. 

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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.