How Panoramic Doors Sells Luxury Direct to Homeowners | Autumn Whisenhunt, Panoramic Doors

Autumn Whisenhunt: 0:00

The different ways you can utilize AI within sales are kind of your prospecting outrage, your follow-up, but with the custom door, the parts that we don't want to automate are the custom decisions and all the little things that go into it. What we're trying to preserve is the human touch and what keeps us special.

John Wheeler: 0:19

Everybody's got their little secret weapon that it seems like that personal touch is kind of that secret sauce.

Autumn Whisenhunt: 0:25

I want to make sure that I'm giving you the best door for your product. The project is getting exactly what it needs, and then the customer knows what they're getting in the end. We'll make your doors for your opening. Don't make your opening for our doors. We've got this for you.

John Wheeler: 0:42

Welcome to the Paradigm Industry Insiders Podcast, where real people share real stories about what's happening with doors, windows, millwork, and life. I'm John Wheeler, and along with my co-hosts, we sit down with your peers who are moving our industry forward. These are honest conversations packed with practical insights and lessons you can take and bring value to your team. Here's today's conversation. Welcome to the Paradigm Industry Insiders Podcast, where we talk about stories about the people, the products, the technology in the door and window industry. Today I am joined by Autumn from Panoramic Doors. You want to introduce yourself and what you do?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 1:21

Yeah, I um am Autumn Wasenhut. I work with Panoramic Doors as their sales manager. Um we are a small luxury door manufacturer out of Fort Worth, Texas.

John Wheeler: 1:34

Awesome. And I'm glad I didn't pronounce your your uh your last name because I would have said it wrong. Um earlier earlier this year, uh the first time that that we talked, it was over a Zoom call and we talked about data insights, um, tracking metrics and you know augmenting your what you're currently doing with some dashboards and things. Tell me about why, like what was behind that? What were you what were you looking to learn?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 2:00

I think the the main takeaways I was looking at from that um were really to map out all of our quotes and orders across the country. Um, and that's because we're direct to consumer. So I don't have a dealer network that I can reach out to. I can't see that, you know, my northeast dealers are doing great while my southeast dealers are doing terrible. So having that insight and being able to see on a map where the hot spots are and where we need to look at more market saturation was kind of what we were headed for. It's bananas to me. You sell like the products in the industry, and if you think of scary products, it's like high-end wood windows and large patio doors are like the scary things. And instead of going through, you know, a professional um you know, a dealer network of things, you go direct to to consumer. Um, you know, I've seen things on on YouTube and stuff for panoramic. Tell me about the the challenges of of going direct to consumer. Well, like you said, it it's a bigger purchase. So um trying to explain to someone that our doors and the doors you're looking at at Home Depot might look the same, but they're not. And then trying to kind of educate someone on a consumer level about efficiencies within windows and building and getting way into the weeds with the customer, um, really trying to just keep that control of it.

John Wheeler: 3:28

Because your business model is direct to consumer, um, you think about the most, it's the most complex product and you're going e-commerce with it. Um, you know, talk about the the reason that you do that, but also some of the challenges that come along with it, educating the customer and things.

Autumn Whisenhunt: 3:44

Yeah. Um the reason we do it is just for more control overall. Um, when you're using a dealer network, I can give them literature, we can try to educate them as much as possible, but at the end of the day, they're not waking up every morning and thinking panoramic doors. They might be thinking, you know, 10 different door choices. So I want to make sure that I'm giving you the best door for your product. Um, the project is getting exactly what it needs, and then the customer knows what they're getting in the end.

John Wheeler: 4:16

It's interesting because the, you know, the I watch a lot of YouTube, and for a while there was a bunch of panoramic door things popping up, but it's it made me want to buy one because you know there's a lady on there and it has nothing to do with you know all these crazy intricate things. She's just like, I love this. I have this lake out in the backyard, and I can open this door and like walk in and out, and then watch this. And she like flips some things and the whole wall opens up, and I'm like, I want to buy one of those. How did you create like whose idea was it to like just do kind of customer testimonial things?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 4:51

Um, we started as a smaller company. Uh, we started in California and kind of grew organically. It's the reason we really never looked into dealer markets. We stayed uh, you know, small as long as possible. And then when we grew, we grew with individual uh sales representatives in each territory just to maintain that control and the brand continuity across our expansion, really.

John Wheeler: 5:18

That's interesting because the when you talk about branding and things, um you know, and there you're you're right. If you go into a dealer, there's probably 10 or 15 aluminum patio door companies. How do you how do you describe panoramic? If somebody were to ask, I'm sitting next to you on an airplane, what would you say to me? Yeah, what do you work for?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 5:40

My quick little elevator speech is that I make luxury high-end patio doors, and I kind of stop it there because most people are like, oh, okay, I have no idea what you're talking about. So if you know a little more about that, I'll say, Oh, you know, those walls that just they completely disappear. That's what we do in a really cool way.

John Wheeler: 6:00

That's crazy because it's you're just storytelling. Yeah. And it's funny, you're better at it than I am, because I I'll be like, let me tell you everything about this door and window industry right now, and you're stuck next to me for the next three hours.

Autumn Whisenhunt: 6:13

So I mean, that's a thing we've learned, kind of staying direct to consumer is what do you need to know? I have all the details and I can just dump them all over you, and sometimes that's too much. So let's see where I can meet you where you're at.

John Wheeler: 6:28

So interesting. It's funny. We had the guy named uh Tim Mush on, and he he's been in the renovation space for doors and windows for a long time, and he said the same thing, like meet the people where they're at. So from a homeowner, I might not give a hoot what the you know energy efficiency is or anything like that, or like even the serviceability, like should just work. Yeah, it's my assumption. What about like servicing the the customer? It's blowing my mind that you you go to market like direct to consumer, and we're gonna I want to talk about that also, but like how do you tell the customer that like we got you, even though they might not have like a panoramic store they're gonna walk into?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 7:11

Um, so your doors are gonna be shipped directly from our factory. You're gonna talk to our one and only customer service person to verify your shipping address. If you call in, you can call your same sales rep and they will work with the same service rep every time. We are small, so we have a meeting every morning. If there's a service case that comes up, everyone in the company knows kind of what's going on. And I think that's something that can't be replaced. If you're going with a dealer, you do kind of become just one on a list.

John Wheeler: 7:42

What do you see? I guess the future of the the industry as a whole, you know, if you think of large manufacturers or like regional manufacturers that are selling to a dealer network, do you think that they start to shift and they everyone starts to sell direct?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 7:57

Um I think if they're smart, it's hard to say because everyone's gone to the market in a different way. Um, but people who've really tried to protect their brand, I think really the only way that you can do that is to stay direct.

John Wheeler: 8:11

That's it's interesting because you you keep mentioning branding, and it's the I think that really is if I if I were to lay out the cards and I wanted to control the message for my product and and that that's the you know going direct is kind of the the only way to do that. Are there any any plans to partner up with like an Amazon or a Wayfair or anyone like that?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 8:34

I think if we were at a lower price point, that might be something that would be a little bit more attractive. Um, but because of how custom we are, we're not just a stock size for anyone. I don't see that fitting our business model unless we decided to become a little less custom. And then I don't think that's what anyone wants.

John Wheeler: 8:54

How custom is each one of the the orders? Because I know, you know, for my house specifically, I have two 5050 windows with a 16-inch piece of wall in between them. So I'm not gonna have some stock off the shelf size. Is it a lot of that that you're getting into, or is it we kind of get a mix?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 9:13

You know, you'll have people that are like, here's my plans. I have a 12 by 8 opening. We get that all of the time. Or you'll get someone like yourself. This is my renovation. I have these current windows, so I guess we're looking for a 12 by 8. And I think that's where we really shine and saying, we'll make your doors for your opening. Don't make your opening for our doors. We've got this for you.

John Wheeler: 9:37

Got it. And that goes back, you know, talking about the the story for the customer and like, don't worry about it. We got you. We're gonna, we're gonna treat it. NFL players and and door companies, right? Don't often go together. Um doors are a little bit cooler than than football. Just kidding, everybody. I saw somewhere that Delaney Walker, um, you know, former professional football player, was a customer of Panoramic and he had some sort of like an event space. Tell me about, tell me about that. Like it did how did it start? Was it like someone got a quote in and they're like, hey, I recognize like Delaney Walker, like, holy smokes. Like, tell me about how that came about.

Autumn Whisenhunt: 10:16

Um, so it came about in a couple different avenues, really. We started working with a company called 1845 Barn Dominiums. Um, they were building Delaney's project, so they reached out and said, Hey, we're doing a barnum, but we want to do something that's a little more luxury, a little more upscale. We don't want it to feel like a barn at the end of the day. And like I said, we sell luxury patio doors. So that's how we got connected. And then um, you know, NFL, NBA, these boys are typically a little bit bigger. So we go up to 10 feet tall. We can work with what they need. We've got a couple of cool projects. You know, we have the one that you mentioned with Delaney. We had done one with Shaq in the past that I really love.

John Wheeler: 10:59

He's also not tiny.

Autumn Whisenhunt: 11:00

Yeah, not tiny at all. So we've got a couple more coming up. I mean, those are easy to put on Instagram or social media. Everyone's gonna recognize them.

John Wheeler: 11:11

I'm just picturing Shaq walking through a pivot door and like it would have to be massive. It would have to like the the part that you can actually walk through would have to be like three six minimum. So that means the door is like five feet wide.

Autumn Whisenhunt: 11:24

I think with him we're we're more looking for height than anything.

John Wheeler: 11:27

I've only met that dude once, and I was like, how is this doesn't look humanly possible? What about you know, what's on the kind of the the future? Would you ever I don't know, minimize the the human involvement in your sales process and set up some things we talk with a lot of people about AI to maybe start with what your plans are for that?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 11:51

Um I think the different ways you can utilize AI within sales are kind of your prospecting outreach or follow-up. But with the custom door, the parts that we don't want to automate are the custom decisions and all the little things that go into it. So while my first email to you might be automated, of just, hey, look at this, what we've got. Do you want to book a time with me? My second one is gonna be me getting into the weeds. Let's talk about your project. So I don't see that part of it ever going away.

John Wheeler: 12:23

And I think that's the is that kind of your outlook on if you think about this industry specifically, I would imagine your logistics manager is incredibly good at what they do because they would have to be with all the the uh the nuance that they're dealing with. Um but the you know automating the pieces of that person's daily life that could be, but then they they for sure need to come in and add their secret sauce. Would that be kind of part of any strategy you do?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 12:49

I'm never against finding ways to automate things and dial up the efficiency. If we could take out some of that more low-hanging fruit and let him have more bandwidth to do better shipping prices or quicker delivery routes or find efficiencies there, then we would always be open to it. But I think what we're trying to preserve is the human touch and what keeps us special.

John Wheeler: 13:16

I was just gonna say, you know, the the keeping you special part is usually, you know, the everybody's got their their little secret weapon. And it seems like that personal touch is kind of that that secret sauce. You talked about is it 1845 Barn Dominiums? How did that partnership come about? Like, what does that look like? Are they just are you part of like their offering as a whole? Or how does that work?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 13:39

Well, I wish we were. I would love to be in all of their Barn Dominium builds. Um, they were just kind of looking for something to elevate their projects as well, and we were a really great fit. Um, there's a couple things about our system in particular that are unique. Uh, we're bottom track based. So there's not as many header requirements, and that really plays along with what they're trying to accomplish as well. Any other barnuminium companies that want to join in on that? Like we're there. We've already done it with 1845. We know how to do this now.

John Wheeler: 14:10

That'd be interesting because I think do some of them show up the do they show up with like a bunch of walls or a bunch of things and you kind of put it together as a kit, and then like here's a panoramic door just like sitting on the side. Is that how it works?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 14:23

Uh from what I can tell, when we went out to see Delaney's, it seemed like they put it together like a shell, like truly like a barn, and then went in and made it a house on the inside. So added the dry wall and everything.

John Wheeler: 14:35

Funny, it makes me I don't have a back. I live in California and like we don't have a backyard really, but it makes me want to just like see what that's all about. Um, I think I gotta start with those those two 5050 windows. So I would imagine your team's pretty tight-knit and there's there's a certain aspect of the industry where people, you know, it's the the relationships and the the partnerships and things that exist in the industry, I think is special. What would you say to somebody that you know graduates high school or college and they're they're looking for something different to do to come work for panoramic for someone to come work for us?

Autumn Whisenhunt: 15:13

I would say I didn't know that panoramic doors existed before I started there. So just always be open to anything. Um, now around the office, I'm I am known for my glass knowledge. I really geeked out on all of the glass knowledge, and that is something I had no prior knowledge. I didn't care about glass at all before. So I think just always staying open to finding new passions, seeing what interests you, and knowing that the most random jobs are often the most fun ones.

John Wheeler: 15:44

Fun because I always say that you get tricked into the industry. You stick around for whatever reason because it's weird and hard and incredibly fun. Well, thanks for being on the show. This was a lot of fun.

Autumn Whisenhunt: 15:56

Thanks for having me.

John Wheeler: 15:58

Thanks for joining us on the Paradigm Industry Insiders podcast. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms and follow Paradigm on LinkedIn and YouTube to catch more stories, insights, and ideas from your peers across our industry. See y'all.