CPF Launches Commercial Sales Group for Architectural Projects

CPF Launches Commercial Sales Group for Architectural Projects

The bandwagon is leaving... time for everyone to hop on.

Wanted... professional dealers installers needed ASAP. Please inquire within.

I was waiting for this post, saw that yesterday

I read about this on another site. Its hard to believe the biggest in the industry is bitch slapping their customers.

They claim to want to make it more cost efficient for the dealer??? WTF are they talking about, we will just be getting screwed out of money in the long run..............Bt, as usual, all the LULU dealers will just bitch and go along instead of boycotting the product..................

I know I made the right decision when I was the first Vista dealer in the country to cancell them. 1st quarter sales down 45%........ MAY DAY..MAY DAY>>>>we're gonna crash and burn...*^(**(*^&%#$ ....but not before we burn our dealers first. Whatcha gonna sell next Georgie...MMM

How's the big storm going?

If this group secures leads through ESCO's, property managers, etc..., performs energy audits, pulls in at least 2 dealers to measure/bid lead, and the winning bid gets install how is this a bad thing? I thinks this announcement is a response to PJF's 3M-NGSC collaberation with an emphasis on "middleman".

Damn, beat me to the punch!!! Yeah, LULU is gonna crash and burn........WRONG, Flypooper. Solutia is into other film ends that are brining in the funds, so , they will not be gone. AND, do tell us all about the big storm again!!!

hmm...i do recall they were in bankruptcy once before..why couldnt it happen again?

Not a bad things at all for the industry if they sell the product correctly and make sure that the dealer get compensated fairly. I am not sure how this is new. They have had a national accounts program at CPFilms since I have been in this industry that was supposedly doing exactly what this says they are going to do. This may have been in response to our announcement, but it is hard to tell. I just hope they do not go back to bringing big box jobs to their dealers at $3.00 sq. ft. That was a nightmare! A dealer did not want to measure the job and eat the waste to get paid $3.00 to install solar control film. That kind of business is not good for anyone but the big box that is getting a smoking deal at the entire industry's expense. If they do it right and include the dealers, I say more power to them. It will increase the knowledge about window film in the industry and that would be good for everybody. It would be hypocritical of me to say the 3M / NGSG deal was good for the industry and then speak poorly about this program. It just needs to be a win for all parties involved.

They pay less than that in many cases and take the film sale. Being a MFG and having a price advantage over your customers is a much different business model than what you are doing Patrick. When a MFG crosses that line by taking the film sale and paying the window film dealer to be an installer, I see that as unethical. I know many who would say that my view is harsh and that handing a job to a dealer is cash in with no outlay and the dealer should be happy and thankful to have it, but that still doesn't change the fact that your supplier is doing business around you and not through you. Hopefully, this new arrangement has some major changes but I am skeptical.

They pay less than that in many cases and take the film sale. Being a MFG and having a price advantage over your customers is a much different business model than what you are doing Patrick. When a MFG crosses that line by taking the film sale and paying the window film dealer to be an installer, I see that as unethical. I know many who would say that my view is harsh and that handing a job to a dealer is cash in with no outlay and the dealer should be happy and thankful to have it, but that still doesn't change the fact that your supplier is doing business around you and not through you. Hopefully, this new arrangement has some major changes but I am skeptical.
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I see your point. I am not sure how their system works currently, but if they are supplying the film and just having the dealer do install work at a reduced labor rate then I can see that upsetting people. For one, the distributor would be cut completely out of that transaction. maybe that is what they mean by the middleman. I can see the potential danger with this being that the manufacturer would bypass everyone and make the sale expecting that the dealers would all act as the installation force for the sale. That has been tried and from what I can gather has never been successful. It is much cleaner to be the sales agent and project manager as NGSG is and let the rest of the process flow as it normally does. I am not sure what others are paying their installers, but on basic solar control we are usually paying between $5.00 - $6.00 per sq. ft. Every job varies, but I want to make sure that doing the job makes sense for the dealer and they are happy to do the work. If not, the likelihood that the finished product will be outstanding, as my customers expect, would be slim to none. You have to take care of the people that take care of you. It really is that simple.

They did in auto why not comm/res

There greed will be there undoing I have see it over and over again .

Well if there numbers are way down and they've fired the majority of their sales reps and many of their support people the news can't be that good.

I agree with Patrick in that this is nothing new, every major player out there has a "commercial sales group".
Now once it becomes time for quote/install, then we will see the true nature of this program.

My guess would be that the "middleman" was referring to distribution as well as yanking the retail sale from the dealer which adds up to big savings as well as funds the hiring of a national account sales group.

Lawyers are funny guys...But not as funny as you dude. Who do you know at solutia? I know the lead council .....dude...go tint a car

i believe they just hired 20 or so back not to long ago

Ah, so you know the lead council......guess he tells you everything about their business...so you can use it in your 'big lawsuit'....I could continue this wonderful war of words(as many here know I can ) but one truth becomes evident from your statements. You are a former Vista dealer with an ax to grind and will continue to post negatively here at every chance against LLumar. Such is life.

And for the record.............I refuse to do cars and have never tinted a car.

I wasn't joking, I wanted to get an update on how the battle is going...

These lawyers won't move on them until they're ready to hammer them with everything. Solutia is in worse shape than most people realize. Their corporate offices are empty after all the layoffs and they have lot's of Superfund sites to clean up and that'll be the nail in their coffin!

Translation: These liars wont do anything until they have squeezed every nickle from their client.

I know that for a fact, as far as I was from you Dan, you were still our closest competition...




Liars, I mean Lawyers

Only your closest competition for flat, Sun......I do remember sending cars to your old shop!!

Wait till your new issue of WFM arrives. Nice...

“We are putting CPFilms’ resources into selling to large building owners.
The idea being—we’ll make the sale, using people who have the savvy
and know-how, and then we’ll turn it over to our dealer base to do
the professional installation.”
—Ray Kollar

If CPF(or any manny) doesn't pay well enough, then I do not do the job. SIMPLE!

Do you sell window film or are you solely a professional installer?

I am not a distributor if that is your question. All of these arrangements are business as usual in the corporate world, however I quit working for other people because I got tired of the BS. If I am going to go broke I will do it on my own. I carry LuLu, so if CPF comes to me and wants me to install a job but tries to lowball me then I will politely say "no thank you". If no one accepts the low ball then the offer will go up.

No, that was not my question. I was asking if you are in retail window film sales which by your reply it looks as though your are. If you read the quote from CP Films president then you will see that his business plan for you and me and any other CPF customer is to have us all install large commercial jobs that they sell. If you do a lot of large commercial then you'll understand the implications, if you are still doing more auto than anything else then you got your own challenges to worry about.

Window film is not my only source of income, maybe that is why I am not as worked up about it as others. I have some large commercial clients but not a large % of my business.

What you have to do is read into what is stated and consider not what is happening today (which may not directly affect you) but rather, what will happen tomorrow (which may profoundly affect you). If MFG's are now openly publishing their intent when all a long they have been selling commercial direct, then you must ask yourself what are they going to do tomorrow? MFG's have been competing against their own customers at an unfair pricing advantage and they just stated in writing that they will continue to do so which reduces the window film dealer to a professional installer. Unethical, unlawful, and desperate conduct -imo.

Believe me, I am not as short minded as my previous post may appear. If the manny's have been selling direct all along, yet you, I and others are continuing to grow our businesses then obviously they are not getting the penetration they had hoped for. I personally don't think they are half as competent as they think they are. They can publish there intent, they can restrict who they sell to, flip jobs to certain installers or whatever else they want to do. I own my business, I am not married to any manny. I will drop them in a heartbeat and find another.

My point is, the manny's will do what they think is right for their business and I will do what is right for my business.

Good point.

If all installers would turn down the .xx sq ft installs and all dealers drop the suppliers that compete against you then this thing would stop cold.

Absolutely! That is exactly what I wanted to say.

“We are putting CPFilms’ resources into selling to large building owners.”

-Ray Collar

“For the dealers we have that are already capable of doing this, we have no intention of taking over all of the sales for this type of business.”

-Lisa Winkler

2 people working for the same company with 2 conflicting statements. How do they intend to do one without inadvertently doing the other?