November 5, 2025 • 18 mins
Buyers have changed the rules, and the window and door industry is racing to catch up. We sit down with Paradigm’s VP of MDR Sales, Lisa Cooley, to unpack how AI, data, and a new generation of talent are rewriting everything from product discovery to the last mile of sales—and why grit still beats hype.
On the buyer side, the shift is dramatic. Homeowners now use long-tail searches and visual matching to find exactly what they want: “black exterior, white interior door that won’t rot at a Georgia lake house.” They expect transparent pricing ranges, instant configuration, and clean visualization before they ever talk to sales. That flips the sales playbook: educate early with rich data and tools, capture preferences respectfully, then show up in the conversation prepared to close gaps—not restart discovery. Lisa shares how our team supports manufacturers and dealers by turning complex product logic into simple, trustworthy buyer experiences.
Topics we cover:
• Generational shift toward empowered, research-first homeowners
• Labor shortages driving adoption of modern tools for recruiting
• Practical ways AI accelerates visualization, estimating and content
• Sales leadership that listens, asks better questions and motivates meaning
• Long-tail search and visual matching changing product discovery
• Connecting manufacturers, dealers and buyers with accurate data
• Vision for tighter data flows and human-centered decision-making
Be sure to subscribe to your favorite podcast platforms or YouTube and follow the Grit Blueprint podcast to hear more stories and insights from the building industry.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lisa Cooley (00:00):
You have this younger generation coming up.
You combine that with a severelabor shortage in the
construction industry.
And I think that's pushing manyfirms.
They realize that it's almostpart of the recruitment process.
They need to offer technologytools if they want to recruit
the next generation of talent.
Stefanie Couch (00:16):
And I also think that AI is going to push that a
lot faster than it has beenbecause I mean the speed of
which it's moving is incredible.
Lisa Cooley (00:23):
I think there's a real transformation in how
homeowners are making buyingdecisions.
They are much more empowered.
They have AI tools at theirdisposal.
And it's a generational shiftthat they don't want to be sold
to.
They want to research, theywant to consider the options,
they want to be empowered withinformation, and then they want
(00:46):
sales there at the last mile.
John Wheeler (00:51):
Welcome to the Paradigm Industry Insiders
Podcast, where real people sharereal stories about what's
happening with doors, windows,millwork, and life.
I'm John Wheeler, and alongwith my co-hosts, we sit down
with your peers who are movingour industry forward.
These are honest conversationspacked with practical insights
and lessons you can take andbring value to your team.
(01:12):
Here's today's conversation.
Stefanie Couch (01:16):
Welcome to the Paradigm Industry Insiders
Podcast, where we tell thestories of the people, products,
and technology in the windowand door industry.
I'm here today with my guest,the VP of MDR Sales at Paradigm,
Lisa Cooley.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you.
I'm excited to be here.
And we're actually in the houseat Paradigm, so we're on site
(01:36):
in Wisconsin.
Big day today because it's thekickoff of the annual
conference.
And it is actually your firstannual conference.
It is.
I'm very excited about it.
Are you fired up?
Yeah.
It's gonna be a busy place in afew hours here.
I've been here two years in arow and it's always fun.
Great swag, great people, greatfood.
I hope they have food trucksthis year.
Lisa Cooley (01:58):
They do.
Stefanie Couch (01:58):
Well, I'm excited to talk to you about
your long, amazing career in theindustry because you actually
were born into a familyconstruction business.
Tell me a little bit about yourbackground.
Sure.
Lisa Cooley (02:11):
I love this that we kind of had this in common that
we grew up in in familybusinesses.
I grew up in a generalcontracting family.
Uh, my father and my mother uhran that business.
I learned uh at the dinnertable growing up about, you
know, negotiating withsubcontractors and uh contract
clauses and and running a site.
(02:31):
I didn't really think I wasgoing into construction.
I did not go to school uh forconstruction or engineering, but
found myself more and moredrawn to it as I came uh through
my twenties and as my fathersaid, was trying to figure out
how to support myself in thestyle to which I had become
accustomed, realized I wasactually going to have to uh
earn a living.
(02:52):
So um I worked for the familyfirm for a few years and then
ultimately launched off andstarted my own general
contracting firm.
I ran that for about a half adozen years in my late 20s.
Stefanie Couch (03:04):
What kind of construction were you doing?
Lisa Cooley (03:05):
Uh primarily uh public sector.
Um so uh city, state, federal,um, so a little different than
residential.
Um it was a fantasticexperience, if I'm honest.
I was not very well prepared.
It was very much a baptism byfire, but I was at a time in my
life where I could just, youknow, dedicate myself to it and
learn every day.
And it was a wonderfulexperience.
(03:27):
Um and then around 2005, I hadthe opportunity.
I was starting to have afamily, and being an
entrepreneur and running acompany was a little bit of a
challenge.
I had the opportunity to go forto work for a national general
contractor promoting aessentially a delivery
methodology for expeditingsmaller projects, a methodology
(03:50):
called job border contracting.
Uh, it was very dependent on acommercial cost data catalog and
a supporting technology stack.
So that was kind of my entreeinto construction technology.
It started by promoting uhconstruction execution
methodology.
I did that for about sevenyears.
And then I was recruited by theproducer of this construction
(04:15):
cost data, a company called RSMeans, that is a brand name that
some folks may know.
That was about 2013.
I went to work for RS Means.
They were subsequentlyacquired.
And so then I was on a very funride with multiple stages of
private equity investment.
And then ultimately uh we foundour home.
(04:36):
Uh, Gordian, the acquiringcompany, found its home in a
publicly traded multinationalconglomerate, a very, very large
company.
So so that was that was kind ofthe the context journey.
And after that, I went to workfor Procor uh for a bit, kind of
a 500-pound gorilla ofconstruction technology, at
least in the commercial space.
(04:57):
Um, so lots of similaritieswith uh costs, cost estimating,
uh, cost and product catalogs.
Um, but what's new here isreally the residential side for
me.
Stefanie Couch (05:11):
From that family dinner table, what's one of the
lessons that no matter howdifferent the private equity or
the publicly traded or all thosethings are very different than
dad's business?
I know it is for me.
What's one of the lessons thatyou've carried throughout, no
matter what?
Lisa Cooley (05:27):
So it's something that I saw in my family's
company, something that Iembodied um as I ran my company,
and something that you not onlyembody but actually named your
company, right?
Is is this idea of grit um andjust being willing to roll up
your sleeves and and work veryhard and problem solve and
(05:49):
figure things out.
Yeah.
Um, and it's something that Isee in our customers here at
Paradigm, uh, especially some ofthe smaller companies, just
that uh that that grit, thatdetermination that leads to
success in this.
Stefanie Couch (06:04):
That's my favorite thing about this
industry.
The people are so awesome andthey do work really hard.
And not that people don't workreally hard in other industries,
but there's something about,you know, especially on the side
where you see people actuallyout in the field, you know, a
roofer that's roofing on ahundred-degree day in Texas,
that takes a lot of grit.
And there are a lot of peopleout here that are tough as
(06:24):
nails, literally.
And so they have done a lot toget where they are, and I love
that spirit.
Lisa Cooley (06:30):
True story, my first construction project with
my own company.
I was superintending by day andproject managing by night.
And uh, we had concrete formsopen and ready to pour.
And an early unexpected stormcame in.
And I was out by the lights ofmy my Jeep Grand Cherokee
(06:51):
headlight by myself, likerolling out this queen um over
the forms to protect it so thatwe could pour the next day.
Wow.
Yeah.
Stefanie Couch (07:00):
Well, you got to do what it takes, especially
when it's your own business,there is no one coming.
That's right.
You you're your own best ally.
There's no one to save you.
I love that spirit though.
Well, how did you come to knowthat a traditional industry that
sometimes hasn't lovedtechnology should be and needs
to embrace technology to reallytake it to the next level?
(07:22):
And because you obviouslystarted working for technology
companies in the constructionworld.
When did you have that kind oflight bulb moment, or was there
a light bulb moment where yousaid, hey, this is the way of
the future and people need toembrace this?
Lisa Cooley (07:34):
For me, I'm not quite digital native, but uh,
you know, I grew up in the Atarigeneration.
And even in um in my company,right, my parents' company was
actually kind of at theforefront in terms of
technology.
Now it was DOS technology, butthey they very much embraced
technology to run theirbusiness.
And when I started my business,it was actually my mom came out
(07:56):
and helped me implement anaccounting and job costing
system.
Um, like Windows 95, right?
But um, so technology wasactually always part of my
construction uh journey.
It's really quite accidentalthat I landed in.
I didn't say I want to go intothe technology sector.
(08:17):
It really was kind of a naturalseg from being a general
contractor to promoting amethodology that relied on data
and technology and then endingup in a technology firm.
It was quite accidental.
Um, I will say that myappreciation coming through is I
think that the youngergeneration is pushing us to get
(08:37):
there.
Um, you know, many people wouldsay that the construction
industry is, you know, kind ofkind of laggards on this front.
I think there are two things.
I think that if you can showpeople in the field how the
technology benefits them, Imean, even you know, fairly long
in the two, you know,superintendents out there, if
they see how it's going to helpthem be more efficient, they
(09:00):
will embrace it.
We saw that early on, even withlike you know, digital cameras
and you know, and and being ableto email documents.
Now there's something elseinteresting that's happening,
that you have this youngergeneration coming up.
You combine that with a severelabor shortage in the
construction industry.
And I think that's pushing manyfirms, they realize that it's
(09:21):
almost part of their recruitmentprocess.
They need to offer technologytools if they want to recruit
the next generation of talent.
Stefanie Couch (09:28):
I couldn't agree more.
And I also think that AI isgoing to push that a lot faster
than it has been because thereis just, I mean, the speed of
which it's moving is in it'sincredible.
Lisa Cooley (09:38):
It is.
It is every week.
Stefanie Couch (09:39):
I wake up and there's some like major
announcement that changes theface of what's happening.
We have a team of people and wewere on a call this morning,
and they were talking about oneof our creative directors was
talking about Nano Banana, whichis a new Google image AI.
And then she was using anotherone as well.
And she showed me some of thethings she was doing with
(10:01):
photography editing, and itwould have there, it was pretty
much impossible to do withoutthat technology.
But even if she could have doneit in Photoshop, it would have
taken hours and hours and hours,and it was an instant change.
Lisa Cooley (10:12):
It's incredible.
I I started at Paradigm inJanuary, and there were uh
things that I was trying totackle in my first couple of
months here, and you know,trying to use different tools
that were available to me, evenAI tools.
And then by April or May,suddenly the AI tools that were
available were so different.
(10:33):
Like what I was able toaccomplish, you know, from
January, you know, then thencoming back around and trying it
again in, you know, May, Junewith the release of ChatGPT-5.
Stefanie Couch (10:44):
It's just incredible.
Yeah, it's really cool.
And I love being able to usethem for sure.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout Paradigm because you are
here, you're leading a salesteam.
That's right.
And as you mentioned, a lot ofresidential customers on this
side.
What do you think actuallymakes a great salesperson and
how do you motivate a sales teamto be successful?
Lisa Cooley (11:03):
Ooh, good one.
So as a leader, I always say,like, I always say the best
salesperson shuts up and listenswell.
I actually asks the rightquestions, shuts up and listens
well.
And I say a good sales leaderunderstands her people and what
motivates them and and keeps thework meaningful.
(11:24):
And meaning comes in differentways to different people.
For some people, it's aboutputting food on the table,
paying the mortgage, supportingtheir family.
Um, others are much moremission-driven and and you know,
it's it's how they're movingthe industry forward.
So really getting to know yourpeople, which I've had the
opportunity to do over the lastsix months or so, um, and and
(11:48):
making sure that you are helpingto keep the work meaningful for
them.
Stefanie Couch (11:52):
What are some of the big challenges that you see
in our residential space andthe window and door space and
with the customers that you'reworking with now?
What are some of the biggestchallenges that you see here in
this industry?
Lisa Cooley (12:04):
So certainly how AI is is impacting uh the
business.
I I think there's a realtransformation in how people
are, how how homeowners aremaking buying decisions.
They are much more empowered.
They have AI tools at theirdisposal.
Yeah.
And it's a generational shiftthat they don't want to be sold
(12:29):
to.
They want to research, theywant to consider the options,
they want to be empowered withinformation.
And then they want they wantsales there at the you know the
last mile.
And so it's it's interesting.
There's kind of amulti-layered.
I am leading a sales team thatis responsible for selling
Paradigm's products, but wesupport our customers in selling
(12:53):
and and promoting theirproducts as well.
So there's kind of amulti-layered piece to this, but
buying behavior is definitelychanging.
And we have empowered, educatedbuyers that have tools at their
disposal.
They want to be able tovisualize, they want to know
what the pricing is going to be,they want, they want to have
that information before theyengage with sales.
(13:14):
And then they want sales to beon point, like ready to, you
know, they want they want salesto come in understanding their
concerns, all of the informationthat they've provided and
helping them to make that finaldecision.
Stefanie Couch (13:26):
Yeah.
And you're talking about thesame buyer group now that is
using all of these tools intheir everyday life.
So they're no longer searchingdoors near me or windows near
me.
They're searching where can Ifind a door that is black on the
outside and white on the insidethat won't rot when it gets
rained on in Georgia at thelake.
You know, they're long tailsearches.
(13:46):
And so that's the interestingpart is how you actually need to
sell to them and create contentand visibility around that is
very different and it's rapidlychanging even more.
Lisa Cooley (13:55):
Yeah.
And even the visual piece.
Here's a picture of a door thatI like.
Help me find, help me find onelike this.
Or here's a house that I likethe facade of.
How would I transform my home?
Stefanie Couch (14:05):
Yeah.
Some of the interior designstuff and exterior design tools
I've seen with some of thistechnology is really cool
because you can remodel yourkitchen in one second on AI,
where some of those other uhdiagrams used to take forever
and they didn't really lookquite real.
So it's incredible.
And I think it's going to helppeople be able to sell in a more
educated way, like you said.
(14:26):
And so people do reallyunderstand what they're getting.
There's less guesswork intothat.
So I think it will be a reallypowerful tool if we all use it
the correct way.
Lisa Cooley (14:33):
There's there's a lot of opportunity to transform
the way that uh that ourcustomers are going to market.
Stefanie Couch (14:39):
Well, you were a big part of having this
actually happen here at ParadigmThis Podcast.
And we've talked a lot abouttelling the stories of the
people in this industry becausethere are such amazing stories
and incredible people andtechnology and products that go
with it.
What excites you the most aboutthis new Paradigm Industry
Insiders podcast?
Lisa Cooley (15:00):
First of all, um, I want to give the credit to John
Wheeler because this is theother uh part of a good sales
leader, like, you know, likeharnesses her people's passion
and gets it directed and fundedand supported internally.
So it was John Wheeler thatcame with this uh with this
idea.
I saw a need for, I saw both aneed for more content on our
(15:22):
website.
Um, I also really saw that wehave a tremendous amount of
domain expertise at Paradigm.
I'm like bewildered by thecomplexity of the industry and
how our people can cut throughthat, how they really
understand, you know, theyreally understand our
manufacturers and what theyneed.
So I just saw an opportunity toleverage that.
(15:43):
It was John that, you know,kind of had the idea raised his
hand.
And I I just went and helpedhim get the budget and uh helped
get you get you engaged.
We knew that we needed a littlehelp with that.
Um so all I did was was harnessthe talent of of you know
somebody on my team that I'mlucky to have.
I'm excited about again, itjust about about the content,
(16:04):
about the thought leadership.
Um back to the the educatedbuyer.
Um people don't want to be soldto, they want to be educated,
they want information, they wantto um they want to turn things
over and and and you knowunderstand what the options are.
I see paradigm, you know,industry insiders as a way to
(16:26):
kind of harness and share theinsight of not just so many
smart people at Paradigm, butalso our customers.
Stefanie Couch (16:33):
Well, if we sat down in five years and we talked
about how the industry is infive years and what's going
well, what's not, what do youhope that we say is true?
Lisa Cooley (16:43):
I hope that we get our manufacturers, our dealers,
and their ultimate customersmore deeply connected.
If if paradigm can be aconduit, can help connect all of
those elements of the industry,we will have succeeded.
Stefanie Couch (17:03):
Sounds amazing.
Lisa Cooley (17:03):
Get them a little a little closer to each other,
understanding, providing datainsights.
I think I think data is the isthe core of the insights, but it
really is it comes down tohuman understanding and you
know, like how our manufacturersunderstand their customers and
how we can help with that.
Stefanie Couch (17:20):
Yeah, data and having it is really important
because it's hard to makedecisions without it.
And I do think that we arealways gonna need the people to
be in this industry, but withthe technology and the data
combined, it becomes a morepowerful thing.
Well, I'm excited about thispodcast.
I'm excited for you to enjoythis amazing first annual
conference.
It's gonna be a great week.
(17:42):
And I thank you for joining meon the Paradigm Industry
Insiders Podcast.
Stephanie, thank you so much.
Lisa Cooley (17:48):
Thank you for your help in uh really initiating uh
this podcast and thanks for thegreat conversation today.
Stefanie Couch (17:55):
Absolutely.
And we will see you on our nextepisode.
John Wheeler (18:00):
Thanks for joining us on the Paradigm Industry
Insiders Podcast.
If you enjoyed today'sconversation, be sure to
subscribe on your favoritepodcast platforms and follow
Paradigm on LinkedIn and YouTubeto catch more stories,
insights, and ideas from yourpeers across our industry.
See y'all.
You have this younger generation coming up.
You combine that with a severelabor shortage in the
construction industry.
And I think that's pushing manyfirms.
They realize that it's almostpart of the recruitment process.
They need to offer technologytools if they want to recruit
the next generation of talent.
Stefanie Couch (00:16):
And I also think that AI is going to push that a
lot faster than it has beenbecause I mean the speed of
which it's moving is incredible.
Lisa Cooley (00:23):
I think there's a real transformation in how
homeowners are making buyingdecisions.
They are much more empowered.
They have AI tools at theirdisposal.
And it's a generational shiftthat they don't want to be sold
to.
They want to research, theywant to consider the options,
they want to be empowered withinformation, and then they want
(00:46):
sales there at the last mile.
John Wheeler (00:51):
Welcome to the Paradigm Industry Insiders
Podcast, where real people sharereal stories about what's
happening with doors, windows,millwork, and life.
I'm John Wheeler, and alongwith my co-hosts, we sit down
with your peers who are movingour industry forward.
These are honest conversationspacked with practical insights
and lessons you can take andbring value to your team.
(01:12):
Here's today's conversation.
Stefanie Couch (01:16):
Welcome to the Paradigm Industry Insiders
Podcast, where we tell thestories of the people, products,
and technology in the windowand door industry.
I'm here today with my guest,the VP of MDR Sales at Paradigm,
Lisa Cooley.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you.
I'm excited to be here.
And we're actually in the houseat Paradigm, so we're on site
(01:36):
in Wisconsin.
Big day today because it's thekickoff of the annual
conference.
And it is actually your firstannual conference.
It is.
I'm very excited about it.
Are you fired up?
Yeah.
It's gonna be a busy place in afew hours here.
I've been here two years in arow and it's always fun.
Great swag, great people, greatfood.
I hope they have food trucksthis year.
Lisa Cooley (01:58):
They do.
Stefanie Couch (01:58):
Well, I'm excited to talk to you about
your long, amazing career in theindustry because you actually
were born into a familyconstruction business.
Tell me a little bit about yourbackground.
Sure.
Lisa Cooley (02:11):
I love this that we kind of had this in common that
we grew up in in familybusinesses.
I grew up in a generalcontracting family.
Uh, my father and my mother uhran that business.
I learned uh at the dinnertable growing up about, you
know, negotiating withsubcontractors and uh contract
clauses and and running a site.
(02:31):
I didn't really think I wasgoing into construction.
I did not go to school uh forconstruction or engineering, but
found myself more and moredrawn to it as I came uh through
my twenties and as my fathersaid, was trying to figure out
how to support myself in thestyle to which I had become
accustomed, realized I wasactually going to have to uh
earn a living.
(02:52):
So um I worked for the familyfirm for a few years and then
ultimately launched off andstarted my own general
contracting firm.
I ran that for about a half adozen years in my late 20s.
Stefanie Couch (03:04):
What kind of construction were you doing?
Lisa Cooley (03:05):
Uh primarily uh public sector.
Um so uh city, state, federal,um, so a little different than
residential.
Um it was a fantasticexperience, if I'm honest.
I was not very well prepared.
It was very much a baptism byfire, but I was at a time in my
life where I could just, youknow, dedicate myself to it and
learn every day.
And it was a wonderfulexperience.
(03:27):
Um and then around 2005, I hadthe opportunity.
I was starting to have afamily, and being an
entrepreneur and running acompany was a little bit of a
challenge.
I had the opportunity to go forto work for a national general
contractor promoting aessentially a delivery
methodology for expeditingsmaller projects, a methodology
(03:50):
called job border contracting.
Uh, it was very dependent on acommercial cost data catalog and
a supporting technology stack.
So that was kind of my entreeinto construction technology.
It started by promoting uhconstruction execution
methodology.
I did that for about sevenyears.
And then I was recruited by theproducer of this construction
(04:15):
cost data, a company called RSMeans, that is a brand name that
some folks may know.
That was about 2013.
I went to work for RS Means.
They were subsequentlyacquired.
And so then I was on a very funride with multiple stages of
private equity investment.
And then ultimately uh we foundour home.
(04:36):
Uh, Gordian, the acquiringcompany, found its home in a
publicly traded multinationalconglomerate, a very, very large
company.
So so that was that was kind ofthe the context journey.
And after that, I went to workfor Procor uh for a bit, kind of
a 500-pound gorilla ofconstruction technology, at
least in the commercial space.
(04:57):
Um, so lots of similaritieswith uh costs, cost estimating,
uh, cost and product catalogs.
Um, but what's new here isreally the residential side for
me.
Stefanie Couch (05:11):
From that family dinner table, what's one of the
lessons that no matter howdifferent the private equity or
the publicly traded or all thosethings are very different than
dad's business?
I know it is for me.
What's one of the lessons thatyou've carried throughout, no
matter what?
Lisa Cooley (05:27):
So it's something that I saw in my family's
company, something that Iembodied um as I ran my company,
and something that you not onlyembody but actually named your
company, right?
Is is this idea of grit um andjust being willing to roll up
your sleeves and and work veryhard and problem solve and
(05:49):
figure things out.
Yeah.
Um, and it's something that Isee in our customers here at
Paradigm, uh, especially some ofthe smaller companies, just
that uh that that grit, thatdetermination that leads to
success in this.
Stefanie Couch (06:04):
That's my favorite thing about this
industry.
The people are so awesome andthey do work really hard.
And not that people don't workreally hard in other industries,
but there's something about,you know, especially on the side
where you see people actuallyout in the field, you know, a
roofer that's roofing on ahundred-degree day in Texas,
that takes a lot of grit.
And there are a lot of peopleout here that are tough as
(06:24):
nails, literally.
And so they have done a lot toget where they are, and I love
that spirit.
Lisa Cooley (06:30):
True story, my first construction project with
my own company.
I was superintending by day andproject managing by night.
And uh, we had concrete formsopen and ready to pour.
And an early unexpected stormcame in.
And I was out by the lights ofmy my Jeep Grand Cherokee
(06:51):
headlight by myself, likerolling out this queen um over
the forms to protect it so thatwe could pour the next day.
Wow.
Yeah.
Stefanie Couch (07:00):
Well, you got to do what it takes, especially
when it's your own business,there is no one coming.
That's right.
You you're your own best ally.
There's no one to save you.
I love that spirit though.
Well, how did you come to knowthat a traditional industry that
sometimes hasn't lovedtechnology should be and needs
to embrace technology to reallytake it to the next level?
(07:22):
And because you obviouslystarted working for technology
companies in the constructionworld.
When did you have that kind oflight bulb moment, or was there
a light bulb moment where yousaid, hey, this is the way of
the future and people need toembrace this?
Lisa Cooley (07:34):
For me, I'm not quite digital native, but uh,
you know, I grew up in the Atarigeneration.
And even in um in my company,right, my parents' company was
actually kind of at theforefront in terms of
technology.
Now it was DOS technology, butthey they very much embraced
technology to run theirbusiness.
And when I started my business,it was actually my mom came out
(07:56):
and helped me implement anaccounting and job costing
system.
Um, like Windows 95, right?
But um, so technology wasactually always part of my
construction uh journey.
It's really quite accidentalthat I landed in.
I didn't say I want to go intothe technology sector.
(08:17):
It really was kind of a naturalseg from being a general
contractor to promoting amethodology that relied on data
and technology and then endingup in a technology firm.
It was quite accidental.
Um, I will say that myappreciation coming through is I
think that the youngergeneration is pushing us to get
(08:37):
there.
Um, you know, many people wouldsay that the construction
industry is, you know, kind ofkind of laggards on this front.
I think there are two things.
I think that if you can showpeople in the field how the
technology benefits them, Imean, even you know, fairly long
in the two, you know,superintendents out there, if
they see how it's going to helpthem be more efficient, they
(09:00):
will embrace it.
We saw that early on, even withlike you know, digital cameras
and you know, and and being ableto email documents.
Now there's something elseinteresting that's happening,
that you have this youngergeneration coming up.
You combine that with a severelabor shortage in the
construction industry.
And I think that's pushing manyfirms, they realize that it's
(09:21):
almost part of their recruitmentprocess.
They need to offer technologytools if they want to recruit
the next generation of talent.
Stefanie Couch (09:28):
I couldn't agree more.
And I also think that AI isgoing to push that a lot faster
than it has been because thereis just, I mean, the speed of
which it's moving is in it'sincredible.
Lisa Cooley (09:38):
It is.
It is every week.
Stefanie Couch (09:39):
I wake up and there's some like major
announcement that changes theface of what's happening.
We have a team of people and wewere on a call this morning,
and they were talking about oneof our creative directors was
talking about Nano Banana, whichis a new Google image AI.
And then she was using anotherone as well.
And she showed me some of thethings she was doing with
(10:01):
photography editing, and itwould have there, it was pretty
much impossible to do withoutthat technology.
But even if she could have doneit in Photoshop, it would have
taken hours and hours and hours,and it was an instant change.
Lisa Cooley (10:12):
It's incredible.
I I started at Paradigm inJanuary, and there were uh
things that I was trying totackle in my first couple of
months here, and you know,trying to use different tools
that were available to me, evenAI tools.
And then by April or May,suddenly the AI tools that were
available were so different.
(10:33):
Like what I was able toaccomplish, you know, from
January, you know, then thencoming back around and trying it
again in, you know, May, Junewith the release of ChatGPT-5.
Stefanie Couch (10:44):
It's just incredible.
Yeah, it's really cool.
And I love being able to usethem for sure.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout Paradigm because you are
here, you're leading a salesteam.
That's right.
And as you mentioned, a lot ofresidential customers on this
side.
What do you think actuallymakes a great salesperson and
how do you motivate a sales teamto be successful?
Lisa Cooley (11:03):
Ooh, good one.
So as a leader, I always say,like, I always say the best
salesperson shuts up and listenswell.
I actually asks the rightquestions, shuts up and listens
well.
And I say a good sales leaderunderstands her people and what
motivates them and and keeps thework meaningful.
(11:24):
And meaning comes in differentways to different people.
For some people, it's aboutputting food on the table,
paying the mortgage, supportingtheir family.
Um, others are much moremission-driven and and you know,
it's it's how they're movingthe industry forward.
So really getting to know yourpeople, which I've had the
opportunity to do over the lastsix months or so, um, and and
(11:48):
making sure that you are helpingto keep the work meaningful for
them.
Stefanie Couch (11:52):
What are some of the big challenges that you see
in our residential space andthe window and door space and
with the customers that you'reworking with now?
What are some of the biggestchallenges that you see here in
this industry?
Lisa Cooley (12:04):
So certainly how AI is is impacting uh the
business.
I I think there's a realtransformation in how people
are, how how homeowners aremaking buying decisions.
They are much more empowered.
They have AI tools at theirdisposal.
Yeah.
And it's a generational shiftthat they don't want to be sold
(12:29):
to.
They want to research, theywant to consider the options,
they want to be empowered withinformation.
And then they want they wantsales there at the you know the
last mile.
And so it's it's interesting.
There's kind of amulti-layered.
I am leading a sales team thatis responsible for selling
Paradigm's products, but wesupport our customers in selling
(12:53):
and and promoting theirproducts as well.
So there's kind of amulti-layered piece to this, but
buying behavior is definitelychanging.
And we have empowered, educatedbuyers that have tools at their
disposal.
They want to be able tovisualize, they want to know
what the pricing is going to be,they want, they want to have
that information before theyengage with sales.
(13:14):
And then they want sales to beon point, like ready to, you
know, they want they want salesto come in understanding their
concerns, all of the informationthat they've provided and
helping them to make that finaldecision.
Stefanie Couch (13:26):
Yeah.
And you're talking about thesame buyer group now that is
using all of these tools intheir everyday life.
So they're no longer searchingdoors near me or windows near
me.
They're searching where can Ifind a door that is black on the
outside and white on the insidethat won't rot when it gets
rained on in Georgia at thelake.
You know, they're long tailsearches.
(13:46):
And so that's the interestingpart is how you actually need to
sell to them and create contentand visibility around that is
very different and it's rapidlychanging even more.
Lisa Cooley (13:55):
Yeah.
And even the visual piece.
Here's a picture of a door thatI like.
Help me find, help me find onelike this.
Or here's a house that I likethe facade of.
How would I transform my home?
Stefanie Couch (14:05):
Yeah.
Some of the interior designstuff and exterior design tools
I've seen with some of thistechnology is really cool
because you can remodel yourkitchen in one second on AI,
where some of those other uhdiagrams used to take forever
and they didn't really lookquite real.
So it's incredible.
And I think it's going to helppeople be able to sell in a more
educated way, like you said.
(14:26):
And so people do reallyunderstand what they're getting.
There's less guesswork intothat.
So I think it will be a reallypowerful tool if we all use it
the correct way.
Lisa Cooley (14:33):
There's there's a lot of opportunity to transform
the way that uh that ourcustomers are going to market.
Stefanie Couch (14:39):
Well, you were a big part of having this
actually happen here at ParadigmThis Podcast.
And we've talked a lot abouttelling the stories of the
people in this industry becausethere are such amazing stories
and incredible people andtechnology and products that go
with it.
What excites you the most aboutthis new Paradigm Industry
Insiders podcast?
Lisa Cooley (15:00):
First of all, um, I want to give the credit to John
Wheeler because this is theother uh part of a good sales
leader, like, you know, likeharnesses her people's passion
and gets it directed and fundedand supported internally.
So it was John Wheeler thatcame with this uh with this
idea.
I saw a need for, I saw both aneed for more content on our
(15:22):
website.
Um, I also really saw that wehave a tremendous amount of
domain expertise at Paradigm.
I'm like bewildered by thecomplexity of the industry and
how our people can cut throughthat, how they really
understand, you know, theyreally understand our
manufacturers and what theyneed.
So I just saw an opportunity toleverage that.
(15:43):
It was John that, you know,kind of had the idea raised his
hand.
And I I just went and helpedhim get the budget and uh helped
get you get you engaged.
We knew that we needed a littlehelp with that.
Um so all I did was was harnessthe talent of of you know
somebody on my team that I'mlucky to have.
I'm excited about again, itjust about about the content,
(16:04):
about the thought leadership.
Um back to the the educatedbuyer.
Um people don't want to be soldto, they want to be educated,
they want information, they wantto um they want to turn things
over and and and you knowunderstand what the options are.
I see paradigm, you know,industry insiders as a way to
(16:26):
kind of harness and share theinsight of not just so many
smart people at Paradigm, butalso our customers.
Stefanie Couch (16:33):
Well, if we sat down in five years and we talked
about how the industry is infive years and what's going
well, what's not, what do youhope that we say is true?
Lisa Cooley (16:43):
I hope that we get our manufacturers, our dealers,
and their ultimate customersmore deeply connected.
If if paradigm can be aconduit, can help connect all of
those elements of the industry,we will have succeeded.
Stefanie Couch (17:03):
Sounds amazing.
Lisa Cooley (17:03):
Get them a little a little closer to each other,
understanding, providing datainsights.
I think I think data is the isthe core of the insights, but it
really is it comes down tohuman understanding and you
know, like how our manufacturersunderstand their customers and
how we can help with that.
Stefanie Couch (17:20):
Yeah, data and having it is really important
because it's hard to makedecisions without it.
And I do think that we arealways gonna need the people to
be in this industry, but withthe technology and the data
combined, it becomes a morepowerful thing.
Well, I'm excited about thispodcast.
I'm excited for you to enjoythis amazing first annual
conference.
It's gonna be a great week.
(17:42):
And I thank you for joining meon the Paradigm Industry
Insiders Podcast.
Stephanie, thank you so much.
Lisa Cooley (17:48):
Thank you for your help in uh really initiating uh
this podcast and thanks for thegreat conversation today.
Stefanie Couch (17:55):
Absolutely.
And we will see you on our nextepisode.
John Wheeler (18:00):
Thanks for joining us on the Paradigm Industry
Insiders Podcast.
If you enjoyed today'sconversation, be sure to
subscribe on your favoritepodcast platforms and follow
Paradigm on LinkedIn and YouTubeto catch more stories,
insights, and ideas from yourpeers across our industry.
See y'all.
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