Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Start Small, Think Big: How Mike Stolte Built 406 Blinds from Scratch
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Start Small, Think Big: How Mike Stolte Built 406 Blinds from Scratch
Guest Profile: Mike Stolte
Introduction:
In a recent episode of Marketing Panes, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Mike Stolte, the driving force behind 406 Blinds, Montana’s top-rated window treatment business. Mike’s journey from managing satellite TV installers to leading a thriving local business is a testament to grit, strategic local marketing, and a deep commitment to community. His story is an inspiring example of turning challenges into opportunities.
Summary:
Mike Stolte’s path to success with 406 Blinds began with a pivot out of necessity. As the satellite TV industry declined, he saw an opening in the construction-driven window treatment market. Starting with just a $5 Craigslist ad, Mike built his business through grassroots efforts, community involvement, and a laser focus on customer service. His story highlights the power of local connections, smart marketing, and a resilient entrepreneurial spirit.
From Decline to Opportunity: The Birth of 406 Blinds:
In 2019, Mike faced a turning point. With the satellite TV industry on the decline, he recognized an opportunity in the growing window treatment market. This wasn’t a glamorous transition, but a strategic shift driven by necessity.
Early Hustle and Organic Growth:
With limited resources, Mike took a hands-on approach. He donned branded shirts, joined the Chamber of Commerce, and engaged in grassroots marketing—emailing builders, calling realtors, and going door-to-door. His first major breakthrough came from a simple $5 Craigslist ad, which surprisingly led to a contract with Lowe’s.
The 406 Blinds Advantage: Local Roots, Local Trust:
What sets 406 Blinds apart is its deep connection to the community. Unlike franchises, Mike and his team are Montanans serving Montanans. Their local roots and lower overhead allow them to offer competitive pricing and exceptional customer service.
Diversified Revenue Streams:
Beyond residential installations, 406 Blinds handles large commercial projects and maintains strategic partnerships, including a Costco dealership in North Dakota, expanding their reach and revenue.
Smart Marketing, Simple Systems:
Mike employs a blend of traditional and digital marketing strategies. From radio spots to geofencing ads, he’s gradually embracing digital tools while still valuing the power of chamber networking and community volunteering.
Measuring What Matters:
A key metric for Mike is his closing ratio, which he aims to keep between 60-70%. This helps him gauge pricing, value perception, and sales performance, ensuring sustainable growth.
Growth Strategies That Scale:
Mike’s approach to expansion is cost-efficient. Instead of investing in warehouses, he uses UPS store boxes for North Dakota deliveries, keeping costs low while scaling operations effectively.
Community Involvement as Marketing:
Mike is deeply involved in his community, participating in food drives and supporting local sports. This not only builds goodwill but also strengthens relationships, which are vital for his business.
Mike Stolte’s Top Business Lessons:
Conclusion:
Mike Stolte’s journey with 406 Blinds is an inspiring story of turning adversity into success through hard work, community focus, and smart business strategies. His insights offer valuable lessons for any entrepreneur looking to build a thriving business from the ground up.
Video
https://youtu.be/qDFfndgb274
Click here to display Transcript
TRANSCRIPT
Will Hanke (00:00)
All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Marketing Panes, the podcast where we talk with real window treatment and awning service providers and business owners about their successes and struggles related to marketing their business. Today, we have a guest with some great insights, and I’m very happy to have Mike on today. So Mike Stolte is the owner of 406 Blinds. He has grown his business every year since launching in 2019.
As a premium partner with Graber, 406 Blinds operates in Montana and Bismarck, North Dakota, securing major installs, including 20 plus apartment buildings in Bozeman. Voted Montana’s best window treatment company in 2024. The company is also a Costco partner with Graber in North Dakota. And when not working, Mike enjoys the outdoors with his wife and three kids. Mike, thank you so much for being on.
Mike Stolte (00:58)
absolutely, thanks for having me.
Will Hanke (01:00)
I appreciate it. noticed when I was reading through that that I said North Dakota and that’s a very Midwest thing to say. anyway, thanks so much for being on. I really do appreciate it. You are you’re in the North Dakota area and Montana. So do you have two separate locations?
Mike Stolte (01:05)
you
Yeah.
Yeah, well, we started in Bozeman, Montana, kind of expanded to West Montana. So we’re strategic in Montana where we can cover a lot of estate. And then North Dakota came because I had the opportunity to go with Costco. So we’re basically on the I-90-94 corridor east to west.
Will Hanke (01:41)
Okay. Awesome. Cool. So before we got started, obviously we talked about some different things. And one of the things that you told me is that you managed satellite TV installers for 20 years before starting 406 blinds in 2019. What inspired you to transition to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (02:00)
Well, I wish I could say I was inspired. It was out of necessity. DirecTV, I was with DirecTV 13, 14 years, managing installers. Before that I was with Sprint. And so I had 20 years management experience. And DirecTV was great until the end. Do you know how like the cell phone kind of took over the landline? This thing called the internet.
Will Hanke (02:05)
Okay.
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:30)
and streaming put us, DirecTV, putting old school satellites on roofs, kind of, it turned it into a declining market. And it’s not completely obsolete, but close to it. At the time I saw one of my colleagues get laid off and I saw the writing on the wall that I was probably next. So, wanted to leave a declining market and…
Will Hanke (02:51)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:54)
move into like an expanding market and the building industry was just booming here at the time. It still is in some ways, but it’s changed a little bit, but that is how I started 406 Blinds.
Will Hanke (03:09)
Interesting way to get into it. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about 406 blinds. What kind of separates you from some of your competitors?
Mike Stolte (03:10)
Thank
Well, we’re not a franchise and I’m not knocking a franchise, believe me, a lot of my peers and networking groups are in a franchise. But what’s great about that is I don’t have any monthly fees. We operate at really low monthly costs. We’re local, local homegrown business. I’ve stepped foot in this valley in 1993. My Jeremy.
Who helps me run the western part of the state is born and bred Montanen. We’re local. And that just gives us an opportunity to give really good high class customer service. We respond right away. And I feel like that’s a pretty, a lot of people, especially Montanens, even though we’re super widespread geographically.
There are still less than a million people. So it is a small town feel and a lot of people love homegrown local businesses.
Will Hanke (04:15)
Yeah, yeah, that’s always a really nice point to have that local flavor to it. It gives you an advantage in some ways.
Mike Stolte (04:23)
For sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Will Hanke (04:25)
Yeah. So how are you positioning 406 to attract customers who are who are obviously valuing quality window treatments in a growing market like Bozeman?
Mike Stolte (04:34)
Yeah, no, that’s a really good question. And I think the word is out now. When I first started even six years ago, it was me and a couple of the brand names that you probably know. But now there’s seven or eight, nine companies on Google that will show up. The word is out now in town here. I can’t speak for everywhere. But if you call a blind person, you’re going to probably pay a little more and get a little better quality. So I don’t have to do anything proactive positioning.
But once we do get in the home, some people do have a little sticker shock. And that’s when it comes into where you have to explain the value of what you’re offering. That we are much different than going to big box store and buying a blind there. We have a limited lifetime warranty. They’re going to last you 20 years. The energy efficiency, you just really explain the value to the customer.
Will Hanke (05:28)
Yeah, so the word is out, that’s great. What kind of marketing are you guys doing ongoing?
Mike Stolte (05:34)
It’s changed since the beginning. In the beginning, just starting out, like I had no capital. So I just went door to door, bought some shirts with my logo on it, joined the Chamber of Commerce to meet people and network. Just on the ground marketing, emailing builders, calling builders, emailing realtors, just old school marketing that’s essentially free.
Will Hanke (05:57)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Stolte (05:57)
And then once you get a little bit of capital, you know, we started doing radio commercials every year, which seems kind of antiquated, but it’s still here. You know, Montana is still local, has a real local presence. And now finally this year, I’m joining this century and doing some digital marketing as well.
Will Hanke (06:14)
Well, that’s great. I love to hear that. It’s really cool that you kind of, you you started as a as a grounds up, you know, hitting the hitting the road and eat what you kill kind of thing. Right. Yeah, yeah. And that’s that’s typical for a lot of business owners outside of like a franchise where you’re you’re kind of given an area, but you still got to beat the pavement a bit. But I but I do love the fact that you’re just.
Mike Stolte (06:22)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, for sure.
Will Hanke (06:40)
You know, basically, hey, I want to start this thing. Now I got to figure out how to how to put fuel in it. Right. Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce, you doing any other kind of networking?
Mike Stolte (06:45)
Yep, yep, yep, exactly.
It just kind of builds from there. What’s great about the chamber is you meet, it’s just all a bunch of local businesses that need customers. So you’re meeting realtors, you’re meeting landscapers, you’re meeting property managers, builders, insurance agents. It’s just a great way to network and expand that web of people that you know in town. And word of mouth is huge too. So if you do a few good jobs,
Will Hanke (07:09)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (07:14)
treat the customer right, the word gets out pretty quick.
Will Hanke (07:18)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that you were emailing builders and things like that. Tell us a little bit about that. Like, how’d you how’d you come up with a list of those guys and what were their responses, if any?
Mike Stolte (07:29)
Yeah, got it. The builders weren’t responsive on email. Every now and then you’ll get the phone call eventually. So that’s one thing I would recommend is don’t give up. Sometimes six, eight months later, they’ll be like, hey, I got that email and they’ll call you. I got a greater response from property managers right away. But basically, I just printed stuff off Google and started a checklist of who I contacted. Yeah.
Will Hanke (07:36)
Okay.
Nice.
Yeah. So in my world, we call that scraping. So you just scrape together a work of. Yeah. I love that. That’s great. So what what strategies have you kind of employed that have helped you compete against some of those larger dealers franchises around your area?
Mike Stolte (07:55)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, definitely not having high operating costs allows me to give a little better pricing. And then also our response rate is quicker.
And honestly, the market here, there’s enough work right now here in town, in this market in Bozeman, that there’s enough food to feed everyone, if that makes sense. When you get into, go on, I didn’t mean to cut you off.
Will Hanke (08:34)
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
No, you’re good. Did, do you find yourself going up against those guys very often or when somebody contacts you, have they kind of already made their decision?
Mike Stolte (08:46)
Well, it’s gotten a little more tight recently in the last year just because building has slowed and increase in blinds companies. Blinds companies have increased. But usually what we’re really good at is once we get that phone call and get in the customer’s home, we have a 70 % close rate. So that’s what we’re really good at. The biggest challenge for us is getting the phone to ring. But once we do, we’re good.
Will Hanke (09:03)
OK, great.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me about getting the phone to ring. You mentioned radio and you’re starting to do a little digital marketing. What do you, what is your, what is your plan there?
Mike Stolte (09:27)
Can you say that one more time, Will? I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (09:30)
Yeah, sorry about that. So you mentioned that you’re doing a little bit of radio and you’re also doing some digital marketing. What do you what is your plan on the digital marketing side? Like where are you starting?
Mike Stolte (09:40)
got it. I’m working with a company called Distinkly Montana and they do digital marketing. We just started it. I intentionally did it in the spring because usually we start to pick up now and I’m learning a lot about the geofencing. Like a lot of people know this probably from two years ago. I’m just learning about the geofencing target marketing online. And actually after this call, I got my first reporting to kind of see how we’re doing and to see if we need to
Will Hanke (09:58)
you
Mike Stolte (10:07)
to tweak anything. So I’m hoping that the in-person networking with the digital marketing, it’ll kind of help us take off here.
Will Hanke (10:10)
very cool.
That’s a good combo. Yeah, that’s great. So on the lines of marketing success, I know that you were voted the best window treatment company. Tell us a little bit more about what you did to earn that recognition.
Mike Stolte (10:32)
It’s so funny because I got like I knew that contest existed but I you know when your numbers on Google you get spam all day long and I got an email saying you’re the best window treatments in America or whatever or Montana and I thought it was fake and I emailed back I was like is this fake you just want to sell me marketing and then Chris the owner of the magazine responded back no it’s it’s real you were voted best and then he told me about it
how it went, but basically it was like all of Montana voted us the best window treatment in the state, which was pretty cool. And that’s a testament to all the people that we contract with, Jeremy, my employee, like we’re in a design store in Anaconda, Montana. Just everyone appreciates how we treat the customer.
Will Hanke (10:59)
Wow.
Yeah.
That’s great. And it’s a fantastic trust factor for people that are coming to your site and just coming across your business. That’s huge.
Mike Stolte (11:26)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yep.
Will Hanke (11:29)
Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce. Are you what other community involvement are you guys doing?
Mike Stolte (11:36)
Well, we volunteer a lot just because we like volunteering, but also it is good networking. My family and I, do food drive once a year. We stand in front of the supermarket. We’ll wear the 406 blinds hats and just collect cans. Just honestly, just being part of the community like I have kids in sports.
Will Hanke (11:50)
I like that. Back to the whole grassroots thing
again, right?
Mike Stolte (11:55)
What’s that? Yeah, exactly. Sorry, you broke up for a second, Will, I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (12:00)
Yeah,
very cool. Oh, that’s OK. That’s OK. Yeah, very good. I love that you’re involved in the community and there is definitely some marketing advantages by doing that.
Mike Stolte (12:15)
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (12:18)
So let’s talk about business cycles. What practical steps did you take to maintain stability when you were transitioning from the satellite TV industry to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (12:30)
Yeah, it’s a great question.
I got pretty lucky. I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I managed businesses before, but I never started a business from the ground and I didn’t want to go into debt. So I got really lucky and I just started a Craigslist ad. It cost me five bucks and like blinds and bozeman and I got a call from someone at Lowe’s and they were looking for someone to contract with to install their blinds. So
Will Hanke (12:54)
my gosh.
Mike Stolte (12:55)
So I got the Bozeman Lowe’s, got the Helena Montana Lowe’s and basically I just did manual labor for them. And it was a great way to learn all the products. And that created the stability of having income without having to to take out a business loan. And also that got me in customers homes, you know, my logo, because I’m an independent contractor for six blinds. I’m here to install. Got my name in the community. So that
Will Hanke (13:11)
Wow.
Mike Stolte (13:24)
was one revenue stream for me. We also have an installation division where we do a lot of the apartments in town, like 200 plus windows per building. That was another revenue stream. So that alone just brought income revenue into the company. And that allowed me to pump a little money into advertising and then start really focusing on sales. So we don’t have to do lows anymore.
We’re still doing the apartments because it’s just a great opportunity that honestly won’t always be there. And then now we’re doing, past two, three years, we’ve been doing just really well on sales.
Will Hanke (14:01)
That’s great. Love it. What challenges do you see in our industry right now and how are you adapting to stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (14:09)
Well, I apologize, I’m gonna curse on your show real quick and I’m gonna say the word tariff. So that is, and I went through three stages. Freaked Out was my first stage, Anger was my second, and my third stage right now is scheming and strategizing. that will, and that right now is a challenge and,
Will Hanke (14:16)
You
I like it.
Mike Stolte (14:33)
I’m already figuring out ways that I overcompensate for it and still be productive even with that.
Will Hanke (14:41)
Yeah.
So do you see yourself having to raise your prices?
Mike Stolte (14:45)
I’m trying not to, because that was one of the things that we take pride in. We probably will a little bit. What I could do is what I’m thinking. Well, one, I don’t want to reduce quality, right? Because you can go to two different vendors and probably get quite just like cheaper products. But then then you’re not delivering the quality which we’re known for. So.
I might just split the difference I’m thinking and then make up for it in volume. That’s the goal.
Will Hanke (15:12)
Okay. All right.
Do you see yourself looking at any, us made stuff that’s that’s comparable?
Mike Stolte (15:20)
I’m looking into that to see if, but I’m waiting on some samples and things to check out the quality before we launch anything like that. But there are companies out there that aren’t as, everyone’s affected to some point, because you know, fabrics and everything come from all over the world, but there are vendors that are affected less than others.
Will Hanke (15:27)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, as a marketing company, we’re seeing an increase in calls from manufacturers in the US because they see this as their opportunity to really start promoting that. yeah, very cool. Well, so let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about some fun things. What’s your favorite window treatment product or solution?
Mike Stolte (15:50)
I bet. Yeah, I bet.
it might be boring, but cellular shades. and that’s just because here in Montana and North Dakota is even colder. It’s either super colder in July, it’s super hot and they’re, they’re, they’re functional, fashionable. that’s probably my favorite solution just because of, the energy savings.
Will Hanke (16:06)
Okay.
All right.
Yeah, what about your least favorite?
Mike Stolte (16:28)
I think everyone will agree it’s vertical blinds.
Will Hanke (16:32)
Yep, yep, okay.
Mike Stolte (16:33)
Especially
the old school vinyl ones that break and seem to have static electricity for everything in the house.
Will Hanke (16:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, we bought our house 16 years ago, I think. And there’s vertical blinds over the basement sliding glass door. And I think there’s like three or four of them that are still hanging there. The rest of them have all broken. And I’m assuming they’re in the trash. I don’t know where they went.
Mike Stolte (16:52)
Exactly.
Yeah
Will Hanke (17:01)
That’s
cool. Tell us the story about how you landed the Costco truck contract while you were in Spain.
Mike Stolte (17:07)
yeah, well, Graber. I had my best year a few years ago. We’ve been in business six years and about the third year and that was my best year to date. And then with Graber, they’ll they do trips. I’m sure a lot of listeners have heard of this. A lot of the companies do it. And so we got to go to Spain, brought my wife. It was just an amazing trip. And. They do like this farewell.
farewell dinner the last night where you kind of drink wine. They had Spanish dancers everywhere. It’s like amazing food. And come to find out I was sitting next to the lady that runs all 600 Costco contracts. So we just got to talking and it was just about like…
personal stuff, my daughter’s an athlete, her daughter was an athlete, just got to know each other, got to know my wife. And I just reached out to her when I got back saying, hey, there any way I can get into a Costco? Because on that event too, I met a lot of people that were Costco dealers and they said it’s just a really good opportunity to really build your business.
Will Hanke (18:11)
That’s amazing. So just the fact that you followed up afterwards, I think really helped you out there.
Mike Stolte (18:17)
Yeah, absolutely. And you never know anywhere or anytime in life who you’re sitting next to or who you’re talking to.
Will Hanke (18:26)
Yeah, yeah, that’s a cool story. I love that. And the Costco stuff is going well for you now, I guess.
Mike Stolte (18:33)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we’re in Bismarck and it’s going well.
Will Hanke (18:38)
That’s great. That’s good. We’ve got a lot of clients that have Costco relationships as well. So we know that’s a big part of growth for a lot of businesses.
Mike Stolte (18:46)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And you can’t go wrong with Costco.
Will Hanke (18:50)
Yeah, yeah. So since you started 406, tell me about how you approach consultations and installs and how maybe that’s evolved over time.
Mike Stolte (19:01)
Yeah, it hasn’t changed much.
Usually I’ll before I go. I’ll just kind of get a feel for what the customer is looking for. A lot of times they do know, especially with the Internet and all the availability to to looking at products. So they kind of have an idea of what they want. So then I’m not walking in blind. And usually I’ll just. Kind of ask what their needs are, kind of look at the samples.
And then I just like to let them have the book for a minute because sometimes there’s a couple different types of customers and you kind of have to learn how to read the room too. So that’s why there’s no clear cut. But some people want you to hold every sample up for them. And some people just kind of want to be alone with the book. So you kind of just read the room. And if they want to be alone for the book with the book, I’ll say, hey, do you mind if I go measure, go measure and then come back in and kind of see where we’re at.
It hasn’t really changed much. For measuring though, especially doing all the apartments, what I did learn, it’s very important to have a routine and do it the same way every single time. So we always start, and everyone on my staff measures the same way. We always enter the house, start on the left and do the whole house from left to right.
Will Hanke (20:19)
Okay. That’s great. That’s smart. Then you know you won’t miss anything, right?
Mike Stolte (20:25)
Yeah, exactly. Even though every now and then we still do miss the bathroom, but we’re to.
Will Hanke (20:27)
You
Yeah.
Fair enough, fair enough. So
it sounds like a lot like me, you like procedures, know, getting those systems in place. It’s a big part of growing a business, obviously. When it came to your expansion to Bismarck, what processes would you recommend somebody who’s maybe in an expansion position? What should they focus on first?
Mike Stolte (20:54)
My biggest concern was inventory because you don’t want to lose your blinds. I mean, that’s your bread and butter. So one thing that that really is working out well for us and it cost me 300 bucks, it’s 300 bucks a year, is I just essentially rented a box at the UPS store. so what’s great is all my blinds for North Dakota go to that UPS store. My installer can bring a key, pick up the blinds and deliver the blinds.
And that’s one way of keeping your costs down too. I didn’t have to go out and buy a warehouse or anywhere to accept shipments. So that was a really good process.
Will Hanke (21:23)
wow.
Yeah, I like that. And I had a UPS box years and years ago now. But the thing I really liked about them was you could call them and ask if there was anything in there, you know, and if not, you don’t waste your time going, which is cool.
Mike Stolte (21:47)
Yeah, exactly.
And they have progressed a little bit. I’ll get a text when I get inventory, which is great, too. So it’s great. Yeah. And they’re always happy to see me because they can’t wait for me to get my big blind boxes out of their place.
Will Hanke (21:52)
that’s fantastic.
yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess
that shows how long ago it was that I had mine.
Mike Stolte (22:05)
Hahaha
Will Hanke (22:08)
Very cool. Very cool. I want to do something called myth or fact with you. We’ve been doing this on a couple of different episodes now. Is this a myth or a fact? New homeowners are your primary market.
Mike Stolte (22:13)
Okay.
Well, if it was today, and I’m kind of cheating, because I’m not giving you a straight answer, but today would be myth. Four years ago, I would say fact.
Will Hanke (22:36)
Okay, tell me more.
Mike Stolte (22:37)
Well, four years ago, people were still buying homes. Now, so it was all new construction. But now since the interest rates have gone up a little bit, a lot of people are staying in their existing homes and upgrading. So we’ve been doing a lot more upgrades the past year.
Will Hanke (22:49)
OK, interesting.
OK. OK, focusing on the upgrade side.
Very cool. So here’s another one. Premium clients only come from high end neighborhoods.
Mike Stolte (23:05)
that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:08)
Okay, tell me about that.
Mike Stolte (23:10)
Well, I guess it depends how I end, but like we have like high, high end and that can be like really time consuming, right? So you get one job that’s consuming a lot of your time or I can do four or five, three to four bedroom single family homes and knock them out and maybe make a little more money. And my time is not as demanded. So.
Will Hanke (23:36)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (23:38)
I would say that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:40)
Yeah. So some of that comes back to your sales method, how good you are at sales and being able to maybe get them to upgrade a little bit.
Mike Stolte (23:49)
For sure, absolutely.
Will Hanke (23:51)
Yeah, I think that’s important. lot of people try to just focus on the couple very affluent parts of town and they might be hurting themselves when it comes to additional revenue by doing that.
Mike Stolte (24:03)
Yeah, I think so. especially if you like, like there’s a lot of products, because when you say premium customer, there’s the higher end products have great margins. So you can sell four windows of natural shades, you know, and that’s not really time consuming and make it a decent payday.
Will Hanke (24:19)
Yeah.
Yeah. And with everybody, like you said, in kind of upgrade mode versus getting a new home, that helps with the entire upsell process as well.
Mike Stolte (24:27)
Sure. Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (24:36)
Yeah, I like that. So what are some of your proven techniques when it comes to pricing and presenting the window treatments to ensure that you still have decent margins, but you’re also providing value?
Mike Stolte (24:48)
Yeah, that’s a really good question. I think the most important key to that is just your closing ratio. That’s gonna tell you whether or not you’re too high, too low. Like you don’t want 99 % because that means maybe your price is a little too low. If you’re at 30%, your price might be a bit high. So that’s why we like 60, 70%. And it’s not always price that affects whether or not a customer goes with you, but it is a good indicator.
Will Hanke (25:00)
Yeah. Yep.
Mike Stolte (25:16)
So I say from my experience, if you’re in the 60 to 70 % range, that’s really good. And that probably means you’re priced appropriately.
Will Hanke (25:17)
Yeah.
great.
Yeah, how often do you calculate that number?
Mike Stolte (25:32)
I look at, well, you mean my closing ratio? Yeah, I look at that quite often. I would say at least once a quarter, a lot of times monthly. It doesn’t take long to kind of take a peek at it and see how you’re doing. Because I think that’s an indicator of the health of your business.
Will Hanke (25:35)
Yeah.
OK.
100%. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s always good to see those trends and identify them before they continue to trend in the wrong direction.
Mike Stolte (25:50)
Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Will Hanke (26:00)
Yeah, I like that. That’s pretty smart. Keeping keeping track on your overall conversion rate. Now for that, do you just consider booked appointments versus people that said yes?
Mike Stolte (26:11)
I do, and I have two separate ones because I do Costco and then I do mine and then I will break it down per rep too.
What was the question again? What did you say? Well,
Will Hanke (26:23)
Yeah, do
you typically calculate that by appointments set divided by total people that said yes or whatever the matter? Yeah.
Mike Stolte (26:30)
Thank you. I lost my train of thought in mid explanation. I do
it once we’re in the home. So quotes, quoted jobs versus sales. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will Hanke (26:36)
Okay.
versus all. OK.
Yeah, that’s good. Some people are counting every single lead, like every phone call, everything that comes in, which I think is good, you know, because those are all still raised hands. But that’s a different type of metric that is obviously going to have a lower close rate.
Mike Stolte (26:59)
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not because a lot of times if the lead cancels, it’s probably not because of you. So yeah, I prefer the quotes for sales. Yeah.
Will Hanke (27:07)
Very true.
Yeah, makes sense. Yeah.
So how do you evaluate which growth opportunities to pursue as your business continues to grow?
Mike Stolte (27:20)
just looking at it all the time.
What’s been great for the past six years for us is it’s kind of just grown organically. Where Jeremy, he helps me cover the western part of the state. And if you look at Butte, Montana, he could shoot over to Missoula, to Helena, basically all within two hours. So he can help me cover a lot of ground. And then I’m over here in Bozeman. I have a rep here too. We’re in a very key location.
So we can shoot to a lot of different places in the state and that kind of happened organically. And that’s kind of just how Montana is. It’s kind of spread out.
Will Hanke (27:53)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (27:59)
So our growth did just happen organically. A lot of times the market will dictate where you wanna go to next. So.
Will Hanke (28:10)
Sure. Yeah.
Yeah, and of course, the building, know, where people are building, where people are not building. Yeah, that definitely directs the train a little bit.
Mike Stolte (28:16)
For sure. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
And in our place, the single family homes hopefully will pick up again here pretty quick. I it’s still growing. It’s just not like what it was. So.
Will Hanke (28:32)
Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Well, listen, thank you so much for being on today. I’ve got a couple of different bonus questions for you before we wrap up. And one of my favorite questions really is, what trends do you see in the window treatment industry right now? And how can business owners stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (28:41)
Yeah, absolutely.
I think just home automation is coming. I remember, because I used to work for a cell phone company when they first came out with the smartphone. And I remember saying to myself, like, who’s going to want to be able to be contact 24 seven of their life? And I was wrong. That just obviously took off.
Will Hanke (29:11)
you
Mike Stolte (29:19)
And I kind of see home automation as that because some people might say who just wants to tell their shade to open, right? But I feel it’s coming. It’s coming. And that’s we’re trying to be. Jeremy, my installer on view is a motorized expert, understands all of that. The Google Home, Apple, all of that stuff. That’s the next trend. And that’s how I want to stay ahead of the curve.
Will Hanke (29:25)
Right. Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that as a home automation nerd, I already tell a specific person, I won’t say her name, but ask her to open my mind. She’ll start talking if I do.
Mike Stolte (29:53)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Will Hanke (29:58)
So another question for you, is there a window treatment trend that you secretly dislike but your clients seem to love?
Mike Stolte (30:06)
They’re the same, the home automation.
Will Hanke (30:08)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (30:11)
But it’s one of those things once you learn it and you start to do it, it is pretty cool. My wife will tell you I’m a little old school. I can’t stand that we have a smart dryer.
but that’s where we’re going.
Will Hanke (30:23)
Yeah,
that is. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, I’m a bit of a nerd on that side. If there’s something I could do to save save me from having to get up, you know, something not great for my cardio, but that’s OK. So, again, thank you so much for your time. If somebody wants to learn more about 406 blinds or connect with you, what’s the best way to do that?
Mike Stolte (30:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, my phone number is 406-600-3582 and all our info is at 406blinds.com
Will Hanke (30:55)
Awesome. We’ll also put all the links and everything in the show notes, of course. So if anybody wants to contact you, they certainly can. So last question, what are the three most important business lessons you’ve learned since you started 406 that could help somebody else listening to this?
Mike Stolte (31:12)
like maybe someone first starting out you think or,
Will Hanke (31:14)
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Stolte (31:18)
One is don’t give up. It’s so easy for challenges that are gonna come, problems that are gonna come to get down and say I’m defeated. But I would just turn those challenges into opportunities and a lot of times you come out on top and then you’ll know more and be equipped to handle it better the next time. I would say that’s number one.
Number two, get really good accounting software to calculate every single penny that’s coming in and out. We’re not volunteering here for free, right? We’re trying to make money. So I use QuickBooks. I love it. It combines everything into one little spot. And I know everything that’s coming in, everything that’s going out. And along those same lines, it also helps a lot with taxes too, which can be another
Will Hanke (31:50)
Right.
Great tip.
Mike Stolte (32:05)
huge expense for your company.
Will Hanke (32:10)
Yeah, especially if you’re not ready for it, right?
Mike Stolte (32:12)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:14)
That can be
a quick lesson to learn and an unfortunate one.
Mike Stolte (32:19)
Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:21)
Very good. Well, listen, thank you again for your time. I really do appreciate you jumping on today, sharing some things with us. Any last words of wisdom, Mike?
Mike Stolte (32:31)
Just stay at it, stay positive. I think, like I said, turn challenges into opportunities. The one great thing about, I love being an entrepreneur, because I was salaried for 20 years, is rather than watching every pinch and every penny, excuse me, for my household budget, I love about being an entrepreneur. I just say, what do I need to do to make more? And that’s what I love about being an entrepreneur.
Will Hanke (32:57)
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. Listen, thank you again for being on. I appreciate it. If you yeah, if you’re listening to this episode, really love it. Obviously, go check out our other episodes of Marketing Panes. Make sure to subscribe. We’re available on iTunes, all the different networks, and would love to love to have you listen to some future episodes as well. Again, thank you so much, Mike. Have a great day and we’ll see you soon.
Mike Stolte (33:01)
Thanks, Will. I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you so much. Well, we’ll see you. Bye now.
Will Hanke (33:25)
Awesome. All right, that was great.
TRANSCRIPT
Will Hanke (00:00)
All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Marketing Panes, the podcast where we talk with real window treatment and awning service providers and business owners about their successes and struggles related to marketing their business. Today, we have a guest with some great insights, and I’m very happy to have Mike on today. So Mike Stolte is the owner of 406 Blinds. He has grown his business every year since launching in 2019.
As a premium partner with Graber, 406 Blinds operates in Montana and Bismarck, North Dakota, securing major installs, including 20 plus apartment buildings in Bozeman. Voted Montana’s best window treatment company in 2024. The company is also a Costco partner with Graber in North Dakota. And when not working, Mike enjoys the outdoors with his wife and three kids. Mike, thank you so much for being on.
Mike Stolte (00:58)
absolutely, thanks for having me.
Will Hanke (01:00)
I appreciate it. noticed when I was reading through that that I said North Dakota and that’s a very Midwest thing to say. anyway, thanks so much for being on. I really do appreciate it. You are you’re in the North Dakota area and Montana. So do you have two separate locations?
Mike Stolte (01:05)
you
Yeah.
Yeah, well, we started in Bozeman, Montana, kind of expanded to West Montana. So we’re strategic in Montana where we can cover a lot of estate. And then North Dakota came because I had the opportunity to go with Costco. So we’re basically on the I-90-94 corridor east to west.
Will Hanke (01:41)
Okay. Awesome. Cool. So before we got started, obviously we talked about some different things. And one of the things that you told me is that you managed satellite TV installers for 20 years before starting 406 blinds in 2019. What inspired you to transition to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (02:00)
Well, I wish I could say I was inspired. It was out of necessity. DirecTV, I was with DirecTV 13, 14 years, managing installers. Before that I was with Sprint. And so I had 20 years management experience. And DirecTV was great until the end. Do you know how like the cell phone kind of took over the landline? This thing called the internet.
Will Hanke (02:05)
Okay.
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:30)
and streaming put us, DirecTV, putting old school satellites on roofs, kind of, it turned it into a declining market. And it’s not completely obsolete, but close to it. At the time I saw one of my colleagues get laid off and I saw the writing on the wall that I was probably next. So, wanted to leave a declining market and…
Will Hanke (02:51)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:54)
move into like an expanding market and the building industry was just booming here at the time. It still is in some ways, but it’s changed a little bit, but that is how I started 406 Blinds.
Will Hanke (03:09)
Interesting way to get into it. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about 406 blinds. What kind of separates you from some of your competitors?
Mike Stolte (03:10)
Thank
Well, we’re not a franchise and I’m not knocking a franchise, believe me, a lot of my peers and networking groups are in a franchise. But what’s great about that is I don’t have any monthly fees. We operate at really low monthly costs. We’re local, local homegrown business. I’ve stepped foot in this valley in 1993. My Jeremy.
Who helps me run the western part of the state is born and bred Montanen. We’re local. And that just gives us an opportunity to give really good high class customer service. We respond right away. And I feel like that’s a pretty, a lot of people, especially Montanens, even though we’re super widespread geographically.
There are still less than a million people. So it is a small town feel and a lot of people love homegrown local businesses.
Will Hanke (04:15)
Yeah, yeah, that’s always a really nice point to have that local flavor to it. It gives you an advantage in some ways.
Mike Stolte (04:23)
For sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Will Hanke (04:25)
Yeah. So how are you positioning 406 to attract customers who are who are obviously valuing quality window treatments in a growing market like Bozeman?
Mike Stolte (04:34)
Yeah, no, that’s a really good question. And I think the word is out now. When I first started even six years ago, it was me and a couple of the brand names that you probably know. But now there’s seven or eight, nine companies on Google that will show up. The word is out now in town here. I can’t speak for everywhere. But if you call a blind person, you’re going to probably pay a little more and get a little better quality. So I don’t have to do anything proactive positioning.
But once we do get in the home, some people do have a little sticker shock. And that’s when it comes into where you have to explain the value of what you’re offering. That we are much different than going to big box store and buying a blind there. We have a limited lifetime warranty. They’re going to last you 20 years. The energy efficiency, you just really explain the value to the customer.
Will Hanke (05:28)
Yeah, so the word is out, that’s great. What kind of marketing are you guys doing ongoing?
Mike Stolte (05:34)
It’s changed since the beginning. In the beginning, just starting out, like I had no capital. So I just went door to door, bought some shirts with my logo on it, joined the Chamber of Commerce to meet people and network. Just on the ground marketing, emailing builders, calling builders, emailing realtors, just old school marketing that’s essentially free.
Will Hanke (05:57)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Stolte (05:57)
And then once you get a little bit of capital, you know, we started doing radio commercials every year, which seems kind of antiquated, but it’s still here. You know, Montana is still local, has a real local presence. And now finally this year, I’m joining this century and doing some digital marketing as well.
Will Hanke (06:14)
Well, that’s great. I love to hear that. It’s really cool that you kind of, you you started as a as a grounds up, you know, hitting the hitting the road and eat what you kill kind of thing. Right. Yeah, yeah. And that’s that’s typical for a lot of business owners outside of like a franchise where you’re you’re kind of given an area, but you still got to beat the pavement a bit. But I but I do love the fact that you’re just.
Mike Stolte (06:22)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, for sure.
Will Hanke (06:40)
You know, basically, hey, I want to start this thing. Now I got to figure out how to how to put fuel in it. Right. Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce, you doing any other kind of networking?
Mike Stolte (06:45)
Yep, yep, yep, exactly.
It just kind of builds from there. What’s great about the chamber is you meet, it’s just all a bunch of local businesses that need customers. So you’re meeting realtors, you’re meeting landscapers, you’re meeting property managers, builders, insurance agents. It’s just a great way to network and expand that web of people that you know in town. And word of mouth is huge too. So if you do a few good jobs,
Will Hanke (07:09)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (07:14)
treat the customer right, the word gets out pretty quick.
Will Hanke (07:18)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that you were emailing builders and things like that. Tell us a little bit about that. Like, how’d you how’d you come up with a list of those guys and what were their responses, if any?
Mike Stolte (07:29)
Yeah, got it. The builders weren’t responsive on email. Every now and then you’ll get the phone call eventually. So that’s one thing I would recommend is don’t give up. Sometimes six, eight months later, they’ll be like, hey, I got that email and they’ll call you. I got a greater response from property managers right away. But basically, I just printed stuff off Google and started a checklist of who I contacted. Yeah.
Will Hanke (07:36)
Okay.
Nice.
Yeah. So in my world, we call that scraping. So you just scrape together a work of. Yeah. I love that. That’s great. So what what strategies have you kind of employed that have helped you compete against some of those larger dealers franchises around your area?
Mike Stolte (07:55)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, definitely not having high operating costs allows me to give a little better pricing. And then also our response rate is quicker.
And honestly, the market here, there’s enough work right now here in town, in this market in Bozeman, that there’s enough food to feed everyone, if that makes sense. When you get into, go on, I didn’t mean to cut you off.
Will Hanke (08:34)
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
No, you’re good. Did, do you find yourself going up against those guys very often or when somebody contacts you, have they kind of already made their decision?
Mike Stolte (08:46)
Well, it’s gotten a little more tight recently in the last year just because building has slowed and increase in blinds companies. Blinds companies have increased. But usually what we’re really good at is once we get that phone call and get in the customer’s home, we have a 70 % close rate. So that’s what we’re really good at. The biggest challenge for us is getting the phone to ring. But once we do, we’re good.
Will Hanke (09:03)
OK, great.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me about getting the phone to ring. You mentioned radio and you’re starting to do a little digital marketing. What do you, what is your, what is your plan there?
Mike Stolte (09:27)
Can you say that one more time, Will? I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (09:30)
Yeah, sorry about that. So you mentioned that you’re doing a little bit of radio and you’re also doing some digital marketing. What do you what is your plan on the digital marketing side? Like where are you starting?
Mike Stolte (09:40)
got it. I’m working with a company called Distinkly Montana and they do digital marketing. We just started it. I intentionally did it in the spring because usually we start to pick up now and I’m learning a lot about the geofencing. Like a lot of people know this probably from two years ago. I’m just learning about the geofencing target marketing online. And actually after this call, I got my first reporting to kind of see how we’re doing and to see if we need to
Will Hanke (09:58)
you
Mike Stolte (10:07)
to tweak anything. So I’m hoping that the in-person networking with the digital marketing, it’ll kind of help us take off here.
Will Hanke (10:10)
very cool.
That’s a good combo. Yeah, that’s great. So on the lines of marketing success, I know that you were voted the best window treatment company. Tell us a little bit more about what you did to earn that recognition.
Mike Stolte (10:32)
It’s so funny because I got like I knew that contest existed but I you know when your numbers on Google you get spam all day long and I got an email saying you’re the best window treatments in America or whatever or Montana and I thought it was fake and I emailed back I was like is this fake you just want to sell me marketing and then Chris the owner of the magazine responded back no it’s it’s real you were voted best and then he told me about it
how it went, but basically it was like all of Montana voted us the best window treatment in the state, which was pretty cool. And that’s a testament to all the people that we contract with, Jeremy, my employee, like we’re in a design store in Anaconda, Montana. Just everyone appreciates how we treat the customer.
Will Hanke (10:59)
Wow.
Yeah.
That’s great. And it’s a fantastic trust factor for people that are coming to your site and just coming across your business. That’s huge.
Mike Stolte (11:26)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yep.
Will Hanke (11:29)
Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce. Are you what other community involvement are you guys doing?
Mike Stolte (11:36)
Well, we volunteer a lot just because we like volunteering, but also it is good networking. My family and I, do food drive once a year. We stand in front of the supermarket. We’ll wear the 406 blinds hats and just collect cans. Just honestly, just being part of the community like I have kids in sports.
Will Hanke (11:50)
I like that. Back to the whole grassroots thing
again, right?
Mike Stolte (11:55)
What’s that? Yeah, exactly. Sorry, you broke up for a second, Will, I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (12:00)
Yeah,
very cool. Oh, that’s OK. That’s OK. Yeah, very good. I love that you’re involved in the community and there is definitely some marketing advantages by doing that.
Mike Stolte (12:15)
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (12:18)
So let’s talk about business cycles. What practical steps did you take to maintain stability when you were transitioning from the satellite TV industry to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (12:30)
Yeah, it’s a great question.
I got pretty lucky. I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I managed businesses before, but I never started a business from the ground and I didn’t want to go into debt. So I got really lucky and I just started a Craigslist ad. It cost me five bucks and like blinds and bozeman and I got a call from someone at Lowe’s and they were looking for someone to contract with to install their blinds. So
Will Hanke (12:54)
my gosh.
Mike Stolte (12:55)
So I got the Bozeman Lowe’s, got the Helena Montana Lowe’s and basically I just did manual labor for them. And it was a great way to learn all the products. And that created the stability of having income without having to to take out a business loan. And also that got me in customers homes, you know, my logo, because I’m an independent contractor for six blinds. I’m here to install. Got my name in the community. So that
Will Hanke (13:11)
Wow.
Mike Stolte (13:24)
was one revenue stream for me. We also have an installation division where we do a lot of the apartments in town, like 200 plus windows per building. That was another revenue stream. So that alone just brought income revenue into the company. And that allowed me to pump a little money into advertising and then start really focusing on sales. So we don’t have to do lows anymore.
We’re still doing the apartments because it’s just a great opportunity that honestly won’t always be there. And then now we’re doing, past two, three years, we’ve been doing just really well on sales.
Will Hanke (14:01)
That’s great. Love it. What challenges do you see in our industry right now and how are you adapting to stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (14:09)
Well, I apologize, I’m gonna curse on your show real quick and I’m gonna say the word tariff. So that is, and I went through three stages. Freaked Out was my first stage, Anger was my second, and my third stage right now is scheming and strategizing. that will, and that right now is a challenge and,
Will Hanke (14:16)
You
I like it.
Mike Stolte (14:33)
I’m already figuring out ways that I overcompensate for it and still be productive even with that.
Will Hanke (14:41)
Yeah.
So do you see yourself having to raise your prices?
Mike Stolte (14:45)
I’m trying not to, because that was one of the things that we take pride in. We probably will a little bit. What I could do is what I’m thinking. Well, one, I don’t want to reduce quality, right? Because you can go to two different vendors and probably get quite just like cheaper products. But then then you’re not delivering the quality which we’re known for. So.
I might just split the difference I’m thinking and then make up for it in volume. That’s the goal.
Will Hanke (15:12)
Okay. All right.
Do you see yourself looking at any, us made stuff that’s that’s comparable?
Mike Stolte (15:20)
I’m looking into that to see if, but I’m waiting on some samples and things to check out the quality before we launch anything like that. But there are companies out there that aren’t as, everyone’s affected to some point, because you know, fabrics and everything come from all over the world, but there are vendors that are affected less than others.
Will Hanke (15:27)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, as a marketing company, we’re seeing an increase in calls from manufacturers in the US because they see this as their opportunity to really start promoting that. yeah, very cool. Well, so let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about some fun things. What’s your favorite window treatment product or solution?
Mike Stolte (15:50)
I bet. Yeah, I bet.
it might be boring, but cellular shades. and that’s just because here in Montana and North Dakota is even colder. It’s either super colder in July, it’s super hot and they’re, they’re, they’re functional, fashionable. that’s probably my favorite solution just because of, the energy savings.
Will Hanke (16:06)
Okay.
All right.
Yeah, what about your least favorite?
Mike Stolte (16:28)
I think everyone will agree it’s vertical blinds.
Will Hanke (16:32)
Yep, yep, okay.
Mike Stolte (16:33)
Especially
the old school vinyl ones that break and seem to have static electricity for everything in the house.
Will Hanke (16:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, we bought our house 16 years ago, I think. And there’s vertical blinds over the basement sliding glass door. And I think there’s like three or four of them that are still hanging there. The rest of them have all broken. And I’m assuming they’re in the trash. I don’t know where they went.
Mike Stolte (16:52)
Exactly.
Yeah
Will Hanke (17:01)
That’s
cool. Tell us the story about how you landed the Costco truck contract while you were in Spain.
Mike Stolte (17:07)
yeah, well, Graber. I had my best year a few years ago. We’ve been in business six years and about the third year and that was my best year to date. And then with Graber, they’ll they do trips. I’m sure a lot of listeners have heard of this. A lot of the companies do it. And so we got to go to Spain, brought my wife. It was just an amazing trip. And. They do like this farewell.
farewell dinner the last night where you kind of drink wine. They had Spanish dancers everywhere. It’s like amazing food. And come to find out I was sitting next to the lady that runs all 600 Costco contracts. So we just got to talking and it was just about like…
personal stuff, my daughter’s an athlete, her daughter was an athlete, just got to know each other, got to know my wife. And I just reached out to her when I got back saying, hey, there any way I can get into a Costco? Because on that event too, I met a lot of people that were Costco dealers and they said it’s just a really good opportunity to really build your business.
Will Hanke (18:11)
That’s amazing. So just the fact that you followed up afterwards, I think really helped you out there.
Mike Stolte (18:17)
Yeah, absolutely. And you never know anywhere or anytime in life who you’re sitting next to or who you’re talking to.
Will Hanke (18:26)
Yeah, yeah, that’s a cool story. I love that. And the Costco stuff is going well for you now, I guess.
Mike Stolte (18:33)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we’re in Bismarck and it’s going well.
Will Hanke (18:38)
That’s great. That’s good. We’ve got a lot of clients that have Costco relationships as well. So we know that’s a big part of growth for a lot of businesses.
Mike Stolte (18:46)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And you can’t go wrong with Costco.
Will Hanke (18:50)
Yeah, yeah. So since you started 406, tell me about how you approach consultations and installs and how maybe that’s evolved over time.
Mike Stolte (19:01)
Yeah, it hasn’t changed much.
Usually I’ll before I go. I’ll just kind of get a feel for what the customer is looking for. A lot of times they do know, especially with the Internet and all the availability to to looking at products. So they kind of have an idea of what they want. So then I’m not walking in blind. And usually I’ll just. Kind of ask what their needs are, kind of look at the samples.
And then I just like to let them have the book for a minute because sometimes there’s a couple different types of customers and you kind of have to learn how to read the room too. So that’s why there’s no clear cut. But some people want you to hold every sample up for them. And some people just kind of want to be alone with the book. So you kind of just read the room. And if they want to be alone for the book with the book, I’ll say, hey, do you mind if I go measure, go measure and then come back in and kind of see where we’re at.
It hasn’t really changed much. For measuring though, especially doing all the apartments, what I did learn, it’s very important to have a routine and do it the same way every single time. So we always start, and everyone on my staff measures the same way. We always enter the house, start on the left and do the whole house from left to right.
Will Hanke (20:19)
Okay. That’s great. That’s smart. Then you know you won’t miss anything, right?
Mike Stolte (20:25)
Yeah, exactly. Even though every now and then we still do miss the bathroom, but we’re to.
Will Hanke (20:27)
You
Yeah.
Fair enough, fair enough. So
it sounds like a lot like me, you like procedures, know, getting those systems in place. It’s a big part of growing a business, obviously. When it came to your expansion to Bismarck, what processes would you recommend somebody who’s maybe in an expansion position? What should they focus on first?
Mike Stolte (20:54)
My biggest concern was inventory because you don’t want to lose your blinds. I mean, that’s your bread and butter. So one thing that that really is working out well for us and it cost me 300 bucks, it’s 300 bucks a year, is I just essentially rented a box at the UPS store. so what’s great is all my blinds for North Dakota go to that UPS store. My installer can bring a key, pick up the blinds and deliver the blinds.
And that’s one way of keeping your costs down too. I didn’t have to go out and buy a warehouse or anywhere to accept shipments. So that was a really good process.
Will Hanke (21:23)
wow.
Yeah, I like that. And I had a UPS box years and years ago now. But the thing I really liked about them was you could call them and ask if there was anything in there, you know, and if not, you don’t waste your time going, which is cool.
Mike Stolte (21:47)
Yeah, exactly.
And they have progressed a little bit. I’ll get a text when I get inventory, which is great, too. So it’s great. Yeah. And they’re always happy to see me because they can’t wait for me to get my big blind boxes out of their place.
Will Hanke (21:52)
that’s fantastic.
yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess
that shows how long ago it was that I had mine.
Mike Stolte (22:05)
Hahaha
Will Hanke (22:08)
Very cool. Very cool. I want to do something called myth or fact with you. We’ve been doing this on a couple of different episodes now. Is this a myth or a fact? New homeowners are your primary market.
Mike Stolte (22:13)
Okay.
Well, if it was today, and I’m kind of cheating, because I’m not giving you a straight answer, but today would be myth. Four years ago, I would say fact.
Will Hanke (22:36)
Okay, tell me more.
Mike Stolte (22:37)
Well, four years ago, people were still buying homes. Now, so it was all new construction. But now since the interest rates have gone up a little bit, a lot of people are staying in their existing homes and upgrading. So we’ve been doing a lot more upgrades the past year.
Will Hanke (22:49)
OK, interesting.
OK. OK, focusing on the upgrade side.
Very cool. So here’s another one. Premium clients only come from high end neighborhoods.
Mike Stolte (23:05)
that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:08)
Okay, tell me about that.
Mike Stolte (23:10)
Well, I guess it depends how I end, but like we have like high, high end and that can be like really time consuming, right? So you get one job that’s consuming a lot of your time or I can do four or five, three to four bedroom single family homes and knock them out and maybe make a little more money. And my time is not as demanded. So.
Will Hanke (23:36)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (23:38)
I would say that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:40)
Yeah. So some of that comes back to your sales method, how good you are at sales and being able to maybe get them to upgrade a little bit.
Mike Stolte (23:49)
For sure, absolutely.
Will Hanke (23:51)
Yeah, I think that’s important. lot of people try to just focus on the couple very affluent parts of town and they might be hurting themselves when it comes to additional revenue by doing that.
Mike Stolte (24:03)
Yeah, I think so. especially if you like, like there’s a lot of products, because when you say premium customer, there’s the higher end products have great margins. So you can sell four windows of natural shades, you know, and that’s not really time consuming and make it a decent payday.
Will Hanke (24:19)
Yeah.
Yeah. And with everybody, like you said, in kind of upgrade mode versus getting a new home, that helps with the entire upsell process as well.
Mike Stolte (24:27)
Sure. Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (24:36)
Yeah, I like that. So what are some of your proven techniques when it comes to pricing and presenting the window treatments to ensure that you still have decent margins, but you’re also providing value?
Mike Stolte (24:48)
Yeah, that’s a really good question. I think the most important key to that is just your closing ratio. That’s gonna tell you whether or not you’re too high, too low. Like you don’t want 99 % because that means maybe your price is a little too low. If you’re at 30%, your price might be a bit high. So that’s why we like 60, 70%. And it’s not always price that affects whether or not a customer goes with you, but it is a good indicator.
Will Hanke (25:00)
Yeah. Yep.
Mike Stolte (25:16)
So I say from my experience, if you’re in the 60 to 70 % range, that’s really good. And that probably means you’re priced appropriately.
Will Hanke (25:17)
Yeah.
great.
Yeah, how often do you calculate that number?
Mike Stolte (25:32)
I look at, well, you mean my closing ratio? Yeah, I look at that quite often. I would say at least once a quarter, a lot of times monthly. It doesn’t take long to kind of take a peek at it and see how you’re doing. Because I think that’s an indicator of the health of your business.
Will Hanke (25:35)
Yeah.
OK.
100%. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s always good to see those trends and identify them before they continue to trend in the wrong direction.
Mike Stolte (25:50)
Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Will Hanke (26:00)
Yeah, I like that. That’s pretty smart. Keeping keeping track on your overall conversion rate. Now for that, do you just consider booked appointments versus people that said yes?
Mike Stolte (26:11)
I do, and I have two separate ones because I do Costco and then I do mine and then I will break it down per rep too.
What was the question again? What did you say? Well,
Will Hanke (26:23)
Yeah, do
you typically calculate that by appointments set divided by total people that said yes or whatever the matter? Yeah.
Mike Stolte (26:30)
Thank you. I lost my train of thought in mid explanation. I do
it once we’re in the home. So quotes, quoted jobs versus sales. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will Hanke (26:36)
Okay.
versus all. OK.
Yeah, that’s good. Some people are counting every single lead, like every phone call, everything that comes in, which I think is good, you know, because those are all still raised hands. But that’s a different type of metric that is obviously going to have a lower close rate.
Mike Stolte (26:59)
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not because a lot of times if the lead cancels, it’s probably not because of you. So yeah, I prefer the quotes for sales. Yeah.
Will Hanke (27:07)
Very true.
Yeah, makes sense. Yeah.
So how do you evaluate which growth opportunities to pursue as your business continues to grow?
Mike Stolte (27:20)
just looking at it all the time.
What’s been great for the past six years for us is it’s kind of just grown organically. Where Jeremy, he helps me cover the western part of the state. And if you look at Butte, Montana, he could shoot over to Missoula, to Helena, basically all within two hours. So he can help me cover a lot of ground. And then I’m over here in Bozeman. I have a rep here too. We’re in a very key location.
So we can shoot to a lot of different places in the state and that kind of happened organically. And that’s kind of just how Montana is. It’s kind of spread out.
Will Hanke (27:53)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (27:59)
So our growth did just happen organically. A lot of times the market will dictate where you wanna go to next. So.
Will Hanke (28:10)
Sure. Yeah.
Yeah, and of course, the building, know, where people are building, where people are not building. Yeah, that definitely directs the train a little bit.
Mike Stolte (28:16)
For sure. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
And in our place, the single family homes hopefully will pick up again here pretty quick. I it’s still growing. It’s just not like what it was. So.
Will Hanke (28:32)
Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Well, listen, thank you so much for being on today. I’ve got a couple of different bonus questions for you before we wrap up. And one of my favorite questions really is, what trends do you see in the window treatment industry right now? And how can business owners stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (28:41)
Yeah, absolutely.
I think just home automation is coming. I remember, because I used to work for a cell phone company when they first came out with the smartphone. And I remember saying to myself, like, who’s going to want to be able to be contact 24 seven of their life? And I was wrong. That just obviously took off.
Will Hanke (29:11)
you
Mike Stolte (29:19)
And I kind of see home automation as that because some people might say who just wants to tell their shade to open, right? But I feel it’s coming. It’s coming. And that’s we’re trying to be. Jeremy, my installer on view is a motorized expert, understands all of that. The Google Home, Apple, all of that stuff. That’s the next trend. And that’s how I want to stay ahead of the curve.
Will Hanke (29:25)
Right. Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that as a home automation nerd, I already tell a specific person, I won’t say her name, but ask her to open my mind. She’ll start talking if I do.
Mike Stolte (29:53)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Will Hanke (29:58)
So another question for you, is there a window treatment trend that you secretly dislike but your clients seem to love?
Mike Stolte (30:06)
They’re the same, the home automation.
Will Hanke (30:08)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (30:11)
But it’s one of those things once you learn it and you start to do it, it is pretty cool. My wife will tell you I’m a little old school. I can’t stand that we have a smart dryer.
but that’s where we’re going.
Will Hanke (30:23)
Yeah,
that is. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, I’m a bit of a nerd on that side. If there’s something I could do to save save me from having to get up, you know, something not great for my cardio, but that’s OK. So, again, thank you so much for your time. If somebody wants to learn more about 406 blinds or connect with you, what’s the best way to do that?
Mike Stolte (30:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, my phone number is 406-600-3582 and all our info is at 406blinds.com
Will Hanke (30:55)
Awesome. We’ll also put all the links and everything in the show notes, of course. So if anybody wants to contact you, they certainly can. So last question, what are the three most important business lessons you’ve learned since you started 406 that could help somebody else listening to this?
Mike Stolte (31:12)
like maybe someone first starting out you think or,
Will Hanke (31:14)
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Stolte (31:18)
One is don’t give up. It’s so easy for challenges that are gonna come, problems that are gonna come to get down and say I’m defeated. But I would just turn those challenges into opportunities and a lot of times you come out on top and then you’ll know more and be equipped to handle it better the next time. I would say that’s number one.
Number two, get really good accounting software to calculate every single penny that’s coming in and out. We’re not volunteering here for free, right? We’re trying to make money. So I use QuickBooks. I love it. It combines everything into one little spot. And I know everything that’s coming in, everything that’s going out. And along those same lines, it also helps a lot with taxes too, which can be another
Will Hanke (31:50)
Right.
Great tip.
Mike Stolte (32:05)
huge expense for your company.
Will Hanke (32:10)
Yeah, especially if you’re not ready for it, right?
Mike Stolte (32:12)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:14)
That can be
a quick lesson to learn and an unfortunate one.
Mike Stolte (32:19)
Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:21)
Very good. Well, listen, thank you again for your time. I really do appreciate you jumping on today, sharing some things with us. Any last words of wisdom, Mike?
Mike Stolte (32:31)
Just stay at it, stay positive. I think, like I said, turn challenges into opportunities. The one great thing about, I love being an entrepreneur, because I was salaried for 20 years, is rather than watching every pinch and every penny, excuse me, for my household budget, I love about being an entrepreneur. I just say, what do I need to do to make more? And that’s what I love about being an entrepreneur.
Will Hanke (32:57)
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. Listen, thank you again for being on. I appreciate it. If you yeah, if you’re listening to this episode, really love it. Obviously, go check out our other episodes of Marketing Panes. Make sure to subscribe. We’re available on iTunes, all the different networks, and would love to love to have you listen to some future episodes as well. Again, thank you so much, Mike. Have a great day and we’ll see you soon.
Mike Stolte (33:01)
Thanks, Will. I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you so much. Well, we’ll see you. Bye now.
Will Hanke (33:25)
Awesome. All right, that was great.
View all episodes
By Window Treatment Marketing Pros
5
11 ratings
Guest Profile: Mike Stolte
Introduction:
In a recent episode of Marketing Panes, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Mike Stolte, the driving force behind 406 Blinds, Montana’s top-rated window treatment business. Mike’s journey from managing satellite TV installers to leading a thriving local business is a testament to grit, strategic local marketing, and a deep commitment to community. His story is an inspiring example of turning challenges into opportunities.
Summary:
Mike Stolte’s path to success with 406 Blinds began with a pivot out of necessity. As the satellite TV industry declined, he saw an opening in the construction-driven window treatment market. Starting with just a $5 Craigslist ad, Mike built his business through grassroots efforts, community involvement, and a laser focus on customer service. His story highlights the power of local connections, smart marketing, and a resilient entrepreneurial spirit.
From Decline to Opportunity: The Birth of 406 Blinds:
In 2019, Mike faced a turning point. With the satellite TV industry on the decline, he recognized an opportunity in the growing window treatment market. This wasn’t a glamorous transition, but a strategic shift driven by necessity.
Early Hustle and Organic Growth:
With limited resources, Mike took a hands-on approach. He donned branded shirts, joined the Chamber of Commerce, and engaged in grassroots marketing—emailing builders, calling realtors, and going door-to-door. His first major breakthrough came from a simple $5 Craigslist ad, which surprisingly led to a contract with Lowe’s.
The 406 Blinds Advantage: Local Roots, Local Trust:
What sets 406 Blinds apart is its deep connection to the community. Unlike franchises, Mike and his team are Montanans serving Montanans. Their local roots and lower overhead allow them to offer competitive pricing and exceptional customer service.
Diversified Revenue Streams:
Beyond residential installations, 406 Blinds handles large commercial projects and maintains strategic partnerships, including a Costco dealership in North Dakota, expanding their reach and revenue.
Smart Marketing, Simple Systems:
Mike employs a blend of traditional and digital marketing strategies. From radio spots to geofencing ads, he’s gradually embracing digital tools while still valuing the power of chamber networking and community volunteering.
Measuring What Matters:
A key metric for Mike is his closing ratio, which he aims to keep between 60-70%. This helps him gauge pricing, value perception, and sales performance, ensuring sustainable growth.
Growth Strategies That Scale:
Mike’s approach to expansion is cost-efficient. Instead of investing in warehouses, he uses UPS store boxes for North Dakota deliveries, keeping costs low while scaling operations effectively.
Community Involvement as Marketing:
Mike is deeply involved in his community, participating in food drives and supporting local sports. This not only builds goodwill but also strengthens relationships, which are vital for his business.
Mike Stolte’s Top Business Lessons:
Conclusion:
Mike Stolte’s journey with 406 Blinds is an inspiring story of turning adversity into success through hard work, community focus, and smart business strategies. His insights offer valuable lessons for any entrepreneur looking to build a thriving business from the ground up.
Video
https://youtu.be/qDFfndgb274
Click here to display Transcript
TRANSCRIPT
Will Hanke (00:00)
All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Marketing Panes, the podcast where we talk with real window treatment and awning service providers and business owners about their successes and struggles related to marketing their business. Today, we have a guest with some great insights, and I’m very happy to have Mike on today. So Mike Stolte is the owner of 406 Blinds. He has grown his business every year since launching in 2019.
As a premium partner with Graber, 406 Blinds operates in Montana and Bismarck, North Dakota, securing major installs, including 20 plus apartment buildings in Bozeman. Voted Montana’s best window treatment company in 2024. The company is also a Costco partner with Graber in North Dakota. And when not working, Mike enjoys the outdoors with his wife and three kids. Mike, thank you so much for being on.
Mike Stolte (00:58)
absolutely, thanks for having me.
Will Hanke (01:00)
I appreciate it. noticed when I was reading through that that I said North Dakota and that’s a very Midwest thing to say. anyway, thanks so much for being on. I really do appreciate it. You are you’re in the North Dakota area and Montana. So do you have two separate locations?
Mike Stolte (01:05)
you
Yeah.
Yeah, well, we started in Bozeman, Montana, kind of expanded to West Montana. So we’re strategic in Montana where we can cover a lot of estate. And then North Dakota came because I had the opportunity to go with Costco. So we’re basically on the I-90-94 corridor east to west.
Will Hanke (01:41)
Okay. Awesome. Cool. So before we got started, obviously we talked about some different things. And one of the things that you told me is that you managed satellite TV installers for 20 years before starting 406 blinds in 2019. What inspired you to transition to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (02:00)
Well, I wish I could say I was inspired. It was out of necessity. DirecTV, I was with DirecTV 13, 14 years, managing installers. Before that I was with Sprint. And so I had 20 years management experience. And DirecTV was great until the end. Do you know how like the cell phone kind of took over the landline? This thing called the internet.
Will Hanke (02:05)
Okay.
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:30)
and streaming put us, DirecTV, putting old school satellites on roofs, kind of, it turned it into a declining market. And it’s not completely obsolete, but close to it. At the time I saw one of my colleagues get laid off and I saw the writing on the wall that I was probably next. So, wanted to leave a declining market and…
Will Hanke (02:51)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:54)
move into like an expanding market and the building industry was just booming here at the time. It still is in some ways, but it’s changed a little bit, but that is how I started 406 Blinds.
Will Hanke (03:09)
Interesting way to get into it. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about 406 blinds. What kind of separates you from some of your competitors?
Mike Stolte (03:10)
Thank
Well, we’re not a franchise and I’m not knocking a franchise, believe me, a lot of my peers and networking groups are in a franchise. But what’s great about that is I don’t have any monthly fees. We operate at really low monthly costs. We’re local, local homegrown business. I’ve stepped foot in this valley in 1993. My Jeremy.
Who helps me run the western part of the state is born and bred Montanen. We’re local. And that just gives us an opportunity to give really good high class customer service. We respond right away. And I feel like that’s a pretty, a lot of people, especially Montanens, even though we’re super widespread geographically.
There are still less than a million people. So it is a small town feel and a lot of people love homegrown local businesses.
Will Hanke (04:15)
Yeah, yeah, that’s always a really nice point to have that local flavor to it. It gives you an advantage in some ways.
Mike Stolte (04:23)
For sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Will Hanke (04:25)
Yeah. So how are you positioning 406 to attract customers who are who are obviously valuing quality window treatments in a growing market like Bozeman?
Mike Stolte (04:34)
Yeah, no, that’s a really good question. And I think the word is out now. When I first started even six years ago, it was me and a couple of the brand names that you probably know. But now there’s seven or eight, nine companies on Google that will show up. The word is out now in town here. I can’t speak for everywhere. But if you call a blind person, you’re going to probably pay a little more and get a little better quality. So I don’t have to do anything proactive positioning.
But once we do get in the home, some people do have a little sticker shock. And that’s when it comes into where you have to explain the value of what you’re offering. That we are much different than going to big box store and buying a blind there. We have a limited lifetime warranty. They’re going to last you 20 years. The energy efficiency, you just really explain the value to the customer.
Will Hanke (05:28)
Yeah, so the word is out, that’s great. What kind of marketing are you guys doing ongoing?
Mike Stolte (05:34)
It’s changed since the beginning. In the beginning, just starting out, like I had no capital. So I just went door to door, bought some shirts with my logo on it, joined the Chamber of Commerce to meet people and network. Just on the ground marketing, emailing builders, calling builders, emailing realtors, just old school marketing that’s essentially free.
Will Hanke (05:57)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Stolte (05:57)
And then once you get a little bit of capital, you know, we started doing radio commercials every year, which seems kind of antiquated, but it’s still here. You know, Montana is still local, has a real local presence. And now finally this year, I’m joining this century and doing some digital marketing as well.
Will Hanke (06:14)
Well, that’s great. I love to hear that. It’s really cool that you kind of, you you started as a as a grounds up, you know, hitting the hitting the road and eat what you kill kind of thing. Right. Yeah, yeah. And that’s that’s typical for a lot of business owners outside of like a franchise where you’re you’re kind of given an area, but you still got to beat the pavement a bit. But I but I do love the fact that you’re just.
Mike Stolte (06:22)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, for sure.
Will Hanke (06:40)
You know, basically, hey, I want to start this thing. Now I got to figure out how to how to put fuel in it. Right. Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce, you doing any other kind of networking?
Mike Stolte (06:45)
Yep, yep, yep, exactly.
It just kind of builds from there. What’s great about the chamber is you meet, it’s just all a bunch of local businesses that need customers. So you’re meeting realtors, you’re meeting landscapers, you’re meeting property managers, builders, insurance agents. It’s just a great way to network and expand that web of people that you know in town. And word of mouth is huge too. So if you do a few good jobs,
Will Hanke (07:09)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (07:14)
treat the customer right, the word gets out pretty quick.
Will Hanke (07:18)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that you were emailing builders and things like that. Tell us a little bit about that. Like, how’d you how’d you come up with a list of those guys and what were their responses, if any?
Mike Stolte (07:29)
Yeah, got it. The builders weren’t responsive on email. Every now and then you’ll get the phone call eventually. So that’s one thing I would recommend is don’t give up. Sometimes six, eight months later, they’ll be like, hey, I got that email and they’ll call you. I got a greater response from property managers right away. But basically, I just printed stuff off Google and started a checklist of who I contacted. Yeah.
Will Hanke (07:36)
Okay.
Nice.
Yeah. So in my world, we call that scraping. So you just scrape together a work of. Yeah. I love that. That’s great. So what what strategies have you kind of employed that have helped you compete against some of those larger dealers franchises around your area?
Mike Stolte (07:55)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, definitely not having high operating costs allows me to give a little better pricing. And then also our response rate is quicker.
And honestly, the market here, there’s enough work right now here in town, in this market in Bozeman, that there’s enough food to feed everyone, if that makes sense. When you get into, go on, I didn’t mean to cut you off.
Will Hanke (08:34)
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
No, you’re good. Did, do you find yourself going up against those guys very often or when somebody contacts you, have they kind of already made their decision?
Mike Stolte (08:46)
Well, it’s gotten a little more tight recently in the last year just because building has slowed and increase in blinds companies. Blinds companies have increased. But usually what we’re really good at is once we get that phone call and get in the customer’s home, we have a 70 % close rate. So that’s what we’re really good at. The biggest challenge for us is getting the phone to ring. But once we do, we’re good.
Will Hanke (09:03)
OK, great.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me about getting the phone to ring. You mentioned radio and you’re starting to do a little digital marketing. What do you, what is your, what is your plan there?
Mike Stolte (09:27)
Can you say that one more time, Will? I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (09:30)
Yeah, sorry about that. So you mentioned that you’re doing a little bit of radio and you’re also doing some digital marketing. What do you what is your plan on the digital marketing side? Like where are you starting?
Mike Stolte (09:40)
got it. I’m working with a company called Distinkly Montana and they do digital marketing. We just started it. I intentionally did it in the spring because usually we start to pick up now and I’m learning a lot about the geofencing. Like a lot of people know this probably from two years ago. I’m just learning about the geofencing target marketing online. And actually after this call, I got my first reporting to kind of see how we’re doing and to see if we need to
Will Hanke (09:58)
you
Mike Stolte (10:07)
to tweak anything. So I’m hoping that the in-person networking with the digital marketing, it’ll kind of help us take off here.
Will Hanke (10:10)
very cool.
That’s a good combo. Yeah, that’s great. So on the lines of marketing success, I know that you were voted the best window treatment company. Tell us a little bit more about what you did to earn that recognition.
Mike Stolte (10:32)
It’s so funny because I got like I knew that contest existed but I you know when your numbers on Google you get spam all day long and I got an email saying you’re the best window treatments in America or whatever or Montana and I thought it was fake and I emailed back I was like is this fake you just want to sell me marketing and then Chris the owner of the magazine responded back no it’s it’s real you were voted best and then he told me about it
how it went, but basically it was like all of Montana voted us the best window treatment in the state, which was pretty cool. And that’s a testament to all the people that we contract with, Jeremy, my employee, like we’re in a design store in Anaconda, Montana. Just everyone appreciates how we treat the customer.
Will Hanke (10:59)
Wow.
Yeah.
That’s great. And it’s a fantastic trust factor for people that are coming to your site and just coming across your business. That’s huge.
Mike Stolte (11:26)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yep.
Will Hanke (11:29)
Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce. Are you what other community involvement are you guys doing?
Mike Stolte (11:36)
Well, we volunteer a lot just because we like volunteering, but also it is good networking. My family and I, do food drive once a year. We stand in front of the supermarket. We’ll wear the 406 blinds hats and just collect cans. Just honestly, just being part of the community like I have kids in sports.
Will Hanke (11:50)
I like that. Back to the whole grassroots thing
again, right?
Mike Stolte (11:55)
What’s that? Yeah, exactly. Sorry, you broke up for a second, Will, I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (12:00)
Yeah,
very cool. Oh, that’s OK. That’s OK. Yeah, very good. I love that you’re involved in the community and there is definitely some marketing advantages by doing that.
Mike Stolte (12:15)
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (12:18)
So let’s talk about business cycles. What practical steps did you take to maintain stability when you were transitioning from the satellite TV industry to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (12:30)
Yeah, it’s a great question.
I got pretty lucky. I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I managed businesses before, but I never started a business from the ground and I didn’t want to go into debt. So I got really lucky and I just started a Craigslist ad. It cost me five bucks and like blinds and bozeman and I got a call from someone at Lowe’s and they were looking for someone to contract with to install their blinds. So
Will Hanke (12:54)
my gosh.
Mike Stolte (12:55)
So I got the Bozeman Lowe’s, got the Helena Montana Lowe’s and basically I just did manual labor for them. And it was a great way to learn all the products. And that created the stability of having income without having to to take out a business loan. And also that got me in customers homes, you know, my logo, because I’m an independent contractor for six blinds. I’m here to install. Got my name in the community. So that
Will Hanke (13:11)
Wow.
Mike Stolte (13:24)
was one revenue stream for me. We also have an installation division where we do a lot of the apartments in town, like 200 plus windows per building. That was another revenue stream. So that alone just brought income revenue into the company. And that allowed me to pump a little money into advertising and then start really focusing on sales. So we don’t have to do lows anymore.
We’re still doing the apartments because it’s just a great opportunity that honestly won’t always be there. And then now we’re doing, past two, three years, we’ve been doing just really well on sales.
Will Hanke (14:01)
That’s great. Love it. What challenges do you see in our industry right now and how are you adapting to stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (14:09)
Well, I apologize, I’m gonna curse on your show real quick and I’m gonna say the word tariff. So that is, and I went through three stages. Freaked Out was my first stage, Anger was my second, and my third stage right now is scheming and strategizing. that will, and that right now is a challenge and,
Will Hanke (14:16)
You
I like it.
Mike Stolte (14:33)
I’m already figuring out ways that I overcompensate for it and still be productive even with that.
Will Hanke (14:41)
Yeah.
So do you see yourself having to raise your prices?
Mike Stolte (14:45)
I’m trying not to, because that was one of the things that we take pride in. We probably will a little bit. What I could do is what I’m thinking. Well, one, I don’t want to reduce quality, right? Because you can go to two different vendors and probably get quite just like cheaper products. But then then you’re not delivering the quality which we’re known for. So.
I might just split the difference I’m thinking and then make up for it in volume. That’s the goal.
Will Hanke (15:12)
Okay. All right.
Do you see yourself looking at any, us made stuff that’s that’s comparable?
Mike Stolte (15:20)
I’m looking into that to see if, but I’m waiting on some samples and things to check out the quality before we launch anything like that. But there are companies out there that aren’t as, everyone’s affected to some point, because you know, fabrics and everything come from all over the world, but there are vendors that are affected less than others.
Will Hanke (15:27)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, as a marketing company, we’re seeing an increase in calls from manufacturers in the US because they see this as their opportunity to really start promoting that. yeah, very cool. Well, so let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about some fun things. What’s your favorite window treatment product or solution?
Mike Stolte (15:50)
I bet. Yeah, I bet.
it might be boring, but cellular shades. and that’s just because here in Montana and North Dakota is even colder. It’s either super colder in July, it’s super hot and they’re, they’re, they’re functional, fashionable. that’s probably my favorite solution just because of, the energy savings.
Will Hanke (16:06)
Okay.
All right.
Yeah, what about your least favorite?
Mike Stolte (16:28)
I think everyone will agree it’s vertical blinds.
Will Hanke (16:32)
Yep, yep, okay.
Mike Stolte (16:33)
Especially
the old school vinyl ones that break and seem to have static electricity for everything in the house.
Will Hanke (16:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, we bought our house 16 years ago, I think. And there’s vertical blinds over the basement sliding glass door. And I think there’s like three or four of them that are still hanging there. The rest of them have all broken. And I’m assuming they’re in the trash. I don’t know where they went.
Mike Stolte (16:52)
Exactly.
Yeah
Will Hanke (17:01)
That’s
cool. Tell us the story about how you landed the Costco truck contract while you were in Spain.
Mike Stolte (17:07)
yeah, well, Graber. I had my best year a few years ago. We’ve been in business six years and about the third year and that was my best year to date. And then with Graber, they’ll they do trips. I’m sure a lot of listeners have heard of this. A lot of the companies do it. And so we got to go to Spain, brought my wife. It was just an amazing trip. And. They do like this farewell.
farewell dinner the last night where you kind of drink wine. They had Spanish dancers everywhere. It’s like amazing food. And come to find out I was sitting next to the lady that runs all 600 Costco contracts. So we just got to talking and it was just about like…
personal stuff, my daughter’s an athlete, her daughter was an athlete, just got to know each other, got to know my wife. And I just reached out to her when I got back saying, hey, there any way I can get into a Costco? Because on that event too, I met a lot of people that were Costco dealers and they said it’s just a really good opportunity to really build your business.
Will Hanke (18:11)
That’s amazing. So just the fact that you followed up afterwards, I think really helped you out there.
Mike Stolte (18:17)
Yeah, absolutely. And you never know anywhere or anytime in life who you’re sitting next to or who you’re talking to.
Will Hanke (18:26)
Yeah, yeah, that’s a cool story. I love that. And the Costco stuff is going well for you now, I guess.
Mike Stolte (18:33)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we’re in Bismarck and it’s going well.
Will Hanke (18:38)
That’s great. That’s good. We’ve got a lot of clients that have Costco relationships as well. So we know that’s a big part of growth for a lot of businesses.
Mike Stolte (18:46)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And you can’t go wrong with Costco.
Will Hanke (18:50)
Yeah, yeah. So since you started 406, tell me about how you approach consultations and installs and how maybe that’s evolved over time.
Mike Stolte (19:01)
Yeah, it hasn’t changed much.
Usually I’ll before I go. I’ll just kind of get a feel for what the customer is looking for. A lot of times they do know, especially with the Internet and all the availability to to looking at products. So they kind of have an idea of what they want. So then I’m not walking in blind. And usually I’ll just. Kind of ask what their needs are, kind of look at the samples.
And then I just like to let them have the book for a minute because sometimes there’s a couple different types of customers and you kind of have to learn how to read the room too. So that’s why there’s no clear cut. But some people want you to hold every sample up for them. And some people just kind of want to be alone with the book. So you kind of just read the room. And if they want to be alone for the book with the book, I’ll say, hey, do you mind if I go measure, go measure and then come back in and kind of see where we’re at.
It hasn’t really changed much. For measuring though, especially doing all the apartments, what I did learn, it’s very important to have a routine and do it the same way every single time. So we always start, and everyone on my staff measures the same way. We always enter the house, start on the left and do the whole house from left to right.
Will Hanke (20:19)
Okay. That’s great. That’s smart. Then you know you won’t miss anything, right?
Mike Stolte (20:25)
Yeah, exactly. Even though every now and then we still do miss the bathroom, but we’re to.
Will Hanke (20:27)
You
Yeah.
Fair enough, fair enough. So
it sounds like a lot like me, you like procedures, know, getting those systems in place. It’s a big part of growing a business, obviously. When it came to your expansion to Bismarck, what processes would you recommend somebody who’s maybe in an expansion position? What should they focus on first?
Mike Stolte (20:54)
My biggest concern was inventory because you don’t want to lose your blinds. I mean, that’s your bread and butter. So one thing that that really is working out well for us and it cost me 300 bucks, it’s 300 bucks a year, is I just essentially rented a box at the UPS store. so what’s great is all my blinds for North Dakota go to that UPS store. My installer can bring a key, pick up the blinds and deliver the blinds.
And that’s one way of keeping your costs down too. I didn’t have to go out and buy a warehouse or anywhere to accept shipments. So that was a really good process.
Will Hanke (21:23)
wow.
Yeah, I like that. And I had a UPS box years and years ago now. But the thing I really liked about them was you could call them and ask if there was anything in there, you know, and if not, you don’t waste your time going, which is cool.
Mike Stolte (21:47)
Yeah, exactly.
And they have progressed a little bit. I’ll get a text when I get inventory, which is great, too. So it’s great. Yeah. And they’re always happy to see me because they can’t wait for me to get my big blind boxes out of their place.
Will Hanke (21:52)
that’s fantastic.
yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess
that shows how long ago it was that I had mine.
Mike Stolte (22:05)
Hahaha
Will Hanke (22:08)
Very cool. Very cool. I want to do something called myth or fact with you. We’ve been doing this on a couple of different episodes now. Is this a myth or a fact? New homeowners are your primary market.
Mike Stolte (22:13)
Okay.
Well, if it was today, and I’m kind of cheating, because I’m not giving you a straight answer, but today would be myth. Four years ago, I would say fact.
Will Hanke (22:36)
Okay, tell me more.
Mike Stolte (22:37)
Well, four years ago, people were still buying homes. Now, so it was all new construction. But now since the interest rates have gone up a little bit, a lot of people are staying in their existing homes and upgrading. So we’ve been doing a lot more upgrades the past year.
Will Hanke (22:49)
OK, interesting.
OK. OK, focusing on the upgrade side.
Very cool. So here’s another one. Premium clients only come from high end neighborhoods.
Mike Stolte (23:05)
that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:08)
Okay, tell me about that.
Mike Stolte (23:10)
Well, I guess it depends how I end, but like we have like high, high end and that can be like really time consuming, right? So you get one job that’s consuming a lot of your time or I can do four or five, three to four bedroom single family homes and knock them out and maybe make a little more money. And my time is not as demanded. So.
Will Hanke (23:36)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (23:38)
I would say that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:40)
Yeah. So some of that comes back to your sales method, how good you are at sales and being able to maybe get them to upgrade a little bit.
Mike Stolte (23:49)
For sure, absolutely.
Will Hanke (23:51)
Yeah, I think that’s important. lot of people try to just focus on the couple very affluent parts of town and they might be hurting themselves when it comes to additional revenue by doing that.
Mike Stolte (24:03)
Yeah, I think so. especially if you like, like there’s a lot of products, because when you say premium customer, there’s the higher end products have great margins. So you can sell four windows of natural shades, you know, and that’s not really time consuming and make it a decent payday.
Will Hanke (24:19)
Yeah.
Yeah. And with everybody, like you said, in kind of upgrade mode versus getting a new home, that helps with the entire upsell process as well.
Mike Stolte (24:27)
Sure. Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (24:36)
Yeah, I like that. So what are some of your proven techniques when it comes to pricing and presenting the window treatments to ensure that you still have decent margins, but you’re also providing value?
Mike Stolte (24:48)
Yeah, that’s a really good question. I think the most important key to that is just your closing ratio. That’s gonna tell you whether or not you’re too high, too low. Like you don’t want 99 % because that means maybe your price is a little too low. If you’re at 30%, your price might be a bit high. So that’s why we like 60, 70%. And it’s not always price that affects whether or not a customer goes with you, but it is a good indicator.
Will Hanke (25:00)
Yeah. Yep.
Mike Stolte (25:16)
So I say from my experience, if you’re in the 60 to 70 % range, that’s really good. And that probably means you’re priced appropriately.
Will Hanke (25:17)
Yeah.
great.
Yeah, how often do you calculate that number?
Mike Stolte (25:32)
I look at, well, you mean my closing ratio? Yeah, I look at that quite often. I would say at least once a quarter, a lot of times monthly. It doesn’t take long to kind of take a peek at it and see how you’re doing. Because I think that’s an indicator of the health of your business.
Will Hanke (25:35)
Yeah.
OK.
100%. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s always good to see those trends and identify them before they continue to trend in the wrong direction.
Mike Stolte (25:50)
Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Will Hanke (26:00)
Yeah, I like that. That’s pretty smart. Keeping keeping track on your overall conversion rate. Now for that, do you just consider booked appointments versus people that said yes?
Mike Stolte (26:11)
I do, and I have two separate ones because I do Costco and then I do mine and then I will break it down per rep too.
What was the question again? What did you say? Well,
Will Hanke (26:23)
Yeah, do
you typically calculate that by appointments set divided by total people that said yes or whatever the matter? Yeah.
Mike Stolte (26:30)
Thank you. I lost my train of thought in mid explanation. I do
it once we’re in the home. So quotes, quoted jobs versus sales. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will Hanke (26:36)
Okay.
versus all. OK.
Yeah, that’s good. Some people are counting every single lead, like every phone call, everything that comes in, which I think is good, you know, because those are all still raised hands. But that’s a different type of metric that is obviously going to have a lower close rate.
Mike Stolte (26:59)
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not because a lot of times if the lead cancels, it’s probably not because of you. So yeah, I prefer the quotes for sales. Yeah.
Will Hanke (27:07)
Very true.
Yeah, makes sense. Yeah.
So how do you evaluate which growth opportunities to pursue as your business continues to grow?
Mike Stolte (27:20)
just looking at it all the time.
What’s been great for the past six years for us is it’s kind of just grown organically. Where Jeremy, he helps me cover the western part of the state. And if you look at Butte, Montana, he could shoot over to Missoula, to Helena, basically all within two hours. So he can help me cover a lot of ground. And then I’m over here in Bozeman. I have a rep here too. We’re in a very key location.
So we can shoot to a lot of different places in the state and that kind of happened organically. And that’s kind of just how Montana is. It’s kind of spread out.
Will Hanke (27:53)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (27:59)
So our growth did just happen organically. A lot of times the market will dictate where you wanna go to next. So.
Will Hanke (28:10)
Sure. Yeah.
Yeah, and of course, the building, know, where people are building, where people are not building. Yeah, that definitely directs the train a little bit.
Mike Stolte (28:16)
For sure. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
And in our place, the single family homes hopefully will pick up again here pretty quick. I it’s still growing. It’s just not like what it was. So.
Will Hanke (28:32)
Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Well, listen, thank you so much for being on today. I’ve got a couple of different bonus questions for you before we wrap up. And one of my favorite questions really is, what trends do you see in the window treatment industry right now? And how can business owners stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (28:41)
Yeah, absolutely.
I think just home automation is coming. I remember, because I used to work for a cell phone company when they first came out with the smartphone. And I remember saying to myself, like, who’s going to want to be able to be contact 24 seven of their life? And I was wrong. That just obviously took off.
Will Hanke (29:11)
you
Mike Stolte (29:19)
And I kind of see home automation as that because some people might say who just wants to tell their shade to open, right? But I feel it’s coming. It’s coming. And that’s we’re trying to be. Jeremy, my installer on view is a motorized expert, understands all of that. The Google Home, Apple, all of that stuff. That’s the next trend. And that’s how I want to stay ahead of the curve.
Will Hanke (29:25)
Right. Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that as a home automation nerd, I already tell a specific person, I won’t say her name, but ask her to open my mind. She’ll start talking if I do.
Mike Stolte (29:53)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Will Hanke (29:58)
So another question for you, is there a window treatment trend that you secretly dislike but your clients seem to love?
Mike Stolte (30:06)
They’re the same, the home automation.
Will Hanke (30:08)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (30:11)
But it’s one of those things once you learn it and you start to do it, it is pretty cool. My wife will tell you I’m a little old school. I can’t stand that we have a smart dryer.
but that’s where we’re going.
Will Hanke (30:23)
Yeah,
that is. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, I’m a bit of a nerd on that side. If there’s something I could do to save save me from having to get up, you know, something not great for my cardio, but that’s OK. So, again, thank you so much for your time. If somebody wants to learn more about 406 blinds or connect with you, what’s the best way to do that?
Mike Stolte (30:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, my phone number is 406-600-3582 and all our info is at 406blinds.com
Will Hanke (30:55)
Awesome. We’ll also put all the links and everything in the show notes, of course. So if anybody wants to contact you, they certainly can. So last question, what are the three most important business lessons you’ve learned since you started 406 that could help somebody else listening to this?
Mike Stolte (31:12)
like maybe someone first starting out you think or,
Will Hanke (31:14)
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Stolte (31:18)
One is don’t give up. It’s so easy for challenges that are gonna come, problems that are gonna come to get down and say I’m defeated. But I would just turn those challenges into opportunities and a lot of times you come out on top and then you’ll know more and be equipped to handle it better the next time. I would say that’s number one.
Number two, get really good accounting software to calculate every single penny that’s coming in and out. We’re not volunteering here for free, right? We’re trying to make money. So I use QuickBooks. I love it. It combines everything into one little spot. And I know everything that’s coming in, everything that’s going out. And along those same lines, it also helps a lot with taxes too, which can be another
Will Hanke (31:50)
Right.
Great tip.
Mike Stolte (32:05)
huge expense for your company.
Will Hanke (32:10)
Yeah, especially if you’re not ready for it, right?
Mike Stolte (32:12)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:14)
That can be
a quick lesson to learn and an unfortunate one.
Mike Stolte (32:19)
Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:21)
Very good. Well, listen, thank you again for your time. I really do appreciate you jumping on today, sharing some things with us. Any last words of wisdom, Mike?
Mike Stolte (32:31)
Just stay at it, stay positive. I think, like I said, turn challenges into opportunities. The one great thing about, I love being an entrepreneur, because I was salaried for 20 years, is rather than watching every pinch and every penny, excuse me, for my household budget, I love about being an entrepreneur. I just say, what do I need to do to make more? And that’s what I love about being an entrepreneur.
Will Hanke (32:57)
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. Listen, thank you again for being on. I appreciate it. If you yeah, if you’re listening to this episode, really love it. Obviously, go check out our other episodes of Marketing Panes. Make sure to subscribe. We’re available on iTunes, all the different networks, and would love to love to have you listen to some future episodes as well. Again, thank you so much, Mike. Have a great day and we’ll see you soon.
Mike Stolte (33:01)
Thanks, Will. I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you so much. Well, we’ll see you. Bye now.
Will Hanke (33:25)
Awesome. All right, that was great.
TRANSCRIPT
Will Hanke (00:00)
All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Marketing Panes, the podcast where we talk with real window treatment and awning service providers and business owners about their successes and struggles related to marketing their business. Today, we have a guest with some great insights, and I’m very happy to have Mike on today. So Mike Stolte is the owner of 406 Blinds. He has grown his business every year since launching in 2019.
As a premium partner with Graber, 406 Blinds operates in Montana and Bismarck, North Dakota, securing major installs, including 20 plus apartment buildings in Bozeman. Voted Montana’s best window treatment company in 2024. The company is also a Costco partner with Graber in North Dakota. And when not working, Mike enjoys the outdoors with his wife and three kids. Mike, thank you so much for being on.
Mike Stolte (00:58)
absolutely, thanks for having me.
Will Hanke (01:00)
I appreciate it. noticed when I was reading through that that I said North Dakota and that’s a very Midwest thing to say. anyway, thanks so much for being on. I really do appreciate it. You are you’re in the North Dakota area and Montana. So do you have two separate locations?
Mike Stolte (01:05)
you
Yeah.
Yeah, well, we started in Bozeman, Montana, kind of expanded to West Montana. So we’re strategic in Montana where we can cover a lot of estate. And then North Dakota came because I had the opportunity to go with Costco. So we’re basically on the I-90-94 corridor east to west.
Will Hanke (01:41)
Okay. Awesome. Cool. So before we got started, obviously we talked about some different things. And one of the things that you told me is that you managed satellite TV installers for 20 years before starting 406 blinds in 2019. What inspired you to transition to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (02:00)
Well, I wish I could say I was inspired. It was out of necessity. DirecTV, I was with DirecTV 13, 14 years, managing installers. Before that I was with Sprint. And so I had 20 years management experience. And DirecTV was great until the end. Do you know how like the cell phone kind of took over the landline? This thing called the internet.
Will Hanke (02:05)
Okay.
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:30)
and streaming put us, DirecTV, putting old school satellites on roofs, kind of, it turned it into a declining market. And it’s not completely obsolete, but close to it. At the time I saw one of my colleagues get laid off and I saw the writing on the wall that I was probably next. So, wanted to leave a declining market and…
Will Hanke (02:51)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (02:54)
move into like an expanding market and the building industry was just booming here at the time. It still is in some ways, but it’s changed a little bit, but that is how I started 406 Blinds.
Will Hanke (03:09)
Interesting way to get into it. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about 406 blinds. What kind of separates you from some of your competitors?
Mike Stolte (03:10)
Thank
Well, we’re not a franchise and I’m not knocking a franchise, believe me, a lot of my peers and networking groups are in a franchise. But what’s great about that is I don’t have any monthly fees. We operate at really low monthly costs. We’re local, local homegrown business. I’ve stepped foot in this valley in 1993. My Jeremy.
Who helps me run the western part of the state is born and bred Montanen. We’re local. And that just gives us an opportunity to give really good high class customer service. We respond right away. And I feel like that’s a pretty, a lot of people, especially Montanens, even though we’re super widespread geographically.
There are still less than a million people. So it is a small town feel and a lot of people love homegrown local businesses.
Will Hanke (04:15)
Yeah, yeah, that’s always a really nice point to have that local flavor to it. It gives you an advantage in some ways.
Mike Stolte (04:23)
For sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Will Hanke (04:25)
Yeah. So how are you positioning 406 to attract customers who are who are obviously valuing quality window treatments in a growing market like Bozeman?
Mike Stolte (04:34)
Yeah, no, that’s a really good question. And I think the word is out now. When I first started even six years ago, it was me and a couple of the brand names that you probably know. But now there’s seven or eight, nine companies on Google that will show up. The word is out now in town here. I can’t speak for everywhere. But if you call a blind person, you’re going to probably pay a little more and get a little better quality. So I don’t have to do anything proactive positioning.
But once we do get in the home, some people do have a little sticker shock. And that’s when it comes into where you have to explain the value of what you’re offering. That we are much different than going to big box store and buying a blind there. We have a limited lifetime warranty. They’re going to last you 20 years. The energy efficiency, you just really explain the value to the customer.
Will Hanke (05:28)
Yeah, so the word is out, that’s great. What kind of marketing are you guys doing ongoing?
Mike Stolte (05:34)
It’s changed since the beginning. In the beginning, just starting out, like I had no capital. So I just went door to door, bought some shirts with my logo on it, joined the Chamber of Commerce to meet people and network. Just on the ground marketing, emailing builders, calling builders, emailing realtors, just old school marketing that’s essentially free.
Will Hanke (05:57)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Stolte (05:57)
And then once you get a little bit of capital, you know, we started doing radio commercials every year, which seems kind of antiquated, but it’s still here. You know, Montana is still local, has a real local presence. And now finally this year, I’m joining this century and doing some digital marketing as well.
Will Hanke (06:14)
Well, that’s great. I love to hear that. It’s really cool that you kind of, you you started as a as a grounds up, you know, hitting the hitting the road and eat what you kill kind of thing. Right. Yeah, yeah. And that’s that’s typical for a lot of business owners outside of like a franchise where you’re you’re kind of given an area, but you still got to beat the pavement a bit. But I but I do love the fact that you’re just.
Mike Stolte (06:22)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, for sure.
Will Hanke (06:40)
You know, basically, hey, I want to start this thing. Now I got to figure out how to how to put fuel in it. Right. Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce, you doing any other kind of networking?
Mike Stolte (06:45)
Yep, yep, yep, exactly.
It just kind of builds from there. What’s great about the chamber is you meet, it’s just all a bunch of local businesses that need customers. So you’re meeting realtors, you’re meeting landscapers, you’re meeting property managers, builders, insurance agents. It’s just a great way to network and expand that web of people that you know in town. And word of mouth is huge too. So if you do a few good jobs,
Will Hanke (07:09)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (07:14)
treat the customer right, the word gets out pretty quick.
Will Hanke (07:18)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that you were emailing builders and things like that. Tell us a little bit about that. Like, how’d you how’d you come up with a list of those guys and what were their responses, if any?
Mike Stolte (07:29)
Yeah, got it. The builders weren’t responsive on email. Every now and then you’ll get the phone call eventually. So that’s one thing I would recommend is don’t give up. Sometimes six, eight months later, they’ll be like, hey, I got that email and they’ll call you. I got a greater response from property managers right away. But basically, I just printed stuff off Google and started a checklist of who I contacted. Yeah.
Will Hanke (07:36)
Okay.
Nice.
Yeah. So in my world, we call that scraping. So you just scrape together a work of. Yeah. I love that. That’s great. So what what strategies have you kind of employed that have helped you compete against some of those larger dealers franchises around your area?
Mike Stolte (07:55)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, definitely not having high operating costs allows me to give a little better pricing. And then also our response rate is quicker.
And honestly, the market here, there’s enough work right now here in town, in this market in Bozeman, that there’s enough food to feed everyone, if that makes sense. When you get into, go on, I didn’t mean to cut you off.
Will Hanke (08:34)
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
No, you’re good. Did, do you find yourself going up against those guys very often or when somebody contacts you, have they kind of already made their decision?
Mike Stolte (08:46)
Well, it’s gotten a little more tight recently in the last year just because building has slowed and increase in blinds companies. Blinds companies have increased. But usually what we’re really good at is once we get that phone call and get in the customer’s home, we have a 70 % close rate. So that’s what we’re really good at. The biggest challenge for us is getting the phone to ring. But once we do, we’re good.
Will Hanke (09:03)
OK, great.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me about getting the phone to ring. You mentioned radio and you’re starting to do a little digital marketing. What do you, what is your, what is your plan there?
Mike Stolte (09:27)
Can you say that one more time, Will? I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (09:30)
Yeah, sorry about that. So you mentioned that you’re doing a little bit of radio and you’re also doing some digital marketing. What do you what is your plan on the digital marketing side? Like where are you starting?
Mike Stolte (09:40)
got it. I’m working with a company called Distinkly Montana and they do digital marketing. We just started it. I intentionally did it in the spring because usually we start to pick up now and I’m learning a lot about the geofencing. Like a lot of people know this probably from two years ago. I’m just learning about the geofencing target marketing online. And actually after this call, I got my first reporting to kind of see how we’re doing and to see if we need to
Will Hanke (09:58)
you
Mike Stolte (10:07)
to tweak anything. So I’m hoping that the in-person networking with the digital marketing, it’ll kind of help us take off here.
Will Hanke (10:10)
very cool.
That’s a good combo. Yeah, that’s great. So on the lines of marketing success, I know that you were voted the best window treatment company. Tell us a little bit more about what you did to earn that recognition.
Mike Stolte (10:32)
It’s so funny because I got like I knew that contest existed but I you know when your numbers on Google you get spam all day long and I got an email saying you’re the best window treatments in America or whatever or Montana and I thought it was fake and I emailed back I was like is this fake you just want to sell me marketing and then Chris the owner of the magazine responded back no it’s it’s real you were voted best and then he told me about it
how it went, but basically it was like all of Montana voted us the best window treatment in the state, which was pretty cool. And that’s a testament to all the people that we contract with, Jeremy, my employee, like we’re in a design store in Anaconda, Montana. Just everyone appreciates how we treat the customer.
Will Hanke (10:59)
Wow.
Yeah.
That’s great. And it’s a fantastic trust factor for people that are coming to your site and just coming across your business. That’s huge.
Mike Stolte (11:26)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yep.
Will Hanke (11:29)
Very cool. So you mentioned Chamber of Commerce. Are you what other community involvement are you guys doing?
Mike Stolte (11:36)
Well, we volunteer a lot just because we like volunteering, but also it is good networking. My family and I, do food drive once a year. We stand in front of the supermarket. We’ll wear the 406 blinds hats and just collect cans. Just honestly, just being part of the community like I have kids in sports.
Will Hanke (11:50)
I like that. Back to the whole grassroots thing
again, right?
Mike Stolte (11:55)
What’s that? Yeah, exactly. Sorry, you broke up for a second, Will, I’m sorry.
Will Hanke (12:00)
Yeah,
very cool. Oh, that’s OK. That’s OK. Yeah, very good. I love that you’re involved in the community and there is definitely some marketing advantages by doing that.
Mike Stolte (12:15)
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (12:18)
So let’s talk about business cycles. What practical steps did you take to maintain stability when you were transitioning from the satellite TV industry to the window treatment industry?
Mike Stolte (12:30)
Yeah, it’s a great question.
I got pretty lucky. I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I managed businesses before, but I never started a business from the ground and I didn’t want to go into debt. So I got really lucky and I just started a Craigslist ad. It cost me five bucks and like blinds and bozeman and I got a call from someone at Lowe’s and they were looking for someone to contract with to install their blinds. So
Will Hanke (12:54)
my gosh.
Mike Stolte (12:55)
So I got the Bozeman Lowe’s, got the Helena Montana Lowe’s and basically I just did manual labor for them. And it was a great way to learn all the products. And that created the stability of having income without having to to take out a business loan. And also that got me in customers homes, you know, my logo, because I’m an independent contractor for six blinds. I’m here to install. Got my name in the community. So that
Will Hanke (13:11)
Wow.
Mike Stolte (13:24)
was one revenue stream for me. We also have an installation division where we do a lot of the apartments in town, like 200 plus windows per building. That was another revenue stream. So that alone just brought income revenue into the company. And that allowed me to pump a little money into advertising and then start really focusing on sales. So we don’t have to do lows anymore.
We’re still doing the apartments because it’s just a great opportunity that honestly won’t always be there. And then now we’re doing, past two, three years, we’ve been doing just really well on sales.
Will Hanke (14:01)
That’s great. Love it. What challenges do you see in our industry right now and how are you adapting to stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (14:09)
Well, I apologize, I’m gonna curse on your show real quick and I’m gonna say the word tariff. So that is, and I went through three stages. Freaked Out was my first stage, Anger was my second, and my third stage right now is scheming and strategizing. that will, and that right now is a challenge and,
Will Hanke (14:16)
You
I like it.
Mike Stolte (14:33)
I’m already figuring out ways that I overcompensate for it and still be productive even with that.
Will Hanke (14:41)
Yeah.
So do you see yourself having to raise your prices?
Mike Stolte (14:45)
I’m trying not to, because that was one of the things that we take pride in. We probably will a little bit. What I could do is what I’m thinking. Well, one, I don’t want to reduce quality, right? Because you can go to two different vendors and probably get quite just like cheaper products. But then then you’re not delivering the quality which we’re known for. So.
I might just split the difference I’m thinking and then make up for it in volume. That’s the goal.
Will Hanke (15:12)
Okay. All right.
Do you see yourself looking at any, us made stuff that’s that’s comparable?
Mike Stolte (15:20)
I’m looking into that to see if, but I’m waiting on some samples and things to check out the quality before we launch anything like that. But there are companies out there that aren’t as, everyone’s affected to some point, because you know, fabrics and everything come from all over the world, but there are vendors that are affected less than others.
Will Hanke (15:27)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, as a marketing company, we’re seeing an increase in calls from manufacturers in the US because they see this as their opportunity to really start promoting that. yeah, very cool. Well, so let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about some fun things. What’s your favorite window treatment product or solution?
Mike Stolte (15:50)
I bet. Yeah, I bet.
it might be boring, but cellular shades. and that’s just because here in Montana and North Dakota is even colder. It’s either super colder in July, it’s super hot and they’re, they’re, they’re functional, fashionable. that’s probably my favorite solution just because of, the energy savings.
Will Hanke (16:06)
Okay.
All right.
Yeah, what about your least favorite?
Mike Stolte (16:28)
I think everyone will agree it’s vertical blinds.
Will Hanke (16:32)
Yep, yep, okay.
Mike Stolte (16:33)
Especially
the old school vinyl ones that break and seem to have static electricity for everything in the house.
Will Hanke (16:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, we bought our house 16 years ago, I think. And there’s vertical blinds over the basement sliding glass door. And I think there’s like three or four of them that are still hanging there. The rest of them have all broken. And I’m assuming they’re in the trash. I don’t know where they went.
Mike Stolte (16:52)
Exactly.
Yeah
Will Hanke (17:01)
That’s
cool. Tell us the story about how you landed the Costco truck contract while you were in Spain.
Mike Stolte (17:07)
yeah, well, Graber. I had my best year a few years ago. We’ve been in business six years and about the third year and that was my best year to date. And then with Graber, they’ll they do trips. I’m sure a lot of listeners have heard of this. A lot of the companies do it. And so we got to go to Spain, brought my wife. It was just an amazing trip. And. They do like this farewell.
farewell dinner the last night where you kind of drink wine. They had Spanish dancers everywhere. It’s like amazing food. And come to find out I was sitting next to the lady that runs all 600 Costco contracts. So we just got to talking and it was just about like…
personal stuff, my daughter’s an athlete, her daughter was an athlete, just got to know each other, got to know my wife. And I just reached out to her when I got back saying, hey, there any way I can get into a Costco? Because on that event too, I met a lot of people that were Costco dealers and they said it’s just a really good opportunity to really build your business.
Will Hanke (18:11)
That’s amazing. So just the fact that you followed up afterwards, I think really helped you out there.
Mike Stolte (18:17)
Yeah, absolutely. And you never know anywhere or anytime in life who you’re sitting next to or who you’re talking to.
Will Hanke (18:26)
Yeah, yeah, that’s a cool story. I love that. And the Costco stuff is going well for you now, I guess.
Mike Stolte (18:33)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we’re in Bismarck and it’s going well.
Will Hanke (18:38)
That’s great. That’s good. We’ve got a lot of clients that have Costco relationships as well. So we know that’s a big part of growth for a lot of businesses.
Mike Stolte (18:46)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And you can’t go wrong with Costco.
Will Hanke (18:50)
Yeah, yeah. So since you started 406, tell me about how you approach consultations and installs and how maybe that’s evolved over time.
Mike Stolte (19:01)
Yeah, it hasn’t changed much.
Usually I’ll before I go. I’ll just kind of get a feel for what the customer is looking for. A lot of times they do know, especially with the Internet and all the availability to to looking at products. So they kind of have an idea of what they want. So then I’m not walking in blind. And usually I’ll just. Kind of ask what their needs are, kind of look at the samples.
And then I just like to let them have the book for a minute because sometimes there’s a couple different types of customers and you kind of have to learn how to read the room too. So that’s why there’s no clear cut. But some people want you to hold every sample up for them. And some people just kind of want to be alone with the book. So you kind of just read the room. And if they want to be alone for the book with the book, I’ll say, hey, do you mind if I go measure, go measure and then come back in and kind of see where we’re at.
It hasn’t really changed much. For measuring though, especially doing all the apartments, what I did learn, it’s very important to have a routine and do it the same way every single time. So we always start, and everyone on my staff measures the same way. We always enter the house, start on the left and do the whole house from left to right.
Will Hanke (20:19)
Okay. That’s great. That’s smart. Then you know you won’t miss anything, right?
Mike Stolte (20:25)
Yeah, exactly. Even though every now and then we still do miss the bathroom, but we’re to.
Will Hanke (20:27)
You
Yeah.
Fair enough, fair enough. So
it sounds like a lot like me, you like procedures, know, getting those systems in place. It’s a big part of growing a business, obviously. When it came to your expansion to Bismarck, what processes would you recommend somebody who’s maybe in an expansion position? What should they focus on first?
Mike Stolte (20:54)
My biggest concern was inventory because you don’t want to lose your blinds. I mean, that’s your bread and butter. So one thing that that really is working out well for us and it cost me 300 bucks, it’s 300 bucks a year, is I just essentially rented a box at the UPS store. so what’s great is all my blinds for North Dakota go to that UPS store. My installer can bring a key, pick up the blinds and deliver the blinds.
And that’s one way of keeping your costs down too. I didn’t have to go out and buy a warehouse or anywhere to accept shipments. So that was a really good process.
Will Hanke (21:23)
wow.
Yeah, I like that. And I had a UPS box years and years ago now. But the thing I really liked about them was you could call them and ask if there was anything in there, you know, and if not, you don’t waste your time going, which is cool.
Mike Stolte (21:47)
Yeah, exactly.
And they have progressed a little bit. I’ll get a text when I get inventory, which is great, too. So it’s great. Yeah. And they’re always happy to see me because they can’t wait for me to get my big blind boxes out of their place.
Will Hanke (21:52)
that’s fantastic.
yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess
that shows how long ago it was that I had mine.
Mike Stolte (22:05)
Hahaha
Will Hanke (22:08)
Very cool. Very cool. I want to do something called myth or fact with you. We’ve been doing this on a couple of different episodes now. Is this a myth or a fact? New homeowners are your primary market.
Mike Stolte (22:13)
Okay.
Well, if it was today, and I’m kind of cheating, because I’m not giving you a straight answer, but today would be myth. Four years ago, I would say fact.
Will Hanke (22:36)
Okay, tell me more.
Mike Stolte (22:37)
Well, four years ago, people were still buying homes. Now, so it was all new construction. But now since the interest rates have gone up a little bit, a lot of people are staying in their existing homes and upgrading. So we’ve been doing a lot more upgrades the past year.
Will Hanke (22:49)
OK, interesting.
OK. OK, focusing on the upgrade side.
Very cool. So here’s another one. Premium clients only come from high end neighborhoods.
Mike Stolte (23:05)
that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:08)
Okay, tell me about that.
Mike Stolte (23:10)
Well, I guess it depends how I end, but like we have like high, high end and that can be like really time consuming, right? So you get one job that’s consuming a lot of your time or I can do four or five, three to four bedroom single family homes and knock them out and maybe make a little more money. And my time is not as demanded. So.
Will Hanke (23:36)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (23:38)
I would say that’s a myth.
Will Hanke (23:40)
Yeah. So some of that comes back to your sales method, how good you are at sales and being able to maybe get them to upgrade a little bit.
Mike Stolte (23:49)
For sure, absolutely.
Will Hanke (23:51)
Yeah, I think that’s important. lot of people try to just focus on the couple very affluent parts of town and they might be hurting themselves when it comes to additional revenue by doing that.
Mike Stolte (24:03)
Yeah, I think so. especially if you like, like there’s a lot of products, because when you say premium customer, there’s the higher end products have great margins. So you can sell four windows of natural shades, you know, and that’s not really time consuming and make it a decent payday.
Will Hanke (24:19)
Yeah.
Yeah. And with everybody, like you said, in kind of upgrade mode versus getting a new home, that helps with the entire upsell process as well.
Mike Stolte (24:27)
Sure. Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Will Hanke (24:36)
Yeah, I like that. So what are some of your proven techniques when it comes to pricing and presenting the window treatments to ensure that you still have decent margins, but you’re also providing value?
Mike Stolte (24:48)
Yeah, that’s a really good question. I think the most important key to that is just your closing ratio. That’s gonna tell you whether or not you’re too high, too low. Like you don’t want 99 % because that means maybe your price is a little too low. If you’re at 30%, your price might be a bit high. So that’s why we like 60, 70%. And it’s not always price that affects whether or not a customer goes with you, but it is a good indicator.
Will Hanke (25:00)
Yeah. Yep.
Mike Stolte (25:16)
So I say from my experience, if you’re in the 60 to 70 % range, that’s really good. And that probably means you’re priced appropriately.
Will Hanke (25:17)
Yeah.
great.
Yeah, how often do you calculate that number?
Mike Stolte (25:32)
I look at, well, you mean my closing ratio? Yeah, I look at that quite often. I would say at least once a quarter, a lot of times monthly. It doesn’t take long to kind of take a peek at it and see how you’re doing. Because I think that’s an indicator of the health of your business.
Will Hanke (25:35)
Yeah.
OK.
100%. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s always good to see those trends and identify them before they continue to trend in the wrong direction.
Mike Stolte (25:50)
Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Will Hanke (26:00)
Yeah, I like that. That’s pretty smart. Keeping keeping track on your overall conversion rate. Now for that, do you just consider booked appointments versus people that said yes?
Mike Stolte (26:11)
I do, and I have two separate ones because I do Costco and then I do mine and then I will break it down per rep too.
What was the question again? What did you say? Well,
Will Hanke (26:23)
Yeah, do
you typically calculate that by appointments set divided by total people that said yes or whatever the matter? Yeah.
Mike Stolte (26:30)
Thank you. I lost my train of thought in mid explanation. I do
it once we’re in the home. So quotes, quoted jobs versus sales. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will Hanke (26:36)
Okay.
versus all. OK.
Yeah, that’s good. Some people are counting every single lead, like every phone call, everything that comes in, which I think is good, you know, because those are all still raised hands. But that’s a different type of metric that is obviously going to have a lower close rate.
Mike Stolte (26:59)
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not because a lot of times if the lead cancels, it’s probably not because of you. So yeah, I prefer the quotes for sales. Yeah.
Will Hanke (27:07)
Very true.
Yeah, makes sense. Yeah.
So how do you evaluate which growth opportunities to pursue as your business continues to grow?
Mike Stolte (27:20)
just looking at it all the time.
What’s been great for the past six years for us is it’s kind of just grown organically. Where Jeremy, he helps me cover the western part of the state. And if you look at Butte, Montana, he could shoot over to Missoula, to Helena, basically all within two hours. So he can help me cover a lot of ground. And then I’m over here in Bozeman. I have a rep here too. We’re in a very key location.
So we can shoot to a lot of different places in the state and that kind of happened organically. And that’s kind of just how Montana is. It’s kind of spread out.
Will Hanke (27:53)
Yeah.
Mike Stolte (27:59)
So our growth did just happen organically. A lot of times the market will dictate where you wanna go to next. So.
Will Hanke (28:10)
Sure. Yeah.
Yeah, and of course, the building, know, where people are building, where people are not building. Yeah, that definitely directs the train a little bit.
Mike Stolte (28:16)
For sure. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
And in our place, the single family homes hopefully will pick up again here pretty quick. I it’s still growing. It’s just not like what it was. So.
Will Hanke (28:32)
Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Well, listen, thank you so much for being on today. I’ve got a couple of different bonus questions for you before we wrap up. And one of my favorite questions really is, what trends do you see in the window treatment industry right now? And how can business owners stay ahead of those?
Mike Stolte (28:41)
Yeah, absolutely.
I think just home automation is coming. I remember, because I used to work for a cell phone company when they first came out with the smartphone. And I remember saying to myself, like, who’s going to want to be able to be contact 24 seven of their life? And I was wrong. That just obviously took off.
Will Hanke (29:11)
you
Mike Stolte (29:19)
And I kind of see home automation as that because some people might say who just wants to tell their shade to open, right? But I feel it’s coming. It’s coming. And that’s we’re trying to be. Jeremy, my installer on view is a motorized expert, understands all of that. The Google Home, Apple, all of that stuff. That’s the next trend. And that’s how I want to stay ahead of the curve.
Will Hanke (29:25)
Right. Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that as a home automation nerd, I already tell a specific person, I won’t say her name, but ask her to open my mind. She’ll start talking if I do.
Mike Stolte (29:53)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Will Hanke (29:58)
So another question for you, is there a window treatment trend that you secretly dislike but your clients seem to love?
Mike Stolte (30:06)
They’re the same, the home automation.
Will Hanke (30:08)
Okay.
Mike Stolte (30:11)
But it’s one of those things once you learn it and you start to do it, it is pretty cool. My wife will tell you I’m a little old school. I can’t stand that we have a smart dryer.
but that’s where we’re going.
Will Hanke (30:23)
Yeah,
that is. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, I’m a bit of a nerd on that side. If there’s something I could do to save save me from having to get up, you know, something not great for my cardio, but that’s OK. So, again, thank you so much for your time. If somebody wants to learn more about 406 blinds or connect with you, what’s the best way to do that?
Mike Stolte (30:36)
Yeah.
Yeah, my phone number is 406-600-3582 and all our info is at 406blinds.com
Will Hanke (30:55)
Awesome. We’ll also put all the links and everything in the show notes, of course. So if anybody wants to contact you, they certainly can. So last question, what are the three most important business lessons you’ve learned since you started 406 that could help somebody else listening to this?
Mike Stolte (31:12)
like maybe someone first starting out you think or,
Will Hanke (31:14)
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Stolte (31:18)
One is don’t give up. It’s so easy for challenges that are gonna come, problems that are gonna come to get down and say I’m defeated. But I would just turn those challenges into opportunities and a lot of times you come out on top and then you’ll know more and be equipped to handle it better the next time. I would say that’s number one.
Number two, get really good accounting software to calculate every single penny that’s coming in and out. We’re not volunteering here for free, right? We’re trying to make money. So I use QuickBooks. I love it. It combines everything into one little spot. And I know everything that’s coming in, everything that’s going out. And along those same lines, it also helps a lot with taxes too, which can be another
Will Hanke (31:50)
Right.
Great tip.
Mike Stolte (32:05)
huge expense for your company.
Will Hanke (32:10)
Yeah, especially if you’re not ready for it, right?
Mike Stolte (32:12)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:14)
That can be
a quick lesson to learn and an unfortunate one.
Mike Stolte (32:19)
Yeah.
Will Hanke (32:21)
Very good. Well, listen, thank you again for your time. I really do appreciate you jumping on today, sharing some things with us. Any last words of wisdom, Mike?
Mike Stolte (32:31)
Just stay at it, stay positive. I think, like I said, turn challenges into opportunities. The one great thing about, I love being an entrepreneur, because I was salaried for 20 years, is rather than watching every pinch and every penny, excuse me, for my household budget, I love about being an entrepreneur. I just say, what do I need to do to make more? And that’s what I love about being an entrepreneur.
Will Hanke (32:57)
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. Listen, thank you again for being on. I appreciate it. If you yeah, if you’re listening to this episode, really love it. Obviously, go check out our other episodes of Marketing Panes. Make sure to subscribe. We’re available on iTunes, all the different networks, and would love to love to have you listen to some future episodes as well. Again, thank you so much, Mike. Have a great day and we’ll see you soon.
Mike Stolte (33:01)
Thanks, Will. I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you so much. Well, we’ll see you. Bye now.
Will Hanke (33:25)
Awesome. All right, that was great.
More shows like Marketing Panes
View all
A Well-Designed Business® | Interior Design Business Podcast
767 Listeners
Founders
1,906 Listeners
The Kate Show
97 Listeners
My First Million
2,624 Listeners
Window Treatments for Profit with LuAnn Nigara
26 Listeners
Moneywise
646 Listeners