K-Designers / Judson Enterprises review: Fraud Alert 6

Everything negative said about this company is true, plus much more. I was with them for a month last year and initially believed we were giving customers marketing discounts for being a "model home." It's nothing but a high pressure, one-call-close rip off because if you tried to sell their over-priced stuff the traditional way absolutely nobody would buy it. Unless you want to be a scam artist, there is no to way work for this company, let alone make even a dime with them. The only advice for both customers and prospective employees is STEER CLEAR!

In 1995, I trained for a Marketing Director Position with K-Designers, Denver, Colorado. I worked for them for over 6 months and then worked for several other competitors who were doing the same 'Promotion' in the Denver, Colorado territory. I did the home improvement “Promotional Home” sales pitch for over 5 years and was considered one of the best in the Western States. My last year in business I grossed over $175, 000 in income (before taxes and expenses).

I am glad you are happy with the work that K-Designers did for you. I hope that if you live in your home for any length of time that your product has no problems. K-Designers does NOT warranty labor to fix their products after the sale. The lifetime warranty is only on the product. In addition, K-Designers is not known for great service after the sale. K-Designers is all about new SALES! There is NO profit in sending a repair crew to your home to fix potential problems especially if you live over 100 miles from their main location. K-Designers sub-contracts all of their work, so they would actually have to pay a crew to drive to your home and do the repair. I hardly think they would remain profitable if they actually spent money repairing the problems people can have with windows, siding and other home improvements.

Their sales pitch…. Well, K-Designers uses the oldest gimmick in the book. The movie 'Tin Man' accurately depicts this company. K-Designers approaches ALL homeowners with the same sales pitch... "We want to use your home for our promotion. If you agree to allow us to use your home to market our product, we have marketing dollars we will spend on your home. These marketing dollars will save you thousands of dollars if you do business with us TODAY, WHILE I AM HERE! (Not tomorrow, but NOW).

Sales representatives are called Marketing Directors. Why? So that you the prospective customer is under the impression, you are talking to someone in authority. You, the homeowner, actually think you are speaking with a Director of the Company, not a sales person. You think this Director has special powers and has this budget of money to spend on your home. You have to agree to allow K-Designers to put a sign in your yard, take before & after photos, write letters of reference and much more…. For each item you agree to, K-Designers or the manufacturer will spend marketing dollars (which do not exist) on your home to reduce your total cost. It’s truly amazing to see the cost of a siding project go from a whopping $25, 000 Retail cost, down to $14, 999. Because your home is special, and you LOVE the product, and you agree to help with marketing you will save thousands… but remember you must do this now, while the Marketing Director is in your home. He/she will tell you they are so busy they cannot come back. They are booked solid with interested people. They have more people interested in the ‘fake’ promotion, then they have money to spend.

The marketing directors are trained to take control of you and take you through a 10 step sales process which includes: 1) a warm up 2) an introduction to the promotion, 3) a review of the company K-Designers and their manufacture (was Revere or Alcoa), 4) a detailed review of the promotion (put up a sign in your yard, agree to write a letter, agree to before & after pictures, and more items if necessary), 5) product demonstration (you must LOVE the product), 6) measure, 7) do a pretty drawing of your home 8) do an ROI (return on investment)… “Does this make financial sense; can you afford to do this?” (for siding they show you the cost of painting, alleged energy savings, and alleged increase value to your home), 9) Negotiations (they want you to go very slow, go outside in between steps, and reduce the price slowly… each time getting you the prospect to say yes to another marketing activity, and 10) paperwork and wrap up.

The marketing director is trained to ask pivotal sales questions to you during the presentation. Examples… “Folks, this may or may not be for you… if it is not, please let me know…. Of course, your home would be prefect for our promotion, but I understand if this is not for you. I have many other people who I have on my schedule who are interested in the promotion. If you do not want to participate, we will shake hands and part friends”.

Before the sales person goes to measure, they are trained to ask another question…. “Folks, you love the product… Right? … and you agree to help me with the promotion, Right? (you say yes)… Well, I love your home and you qualify for the promotion. I would love to use your home to market our product in this area! Aside from money, is there any reason we cannot do business…. WHILE I AM HERE?”…. then they remain quiet. They have cornered you into making a decision while they are there. This is called a 1-call close, or a HARD SELL! If you are not a strong person or couple, you have no choice but to continue…. Else, you would be a liar. Good people don’t lie or change their minds.

However, the REALITY IS… this, it is all baloney, fake, made up. The PROMOTION is BOGUS. There are NO Marketing dollars. Yes, K-Designers will put a sign in your yard, and they will take before & after pictures. You will also write a letter of reference….. but guess what…. EVERY K-Designers customer DOES THE SAME THING. The sales pitch is the same for EVERY POTENTIAL CUSTOMER. You are not special. Again, You are not special. You are just another person/couple that K-Designer’s is pressuring into making a decision to buy siding - TODAY. If they did not have the “Promotional” lie, they would have no reason to get you to buy today!

K-Designers uses the ‘PROMOTION’ as an excuse for everything. Examples. If a husband and wife both own a home, and only the wife is present when the Marketing Director arrives for the appointment, he/she will not present to you, nor will they give you any prices. They are trained to say, that according to the “PROMOTION” all owners must be present. Another example. Say you want to think about the price overnight? The Marketing Director will say something like…. “I’m sorry Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but the ‘Promotion’ requires that you make a decision while I am here. If you are not interested in the ‘Promotion’, I need to release the funds for someone else. I have more people interested in the Promotional dollars (that do not exist), then I have money to spend. You understand, don’t you?” The MD’s use the “Promotion” as their excuse for many objections you the homeowners may have. Bottom line is you must decide while they are in your home or you will lose all of those bogus marketing dollars!

THE FEAR OF LOSS is what motivates people to buy siding while the marketing director is in their home. People are afraid that they will miss out on an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save thousands. You feel special that your home has qualified for Revere or Alcoa to use their product on…. You qualify….

Who sets the price? Well, if you are a good sales person (Marketing Director) you can start your price anywhere you’d like. At the end of the day, you just have to cover the cost of the siding and the cost of the sub-contracted crew who will do the work (plus other expenses K-Designers charges the MD (sales rep) such as financing fees, etc. It is not uncommon for a Marketing Director to make $5, 000 commission on a standard 1-story, 3 bedroom home.

K-Designers brags about all the employees they have. The reality is this. All of K-Designers Marketing Directors are supposed to be 1099 Independent contractors. They have a constant stream of MD’s hoping they will get rich selling K-Designers products. The reality is most MD’s do not make it past 2 months. They realize that they may have to run 50 appointments a month to make 3-5 sales. They will drive hundreds of miles, spend many lonely nights in flea ridden run-down hotels, eat at truck stops and quick stop gas stations, be apart from their homes and families for 23 days each month, and many suffer from depression and / or alcoholism. There dream to get rich at K-Designers was a last ditch effort to survive. Many have exhausted all efforts to find a real sales job with a real company that actually pays you a base salary, pays your travel expenses, and provides full benefits.

K-Designers fully controls the lives of the MD’s but has no responsibility for the MD’s they hire…. They are in constant lawsuits with MD’s over taxes, control, and independent contractor status. VERY FEW sales people make it as long-term K-Designers sales reps (marketing directors). It is very sad to know how terribly K-Designer’s uses good sales people. They take advantage of these sales people, with dreams of wealth, then simply say ‘NEXT’ when the sales people can’t perform or complain about the constant travel. Additionally, if a sales rep sells anything his first month, it can take 3-6 moths to see the job ‘cash out’. If the sales rep priced the job right, he/she might get a check, but remember they are new and might under price the siding or forget some other important cost or fee… if they are lucky they might see real money in 3 months. K-Designers does allow new hires to ‘draw’ against future sales, but the draw is barely enough to run leads (it costs an average of $500 a week to run leads). The draw does not allow a sales rep to pay rent / mortgage, pay bills, or feed their family. Imagine the stress the new sales rep has…. New job, new company, no money until 3-6 months (if you sell something and price it right). Many MD’s end up quitting and or filing for bankruptcy.

Let’s continue to talk about all of K-designers hundreds/thousands of employees. When I worked for the organization, ALL of the siding and window installation crews were sub-contractors. Some of these crews were professional… they had trucks and equipment, but most were deadbeats. I had one crew show up to do a siding job… the person was so broke, and so behind in child support. that he was found camping beside a river in a tent at night. He even borrowed money from the homeowners so that he could eat. K-Designers did not have company employees for sales or installation….. It would be interesting to know how many ‘real’ employees were actually full-time K-Designer employees. Out of 9, 000 published employees, I would guess only 500 are actual employees.

Why does this matter? This is why. If a company is serious about hiring and keeping good sales and installation people, they will hire them as a full-time employee with full benefits (health, dental, insurance) and provide the employees vehicles and expense accounts. K-Designers has NO commitment to independent contractors. NONE. They pay no taxes and have no expenses on these people. All of ‘those’ people are disposable. No accountability. No Costs. K-Designers has NO commitment to having / keeping employees, why would they have any commitment to you as a prospective customer?

Do not work for K-Designers and please do not buy from this company. They do NOT have a unique product. They do not have a special Promotion. They take advantage of prospective customers. They take advantage of good sales people ~ independent contractors are NOT employees! They are focused on NEW SALES ONLY… they do not provide good service after the sale. Most importantly, the technique they use to sell their product is a lie. THE PROMOTION is a gimmick. You can find the same product, or better, by shopping around.

Larry Judson, CEO, should be ashamed of the lies he has perpetrated over the years while doing business. He has lied to thousands of customers and thousands of good sales reps (Marketing Directors a.k.a. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS). It is time to shut this company down. If you are in the market for windows or siding, please buy from a LOCAL company. A company you trust and that carries a good product and a warranty on both the product and labor (get references and talk to people who have done business with the company). Do business with a company that hires, trains and takes good care of its sales and installation crew. Larry and his crew are the [censor] of the earth. Mr. Judson, you will someday answer to the Man up above!

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is not true! Take care!