In this episode, listeners will learn the secrets behind building strong, lasting partnerships with builders, owners, and developers, directly from Ileana Ferguson, the Strategic Account Manager for Moen. Ileana shares her inspiring journey from Mexico City to becoming an influential figure in the plumbing industry.
Listeners will discover how a supportive work environment propelled her from overcoming initial language challenges to making significant strides in a traditionally male-dominated field. Ileana opens up about what sets Moen apart—from its innovative product line and solid brand reputation to a company culture that genuinely cares for its employees and customers.
Moen believes that everyday experiences inspire their designs. Since day one, Moen has used customer insight to drive its design process, resulting in a long history of creating innovative and reliable products with timeless styles. Whether delivering better performance in high-use environments, greatly improving water savings, or marrying modern fixtures to century-old plumbing, Moen Commercial helps create crucial solutions and achieve ambitious objectives.
Repeatedly, Moen has lowered materials and maintenance costs and given customers a far greater level of confidence. With a commitment to excellence and a passion for innovation, Moen continues to set the standard in the industry, ensuring that every drop of water is used efficiently and effectively.
The episode goes beyond just the personal journey. The discussion delves into the transformative power of mentorship and industry connections, highlighting Moen's forward-thinking approach to water conservation and cost-effective solutions like their lead detection system. With a network of 200 salespeople across the nation, Moen ensures unparalleled support and resources for its partners.
Don't forget to grab summit tickets at multifamilywomen.com and stay tuned for more invaluable industry insights in the next episode.
Connect with Multifamily Women®:
Carrie Antrim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieantrim/
Multifamily Women® Summit: https://multifamilywomen.com/
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Multifamily Innovation® Council: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/council/
Multifamily Innovation® Summit: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/
Best Places to Work Multifamily®: https://bestplacestoworkmultifamily.com/
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Multifamily Women's Podcast. Today we have an amazing guest, ileana Ferguson. She is the Strategic Account Manager for Moen and they are a sponsor of the Multifamily Women's Summit this year. We are so happy to have you here today.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much for having me here, super excited to be here and excited to be able to share a little bit about me and Moen. I started in the industry 30 years ago. I was born and raised in Mexico City and shortly after I arrived to the United States I started working for the largest plumbing wholesaler. It was there where I learned language. I didn't know English. When they hired me, they hired me as a receptionist. So you could just imagine receptionist not hire me as a receptionist. So you can just imagine receptionist not knowing English, a very busy, busy office. So instead of their their firing me, what they should have, um, they, uh, the. The manager at the time decided like no, you know, we are going to help her. And they took me off the phones and I went into their operations. I worked through purchasing their operations, eventually accounting, so they taught me the language. They helped me through my immigration process. They were amazing and this is they're the reasons how I I became to love our industry and and the people within the construction industry.
Speaker 2:Eventually, as I grew within the company, you know I wanted to do more. I wanted to be in sales and after working for them. You know, for quite a while I had the opportunity to go work for Moen, knowing the brand, selling all the other manufacturers. I chose to go work for Moen because of who they are as a company, the product, very easy to do business with, they have the best warranty and customer service and bar none. So when the opportunity came up, it's like, yeah, that's the company I want to go work for and represent, because I care about the people, I care about construction, I care about our customers and I wanted to make sure that I was bringing more value to them. And Moen gave me that opportunity. So here I am, 13 years later.
Speaker 1:What an incredible story. First of all, just amazing. I mean kudos to you for everything that you endured and wow. And so to hone in on a product like that and say I want to sell the thing I believe in, I think that is so special. So tell us more about what makes Moen so unique, whether that's the culture I know, the product you love, Tell us more about Moen.
Speaker 2:Moen is, first and foremost they're the largest plumbing manufacturer in North America as one of the most trusted brand we have received in nine consecutive years, the most trusted brand by the Lifestyle Story. Lifestyle Story. There you go. Lifestyle Story, yeah, nine years consecutive years. So that tells you. That tells you something. Um, and moen is always looking for innovations. We always looking to bring product that it meets or customer uh needs. So we work I personally work with builders, owners and developers and we have the product right. We work directly with them. We make and we have the product right. We work directly with them. We make sure that we have the product that meets their goals, whatever is the style or price point Within our portfolio, we can cover every price point, from the entry level to the mid to the high end, so it's not just one level. So we we have the option, the opportunity to create a strong partnerships with, with owner, builders and developers.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. And do you work directly with those that client base is? Is that your job?
Speaker 2:Yes, that's what I do. Uh, I make sure that uh, create the partnership right. It has to be a win-win. It has to work for both of us. Um, whatever is helping with the specifications, whatever is helping with setting budgets, getting to select, helping them with some of the styles they're looking for, we are the experts, right, we know plumbing. We know plumbing inside and out, and it's not just me. We have over 200 salespeople, direct sales representation across the United States. So it's not just me, it's a team, it's a team effort. We have relationships at every level. Whatever it is construction at the plumber level, at the wholesale level, we make sure that we cover it. So, when we create the value, it's from top to bottom and bottom up right, Because we want to make sure that we are able to execute or value with the customer. So that's important, that's very important to us and to Moen.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And people who are selling the product, are they selling only Moen products?
Speaker 2:We Moen. Yes, we are the few manufacturers who has direct representation. We only focus on Moen and Moen only. And why is that important? Because I think we are able to deliver excellent customer service at every level again, through the plumber to the ownership, to the developer, to the end user. Because all we care about, all we focus on, is Moen and Moen only.
Speaker 1:Great. And what about the Moen culture draws you to stay. Have stayed for 13 years.
Speaker 2:Moen is, uh, part nine, one of the best companies I have worked for, and uh, and their culture has always been very empowering and inspirational for me and my, my, my coworkers, for me and my co-workers. They really care about life balance with every one of us. There is not a day that I feel I need to leave the office because I have an appointment with one of my kids or any of us. They're always very supportive of that and they also encourage us to do self-development. You know they support it, they encourage it, they empower us to do, you know, to do that, and they listen. There's another company that I really that they listen not only to us as employees because we are the best asset, right, right but also to our customers. They really listen to customers. A lot of our innovation, a lot of our products we actually develop based on our customers' feedback Amazing, yeah. So it's a great company, it's a great product, a good product to represent?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so what are some of those innovations? After you've listened to some of your, your clients, what are the innovations that have come from those?
Speaker 2:Oh, I have. You know several ones. One of them a lot of our designs, a lot of our designs have come from feedback from plumbers, from designers, from architects, from our builders, that we incorporate, incorporate into what we're bringing, whatever is an installation, innovation or is a style or a finish. So we take all that information and we do listen. It's pretty surprising that we do. Right now, one of our biggest innovations that we're excited about is our smart detection system for the multifamily. What is that? It's a leak detection system that is a web-based dashboard where owners or property management can monitor water leaks within the property and they're able to shut off the system remotely at any time of the day. That's incredible Preventing, you know, a water catastrophe. Can you imagine having, you know, water, a pipe burst on the fifth floor of a multifamily and, you know, damaging three, four, five floors? It's very expensive, so we have the system to prevent that.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's incredibly innovative. You're already installing, you're already in the plumbing, so why not be the people that are doing the leak detection? And I know that was a huge. When I was on site that was a huge issue, just leak detection, water conservation, all of those pieces and I had no idea that Moen actually deals with some of those issues. So definitely tell us more about that. I'm sure everyone listening is like wow, I had no idea. Continue.
Speaker 2:You know we're committed to water conservation and that's one way and not only that, but to help our customers prevent a catastrophe like that with water damage and be able to manage it remotely is, you know it brings such a value to the property, you know it brings such a value to the property, you know, and helping control cost and reduce cost of a damaged unit or two or three. So it's really it's pretty cool and to see it in action is like oh my God, why? You know, why are we not doing in every one of our units? Absolutely, we're getting there. We're getting there and we're working with partnerships, with insurance companies too, because there's a value oh yeah, there's a value to have the insurance company wherever you get a cost break or whatever the case might be. So we're always looking for ways to innovate and bring those things.
Speaker 1:That is amazing, Literally innovation right there To think we're physically installing, we're already in the plumbing and this is something of added value, a major added value. Everybody out there who owns properties right now is like, wow, okay, I need to write this down because that's very valuable.
Speaker 2:And one of the other things that we identify is we're starting to see a little bit more problems with squatters in some of the SFR. So owners or property management companies are able to monitor some of those houses that are empty. If they see some type of water usage, they're able to identify okay, is it a leak or is it somebody in the house juicing water when they're not supposed to? So that helps to prevent some of that too. That is so interesting.
Speaker 1:Wow, I didn't even think about that yet, because normally you would just look to see the bill and you're oh, there's a couple bucks on there. It was probably just you know you'd shrug it off. That's so interesting, wow. Okay, that is innovation at its finest, right there. How amazing. And so you guys are sponsoring the Multifamily Women's Summit this year, and this is your first year attending. Yes, it is Super excited, super excited. What inspires you or excites you about attending the Women's Summit?
Speaker 2:You know, empowering women, right. When I first started in the industry 30 years ago I majored myself there was not a lot of women in our industry. We was heavily male-dominated. We're starting to see some of that change, and summits like this it helps, right. It helps to connect with other women, to get re-energized, to be able to share experiences and help the newcomers. So that has always been a passion of mine to be able to help Not only my women coming into the industry. They're just getting getting in and they're a little intimidated because, oh my God, I have to deal with plumbers, architects, builders, designers, you know, and so forth. You know, be able to share our experiences with them and help them through them is what is. It really is exciting to me, and not only that. The energy that we create when we get such an amazing group of powerful women in one room to be able to share these experiences is super exciting, I love it and I'm super excited for you.
Speaker 1:I think mentorship is something that is so needed in this industry. So, whether you make that one connection that just fills your bucket of, hey, wow, I can really mentor this person and, like you said, someone took you under their wing when you first started out, and just that is so invaluable I can't even express it. So I think those connections that are made at this summit are really incredible and I'm excited for you to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to give back right. To be able to give back for everything that this industry has given to me in the last 13 years with Moen and prior. To. That, I think is really important, and be able to share experiences and coach and mentor is huge, huge for me. It's really close to my heart.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful. We're really happy to have Moen as a partner this year and to have you in the room and being a part of all of this, for sure, thank you. Yeah, so what else? What's in the future? What's in the future for Moen? What's in the future for you?
Speaker 2:You know Moen is always looking for. They're always working on trying to bring products you know products into the marketplace. And innovation. I can't share details quite yet, but I guarantee you there is quite a bit that we're working on. I'm excited about this. The lead detection system, I think, is huge because of water conservation right and being able to protect their customers' assets, which is, you know, is something that we're committed to do, so I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, and so if people want to learn more about the leak detection, about you, about Moen, what you offer, who do they reach out to and where?
Speaker 2:Well, they can find us at our website, which is wwwmoencom. That is our website. We have a website specific for the professional, which is our builder, owners and developers, which is promoencom, and they can find me on LinkedIn, they can find me on Facebook, they can find me on Instagram and, yeah, we're able to help at every level.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else that you want to leave our viewers with, about Moen, or about things that you offer, or anything like that? You?
Speaker 2:know. Yeah, one of the things you know we do and I don't know if you know we try to get out there. You know, when our owners and developers install Moen in their projects, we don't only care about the new construction part of it, but we also care about the ownership right, our product or innovation. We make sure that there's less parts right. So if an owner developer uses Moen in their projects, we provide them with no charge parts for 10 years Wow, helping them to reduce the cost of ownership and have a better ROI.
Speaker 1:That's incredible.
Speaker 2:That's a testament of our product. That's how much we trust our product that we are able to do that in every project. I love it 10 years.
Speaker 1:Wow, built to last. We'll just say that that's correct. There's your tagline.
Speaker 2:And if it? You know, don't think if there's something would happen. You know, moen, we are pretty good about reacting and taking care of the product, the project. Nobody's perfect, right, but if something would happen, we have 200 salespeople across the United States that have relationships at every level construction, plumber, wholesale at every level that we can help and make it right.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful and that's commitment, and those are the types of long-lasting partnerships that you're going to want.
Speaker 2:When you have dedication like that to your customer, that's why we have a large market share within Builder and Multifamily.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, and we do In Multifamily. We look for those long lasting partnerships that are just going to stay for as long as possible. Nobody wants to shop around as much as possible when they just know they have the best in their pocket. So that's wonderful. Well, you heard it here. You heard how to get in touch with Ileana and get to moencom to schedule demos, whatever you need, and we will see you again. Thank you so much for coming, thank you so much for having me and thank you for tuning in to the Multifamily Women podcast. Please get your summit tickets on multifamilywomencom and we will see you on the next episode.