Summer Fun 2020
To My Paramount Family
As the saying goes, a grateful heart sees many blessings.
As I reflect on the past 40 years at Paramount, I want you all to know how much of a blessing you’ve been to me and my family. Both in my personal and professional life, I’ve always lived by the belief that grateful people are successful people. You have made me such. I believe that when you’re grateful for everything you have in life, your life is infinitely better.
I’m incredibly blessed to have had the honor and privilege
to be on life’s journey with you, and I cherish this legacy and friendship we’ve created together. It’s something
I will hold in my heart forever.
Life is a journey, not a destination.
This amazing journey with you has offered me the opportunity to make enduring friendships from around the world, that I may have otherwise never had. I’ve seen second and third generations take the reins from their parents and build upon the foundation left to them. We’ve celebrated together with weddings and marriage proposals on our Passport to Paradise trips. I believe
there has been a few children conceived on our trips, and we’ve mourned together when we’ve lost some of our own Paramount family. I’ve been able to see the
world and experience places I never thought I’d visit with so many of you on our Passport to Paradise trips.
Our journey together has been the ride of a lifetime,
and one that will never leave me.
It’s important for you all to know that our culture was defined and inspired by all of you. Your trust in me drove and inspired me to push for perfection and innovation – which helped define, shape and mold Paramount into what it became … A Customer Centric Company!
As I reflect on my “why” and “vision” for the company, it was always to find a way to do more for others, become more valuable for our dealers, serve more, give more and be more than anyone else would for you.
Like many of you, my mother and father were, and still are, the biggest influences in my life. They taught me so much about life; their lessons have guided me to who
I am today. I followed their lead to live my life with integrity,
humility, treat everybody with respect, and always do the right thing.
I hope I have walked the walk and talked the talk with you all. Or you could say, I hope that I have lived up to those expectations with you all.
To me, our relationship goes way beyond business. We’ve created meaningful friendships that reach much farther than our work. Our relationships have never been just about business. My relationships with everyone in our Paramount family were intentional and genuine.
My journey with you all, no matter how long or short, will be unforgettable. The Bible says among faith, hope and love, the greatest gift is love. Love is what I have in my heart for all of you. I’ll miss you all more that words can say.
This journey has also led me to work alongside three very important people to me: Lou Prioreschi, Bill Burt and Ryan Linnen. These three men are true warriors who have been shoulder to shoulder with me though the ups and downs, and they bleed Paramount blue. There is no one I would want to go to battle more than with you three. Paramount would not be what it is without your loyalty, passion, dedication and love for our culture. I’m most grateful to call you my friends before colleagues.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my wife Janice for being my biggest advocate and supporter, and for all her love, dedication and patience in allowing me to give so much love and energy to Paramount. I couldn’t have done it without her!
We’ve all heard the saying that good things must come to an end. It’s a proverb that means nothing lasts forever, that all things are temporary. However, I’m going to refute
that statement, because I believe our friendships and legacy will live on forever.
I’ve always believed God brings people into our lives for a purpose. I don’t believe we meet people by accident or chance. Our paths have crossed for a reason. For me the reason is simple … you made me a better person.
People ask me if I’m retiring but retiring feels a little like death of self. I’m looking forward to the rebirth and for the opportunity to reimagine my purpose!
There is a great Irish proverb that sums it all up for me: “There are old ships and new ships, ships that sail at sea, but the best ships are friendships, and may they always be.”
Thank you all again for the opportunity to serve you, to call you my friends and for the incredible memories we created together.
May God bless you and your families with love, peace, joy, health and prosperity.
Buzz
As many of you may be aware,
I decided several months ago to transition into some form of retirement effective September 4. At the time
of that decision we also promoted Kurt Duhamell into
the National Sales Manager role; a position he was
very well suited and one he’d certainly earned the opportunity for. It’s been great to work closely for the
last several months as I know the sales team is in very
capable hands. There have been other positive changes
including the hiring of David Goldman as the new Paramount Business Unit Manager. Buzz and I are
working closely with David to make as smooth
a transition as possible.
Change is never easy but the time has come, after
a 40 plus year career across 3 distinct industries
culminating with 28 years in the swimming pool
industry. All 28 of the years in our industry I had the privilege of working side by side with my friend Buzz. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor in the swimming pool business and it only served to enhance our already great friendship. Paramount was a fraction of the size it is now when we began to pour ourselves into becoming the best manufacturing company we could be.
Along the way, we’ve been very blessed to build
relationships with so many great people and companies
within our industry. We’ve been fortunate to see parts of the world we might never have seen via our Passport to Paradise trips and through relationships built with our distributors/friends in many different
countries. While I fully intend to stay in touch with many dear industry friends, I also intend to enjoy life
a bit more without the constant challenges and commitments that work demands; which we fully
enjoyed tackling on a daily basis.
With that, I’d just like to close by thanking all of our clients domestically and around the world. Thank you for the support, the loyalty, the occasional business challenges but more importantly thank you for the
friendship. I’d be remiss if I also didn’t thank and also praise our outstanding Paramount team. The passion you all show on a daily basis made our jobs all that much easier. I salute you all!
Best of success to everyone on the road ahead!
Bill Burt
RAISE YOUR VOICE A BUILDER’S PERSPECTIVE
Integrity. You Simply Have It or You Don't
I’m sure there are many great approaches to acing marketing
and branding for your company. However, I’m not as much
interested in talking about the specific “how-to’s” of SEM,
SEO or your social media presence. I can’t help think about
the way an individual approaches their branding and whether
it displays integrity or lack thereof. Integrity is something that you simply have or don’t, it’s a way of being and it’s the way you operate in all spheres of your life (including your marketing).
In the last month, I’ve discovered at least four other companies
(that I know of) “borrowing” our images from my website to
use in their marketing campaigns as their own. While these
companies tout their high-end services and design, one has
to wonder: If they lie about their portfolio, what else do they lie about?
It takes integrity to build a great portfolio. Ultimately, lazy people
don’t create great design because they want the quickest
path from A to Z. By contrast, great design is a lot of work! The design process is rarely a straight path and typically is a
meandering journey filled with unexpected challenges.
An awe-inspiring portfolio doesn’t spring up from overnight either–it is cherry-picked from a series of projects that each present their own victories and hurdles. And praising reviews
don’t come from nowhere–they come from long hours spent
in client meetings, in phone conversations and problem-solving.
In order to have a brand worthy of branding, owners need
to put in time to establish amazing design, build a breath-
taking portfolio and win over a multitude of clients. In other words, laziness won’t cut it. Creating a brand-worthy brand is not a straight path and it a tremendous amount of plodded effort over the course of many years.
Only once these efforts are made can an individual really
translate their integrity into the branding arena. Remember,
integrity crosses all spheres of life, so it’s important to market and brand yourself authentically. Do you have to
wait ten years to build your portfolio before you can make
a name for yourself? Of course not! You can always put
energy into marketing and branding as long as what you’re
projecting to the public is congruent with your actual skill
level and experience. In fact, I would say that marketing and branding are worth your time simply so potential clients can
find you. My marketing strategies have evolved over the years
and I run my own personal experiments–marketing and
branding is dependent upon what you’re trying to accomplish, who you’re trying to reach, trends and your budget. In my current season, I’ve chosen to funnel marketing dollars from print advertisements to my website and online presence. Additionally, following the trends and understanding what’s happening in the marketing industry is a way to benefit your company. For example, is your website still using Flash? It doesn’t work! By not staying current with basic technology advances, you prevent yourself from finding your best clients.
Similar to your designs, portfolio and number of happy clients,
there is no shortcut in branding. There is effort to make it from point A to point Z. In my first years, I didn’t even have photos! Our original website was mostly drawings of our designs
because we didn’t have a portfolio of built work. We relied on those drawings, great customer service and word of mouth referrals to keep our company moving forward. We didn’t fake people out with pictures from another local pool builder.
Rather, we slowly accumulated photos and built our portfolio.
When people steal or “borrow” imagery, it shows that they are unwilling to put in the time, effort and integrity to build up their own business. Could I hire an attorney and fight them? Sure. Could I spend energy watermarking all my imagery?
Sure. However, I’ve decided that those efforts ultimately take away from my business. I lean on the old phrase, “It’ll all
come out in the wash.” People who falsely brand themselves will be found out eventually so I’ve decided to focus on moving my
business and branding forward with integrity and simply
encourage others to do the same. Every aspect of your business and branding relies on real work and integrity. And here’s the
bottom line: There is no shortcut.
Kurt Kraisinger of LORAX Design Group
www.loraxdesigngroup.com
Paramount News
Meet Paramount's New Leader!
Hello!
It’s an honor and pleasure to serve you and the incredible team here at Paramount. For those of you who know me, I look forward to working for you. For those of you I have not met before, I hope to meet you soon.
For the last eight years, I’ve been with one of the “Big-3”, most recently as VP of Product Marketing. I am no stranger to the legendary reputation of Paramount. Too many times to count, I have heard builders tell me about how we could learn from Paramount. So when the opportunity arose to learn from Buzz and his team, and lead this amazing group of people,
I was excited and humbled. My promise to Buzz, and my promise to you, is that Paramount will remain committed to the core values that have led to its success – not the least of which is our obsession with the customer: We will continue to be the industry leader in personalized customer care – for you, your family, your team, and your business.
Lastly, for the Paramount team reading this who have given me such a warm welcome the last several weeks: I deeply
admire your passion to serve and care for our customers – you are the best of the best. I aspire to bring the same level
of care to you and to this incredible organization that you bring to our customers every day.
Yours truly,
David
760.310.2521
dgoldman@1paramount.com