Roofing Road Trips Podcast with Heidi: Carol Perkins

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

Heidi welcomes Carol Perkins, Director of Marketing, North America, IKO to chat about how she got into roofing and the history and success of IKO.

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips Podcast with Heidi, we hear from Carol Perkins of IKO. Carol shared with Heidi how she got into the roofing industry many years ago after a recommendation from a favorite professor. He told her that he thought she could have a very lucrative career in industrial sales and marketing. Her first job was in customer service for electrical discharge machining, and eventually worked her way into sales and marketing where she sold supplies like wires, oils and graphite to manufacturers like General Motors, GE and family owned tool and die shops. She spent every day on manufacturing floors in industrial environments.

Roofing professionals will appreciate that after nine years, when Carol transitioned into the roofing industry, she was looking forward to hopefully getting a little more style and color than she got in the more industrial environments. Carol knew that she needed to learn about how the products were made, why they were made that way and she gave the utmost respect to her new co-workers who were educating her on the industry. She says that spending time with them as well as distributors and contractors really taught her this business.

After 23 years, Carol strives to share her knowledge and mentor her employees due to her strong belief in the importance of the retention of key employees. She has many employees that have been with her for 20 years.

RCS listeners will appreciate what Carol shares about how proud she is to work for IKO, a family owned company that has been in business for 70 years. The company has core values that they practice on a regular basis. One of which is long-term commitment. Every decision must consider the present and future effects on employees, customers and suppliers. 

For more information on IKO and its full line of product solutions, visit www.iko.com.

Catch up with Heidi and Carol when you listen to the full podcast  or read the transcription.