A father’s impact can be powerful in shaping a child’s life, even in subtle ways that might not be apparent until far later in life.
For Doug Bencsko, it was the example he saw while helping his father paint houses when he was a young boy. At around 8 years old, Doug would watch how his father worked, doing the little things that meant so much to his customers. Taking care to prep things properly, explaining the process to homeowners, to call when he said he would. Being successful as a service entrepreneur wasn’t just about doing the work well, it was in building the trust of people to do things right.
A coach’s lessons can have a lasting influence far beyond the playing field.
Legendary Rutgers baseball coach Fred Hill was Doug’s coach in high school, and the things he learned from Coach Hill helped to instill how success could be built through teamwork. Everyone has a role to play in a winning team, and everyone’s important. These lessons carried on past high school, setting the stage for Doug in his college football career, winning the Division III National Championship with Ithaca College as their starting quarterback during his senior year.
Surviving home service horror stories can lead to a lifelong commitment to upholding your own core values.
Like many of us, Doug suffered through some nightmares with contractors in his own home. But his went beyond simply bad service or shoddy workmanship. His experiences included “take the money and run” schemes, petty theft, and a doozy of an invasion of privacy. Having to have the police on speed dial shouldn’t be part of a home service contract.
That’s why Doug sets the bar so high for his company. He knows why trust is so important in business, and that permeates every facet of his leadership. Trust matters. People matter, whether it’s his clients or his colleagues. Those lessons that he learned resonate in everything he does as the owner of Precision Garage Doors in Pompton Plains.
“From working with my father, I learned when I was very young how to make a customer happy and how that might create another one, because he did a good job and that he could be trusted. Doing great work and staying true to your word is very powerful, and customers share that with others. It becomes your reputation, and that’s everything. That was ingrained in me from childhood,” explains Doug.
“Building trust is simple, starting with calling back when you say you will. You say you’ll call back in the morning, call in the morning. Customers remember when you hold them hostage by not calling when you tell them you will. Trust starts right there.”
The company is a team.
“It’s a culture. Everyone just pitches in – there’s no ‘I’ here,” according to Tammy Varga, Sales Support Supervisor at Precision. “They started this business 24 years ago. Some people have been here for 18 years. They find the right people. When I came here, I told them that I don’t have the background to do what you do. And they told me that ‘I can’t teach you what you have, but I can teach you what you need to know.’ And I came in, and I just said, ‘wow.’”
It's that “wow” moment that’s critical for Precision. Doug calls it the “Wow Experience.” It’s even in their mission statement. He wants to create that Wow Experience throughout – for their customers, their employees, and even society.
Doug has his franchise involved with Habitat for Humanity. They donate to the Pequannock food bank, are part of fundraisers for people in need, and even hold sweepstakes for people who can nominate neighbors who can’t afford their services to have work done. These are tangible things that help the community that you might not expect from a business like this. But they do it because it’s all about making the right difference and improving lives in extraordinary ways.
“The owners and managers are constantly seeing what they can do better, to make themselves better, to make the atmosphere, the culture better, what they can give back to the people here,” Tammy shares. “They’re constantly reading, suggesting books for us about how to improve ourselves, sharing self-assessment tests, videos, whatever they can. We’re constantly trying to improve, and not just in our work life. It’s all about going forward. We learn a lot.”
“People think, ‘Oh, it’s just a garage door.’ No. It’s much bigger than that. We treat everyone with respect. We take care of our clients; we want them to feel like VIPs. We call it the 5-Star Experience. Our service separates us and that matters here.”
“It’s not just a garage door company. These are everyday people who are making a living, and what Doug, Dennis, Brandon, and everyone here do to go above and beyond what’s expected of them makes this a very special place. We specialize in garage doors, but it’s human, and that’s what matters.”
Precision Garage Doors office is at 220 West Parkway, Pompton Plains. They can be reached at 866-360-5050.
