Lessons in Leadership with Jay Steinfeld, Founder of Blinds.com

BY SOPHIA BENNETT

Jay Steinfeld’s first business venture— selling custom T-shirts as a high school student—put him on the path to an even more impressive entrepreneurial success: founding Blinds.com, which was acquired by The Home Depot in 2014. “With their enormous buying power, skilled operational excellence, over 2,000 stores and significant cash support, we’ve become a formidable powerhouse,” he says.

Steinfeld left the company in May 2020 “not to retire, but rewire.” He’s joined four boards, started mentoring students at Rice University’s graduate school of business and written a book. “Lead From the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity” (BenBella Books) is scheduled to be published in October.

Drawing on more than 35 years of experience selling window coverings, Steinfeld talks about how he got started, the rise of ecommerce and what he sees for the future of the industry. He also offers his take on how to be a great leader in an article at wf-vision.com.

How did you get into the window covering industry? When I worked as the vice president of finance at the national franchiser Meineke Mufflers, we started looking into franchising businesses other than muffler shops. One such business was window coverings. Eventually, Meineke was sold, and the new owner, a car parts manufacturer, wanted no part of franchising anything other than muffler shops. In fact, they wanted no part of me either. I was fired immediately after the sale.

The idea of owning a window covering store remained, and in 1987, my wife, Naomi, began running her own. After a year, I joined her to own and run one of my own. Neither of us had any clue as to how to sell window coverings, but the two stores were part of a franchise begun by the former owner of Meineke, who partnered with a long-time chain of stores called Laura’s Draperies, Bedspreads & More. We were both shop-at-home decorators working six to seven days a week, with one to four appointments a day.

How did you move from those small stores to what would eventually become Blinds. com? In 1993, I read in a trade magazine— probably yours—an article written by Rory McNeil about the “information superhighway.” I didn’t have a vision as to what the internet would become, but I thought it was worth experimenting with my own website for Laura’s—especially because it cost only $1,500 for that website.

The next year, Amazon started selling books online, so I got the harebrained idea that I would sell blinds online too. Everyone told me it was lunacy. Customers had to measure and install themselves, and we did not send color samples. We mitigated the color problem by selling, at first, only white and off-white, and only metal, wood and vertical vinyl blinds.

My goal was to make buying blinds and shades a no-brainer, so I called it NoBrainerBlinds.com. And because we were first, I touted us as “The World’s Most Popular and Trusted

Online Source for Blinds.” It was run out of my home at first, and in another attempt to make us appear larger than we were, I referred to my home as One Brainer Tower.

The calls came to my Laura’s showroom. While I was busy with my shop-at-home appointments, my showroom manager would tell prospective customers, “All our customer service representatives are busy.” Then she’d call me and, from my car, I’d call back the prospect from my large cellphone and answer questions, guide them to the proper solution, write the order on a pad, take that order back to the store and run the credit card through. For the many people who were scared to use their credit cards, I’d have to wait for a check to arrive.

We were competing mostly with the 800-number catalog companies such as American Blinds and Wallpaper Factory. Going online gave me a chance to compete with them. What made us different was that, at first, I took all the calls. I knew the technical aspects of blinds and how to sell them. But it was my focus on service, based on my face-to-face dealings with customers, that separated us from the mail-order catalog companies. We truly cared about our customers and knew service was a big part of the equation.

As we grew the company slowly but surely, we added Blinds.com to our portfolio. In January 2014, we sold to Home Depot.

What are the most pressing issues in the window covering industry today, and how can leaders address them?

The industry has been consolidating over the last 10 years, including and especially the manufacturers. Having fewer choices of where to buy your products causes prices to rise. Plus, some manufacturers penalize you for not buying exclusively from them.

The way to combat that is to put less emphasis on what brands you sell and more emphasis on yourself. Customers should come to you because you are the expert, can guide them to the right solution and provide differing brands for differing customers. Brand yourself and your company, not your products. In your marketing and presentations, highlight your expertise (e.g., motorization, high rises, etc.) and service. That also helps you compete with everyone.

A second important aspect is that people are increasingly impatient and want immediate gratification. It’s something that’s always been a factor, but today, with Amazon providing same-day delivery, people expect speed. You are no longer compared to other window treatment retailers but to Amazon.

You must create ways for customers to quickly set up appointments—and be willing and able to make contact almost instantly. Have a healthy assortment of products that are made in days and can be received within days. Focus on speed in all aspects of your business, and you’ll quickly see a bounce in business. V

Lessons in Leadership with Jay Steinfeld, Founder of Blinds.com

BY SOPHIA BENNETT

ay Steinfeld’s first business venture— selling custom T-shirts as a high school student—put him on the path to an even more impressive entrepreneurial success: founding Blinds.com, which was acquired by The Home Depot in 2014. “With their enormous buying power, skilled operational excellence, over 2,000 stores and significant cash support, we’ve become a formidable powerhouse,” he says.

Steinfeld left the company in May 2020 “not to retire, but rewire.” He’s joined four boards, started mentoring students at Rice University’s graduate school of business and written a book. “Lead From the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity” (BenBella Books) is scheduled to be published in October.

Drawing on more than 35 years of experience selling window coverings, Steinfeld talks about how he got started, the rise of ecommerce and

what he sees for the future of the industry. He also offers his take on how to be a great leader in an article at wf-vision.com.

How did you get into the window covering industry?

The idea of owning a window covering store remained, and in 1987, my wife, Naomi, began running her own. After a year, I joined her to own and run one of my own. Neither of us had any clue as to how to sell window coverings, but the two stores were part of a franchise begun by the former owner of Meineke, who partnered with a long-time chain of stores called Laura’s

Draperies, Bedspreads & More. We were both shop-at-home decorators working six to seven days a week, with one to four appointments a day.

How did you move from those small stores to what would eventually become Blinds. com?

In 1993, I read in a trade magazine— probably yours—an article written by Rory McNeil about the “information superhighway.” I didn’t have a vision as to what the internet would become, but I thought it was worth experimenting with my own website for Laura’s—especially because it cost only $1,500 for that website.

The next year, Amazon started selling books online, so I got the harebrained idea that I would sell blinds online too. Everyone told me it was lunacy. Customers had to measure and install themselves, and we did not send color samples. We mitigated the color problem by selling, at first, only white and off-white, and only metal, wood and vertical vinyl blinds.

My goal was to make buying blinds and shades a no-brainer, so I called it NoBrainerBlinds.com. And because we were first, I touted us as “The World’s Most Popular and Trusted

Online Source for Blinds.” It was run out of my home at first, and in another attempt to make us appear larger than we were, I referred to my home as One Brainer Tower.

The calls came to my Laura’s showroom. While I was busy with my shop-at-home appointments, my showroom manager would tell prospective customers, “All our customer service representatives are busy.” Then she’d call me and, from my car, I’d call back the prospect from my large cellphone and answer questions, guide them to the proper solution, write the order on a pad, take that order back to the store and run the credit card through. For the many people who were scared to use their credit cards, I’d have to wait for a check to arrive.

We were competing mostly with the 800-number catalog companies such as American Blinds and Wallpaper Factory. Going online gave me a chance to compete with them. What made us different was that, at first, I took all the calls. I knew the technical aspects of blinds and how to sell them. But it was my focus on service, based on my face-to-face dealings with customers, that separated us from the mail-order catalog companies. We truly cared about our customers and knew service was a big part of the equation.

As we grew the company slowly but surely, we added Blinds.com to our portfolio. In January 2014, we sold to Home Depot.

What are the most pressing issues in the window covering industry

today, and how can leaders address them?

The industry has been consolidating over the last 10 years, including and especially the manufacturers. Having fewer choices of where to buy your products causes prices to rise. Plus, some manufacturers penalize you for not buying exclusively from them.

The way to combat that is to put less emphasis on what brands you sell and more emphasis on yourself. Customers should come to you because you are the expert, can guide them to the right solution and provide differing brands for differing customers. Brand yourself and your company, not your products. In your marketing and presentations, highlight your expertise (e.g., motorization, high rises, etc.) and service. That also helps you compete with everyone.

A second important aspect is that people are increasingly impatient and want immediate gratification. It’s something that’s always been a factor, but today, with Amazon providing same-day delivery, people expect speed. You are no longer compared to other window treatment retailers but to Amazon.

You must create ways for customers to quickly set up appointments—and be willing and able to make contact almost instantly. Have a healthy assortment of products that are made in days and can be received within days. Focus on speed in all aspects of your business, and you’ll quickly see a bounce in business. V