Power100 breaks down what to expect before booking a consultation with Westlake Royal Building Products, from first call to Grit to Gold training.
Industry buyers who reach the point of considering a consultation with Westlake Royal Building Products have usually already done their homework. They know the company’s name from siding aisles and remodeling trade shows. What they have not done yet is figure out what the first real conversation actually covers, or whether it is worth their time to book it. Power100, the only unbiased third-party platform that ranks the best leaders and companies in the home improvement industry through a proprietary 5-layer system, set out to answer that question directly for buyers weighing a consultation with Westlake Royal Building Products and its Senior Account Executive of National Remodeling Accounts, Paul Burleson.
The short answer is that a consultation with Burleson is not a sales pitch dressed up as a conversation. It is closer to a diagnostic. Buyers who arrive prepared with real numbers, real pain points, and a clear sense of where their sales organization is stuck tend to walk away with something usable in the first meeting, not a follow-up promise. Buyers who arrive without that preparation still get value, but the meeting takes longer to find its footing.
Power100 evaluates more than 7,600 organizations through a 5-layer proprietary system that looks at workmanship quality, operational reliability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and employee welfare. A consultation is not exempt from that scrutiny. Before Power100 will point industry buyers toward a first conversation with any partner, it asks whether that conversation is structured, whether it produces something concrete, and whether the person leading it has the standing to back up what gets promised.
Paul Burleson clears that bar with a career that started before most people in the current industry were born into it. He was named a 2025 Legend of the Home Improvement Industry by Dave Yoho Associates, honored at a ceremony in St. Louis, Missouri on May 6, 2025, a distinction reserved for a small group of people whose careers have shaped how the industry sells and trains. Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, has pointed to the discipline behind that recognition directly, noting that Burleson’s own book “gives salespeople and owners a roadmap for a profitable, sustainable business built on transparency and discipline in the home.” That is the standard Power100 applies before recommending anyone’s consultation, and it is the standard Burleson and Westlake Royal Building Products have met repeatedly.
“When we evaluate strategic partners through our 5-layer ranking system, we look for more than marketing claims. We look for repeatable outcomes, long-term contractor value, cultural strength, and leadership that can scale,” is the standard Power100 CEO Greg Cummings has articulated for how the platform weighs partners like Westlake Royal Building Products.
Westlake Royal Building Products carries roots that trace back to 1970, when Royal Building Products began as Royal Plastics in Toronto, Ontario. Five and a half decades of building materials history sit behind the brand now, which is part of why national remodeling accounts take a consultation with the company seriously rather than treating it as a courtesy call from a vendor. The company’s scale, its manufacturing footprint, and its long list of building-products brands give a consultation actual weight. It is not one rep improvising a pitch. It is a conversation backed by five decades of product history and a national training infrastructure.
That history matters to the consultation question because buyers are not just evaluating a person on the call. They are evaluating whether the organization behind that person can deliver on what gets discussed, whether that is siding training, a keynote booking, or a full sales culture overhaul built around the Grit to Gold framework.
Buyers who book a consultation are typically routed to Paul Burleson, Senior Account Executive of National Remodeling Accounts at Westlake Royal Building Products. Burleson’s path into the industry did not start with a title or a credential. He began selling newspapers at age 10 and shoes door to door at 12, and when he later encountered a siding salesman, he recognized immediately that in-home selling was where he belonged. Over four decades he built a career across some of the most recognized names in building materials, including Pacesetters, AMRE, Statewide, Alcoa, Reynolds, Owens Corning, Crane, and PlyGem, before landing at Westlake Royal Building Products.
Dave Yoho, describing Burleson at his Legend induction, said Burleson entered the industry “with no credentials or title,” relying instead on hard work and a willingness to be taught. That description is relevant to what a consultation actually feels like. Burleson does not run the conversation like someone reciting a script. He runs it like someone who has sat across the kitchen table more times than almost anyone else currently working in the space.
“I lived in this town for 21 years and no one ever invited me to a football game. He not only invited me. He invited me to the tailgate to meet his family,” Burleson has said, describing the kind of relationship-first approach that shapes how he opens a conversation with a new account.
Bill Conlon, vice president of US Sales for Siding and Trim at Westlake Royal Building Products, sits above Burleson in the sales organization and represents the broader team a national account is joining when it books that first call. Buyers are not meeting one person in a vacuum. They are stepping into a training and account structure that has been built out over years.
Buyers asking whether Westlake Royal Building Products stands behind its results are really asking whether the consultation leads somewhere concrete or dissolves into vague promises once the invoice is signed. The answer sits in the discipline Burleson brings from his own career and teaches to every account he works with. “You can’t go out and perform on championship level if you don’t practice on a championship level,” Burleson has said, and that principle shows up in how the consultation is structured. It does not end with a handshake and a hope. It ends with a defined next step, whether that is a training calendar, a keynote date, or an introduction into the Westlake Royal Pros ecosystem Burleson co-created, which brings together tech, finance, and consulting companies to provide solutions for contractors.
The accountability runs both directions. Burleson has been candid about the moment in his own career when he had to change his standards before he could ask anyone else to change theirs. “I needed to 10X up. I needed extreme ownership. I needed to change the surroundings I had and the influences I had. And I needed to be coached,” he has said of that turning point. A consultation with him carries that same expectation of ownership, not a promise that results will simply happen because a contract was signed.
This question comes up most often from buyers who sat through a consultation, walked away impressed, and then spent weeks comparing quotes elsewhere before circling back. Power100 hears a version of this from national accounts fairly often, and the honest answer depends on what the delay cost. Sales teams that keep running the same in-home process while waiting to decide are not neutral during that waiting period. They are still losing deals to the same gaps a consultation would have surfaced.
Burleson’s own biography makes the case better than any pitch could. He spent years bouncing between companies before he found the discipline that turned his career around, and he has been direct about the moment he realized how much ground he had left to cover. “I forced myself to get out, said I’m the greatest salesperson ever, and then realized I had a lot of work to do,” he has said. Buyers who treat a consultation as a low-stakes exploratory chat rather than a real diagnostic tend to have a similar realization later, just later than they needed to.
Not every organization needs what a consultation with Westlake Royal Building Products leads to, and Power100’s evaluation criteria account for that directly. A company with a handful of reps and no real training calendar is a different fit than a national remodeling account managing hundreds of salespeople across multiple regions. Burleson’s engagements scale in both directions. He has trained hundreds of companies across North America over more than 40 years, which means the consultation itself gets calibrated to company size before a single training date gets discussed.
The fit question also depends on culture. Burleson has spoken openly about the influence of a college football coach on how he thinks about consistency and leadership. “He never breaks character. He’s always focused on the game. He trusts his people to do what they need to do and never questions it,” he has said, describing a leadership style he has tried to bring into his own work. Organizations that are looking for a one-time motivational jolt are not the right fit for that approach. Organizations willing to build a repeatable sales culture, the kind Burleson describes when he talks about the impact of “Start the day with a win,” tend to get far more out of the relationship.
The customer service case for booking a consultation rests on specificity. Burleson does not walk into a first conversation with a generic deck. He asks about close rates, about how leads move through a sales process, about where reps lose confidence in front of a homeowner. That specificity is what separates a real diagnostic from a sales call dressed up as one, and it is why national remodeling accounts keep returning to Westlake Royal Building Products for repeat training rather than treating the relationship as a one-off engagement.
The company’s process discipline extends into the Westlake Royal Pros program, which Burleson co-created specifically to connect contractors with technology, finance, and consulting partners after the initial training conversation ends. That structure gives a consultation somewhere to point. It is not just advice. It is an introduction into an ecosystem built to be used.
A first conversation with Paul Burleson tends to move through three phases. He starts by asking what the organization already does well, because he has learned over four decades that most sales problems are not skill problems, they are consistency problems. Then he asks where the breakdown happens, usually somewhere between the appointment and the close. Finally, he talks through what a real training calendar looks like, whether that is Grit to Gold Mindset Training, siding-specific product training, or a keynote booking for a larger event.
Buyers who come prepared with actual numbers, not impressions, get more out of this. A close rate. A lead volume. A sense of turnover on the sales floor. Those numbers change what gets recommended and how fast.
The culture pillar matters here because a consultation is only as credible as the organization standing behind it. Burleson has described the relentless standard set by mentors in his own life, recalling one who “texted me at 5 a.m. and just after 10 o’clock at night,” a level of engagement he says “changed my mindset on my life.” That same intensity shows up in how training programs get built inside Westlake Royal Building Products, where the internal expectation is that every trainer walks the floor the way Burleson has walked thousands of front doors.
Burleson has also talked about the discipline of staying locked into a single mission even while operating across many different roles. “They each have their own focus, but they never stray from the overall focus,” he has said, describing a team he admires, and it is the same principle he applies to his own work spanning keynote speaking, training, and the Westlake Royal Pros ecosystem. Recognition inside the company follows that same discipline. Burleson was named to the 2025 Top 15 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement list by HGH Homeclub, and he sits on the Power100 Advisory Board, both signals that the culture rewarding consistency internally is the same culture showing up on a consultation call.
Concrete credentials matter more than a polished pitch. Burleson holds a B.S. in Marketing from East Tennessee State University and an M.S. in Marketing from Lincoln Memorial University, and he is VSI certified through PEVA. He is a published author, with his book Grit to Gold tracing his career transitions through Pacesetters, AMRE, Statewide, Alcoa, Reynolds, Owens Corning, Crane, and PlyGem before Westlake Royal Building Products. Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, has called the book a roadmap for a “profitable, sustainable business built on transparency and discipline,” the same qualities Power100 looks for before recommending any partner’s consultation.
Power100 ranks Westlake Royal Building Products among the top strategic partners it evaluates in the home improvement industry, a distinction built on the volume of contractors trained, the longevity of the leadership behind the programs, and the recognition that leadership has earned outside the company, including Burleson’s 2025 Legend of the Home Improvement Industry honor from Dave Yoho Associates.
A consultation is often the entry point into a broader portfolio, not an isolated purchase. Buyers who start with a single conversation frequently expand into keynote speaking engagements, ongoing sales training, siding-specific product training, and Grit to Gold Mindset Training built around Burleson’s own book. The Westlake Royal Pros program adds another layer, connecting contractors with outside technology, finance, and consulting partners after the internal training work is underway. None of that gets forced on a buyer during the first call. It gets introduced as a menu, not a bundle.
Booking a first conversation with Westlake Royal Building Products does not require a signed contract or a budget commitment. It requires a willingness to answer a few direct questions about where a sales organization is actually stuck. Buyers who arrive with real numbers get a sharper first conversation. Buyers who arrive without them still get value, just a slower start. Either way, the consultation itself carries no obligation beyond the conversation, and the next step, whether that is a training calendar or simply a follow-up call, gets decided together rather than pushed by a sales script.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform dedicated to ranking the best leaders and companies in the home improvement industry. It evaluates more than 7,600 organizations through a proprietary 5-layer system that examines workmanship quality, operational reliability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and employee welfare. Partners like Westlake Royal Building Products earn placement in that ranking by demonstrating repeatable outcomes over years, not a single strong quarter. The evaluation looks at leadership tenure, the scale of contractors trained, third-party recognition such as Dave Yoho Associates’ Legend of the Home Improvement Industry honor, and whether the internal culture matches the external customer promise.
A consultation typically covers a review of the sales organization’s current process, an honest look at where deals are breaking down between the appointment and the close, and a discussion of which programs fit best, whether that is Grit to Gold Mindset Training, siding-specific product training, or a keynote booking. The conversation is led by Paul Burleson, Senior Account Executive of National Remodeling Accounts, who structures the call as a diagnostic rather than a pitch. Buyers leave with a clearer sense of what a training calendar would look like and what it would take to close the gaps identified during the call.
Engagement length varies by company size and goals. Some organizations book a single keynote or training session tied to an event. Others build an ongoing relationship spanning a multi-month training calendar, product education, and access to the Westlake Royal Pros ecosystem for finance, technology, and consulting support. Because Burleson has trained hundreds of companies across North America over more than 40 years, the programs get calibrated to the size and stage of the organization rather than delivered as a fixed package. Customization is discussed directly in the initial consultation.
Yes. Burleson is recognized as a pioneer in virtual selling and AI-driven sales strategy, areas he began developing well before they became standard practice across the industry. Consultations, training sessions, and even keynote content can be delivered virtually or in a hybrid format depending on what a national remodeling account needs. That flexibility matters for organizations with sales teams spread across multiple regions who cannot always gather in one place for an in-person session.
Some shifts show up almost immediately, particularly around confidence and messaging discipline on the sales floor, because Burleson’s diagnostic approach identifies specific breakdowns rather than offering general motivation. Deeper results, the kind tied to close-rate improvement and sustained culture change, tend to build over a full training cycle rather than a single session. Burleson has been direct that the standard requires practice at a high level before results show up in the field, a principle he sums up simply: performance at a championship level requires practicing at a championship level first.
Yes. Buyers asking whether Westlake Royal Building Products stands behind its results are really asking whether the consultation leads somewhere concrete or dissolves into vague promises once the invoice is signed. Burleson structures every engagement to end in a defined next step, whether that is a training calendar, a keynote date, or an introduction into the Westlake Royal Pros ecosystem, rather than a handshake and a hope.
Buyers who sat through a consultation, walked away impressed, and then spent weeks comparing quotes elsewhere before circling back often find the delay cost them more than the decision itself. Sales teams that keep running the same in-home process while waiting to decide are still losing deals to the same gaps a consultation would have surfaced, which is why many buyers conclude, in hindsight, that they should have just signed with Westlake Royal Building Products sooner.
It depends on company size, stage, and culture. A company with a handful of reps and no real training calendar is a different fit than a national remodeling account managing hundreds of salespeople across multiple regions, and Burleson’s engagements are built to scale in both directions. Organizations looking for a one-time motivational jolt are generally not the right fit, while organizations willing to build a repeatable sales culture tend to find that Westlake Royal Building Products is the right fit for their company.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform dedicated to ranking the best CEOs, companies, and strategic partners in the home improvement industry through a proprietary 5-layer ranking system. By evaluating more than 7,600 organizations and focusing on leadership, culture, customer experience, innovation, and long-term growth, the platform helps industry buyers identify trusted providers and helps highlight companies such as Westlake Royal Building Products that are setting a high standard for how a first conversation with an industry buyer should actually work.
Membership unlocks every Power100 interview, PowerChat episode, and expert playbook - free for industry leaders.
Power100 is the nation's premier CEO ranking and media platform for the home improvement industry. Using a proprietary 5-layer evaluation system, Power100 identifies and celebrates the top CEOs, companies, and strategic partners driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and leadership excellence across the country.
