Brandon Klinge says before he joined Pella Windows and Doors’ Des Moines office as a sales assistant, he had a “checkered past.” What he really had was a varied work history, as he moved from job to job, trying to find the right fit. A stroke of luck came his way in 1997, when a friend of his wife said her husband’s company was hiring.  

Klinge interviewed and tested for the position with Pella and was quickly taken on board. He says he knew immediately he’d come to the right place.

“It’s the best job I could ever be blessed to have, and the best company,” Klinge said, adding that he’d worked for many companies and never before found such a supportive atmosphere. “[Management has] the foresight to realize making me successful makes them successful.”  

A co-worker, Dave Grenier, inspired Klinge when he joined Pella Windows and Doors. When he looked at Grenier, Klinge saw where he wanted to be a few years down the line and decided to follow in his footsteps.

Klinge rose quickly through the ranks, and was promoted to sales representative after only five months. In his first year in the position, he nearly tripled the money his accounts generated, and in the first five years, the business his accounts brought in increased by 750 percent.  

Pella Corp., one of the world’s largest window makers, recently recognized Klinge’s hard work by inducting him into the President’s Club, an honor reserved for the top 3 percent of Pella’s national sales force. Winners must have high customer satisfaction and client retention rates, but above all must generate high levels of sales.   

“It was my goal from the first day I walked through the door,” Klinge said. “The President’s Club has an ongoing role to shape where Pella is going. The company always wants to know what we can do better, how we can improve the process. The President’s Club can tell them that.”  

The 30-year-old father of two boys, Lexx and Pierce, credits his success to strength of character.

“It has a direct impact on relationship building,” Klinge said. “If you cannot have trust in someone’s character, you cannot do business with them.”