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Good salesman or Rogue Trader?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Guest Post by David

Sat a lead yesterday with a frail old lady in her eighties. She had already had a few windows done by one of the Nationals.

After a chat she revealed what she had paid for these windows and even showed me her invoice. The reputable company in question had charged the poor soul £2080.00 for one 1800×1200 window with 2 opening casements. The maximum retail we would charge on this would be about £500.00 max.

I do feel that they had taken advantage somewhat of a fairly vulnerable old lady.  Any company with less of a reputation would be classed as a rip off merchant and rogue trader. What are your renegade thoughts. Am I just too soft?

Regards

David

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Posted in Double Glazing, Guest Posts, Salespeople, uPVC Windows | 33 Comments »

The two classic mistakes business owners make

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Guest post by Roy Vassie

Following my comment on the recent blog posting ’should I close down my window company’ the RCG asked me for a guest posting outlining some of the classic errors I have seen companies in our sector of industry make on a regular basis.  After my first thought.. ‘there’s a series of books in this, how will I find the time to write them ‘. I gave the question some more thought and decided that rather than individual examples, of which I could literally quote thousands. I would go for the errors that cause the multitude of problems I see.

For those of you who don’t know me I will explain that through my work with Adminbase, I have been in the fortunate position to have been privy to the inner workings of hundreds of window and Conservatory companies over the years. I am as a result of this work acutely aware that many have succeeded in spite of their efforts rather than because of them.

In reply to the question ’should I close down my window company’ RCG outlined a number of issues that would need to be looked at in detail and addressed to ensure a company worked and operated profitably. The very fact that it was necessary for him to do this highlighted to me the most obvious problem I and my colleagues at Ab Initio see. The scenario goes something like this.
 
‘I’m too busy getting the work done to spend time analysing my business activity’s.’ or ‘I know I need to, but I just don’t have enough time to change things right now.’

This position is expressed by ones fortunate enough to have a full order book, the flip side of this being when the company is struggling with short lead times due to a shrinking order book, then we often hear.

‘I am too busy finding new, customers, reps, methods of generating leads to take time to spend time analysing my business activity’s.’ or ‘I know I need to, but I just don’t have enough time to change things right now, because I am too busy finding new, customers, reps, methods of generating leads.’ A truly self perpetuating problem.

So the most common mistake I see business owners making, is that many never make the time to stand back take a long hard look at their business and get in control. A simple but fundamental mistake, but one that I see made time after time, often by otherwise very intelligent capable people.

Then when the time comes or is forced upon the owner, or the company to take the ‘long hard look’ comes the second most common error.

They have taken a look at something that is very familiar and comfortable for them… their own business, and frequently draw the conclusion. ‘I have always done things this way and it’s worked just fine up till now’ or ‘Its not just my business that’s struggling everyone is in the same boat’

Different perspectives that both lead to the same point of view, that being to resolve to hang on in there, continue to do the same old things in the hope things will pick up.

The problem with this position is that the more radical thinkers amongst the competition, will steal the march on the guy that thinks this way, and in time our owner who is always too busy will be back in the ‘I am too busy finding new, customers, reps, methods of generating leads to take time to’ etc. etc. scenario.

I believe, the very competitive nature of our industry reinforces this problem. We dont have many who talk on a regular basis to their competitors, and of those that do, only a small minority will be honest about the issues they currently confront, especially the negative ones.

The strange thing is that the companies I personally know, who stand out as shining examples. (most of whom have done so for as long as I can remember) are the ones that buck that trend. They are willing to talk to virtually anyone about their businesses in an open and candid way; and they do so because they have found that this exposes them to new ideas and teaches them about others mistakes and as a result of this discourse they flourish.

As a company Ab Initio have held a number of seminars for our users over the years, to which we have invited customers from all over the country. The experience of meeting and discussing their businesses in detail with us and each other, has always been beneficial for both those companies and also for us, helping us as it does better understand the needs of our users.
 
So I guess that would lead me to conclude that the classic mistakes are.

1 Being unable to see the need for change within your own business or worse still being unaware of the need for change because you only have you own experiences to draw from.

2 The reluctance to make the changes that are needed, even when you know that change you must.

Roy Vassie
Ab Initio Software

http://www.abinitiosoftware.co.uk

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Posted in Guest Posts | 4 Comments »

WER scheme still has a long way to go before it can work

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Mark Hickox, Sales Director at Thermoseal Group discusses the requirement for ‘exchangeability’ of products in the Window Energy Rating Scheme (WER) and his view that the WER Scheme still has a way to go before it can work to the advantage of the whole industry.

 

mark hickox thermoseal

The EN1279 Euronorm for IG manufacturers allows for the ‘exchangeability’ of one brand of spacer for another one, so as long as a spacer is proven to provide the same or superior performance to the original test unit spacer, manufacturers can exchange products without the requirement for a re-test. This is the same for other IG unit components including sealant and desiccant.
We currently supply over half of the UK’s spacer requirements in the form of aluminium tube. This tube is sold with full details of its technical composition and proven performance information which means that insulated glass (IG) manufacturers can assess it in line with the current brand of aluminium spacer they are using and exchange the brand for a similar or better performing product.
 
Although we all agree that this system of ‘exchangeability’ must be regulated and controlled effectively to ensure that high standards of double glazing are encouraged and maintained, it ensures that the market remains open for new products. ‘Exchangeability’ will stop the market being dominated by a few organisations with plenty of available cash and big enough budgets to pay for hundreds of brand-specific tests.
 
‘Exchangeability’ also means that new products can be brought to market with the relative criteria proven by test data. This avoids component Manufacturers, IG manufacturers and window installers having to go through masses of red tape to change their products.
 
The Window Energy Rating (WER) scheme doesn’t currently allow for ‘exchangeability’ because simulations are performed based on IG components of which many are stated as brand names rather than a given specification of a technical data and a minimum performance standard.
 
This results in certain brands of WER products becoming successful because they have been included in more simulations than other products of equal or better technical composition and performance ability. This then leads to a crazy situation whereby a window installer cannot chose to install a superior product because it does not conform to his brand-specific WER.
 
Aren’t Window Installers entitled to choose a better performing product for their money?
 
There are many arguments for allowing ‘exchangeability’ of products which should be considered carefully. In particular, we must consider the fact that the financial stability of any suppliers into the IG market is not guaranteed. Over the past two years alone we have seen massive swings in exchange rates and commodity prices which have resulted in many seemingly solid businesses under-performing.   Therefore, it makes sound business sense and encourages a more stable and competitively priced market to allow for some flexibility. Besides, if the marketplace changes very quickly to warm edge as legislation suggests, then no single supplier will have the capacity to meet demand. This will leave IG manufacturers no choice but to use whatever they can get. The public, who will not notice the subtle differences between spacers, will be none the wiser.
 
Currently, WER scheme simulators are encouraged to use the branded products with the best performance figures to ensure that their customers can gain the highest possible Window Energy Ratings. Although the scheme is admirable in that it aims to improve the standards of double glazing in the interests of the homeowner, we’re concerned that it doesn’t seem to be working with IG businesses.
 
Only 38% of IG manufacturers positive about the WER scheme
 
We recently carried out a customer survey across our database of almost 2,000 IG manufacturers across the UK and only 38% of those who completed the survey were positive about the WER scheme. We also asked for their opinion as to whether they support the view that ‘exchangeability’ should be permitted in the WER scheme. Over 70% agreed that it should (the majority of the rest were undecided).
 
Over 70% agreed that product exchangeability should be permitted
 
Like many other suppliers into the UK window market, Thermoseal Group is planning to launch a new spacer tube (Thermobar) and several new products in 2010 which will have proven equal or higher thermal efficiency values than many of those currently available. However, operating under the current BFRC WER scheme guidelines, these products would have to be re-simulated by all users in all pre-registered WERs before they could be used.
 
We suggest that products should be selected by WER scheme simulators based on key performance indicators with relative criteria proven by the technical composition and test data of the product. This will put an element of the decision-making process back into the hands of the IG manufacturer who has the real experience of making sealed units. It will also help to retain a competitive business environment for suppliers.
 
As members of the GGF, we have invested a great deal of time and effort into attending many meetings around the UK so that we can join in the debates that we are assured will shape the future of our industry. So far there seems to be a lot of talking but the action remains to be seen.

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Posted in Energy Rated Windows, Guest Posts | 19 Comments »

Respect your customer’s time

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Guest post by Dave Blakeman of RPS

When a salesperson visits a customer, I believe they should show respect for that customer’s time. It’s remarkably simple (but rare) for a salesperson to put themselves in the customer’s shoes. This invoves doing simple things:-

Arrive when promised
Don’t out-stay your welcome
Do what you promised by when you promised it

In addition, I have a suggestion for the retail conservatory sales world. As a gesture of respect for the customer’s time, why not send them a small box of chocolates (or an M&S voucher) along with your quotation? And a small note saying “your time is important to me – please accept this as a small token for taking the time to see me”.

Say this costs £10/customer. Benefits would be:

1. The customer will be amazed – this is not how double glazing companies are expected to behave!
2. It’s almost inconceivable that your competition would do the same thing, so you’ve already ticked a “special” box that people didn’t realise existed!
3. If you don’t win the job, you’ll be in a great position to ask why. That feedback is invaluable – you’ve already given something special to the customer, and they will feel obliged to give you an honest answer back, rather than just fobbing you off with “the other quote was less” (price is a great excuse, but rarely the main reason to choose someone else)
4. Whether you win the job or not, you can be pretty certain the customer will tell others about it.
Sounds like £10 well spent to me (especially in the current climate). I’m not sure it would have the same impact in trade-trade sales, but we might well try it anyway!

If anyone decides to try this, let me know how it goes!

Dave is the MD of RPS (Roofwright) and has his own blog which is definitely worth following at:

http://daveblakeman.wordpress.com/

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Posted in Double Glazing, Guest Posts, Salespeople | 11 Comments »

Are our windows environmentally friendly?

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Here’s the Environmental Friendliness Test from the Integrity Windows new product development lab which clearly demonstrates the windows that we are fitting are not the most environmentally friendly.

Guest post by David Bingham of ConservatoryLand

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Posted in Funny Stories, Guest Posts, uPVC Windows | 3 Comments »

Are your windows unleaded?

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Guest post by Roger Hartshorne in response to Martin Randall’s recent post

I agree with all of your comments and sentiments, and congratulations on your new appointment within the GGF. I have read this website over the last 12 months and noted the comments without a response, however I think now is the time to make one or two points.

lead-free-windows

One of the major developments in recent times must be Lead Free Profile. Some system companies have either avoided the change or just chose not to do it. Lead Free petrol was launched to reduce pollution, everyone who buys petrol now buys lead free because its the right thing to do, some systems companies still supply lead stabilised window profiles, why?????. The only reason can be commercial gain for short term profit. Just imagine if you had to put the green skull and crossbones on your adverts for windows and imagine the conversations to explain this to Joe Public.

The systems companies have been guilty of not supplying new products over the last 3 or 4 years due to the constraints of reccession. Innovation has stalled, but this has been fed by the fabricators just wanting to buy cheap. I have met numerous fabricators who know that the system they fabricate is outdated, lead stabilised, restricted in terms of thermal performance, but cheap. This just allows the system companies to avoid expensive change of either tools, raw materials or both. Ultimately, who will lose out?

If you look at other industries then change and improvement is driven by the customer, everyone now accepts that their new fridge has an energy rating, every one accepts that your new fridge is fully recyclable without any nasty gases inside, yet why oh why do some fabricators keep knocking old outdated windows with no energy rating, made with soon to be illegal metal inside? Come on lads rather than moan about the market, look forward and embrace change and help push it forward rather than being dragged along.

Regards
Roger Hartshorne
http://liniar.co.uk/

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Posted in Environmental Issues, Guest Posts, uPVC Windows | 5 Comments »

All window fitters to be ‘on the books’ and no one seems concerned

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Occasionally, very occasionally, the industry seems to suffer from a lack of communication, total disinterest or a general malaise, especially when there are things on the horizon that set out to fundamentally alter the way the Window Industry works.

Over the last couple of months the GGF, direct and through its FENSA subsidiary, have communicated to all their members/registered companies about the impending desire by government to change the tax collection methods in the industry. This call was first taken up by the Construction Industry Media, and followed by press releases from the Get Britain Building organisation and the GGF. They have all been pushing the message to anyone that would listen, the need to sign up to register objections to the proposed changes via the No 10 Web site.

These new tax changes are said by the government paper to affect some 250,000 – 900,000 individuals.

Going by the number of respondents to the petition on the No 10 web site, less than 1,800 people seem to be interested.

The conclusions we get from that are:

No one actually cares.
No one actually reads anything from their trade representatives.
No one takes their trade media out of its poly bag when it arrives.
No one believes that the No. 10 petition site has any relevance.

People believe as they are already signed up for ‘The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)’ on self employment it doesn’t affect them.

Or there is just a general malaise, and they have to accept the way the world is changing around them.

The government paper on the subject is full of the usual spin, and contradictions. It tries to say one thing then clouds the issues with double meanings. Slide into law something low key and leave the real meaning to later.

Trying to paraphrase some of it and how it might affect the Window Industry:

Self-employed, even those that are registered via the CIS scheme, will no longer mean just that. Tax & NIC will have to be collected by the Window Company on behalf on the Window Installer unless certain criteria are met. I have tried to outline them in a Window Industry context.

The contractor will in future be seen as self employed for tax purposes only when:

1 the contractor supplies ALL the plant – (in the window industry) tools and van – (corporate identity?).
2 the contractor is responsible for all the costs with the client (customer), they would have to buy the frames in, with the final balance going into their own bank account. (Everest & Anglian will love that).
3 they do not have continuity of work with one company, which in itself would imply regular employment (they would need to be seen to work for more than 1 company).
4 they pay the wages, i.e. Main Installers pays his own mate (presumably by PAYE).

In other words if the proposal goes through all window fitters could in effect finish up on the books, with pay and conditions similar to all other employees. Just think of all the tools window companies will have to start buying – fitters will probably no longer be able to offset them against tax. Then there is the holiday pay, then the pay for sitting around because they can’t get to site because of the weather. So on and so on.

The real surprise is that no one seems overly concerned about these changes to the status of the industry and that all the trade press in recent months has failed to get the message over.

Or is it that everyone is so busy chasing the next order they haven’t had the time to register the information?

Guest post by Ian McDougall
Fenestration News

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Posted in Guest Posts | 18 Comments »

Poor customer service to trade customers

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Dear Matthew

Thought you might be interested to hear about the surprising lack of support I’ve had recently when trying to get a manufacturer of colour bonded frames in South Oxfordshire to rectify defects in the brown painted windows they supplied. Upon unwrapping the windows on site, we discovered that several of the bead corners were clearly showing white where the bead had been painted in one long length and then cut to size. There was a touch-up paint pot supplied, presumably for us to finish off such manufacturing sloppiness, but was the wrong colour, so I embarked on a mission to get a rep out to paint the exposed areas.

customerservice

After repeatedly being fobbed off by MD’s son I pushed him for an actual time, day or even week when they would send some one out, he mockingly replied, “Well it should be this year!” -this was in mid-November, some four weeks ago, and it appears that even that derisive promise was a lie. That has been the most extensive support I’ve received from the company to date.

As a last-ditch effort to get some sort of assurance for my customer, I emailed to the three company directors demanding an actual date that they would send someone out and stated that failure to respond would leave me no option but to seek assistance from elsewhere and pass on the costs to them. That was two weeks ago, with no response from any of them. What kind of company treats it’s customers with such contempt?

Now, all this is frustrating enough as you can imagine, but the real kicker is that all the while my customer is refusing to pay for any of their windows, but the company supply me COD, so I’ve already paid for them, a cash-flow discrepancy which caused a great deal of stress and extra costs in managing, and that is why I’ve felt compelled to write to you and spread the story – we have enough headaches managing non payments from difficult customers, we don’t need sabotage from our suppliers as well.

In the end I gave up trying to get the company to care and bought the correct colour paint and a spray gun and fixed the problem myself, resulting in a happy & paying customer and no more business from me for the colour bonding company in South Oxfordshire.

Perhaps my story could serve as a warning to anyone else considering paying COD for supply of painted plastic windows in South Oxfordshire? As a regular and previously un-troubling customer to the company, I was disappointed (to say the least!) by their attitude and I’m sure my treatment can’t have been an isolated case.

If anyone out there can supply WHS Esthetique with painted finish, please contact me as we have another order to supply as an add on to previous work supplied to us by the company.

Regards,

Mike Harvey Rice
Paragon Windows

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Posted in Guest Posts, uPVC Windows | 13 Comments »

Smoke and mirrors | BFRC Rating Scheme

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Guest post by Kevin Ahern

In my recent quest to understand the BFRC rating scheme, I seem to have misunderstood a lot of what the scheme is all about so I thought I would try to simplify my current thoughts in the topic.

energy_rated-Window

The BFRC claim that A rated windows are net heat providers of your home. Ref. Giles Willson (at Glassex), Maurice Levitt (consultant and physicist), various correspondence, Graham Hinett (Fensa Times Dec 09) et al, and I am sure, many others, on numerous occasions, yet the BFRC guidance notes explain that the scheme is purely a comparison for windows and NOT an absolute performance measurement.

You see my confusion?

The document that explains the calculation of the formula (that has been peer, industry and academia reviewed) suggests that the sun provides more power in Aberdeen than it does in Plymouth. You see my confusion?

The same document goes into great detail about a Dutch reference house and quotes a number of British and European standards (and uses them negligibly) but does not state the reference source of the solar data that it uses. Calculations from the ASHRAE standards in the US suggest UK solar flux of up to 275 KWhrs/sq mtr (South facing) and 15Kwhrs /sq mtr (North), yet the BFRC manages to arrive at an average of 218.6 Kwhrs in their formula.

You see my confusion?

The scheme has been proposed as the only method of compliance to the 2010 part L regs, yet its administrators do not appear to grasp the issue of whether the WER is an accurate energy assessment or a marketing window comparison tool.

You see my confusion?

We are now being asked to pay lots of money to the BFRC for the privilege of having our products and businesses assessed to this compliance criteria in return for a colourful piece of paper, in which the resultant rating is neither a comparison or a net heat balance figure, or both.

You see my confusion?

Those amongst us who are actively selling A Rated windows to the public as net heaters of their property, could well be actually mis-selling and telling our customers lies (if the BFRC guidance notes 2007 are still valid). Could the customer sue you if your salesmen sold your windows as providing more heat than they lost?

You see my confusion?

Now the easy bit, this scheme has been purportedly government supported and designed to help the general public better understand the products we are selling them, ironically, along the way the BFRC appear to have forgotten the fundamentals of what their rating scheme is!

On the positive side, at least the scheme has the potential to be the only tool for the government to police our domestic replacement window industry, and a further benefit, by a strange coincidence (with the amount of solar gain claimed in the formula), it would also seem to offer an extended shelf life to some of the older generation Low E glasses, that, while not offering the best U values, let just enough more sun in to balance that problem out!

You see my confusion?

I have attempted to address some of these issues with the BFRC, but unfortunately, they give the impression that they are the scientists and therefore know best. The technical responses would appear to be based on the smoke and mirrors approach and actual answers very difficult to get to.

To summarise, I think the scheme has fallen between 2 camps, energy rating and window comparison, but wants to be seen as all things to all people. The problem lies in the application, accuracy and authenticity of the solar data , which for the purpose of windows in this heating dominant climate, is of limited value and should be thus be ignored anyway. The only data on the certificates, should be the window characteristics, (U and G values), and if the government wants to reduce fuel consumption it should insulate and use U values.

Any winter solar benefit (or summer overheating cost) is so dependant on specific site installation criteria (window size, orientation, trees, neighbouring houses and any other shading) that it has little or no place in a national window rating scheme for the installation of product into existing housing stock.

Ask yourself a question. Low iron glass, why ? Is this marvelous UV transparent product such a benefit to our society that we have long neglected it at our cost? Or is it just another gimmick to scrape a few more theoretical numbers on to our colourful pieces of paper?

Are we as an industry doing our bit to help James Strawbridge save the planet? Are we as an industry helping the government with the building regs 2010 Part L implementation?

Or, as some may argue, is the window industry taking the Mick out of Mr Strawbridge, the building regs, you and me, and worst of all, the consumer?

You see my confusion?

Kevin Ahern

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Posted in Double Glazing, Energy Rated Windows, Environmental Issues, Guest Posts, uPVC Windows | 4 Comments »

How secure are locking window handles?

Friday, November 27th, 2009

I’ve never really liked locking window handles due to the need to escape in case of fire. The tiny keys get lost and even standard double glazed units are incredibly strong and can be difficult to break for some people.

The push-to-lock type that can be locked without a key are even worse as children tend to push them, locking the handles even after the keys have been lost.

As for security, I’m not sure how useful they are either. An intruder would have to break the glass anyway to open an unlocked handle.

Like most suppliers, we supply locking window handles as standard simply because customers want them for security purposes, however the following video demonstrates how insecure some types of locks can be, particularly the older types.

Guest post by David Bingham of ConservatoryLand

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Posted in Guest Posts, uPVC Windows | 5 Comments »

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