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Double Glazing Blogger: February 2010

Friday, February 26, 2010

We Are Out Of Recession After All

The revised figure for how much the economy grew (or contracted) over the last quarter was revealed today. It turns out that the economy did better than was first thought. The last quarter of 2009 saw a growth of 0.3%.

It could be higher yes, but it shows that the economy might be a little stronger than some may have anticipated. But, as with everything with the economy, there was something to take the shine of better than expected results. The pound has taken a bit of a battering over the last couple of days. Investors are looking more and more at the pound as a less attractive prospect. Plus we have a miserable interest rate from an investor point of view. We aren't making a good enough case for businesses to invest in this country.

On a completely different subject, fuel. More precisely the price of it. It's getting rediculous now. Oil prices have come down from nearly $84 a barrel, which has caused prices to get to where they are now. Over the past few weeks they have settled at about $77, so where is the drop in fuel prices? It actually went up today by another penny, taking petrol and diesel to 109.9p a litre.

I managed to speak to one of our delivery drivers earlier in the week and he explained that on a steady week he could fill up his arctic for about £700! Now multiply that by 50 and your looking at at least £35000 for one vehicle alone. To me, these figures are absolutely disgusting. This is the reason why haulage companies are struggling so bad, and the reason why the prices of everyday good are sky rocketing also. We have forgotten about the fuel problem because of the more immediate problems with the wider economy. The scpetic in me says that the average prices of windows and doors are going to go up this year. We'll wait and see.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Changes Coming To This Blog Soon

For a while now people have been telling me to invest in the blog and move it away from the blogspot format. Well I am now doing so and have asked http://www.degrafik.co.uk/ to re-create this blog with it's own domain name and space. This will hopefully draw more visitors to the site, make commenting a lot easier and provide a clearer platform for debate and discussion.

As of now no date has been set for this to happen, but from a personal point of view I want it to be up and running as soon as possible.

The layout is going to be roughly the same to keep it looking familiar to those who already view the site regularly. Changing the look may do more harm than good. Yesterday was by far the best day for visitor numbers to the website, no doubt due to the reporting of the MBO of Synseal, but hopefully some of those new visitors will return to view the site regularly. Google is becoming the main source of traffic to the blog, and I know that while it remains in the blogspot format there will be limits to how far it can grow and expand.

I started the blog in March 2008 and it has done better than I thought it ever would, but I want it to expand further, perhaps even challenge the RCG site! I don't see why it can't. I've set up a decent enough format, I now need to just step it up a gear or two.

As soon as I know when this will be happening it'll be posted on here!

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Dissatisfied Customers Making Themselves Heard

As has been said many times, as well as this blog, the more people get to grip with the internet, the more customers who are dissatisfied will air their views publicly.

Take Mr Marten for example. He left his story on http://www.double-glazing-forum.com/. He was unhappy with the work a company (who will remain nameless for legal and knee-cap reasons) carried out for him in 2009. The job was so unsatisfactory, and because damage had been done to his property, a court case ensued. I'm not going to divulge specifics, but if any of you are interested in what has happened, or the result of the court case, then visit the web address above and follow the link to his website. It's worth a few minutes of your time.

I'm going to try not to mention company names when it comes to serious matters like this. I realise I tread a fine line when I do so, so for now, I'll just stick to national bashing!

This is another example of how customers can exact their revenge if installations are not professionally done. It seems like complete ignorance and stupidity to me that companies still do not put as much effort as they should into quality of installation and customer services. This is quite an elaborate website and Mr Marten has gone to some effort to get across his message. Companies should listen and see where they can improve. If they don't they risk the same happening to them.

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Synseal Gets Bought Out...Aagin

Today's big announcement was Synseal completing a MBO, and merging with global private equity firm H.I.G. Capital Ltd.


Part of the statement released read:


The management team of Synseal announced today that it had purchased the share capital of Synseal Extrusions Ltd and Allerford Holdings Ltd from Gary Dutton MBE for an undisclosed sum.


The successful culmination of several months of negotiation was concluded with the partnership of H.I.G. Capital Ltd a global private equity business.

David Leng, Chief Executive commented:


“We are very excited to be driving Synseal through its next period of growth. We can see some great opportunities for ourselves and our customers in a fragmented window and conservatory market. We have a very strong manufacturing and logistics base that delivers first class product on time, every time, and we aim to make that really count for our customers.


Synseal has historically grown by offering the right product at the right price and we will be developing those values in the future.


Our customers can expect to see an increase in pace of product development and more help with marketing and new markets.”


“We are delighted to be supporting David and his team in working to consolidate the window and roof extrusion industry. Synseal is a great business and will do very well in a tough market place” said Paul Canning Managing Director of HIG.


When takeover's occur, the immediate thought turns to jobs. As we have seen with the Kraft takeover of Cadbury, no guarantee was made to safeguard jobs, then a week later they announced a factory would close within two years, with the loss of hundreds of jobs. Will the new owners of Synseal make any sort of guarantees to keep jobs safe, or do they have a cost cutting plan in mind?

One thing that is certain, Gary Dutton will be a rather wealthy man now. What will he do with all his time and money?


MBO's/mergers/takeovers don't always turn out to be the best option. Lets hope Synseal stay on the right track and prosper in difficult times.

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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I'm A Double Glazing Salesman And WER's Was My Idea

It seems to me that there is going to be a lot more scrutiny of the WER scheme to come. The big question going around is how reliable and accurate are the methods that are used to calculate all the facts and figures needed to judge how efficient a window actaully is. The last thing we need is for the public to think that the window industry doesn't have any confidence is the scheme that we are all (I say all, about 20% of us) are pushing.

Unfortunately, the title above is a lie. I am a double glazing salesman, but I didn't invent the WER scheme. If I had, I would be raking it in right now. I bet the GGF and BFRC can't wait till October. Once Part L has been changed to having to have a WER certificate to show compliance, they will make a fortune in certification fees. Tens of millions in fact.

For all the mountains of money they will make, the question I want to ask is will the window industry see any investment back. Will the GGF give window companies any sort of simplified formula to explain WER's properly. Will we recieve any sales literature to help us with customers. I'm not holding out much hope.

Come New Year 2011, we can expect plenty of bankruptcies, probably from small to medium concerns. Suppliers really have to pull their finger out now otherwise they are going to bite the dust, in a similar way to when FENSA was introduced.

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Sunday, February 21, 2010

Stupid Sales Gimmicks

I don't know if it's just me, but some of the sales gimmicks going around over the past 12-18 months have been getting slowly more rediculous.

Recently, Coral have been advertising 'Free' 42" HD TV's if you place an order with them. Doesn't seem to rediculous you may think, if the customer buys a conservatory the TV will come in handy.

A bit more on the stupid side is an offer by a company last year which was advertising a free puppy if you placed an order with them. I can't remember the name of the company, which is a shame because I think the same company had another stupid give away, if I remember what that was I'll update this post!

Another stupid sales gimmick is 'we pay the VAT'. Well, no they don't. Everyone pays VAT. 17.5% gets worked into cost just for it to be taken back off again, desguised as ther VAT being taken off. Customers aren't that gullable that they think they can get away from the tax man. Companies should give the consumer a bit more credit.

A fourth gimmick that never impresses me is the 'we pay you for your old windows' tactic. Come on, who in their right mind is seriously going to believe that any company, especially in times as hard as these are going to give you the customer money for your old crappy windows. Even if it was half plausable, the customer wouldn't get cash in their hand, it'll just be used as a 'discount' and worked into the price to be taken back off again.

I guess what I'm getting as is that the more of these spur of the moment advertising gimmicks spring up, the more desperate companies are going to luck. Consumers are going back to basics now. They want to know about the product, the company. Not how much they can get discounted if they sign right this second. They don't want a free TV, they want a product that is going to perform well.

I'm not saying sales tactics don't work. Some of them do. But free TV's, pets, no VAT and 'buying your old windows' are gimmicks which makes companies look desperate. There's something wrong if a company has to resort to these ways of selling, rather than selling on the merits of their own products.

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Bankruptcy Figures Out For January

The latest figures from http://www.double-glazing-forum.com/ have shown that another 192 businesses in our industry went bust last month. Personally I don't know what to make of that. 192 is still a significant number, but no different really from the 195 that went in December. So we can't say things got worse in January, nor can we say it got a whole lot better. I don't think we can say that there is some sort of stablisation going on either. I know from what has been written on the website above Kings Conservatory Village in Leeds has recently gone, a huge player in the conservatory roof market may be in danger, plus a big sliding sash company has also suffered pretty badly.

I said in an earlier post that depending on what figures get released for January, that may determine the current health of the double glazing industry. This however is so middle of the road I don't think you can't take much away from those figures. Once we get March's figures we should get a better indication of the health of our industry.

But from what we already know ourselves, the one thing that we are all certain of is that trading conditions remain very tough. I don't think there will be a sustained strong recovery for years, and depending on who wins the next election, that could have an impact of the economic health of the country also. So for now, we have to just keep working hard, constantly review ourselves, scale back where necessary, even if that means losing a showroom or staff, and make sure the business survives, because once prosperity makes a comeback, those of us who are still here will reap big rewards.

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Friday, February 19, 2010

Which Government Is Best?

As if any of you didn't know, there is a general election coming up in May, and this one really does matter. The way things are shaped now, we could end up having our first hung Parliament.

But, this is still uncertain. The Tories could still form the next government, but if they carry on losing the points they gained from Labour, they could still be in power by next May.

My personal opinion is that if the Conservatives win, they could do a lot of damage to an already fragile window industry. The reason? They want to cut like there's no tomorrow. They think the best option is to plunge the economy into the next age of austerity. If they carry out their planned immediate swingeing cuts, we can say goodbye to any sort of consumer confidence. They will be putting the recovery at risk.

Labour on the other hand have said they will put back any major spending cuts for another year. There is logic behind this. Providing the economy grows during that year, any extra GDP the country makes will go towards shrinking the budget deficit, which is the main issue. Once the economy has become stable, cuts can be made without plunging the country back into major problems. From the window industry's point of view, this has to be the best way to go about things. To make immediate cut backs now will kill consumer confidence and eradicate any ground gained.

I don't want this to sound like a party political broadcast, but doing it Labour's way has a lot less risk for the double glazing industry. Things are hard enough as it is, we don't need it any worse.

Going back to the hung Parliament situation. I'm not confident enough that the MP's will be able to form a fully functioning, efficient Government. There is too much squabbling, and the task of picking a leader to run the coalition Government could be an impossible one. Moreover, the task of dealing with the deficit could become more difficult. Half of the Government would support immediate cost cutting, the other may not.

I know who I'm voting for!

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How Many Installers Are Really Pushing Energy Rated Windows?

WER's have done well for the window industry. I know there is an argument about how we actually come to get accurate values to come up with an eventual rating, but that aside, it's given the customer something quantifiable. Just like white goods have the same energy scaling, customers instantly recognise it. But how many of us are really pushing energy efficiency of windows to it's full potential?

The most likely scenario when it comes to energy efficiency is a customer will go into a showroom and get a demonstration from a salesman. He'll show them the usual, locks, profile types, colours, security etc and then briefly touch energy efficiency, he might even tell them the rating their windows have. If the customers is switched on he/she will ask what is the difference between an 'A' rated window to an 'E' rated window. Thats when reps should be able to impress the customer with their expert knowledge of what makes their window so efficient. If he can, good start, but it's nowhere near the end of what he should be telling the customer. From there he needs to be telling the customer/s all the potential benefits energy efficient windows could bring to them. It's also an opportunity to upsell. If the customer that has come in only wants to replace the front of their house, there is instantly an argument for replacing the back.

When we face that scenario, the amount of customers that go from replacing a few windows to all of them is huge. If they see an opportunity to claw back some of the money they spend on extra windows through lower energy bills, you've immediately got their attention. We also have a CD where if we get certain details about the customer's property we can give them an estimation of how much money and CO2 they could save over the course of a year. What does also help is if you fit energy rated windows as standard. We made the decision over a year ago to sell 'A' rated windows as standard. We managed to negotiate with our suppliers and we have not looked back since. But being able to sell 'A' rated windows as standard, and genuinely, not dressed up as an offer, has also been a huge benefit.

Personally, I can't see why others are still selling 'C' or 'B' rated windows when 'A' rated windows cost hardly anything, if any, extra. But, for now, we'll be happy to keep that advantage over others!

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Useful Website: www.degrafik.co.uk

Plug time!

If any of you are in need of high quality business cards, leaflets, posters, web design services, printing services etc, visit http://www.degrafik.co.uk/.

The website is being built and expanded all the time but there is already more than enough exmaples of work they have done for you to get a good idea as to what they are about. They're innovative, fresh and very creative. And for all their effort and skills, their prices aren't bad either.

So for the double glazing firms needing any sort of advertising material, definately give these a try.

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January To Reveal State Of Window Industry

Soon, http://www.double-glazing-forum.com/ will reveal the number of bankruptcies in the double glazing industry for January. A high number will still signal difficulties and will put doubt on any sort of recovery some think we are in. It will also give a clue if the cold weather at the beginning of the month had an impact on the companies in a weaker state than others.

A low number however could signal stablisation in what is up to now still a very volatile market place.

A want to make the point however, that the market is still way too over crowded. In the Yorkshire region, there is something like two installation companies for every manufacturer. There are a lot of installation companies in Yorkshire, but way too many manufacturers. One to two is not a healthy ratio to have, which is why the market has been suffering badly from undercutting. There is such thing as have too much competition. Too much damages the industry as more and more money is spread thinner and thinner, businesses find it increasingly harder to make any decent revenues. Take a good handful out of the equation and the ratio between installers and manufacturers becomes a bit healthy. A ratio of four installers to one manufacturer might be a good start.

P.S. This post was written whilst listening to a band called Finch, stimulated my mind!

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

How Best To Treat Your Customers

A recent guest post on RCG has dealt with the issue of how best to treat and respect the time of your customers. The author Dave Blakeman of RPS put forward the idea of sending the customer a gift i.e. vouchers or chocolates as a thank you for your time. The idea is also supposed to increase the chance of a sale. I can see his logic behind the idea, but if I were a customer, I would think that it would be lame attempt at buttering me up.

The best way we have found to deal with customers is to be honest and upfront. We make sure we don't overstay our welcome, we don't push for the sale that day unless they want to go ahead, no hard-sell or no pressure. We like to keep it nice and informal, make sure the customer doesn't feel uncomfortable in their own home. This works nearly everytime because there are still lots of companies using the hard-sell methods and trying to get the sale right there and then. Our customers are always pleasantly surprised when we finish the appointment without lots of pressure to sign immediately.

Treat the customer right, no pressure, no hard-sell and the need to send the customer a gift to say thanks for their time shouldn't be needed.

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Out Of The Woods?...Not Really

In the latest issue of the GGP mag, there is a story about Quotatis, the lead generator, recording a 49% rise in leads at the beginning of the year. The headline is "Out Of The Woods?" I can confidently say that this means absolutely nothing. Consumers in the past 18 months have become more savvy, and are looking into all other sorts of ways of obtaining quotations, especially cheaper ones. The 49% in leads is no doubt a result of the consumer looking into different ways of obtaining quotes, not the industry making a strong recovery. Not wanting to dampen the positive mood or anything, but the industry is still likcing it's wounds from the recession. And what is not out of the question is a double-dip recession. It is quite conceivable that the UK could slip back into recession. And if that happens, consumer confidence will hit rock bottom again.

Businesses are still going bust in our sector, margins are still lower than a few years ago, cash flow is still poor for many small businesses. There are still lots of issues for the double glazing industry to put right before we can say we are out of the woods. The imminent danger of chaos during 2009 has passed, but 2010 I think is a year where we will still be balancing on the edge of the knife.

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How Useful Is Twitter To Double Glazing Companies?

The double glazing community in the blogging world is expanding at a steady pace. And from blogging came Twitter. Micro-blogging. Quicker, concise and more 'real-time'. At first people were heralding the huge opportunities Twitter would give to double glazing companies. But in reality, Twitter has provided a better communication channel between those in the industry. The commercial opportunities have been pretty much not existent. The reason? Twitter isn't a big enough platform. 140 characters is nowhere near enough for a potential customer to make decent contact with a supplier/installer. Direct messaging would be the only private way of passing on details, but that still isn't the most ideal way of making contact.

What Twitter has done is improved communication between those in our industry. I have always been one to support better communication between companies as I think it would improve industry conditions. The more we talk to each other, the more influence we have and the more changes and decisions we can make for ourselves. Twitter has made this process easier and faster. The only draw back is again with the number of characters, but I suppose if Twitter isn't suitable, a blog would be just as good.

In terms of being useful to businesses, it isn't really. Twitter is nothing more than a social past time with communicative advantages. Twitter won't make businesses much money, nor will it raise the standing of a particular business, no matter how much that business tweets or blogs. It's quite fun though!

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Friday, February 12, 2010

Oil Crisis Within Five Years

An international monitering group, headed by Sir Richard Branson, has warned for a second time that within 5 years, the country, and the planet will be at risk of severe 'oil crunches', as they put it. In simple terms we are running out of the black stuff, and fast.

What could this mean for the double glazing industry? Well seen as though most PVCu is produced from polymers direct from oil, were going to have problems. This puts emphasis on putting money and investment into the development of polymers produced from sustainable crops used to produce oils. And we don't have a choice in the matter. In five years, if the country hasn't detached itself from the dependancy of oil, we will be suffering from random power outages and much higher fuel costs. If this catches the industry by surprise (and it shouldn't now we have had plenty of warning) we're going to have major problems. Oil will run out, so we have to find and use the alternative now.

The other emphasis we should be focussing on is solar energy. There is going to be a point where every home will need a solar panel, and we all need to be looking into the possibilities of selling and installing them.

We have to use the impending energy crisis as a selling point, more specifically for energy rated windows. Companies need to get the message across to customers that energy efficient windows will lower their energy bills. Add on the fact solar panels could be installed and that message gets even stronger.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Old Fashioned And Sleazy

There is one thing that bugs me about the industry I work in, and thats the people that work in it! Now to be fair it's not everyone, it's more the senior salesmen/reps, MD's and other big cheese type charachters. The thing that bugs me is the old fashioned and sleazy lifestyle and the way they go about things.

The suits that work in our industry have a stereotypical image of flashy suits, flashy talk, regular binge and smoking sessions with clients and fellow reps and the regular 'keeping customers sweet' meals out paid for by the company. And it still exists today. It smacks of the old hat vision of the sales industry. Sleazy, cheesy, stuffy and undesireable.

This might be the generation gap talking, but I think it's unnecessary. There are a lot of people in this industry who do very little other than drive about the country, talk shite for a couple of hours then go to the local £50 per head resturant and work on getting a hangover. And if you want my personal opinion, most of the networking events and product launches are just an excuse for people to still feel influential and take advantage of a free bar paid for by the organisers. Take the newest networking event. Everytime one is announced there is always over-emphasis on the bar and smoking areas. Such importance placed on drinking facilities just reinforces the old fashioned attitudes most people in our industry still harbour.

I come from the new generation of sales. Personally, I think the way the younger generation sells is much fresher. Less emphasis on getting home and going to the pub and more effort on the customer and the job in general. There is still a sleazy repuation that hangs over salesmen in our industry, and it's those who could do something to change that image.

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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I'm Going To Burst!

I had a brilliant meeting/factory tour with our manufacturers for most of today, and got to know some brilliant developments coming up very very soon. For obvious reasons I can't let a single detail out, I don't want my competitors getting any sort of advantage. I will say this though, what we will be able to offer very soon will put us way ahead of anything anybody else has to offer. Giving us huge new advantage over all competition in our area.

What was also beneficial to me was to know every step of the process, start to finish. Not that I was short on those details in the first place, it filled in some gaps and brought home the vast amount of technology, investment and know-how required to run a concern such as a window manufacturer, let alone a successful one.

During lunch we got round to discussing the industry in general. We all pretty much agreed that the industry was still in a depressed state. No matter how much up-talking MD's do. It is better now than this time last year, but not as improved as most company owners say it is.

One thing I do want to add is that we have had a stellar week, way over the average for the second week in February, and on top of that, we are in line to win a huge order for a chapel renovation. This could be a week that sets us on for weeks and weeks of fitting. Not that I'm bragging! But we are also level headed. We are fully aware that next week could be totally the opposite.

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Friday, February 5, 2010

Never Bad Mouth Your Competitors

There is nothing more annoying than when you find out your competitors have been bad mouthing you to customers. But what makes it worse is when the company dishing out the abuse is getting what they are saying wrong!

One of our reps went to see a customer yesterday and found that one of our competitors indulged on a hugely mis-informed rant about us. Some of the things that were said included allegations we had just recently been taken over, and due to that that was the reason we were more expensive than them (when really the other company seemed to be desperatley undercutting to try and win the order), we were apparently in financial difficulties also. Oh and we also had a 'rubbish' product.

Tactics like this smack of two things. One, that the other company is desperate. If they have to rely on bad mouthing their competitors rather than selling on their own merits then there is something very wrong. The second is hipocracy. Time and time again our competitors make a point of not practicing these sorts of tactics.

Companies need to be very careful, there comes a point where this sort of thing stops becoming a selling tactic and starts becoming more personal. But for now I just put all this down to desperation and inability to sell their own product properly.

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Oh Lord Is This Country In Some Serious Shit

I'll expand this post in the morning. One thing I wanted to quickly say is that after doing a bit of studying, along with some business analysis from the BBC, Britian could be involved in a second disastrous financial crisis before the May General Election. I'm not going to go into it now, I'll explain in the morning. But to give you some idea of the scale of the problem, Greece, and now Portugal and Spain, are all about to implode under the amount of debt/money they have had to borrow to run the public finances. In fact, all three governments had said to their publics that there is no extra cash left. The biggest worry is that the GDP percentage figure for borrowing that is about to destroy Greece is exactly the same as Britain's.

I'm going to make a dire prediction. This country may be close to financial ruin again by the end of February or the beginning of March.

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Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Biggest Companies Aren't Too Big To Fail

There was a time when people thought that the biggest and oldest of companies were far too big to fail, even in the worst economic conditions. But unfortunately this is now not the case. The obvious examples of this would be Rover, Woolworths, Lehman Brothers and so on. This can also now be applied to the biggest of double glazing companies. Last week it was revealed that a significant company in our sector was in a big mess itself, one which it may not get out of.

The smaller companies in our industry know exactly of the problems being experienced by most small to medium businesses in every sector. Poor cashflow is still a big problem, and undercutting is rife now. All of this will continue to undermine the double glazing industry. But the problems of cash flow and bad debts are now affecting the biggest of companies, so it can only be assumed that the national companies in the double glazing industry will be affected in some way, it would be unrealistic to think otherwise.

The bigger the business, the more overheads they will have and the more debt they will owe. Not so many years ago this wouldn't have been such a problem. But now the flow of cash isn't raging in as it once was, and the banks are being much more prudent. More and more large firms are posting bigger and bigger loses. Take EMI today for example. The company is 113 years old and has posted it's biggest ever loss of £1.75 billion pounds and there are now fears for the company. That business was bought for $8 billion dollars in 2007 by private equity group Terra Firma. But changing trading coniditons has left the institution floundering in massive pools of debt.

The age where a company is too big to fail ended when Rover went under. It is more than possible that one of our national double glazing companies could fall to the same fate.

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Business Analysis Time!

Gold down. FTSE down over 110 points at the time of writing. Oil down (which isn't too bad). Pound vs Dollar down.

It's been a pretty crappy day for the stock market and business universe as a whole. And days like this highlight the fragile state the economy is still in. We may have just come out of recession (although this could still be revised down) but we still have a mountain of work to do to get the economy back on some sort of road of stability.

What is a cause for concern is that any further shocks to the British economic system could shoot the country back into recession again. Today the Bank of England announced that it is to halt the QE programme. To me, this seems a bit premature. Especially after the turmoil the markets had today. I still think the banks could have done with some extra cash to improve their cash flow and lending abilities. Consumer confidence has risen but not enough for experts to say we are on the road to recovery.

Not everything about the economy is on a downer today. House prices went up for another month by 0.6% and interest rates were kept on hold at 0.5%. So if you have a mortgage that is interest rate linked then it is good news, and if your looking to sell within the next couple of years or so the housing market isn't doing too bad from your point of view either. But, for people like me who will be looking to get on to the property ladder sooner rather than later, this isn't the best news I want to hear. Property is still way too expensive, deposits on most mortgages are still pretty massive, the interest rates on my savings are worthless and renting is just throwing money down the drain at the minute.

There, just thought I'd give you my perspective on the business world right now. Tell me if any of you think any different!

UPDATE:
I suppose it could be worse, we could be in Greece right now! And I heard Portugal isn't looking too good either.

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New Blog: www.doubleglazinginstaller.org.uk

I was contacted by email the other day by the owner of new blog www.doubleglazinginstaller.org.uk. The site looks good, nice and fresh, decent topics, lots of tags to other posts and has got a link to this blog which is always a sign of a quality site!

One of the few recommendations I would make is to change the comments from 'off' to 'on'. Comments are a good way of communicating with other readers and getting more followers on board.

If anyone wishes to put a link to their blog on this one, feel free to ask, I won't say no. I'll also do a bit of plugging for them to, just like this one!

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Woodgrained Arched Frames

I was going to write about if the next government would help or hinder the double glazing industry, but I'll talk about that later.

What I am going to talk about is woodgrain and arched frames. We have recently quoted a company for windows to an old chapel which they are currently renovating into flats. They have asked us for a Cream or Black woodgrain option, which is fine. But the complications come when the arched frames come into the picture. Universal Arches which bend our manufacturer's frames say that due to the acute angles of the frames, they wouldn't be able to guarantee them. The problem, they say, is that when the profiles are heated for bending, there is no way of protecting the foil finish from distorting, creasing up etc. And I can fully understand their point of view. There are a good few dozen arched or shaped frames which make up part of this big project. The last thing they want to be doing is replacing numerous amounts of frames, which were very expensive to produce in the first place.

What I want to know is if there is any different manufacturing process around which could combat these problems. I'm doubtful of that however. They did go on to explain that their stance is very much an industry standard. I also know who we are up against, and I'm pretty certain that they will have the same scenario as we have. If not, and they do decide to guarantee the arched frames, it will be their warranty and not a manufacturers one. Meaning they will have to pay for any replacements, which will be costly bearing in mind the type of product.

Let me know if any of you have any ideas.

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

More Rediculous Pricing

My evening appointment last night gave me some amusement. I was there to measure up for a door and top light, and they told me they had Everest in previously to quote for the same. The customers showed me the quote Everest submitted (which was on a tatty piece of pink carbon paper) to them. The price started off at a very reasonable £5500, but with their discounts they could have it for a tad over £3600. A bargain if you ask me! The quality of their products must be second to non!

On a serious note, they obviously didn't want the job and was just fobbing the customer off. That seems like a complete waste to me. When trading conditions have been as tough as they have been, every salesman from every company should be making the effort to competitively sell every lead they go on. Nationals should throw away their minimum order rules and take advantage of what they have to go on.

Needless to say the price we have submitted was a lot less than they had quoted, and we like to think our product is better than their's also.

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Monday, February 1, 2010

The Month In Review: January 2010

The beginning of the year could not have started in a worse fashion. January is a terrible time for the double glazing industry, but with the severe cold and very heavy snowfall, the usual lull in business was worse. It could not have come at a worse time either. The industry struggled all the way through 2008 with the worst recession seen in decades and many companies were just keeping their heads above water. The fear is that due to the cold snap at the beginning of the month, those companies who had struggled to reach the Christmas period may not have been able to make it through the start of the month.

The first two weeks of the month were dire. But it was to improve soon after. Once the snow had melted and the temperature had risen a little, customers started venturing out and business attempted to get back to normal. There wasn't a huge increase in customer numbers, leads or revenues, but there was enough to keep businesses running relatively worry free. Personally I can report that we had a steady January. We broke no records but nor were we in a position of instability.

The quality of the leads in January we found were much better than expected. January 2009 gave us some very scrappy leads. The odd door, a couple of windows, little bits of roofline. Nothing substantial. But January 2010 gave us top quality leads. Usually full houses. If they weren't full houses then they were a great number of windows. It has been much easier this month than last month in terms of actually making money. As a mark of how things really have improved, by the end of the month we had fitting booked in up to the first week in March. Something which would have been impossible this time last year.

All in all January has been a tale of two halves. The first being difficult in terms of trading and getting customers in through the door, making appointments, delivering goods through the snow and even getting to work! The second half however is one of success and stability. Improved sales, increased leads and showroom visits and overall better trading conditions. It is to be hoped the improvement continues into the coming few months to lead us all into what will hopefully be a busier summer period.

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