Blog Stats

I think it's time for some more stats about this site (up to time of writing):

• 7824 visits - July 2010 has been the best month by far
• 2631 unique vistors - again July 2010 has been the best month by far
• 13,524 page views
• Averge time on site: 2min 16 sec
• Average bounce rate: 69.37%
• 1.73 page views per visit
• Best day for visits: 80 on wednesday 24th February

Top 3 most read stories:

1. Tackling The Trickle Vent Issue: http://doubleglazingblogger.blogspot.com/2009/11/tackling-trickle-vent-issue.html

2. Damn Trickle Vents:
http://doubleglazingblogger.blogspot.com/2009/11/damn-trickle-vents.html

3. Synseal Gets Bought Out...Again:
http://doubleglazingblogger.blogspot.com/2010/02/synseal-gets-bought-outaagin.html

Happy reading!

The War Against Profit

Ever since the beginning of the of the financial crisis, the mood towards people and companies making profit has changed.

Years ago, but not so long ago, when companies released their quarterly or years figures, people used to be impressed by the amount of money they make. There was a bit of jealousy, but people in the main were just staggered by the huge numbers. But then the banking collapse changed all that. What companies made was put bang in the middle of the spotlight. So as people started to struggle with their own finances, the attitudes towards the companies making money turned sour, very quickly.

We live now in an age where the freedom and access of information is constant. We now want to know, who's getting paid what and when, and those figures are coming under intense scrutiny. Would you have dreamed of demanding to know how much bosses at big companies were being paid 25 years ago? No. If you did you were told to shut up and not ask stupid question where you wouldn't get an answer.

The question I want to ask is why do people seem to hate it when companies make good profits?

Think about it. The main reason why people go into business is to make money. If they do a better job of things, then they make more money, it's a simple rule. Take British Gas today for example. They cut their prices, but due to the worst Winter for 30 years, their profits rose 98% to £585m. But, as they released the data, people started calling for bigger price cuts, attacking the amount of money British Gas made. There was a point British Gas did make which I thought summed things up nicely. They said that companies have to make profits to help pay for new power stations to replace the old decaying ones. If a company makes no profit, there is nothing to reinvest back into the company.

So people, unless you want services and infrastructure to decay and become run down, let companies make their profits. The bigger they are, the more money they can reinvest. In theory we will benefit from better services.

Will The Industry Be Ready?

1st October is a date which everyone will have stuck in their mind now, the day when C rated windows become the new standard. However, after reading various magazine articles and blog posts, it's clear that there is a significant portion of our industry that isn't ready. They either don't have the manufacturing capabilities, or just plain refuse to start making windows to that standard.

Why? I don't really know. People who use the questionable solar gain excuse are clutching at straws really. The product is still better than the old PVCu windows that were made and will still benefit the customer, so that can't be it. Is it because the double glazing industry is so stubborn, and like older folk, stuck in their ways?

If so, then they are going to have to change. If the date of change gets put back, it won't be held off forever, they will have to become capable of making or selling C rated windows at some point.

Pilkington To Reopen Operations

Pilkington have announced that they are to reopen one of their float lines in St Helens. This is intended to produce glass for the solar energy market.

This is obvious good news for an area which was hit badly by the closure of St. Helens glass after over 30 years in business. Solar energy is fast growing market, so the opening of a line dedicated just for the production of glass to that market should be quite a profitable development.

Bargaining Is In The Air

I've never had to bargain with customers so much than I did today, what the hell was in the air!?

I started the morning bartering with a customer who wanted over £100 off the price of a single window, obviously that was too much, so rightly went on to turn down his counter offers. Then this evening I was bargaining with a customer who wanted an old door for nothing, after signing a contract for a new front door, but then threatening to cancel the cheque if he couldn't get a dis-used door for nothing. We managed to get him to pay something for the old showroom door, but it was like pulling teeth!

It does go to show however that if you stand firm, you don't have to get haggled down on price by the customer!

Company Ratings Open To Spam And Abuse

This is a follow up to a recent post about the company ratings page on http://www.double-glazing-forum.com/.

After visiting the page again I've noticed the company I work for has sprung up on there! Now I don't know if that was in response to my recent post, or if it's a competitor abusing the system. But that is something which the concept is vulnerable to. From the ratings given it was obvious that it was a competitor taking advantage. But it shows a vital flaw. People from any company could add their competitors to the site an repeatedly give them terrible ratings, or, staff from a company listed on there could constantly give fantastic ratings. All of this of course is completely biased and will ruin what was an honest idea.

What makes this strange is that we are a small company compared to most of the others on the list, which makes it obvious someone in competition or just plain immaturity has added us on there, and not a customer, which is a shame.

What is guaranteed however is that I too will be abusing the system! Company loyalty urges me to make sure that competitors don't get silly and rate us down just for being better than them!

Death Of The Speed Camera!

This has got to be some of the best news I've heard for a very long time, and one of the best things the new coalition government has done!

The new government has stopped providing money for the installation of new speed cameras, and has drastically cut the amount of money provided for the upkeep of existing ones. Swindon, last year, was the first council to turn off all their speed cameras. Everybody said that accidents and fatalities would go up as a result. But as the first year's worth of stats were released last week, that wasn't the case, they were the same as the year previous with speed cameras turned on!

This helps prove a point that speed cameras are there to make money first, then save lives. The new government has said it wants towns and councils to spend money on better signing and education, which to me sounds like a much better idea!

Following in Swindon's footsteps, Oxfordshire County Council has said that by next year all their 72 speed cameras will be turned off also. Now Swindon has proved that speed cameras aren't the answer, more councils around the country will start to follow suit.

So soon, the days of worrying driving, feeling constantly under watch, may be over!

The DGCOS Debate 2

I feel the debate about the DGCOS is due to run it's course sometime soon, and personally I'm starting to tire of the whole thing.

All of us with an opinion have made their opinions known, and most of those have been negative ones. It's too expensive. It's a gimmick. It's another unnecessary governing body. It will hardly be put to use. It creates an even more negative impression of the double glazing industry by creating the image that the industry as a whole is rotten. It's purely for profit.

Those are some of the reasons why most people believe the idea is flawed, most of which I agree with. But this is where I want to leave it. We won't be joining the scheme I don't think, I won't be writing about the subject again (unless I'm forced to!). If content about the scheme keeps getting published then I fear we will be travelling on the same roundabout for a while, and it's something not worth spending the time and energy doing so.

End.

How The Europeans Do It

I've found this video knocking around on YouTube:



What's interesting is the details they choose to talk about and what they have on-screen, such as the glazing dimensions. We wouldn't really display so clearly the glazing dimensions, or where they had been made for example. Our customers probably wouldn't care so much if their windows had been made in France, the UK or anywhere else.

Plus, 253 euros is cheap! I do like the built in shutters idea. I've stayed in a villa in Spain with PVCu windows with these built in shutters and in such a hot country they are incredibly handy!

Staying Recession Minded

For the last two quarters, the British economy has been in growth (if you can call it that!). But has anyone else noticed that people are still saying during conversation that we are still in a recession? Well I have, and most people are probably right.

In my opinion, growth of 0.3% can't really be called growth, more like slow painful lurching. Industries of all kinds are still in a depressed state, talking very negatively, not thinking positively into the future. But you can forgive them for thinking like that as trading conditions are still very poor, therefore the reason why everyone still says we are in recession.

And at some point soon they may be right. Once all the Con-Lib cuts come into force and job cutting starts, we probably will be flung straight back into the R word. But, as I've mentioned before on here, staying recession minded is good for business. It keeps you on your toes, keeps you constantly looking for new business and new ways to develop. It keeps you from sitting on your backside hoping the business is going to come your way.

Still, it would be nice for life to be a little bit easier!

The Big Society - The Big Con

David Cameron yesterday announced his master plan: 'The Big Society'.

The thought behind it all is that the Government will start to take a step back from involvement in people's lives i.e. charities, schools, pubs, libraries etc. David Cameron wants the man and woman on the street to take control of their own lives and take control of their local community, rather than central Government making all the decisions.

The idea is good, except it has been conceived with rose tinted glasses. I don't know if Mr Cameron has been aware, but there has been a crippling recession over the last couple of years, meaning the amount of money people have to spend is much less than four or five years ago. The biggest obstacle with The Big Society then, is that for people to be able to run their own local communities, they are going to have to put their hands in their pockets and spend money, and in some cases spending in considerable amounts.

But this is just not going to happen! People do not have the resources, time or more importantly money to save a pub, build a school, run a youth club or open a library. Whats worse, is the charities that depend on Government money probably won't be able to find alternative incomes. If the Government stops funding charities like it plans to do, the general public won't be able to fill the gap as they don't have the funds now to be able to do so.

The Big Society is more like The Big Withdrawal. The Government has to do all it can to cut back on public spending, which is exactly what this is, except it has been dressed up as giving more power to the general public, but I think people are already seeing through the disguise.

Company Ratings A Risky Move?

The Double Glazing Forum has put a section on it's website where people can rate double glazing companies on various areas of their experience with them: http://www.double-glazing-forum.com/company-ratings.aspx.

Now, from previous experiences, this could be risky. It could be something they completely ignore, or could get quite touchy about it. Personally, I wouldn't like my company being so open to debate and judgement. I've always found that the bigger companies are more sensitive to this sort of material being published. We may just have to wait and see how companies react.

A Success Story

One of the biggest success stories in the double glazing industry at the minute has got to be the rise of Door-Stop International. Since it's inception only a few years ago, they have managed to cement a place in the top four composite door companies.

Their second year in business ended with £13 million in turnover, up from £6 million the year before, which is remarkable growth in what is still very difficult trading conditions.

One of the reasons for this has got to be customer service. I have written before about the importance of customer service and how it is probably the most vital part of any business. This is something which Door-Stop also takes very seriously. 3 day lead times, constant product innovation, excellent brochures etc. No one is going to buy from a supplier if they think they aren't going to be helpful or prompt.

I didn't want this to sound like an advertising article for the company, but I just can't help but feel very impressed at the job Mr Dutton has done with his company. It's just a shame there aren't as many suppliers as focused as this one.

It's Been One Of Those Days

I'm writing this post from home! The reason? Our offices, as well as the surrounding local area seems to have been hit by a pretty large power failure caused by last nights storms. So, as a a result, we have had no phones, computers, lights, internet or fax machine. Plus the kettle won't work! Everything is off! As the electric won't be back on for the rest of the day I have had to come home to do the rest of my paper work.

So, here's to the British weather ballsing things up again!

Peaks And Troughs

The question: have we turned a corner? is one we probably shouldn't be asking ourselves for a while yet.

The window industry is in a state of flux at the minute. One week you think it's getting busier, leads come flooding in, plenty of orders etc. Then the week after everything goes quiet. Optimism is replaced by frustration and confusion. The truth of the matter is that the country is still mired in problems. The usual summer spike and winter dip isn't really there any more. It's going to be peaks and troughs (speaking in graphical terms) all the way through this year, the next, and probably the couple after that.

The country has been asked to take a big spending cut on the chin, this is going to shake up consumer confidence. The usual buying patterns have been chucked out of the window to be replaced by sporadic spending sprees and tight fisted periods. I must admit I'm the same. I've not been going out on a night, stopped buying CD's and DVD's, stopped by take-aways. But then that would stop and I'd do all three in the space of one weekend. No pattern at all!

So, for a while we are going to have to take the rough with the smooth, save what we make and consolidate as much as we can!

Silly American Law No 3

This silly American law is from Massachusetts:

At a wake, mourners may eat no more than three sandwiches.

There you go, don't go stuffing yourself at the next one!

Something To Put A Smile On Your Face :)

When times are as challenging as this, it's nice to be able to have a laugh at least once a day.

I came across a website yesterday which listed some of the most stupid laws across the USA. Some of them were quite ridiculous, and everyone in the office found them hilarious. So, for as along as I can be bothered, everyday I'll put on a silly law to try to put a smile on your faces!

Silly Law No 1: In Alabama, it is illegal to flick bogeys into the wind.

That made me laugh!

In fact, I'll put another one on seen as though this is the first post about this.

Silly Law No 2: In Arkansas, a man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.

There you have it, I'll put one a day up on here!

A Challenge...

I challenge the person who keeps ticking the 'questionable' response box at the bottom of my every post to reveal himself/herself!

Where Are We Now With The DGCOS Debate?

The DGCOS debate rumbles on. Tony Pickup has become more vocal on the GlassTalk website. More and more people have become vocal against the scheme. Yet the steady trickle of companies signing up to the scheme carries on.

The amount of companies that have signed up stands in the low hundreds, which on the face of things may seem quite reasonable. But when you think of the industry having tens of thousands of companies of all sizes, there is still a long way to go before the scheme starts to make any real impact.

The problem is that the industry is already clogged up with schemes, alliances, governing bodies, trademark accreditations and so on. This was a creation that has so far failed to capture the imagination of the double glazing industry, so much so that many have spoken out against it. Personally, I don't see how the DGCOS can give a company any protection or advantage when it costs so much to be part of. DGCOS says it has teeth, and when it comes to protecting the consumer or company, it's those teeth which get to work. But seriously, there are so few occasions that double glazing related cases ever get to court. They are nearly always settled before anything legal happens. So for me it's a total waste of time and money. Having the DGCOS logo plastered everywhere isn't going to win extra orders. Product quality, customer service and company history do that.

The Biggest Waste Of Natural Resources I've Ever Seen!

I was shown a very disturbing but very spectacular picture today:

This is Hell's Gate in Uzbekistan. 35 years ago a drilling expedition team started drilling in this location and came across this enormous cavern in the Earth. It was that deep the bottom could not be seen, even with any of their tools, it seemed bottomless. But it was also filled with gas. So the team thought it was a good idea to light the flames to clear the gas so they could venture down there. However, what they thought was a small pocket of gas that would clear in a few minutes, turned out to be a gigantic cavern of pure natural gas, and has burned without failure for the last 35 years. What a waste of natural gas! Did any of that team stop and think for just a second about what could possibly be down there. That is now 35 years worth of gas that could have potentially supplied the whole of Uzbekistan. It can't be put out now, so it's just a case of waiting for it all to burn away. What a sorry state of affairs!

Where To Have The Next GlassTalk?

GlassTalk is an expanding event. And the more popular it gets, the more representative it should become. The events held so far have been more to the south of the country. This is fine. The organisers have picked out some very nice venues to date. However, people from the North of the country have found it difficult to attend due to distance problems. So, I reckon it's the North of England's turn to host a GlassTalk event!

I'm going to go away and come up with 5 top destinations near to where I live, and if the organisers are reading, they should look into them, if nothing else. I know if the event was closer to me, I probably would have gone.

David Ruzicka Leaves Sash UK After 25 Years

The following is taken from http://ggpmag.com/newsitem.asp?newsID=486:

David Ruzicka, joint managing director of trade fabricator Sash UK, has left the company after 25 years’ service.

Reportedly a ‘split by mutual consent’, an announcement issued by the company stated that his departure ‘will enable David to pursue other ventures within the industry and use his unquestionable expertise in pastures new’. Stephen Morrell has now assumed the role of managing director.

David Ruzicka joined Sash UK as a sales rep in 1986 and seven years later, he was invited to join the board, working in tandem with Stephen Morrell, to put Sash UK at the forefront of the industry.

He was known for being passionate and relentless and the frequent comment was that if he was cut in half, he would read ‘Sash UK’ through the middle.

“As ever, all good things must come to an end sooner or later,” said David. “I’m just fortunate that the end has come later for me – after almost 25 years – and I feel privileged to have enjoyed such a long and distinguished career at Sash UK.

“After such a long time, there are so many people who I would like to thank and so many who I feel honoured to have met and worked with. For all of its flaws, our industry is incredibly rewarding in so many ways and although this is the end of my time with Sash, it is also the beginning of another exciting journey for me."

For his part, newly appointed managing director, Stephen Morrell, said: “On behalf of everyone at Sash UK, I would like to thank David for his long service and wish him all the very best for the future. I am positive that this isn’t the last the industry has seen of David.”

'Mutual consent' indicates a difference of opinion or interest, so could there have been tension there?

It will be interesting to see where David goes on the next step of his journey!

Roofline The Way Forward?

This is a Google Trends search for 'soffits':

Google Trends search for 'double glazing':

Google Trends search for 'conservatories':

It looks like we all need to start selling more soffits and fascias. They are by far the more popular home improvement search target of these three, and by some distance. It has exploded over the last year or so as they start to become an item more and more people focus their attention on.

We've seen a rise in roofline appointments, and the back end of last year was particularly fruitful in that area of work.

Under-Pricing Is Here To Stay

Recently, many of us have been talking about the prices we sell our products at and how they should be at least about 20% more than what they are now. Well, as I see it, prices won't be able to go up much due to pressure from the consumer. As the country prepares itself to go into even tougher times, the pressure to get anything at rock bottom prices will be even greater, with customer playing companies off one another to get cheaper prices. This tactic will make raising prices even more difficult. Most companies will still continue to take increases on the chin, despite that eating into their already dwindling profit margin.

The problem here is that the consumer still thinks that this is a 'buyers market', when in fact it is a market creaking under the pressure of rapidly rising prices, and a market that desperately needs to raise their selling prices to survive.

The window industry is a short minded one. Three quarters of all companies will still result to under-cutting in order to win the business, even if this does mean making little to no profit in the job. That sort of practise has only one end result, and that's bankruptcy. The smart company would increase their prices slightly, yes they might lose the odd order, but the increased margins on the others they do win will off-set that, and help secure their financial security short-term.

Why I Stay Anonymous

Most of you probably know who I am by now, well most of my competitors will do anyway. People often tell me I should just stop the anonymity and just state who I am. Sometimes I really wish I could. But it's through lack of trust that I don't.

The double glazing industry is a very spiteful, sometimes very shitty market to work in, with people using dirty tactics to win business. The reason why I stay anonymous is so that this blog doesn't become associated with the company I work for. This blog is here because it serves MY purpose, to have a rant, a moan, make observations, rattle a few feathers and question what is right and wrong about the industry. Sometimes what I write isn't too customer friendly, and what I don't want is competitors saying "look, this is what our competitors think of this" or using what I've written against us. I've already had one MD tell me they were using a post against us, so I had to remove it.

Unfortunately, people in this industry cannot be trusted (apart from me!). Once I state who I am and who I work for on here, competitors will use this to spread crap either against me, or who I work for. This is why I stay anonymous. Sort of!

I'm Too Excited

There are going to be a lot of people who think I'm very sad after reading this, but I don't care! We've finally got our new company website up and running at the third time of asking!

We're also making good headway in Google's search results, and coming up in results on the first page for terms which didn't have us there at all before.

We're going to be starting an AdWords campaign soon, as well as other efforts to make sure we get as much traffic to the new site as we can.

I can relax now!

Huge Cartel Fine

Yesterday the European Commission fined 17 steel manufacturers 518 million Euros for price fixing.

Not so long ago some of us were talking about glass price increases from all the manufacturers, and were asking the question if the glass industry was involved in cartel operations. Most of us believed that they were.

More so than then, all manufacturers have been putting their prices up in extreme doses. How easy would it be to find out if there has been anything dodgy going on? Who do we ask to carry out some form of investigation, if this is possible. Or am I just having a wild stab in the dark here?!

Month In Review: June

Where do we begin with this one! Well June was a lot quieter compared with the rest of the year. This could be down to a few things. The World Cup could be one, though I doubt how much impact that could actually have had. The public could still have been hungover from a decidedly strange General Election outcome. Perhaps they were a bit wary of what was to come. Or perhaps it was the budget putting the jitters on everyone's confidence. It was a tough budget, and maybe people were waiting to see how it would affect them.

Once the World Cup had finished for England however, the floodgates opened back up again and things started to flow. Just a shame it had to be at the end of the month instead of the beginning.

During June, one of the other big projects I had to complete was the company website. I had a go at it before, and it turned out not very good, so I badgered away at the bosses and got my own way. We got an I.T. company from Rothwell in to draw up plans and designs for a new, streamlined, efficient, effective, modern website. And I'm excited to say that providing all goes to plan today, it should be live by the end of the day!

We're ramping up our Internet efforts in as many areas as we can. Targeted Google AdWords campaigns, updates on business listing sites, improvements to our Google Places business listing. We are doing everything we can to improve traffic to our site and business. What we've also found, is that this can be done without spending huge sums of money. You just have to be smart and look in the right places and choose the most effective options. Spending £20,000 in one go on Internet marketing is all well and good. But if it's not thought out, planned and utilised properly, then it's just wasted money.

So here's to a rampant and very busy July!