It's Cold, Now We Have To Deal With It!

As if I have to remind people, it's cold in Britain right now. It's been cold for some time, and will continue to be cold for some time to come, well into the New Year. My big worry is how truly prepared businesses are to cope.


When it's this cold, snow is always a problem. It causes HUGE travel disruption. And when people can't get around, it means they don't spend. Shopping centres around the country have reported falls in footfall in their stores, which comes at the worst time of year with Christmas only days away now. Also, companies who take online orders only a few days ago dropped their promises of delivery before Christmas to Scotland due to the weather and their current backlogs. The first cold snap at the end of November and into December was estimated to have cost the UK economy £4.5 billion. Imagine what this one is going to cost if it is to last as long as is forecast!


We've had just about all airports closed at some point during the cold weather. The roads become car parks too quickly. People are too quick to call in to work to say they aren't going in. All this is costing us millions of pounds a day, and it can't go on. Planes need to fly, trains need to run, and cars and their drivers need to get to their destinations.


Businesses need to look at the upcoming situation and start to plan ahead. Not only do we have the weather going against us for the start of 2011, but we have a rise in VAT on January 4th. The start of the year is always the quietest in terms of leads and sales. Fuel costs are rocketing and the Government cuts start to kick in at this time too. Our industry is facing a perfect storm. 


So what can we do? Well, weather wise do your best to keep your showroom and offices open. Use shovels, keep pathways clear and easy to walk on. Lay grit and rock salt down regularly. We have to make sure we make it's as easy as possible for our customers to get to us. From a business point of view, every company will be in a different position. Some may have to plan for the worst, some may have to consider how to save money if they do find that revenues start to suffer.


One thing that is certain, we have to get to grips with the situation we are in, adapt, and get back to normal programming. Preferably before the 29th December, I have a plane to catch to New York for New Year and I intend on getting there! 

My Christmas Message

Unlike RCG, I do enjoy the Christmas period (just not this extreme cold!).


I am fully aware that Christmas is bad for business, but it allows everyone to breathe a sigh of relief and gives us a chance to relax and not worry about business and money, just for a little bit. If your boss is nice enough, you get to let your hair down with staff parties too!


Christmas is a time for families as well. The older you get the more important your family seems to become. Grandparents are an important one for me, I have only one Grandad left, so it's vital we all see him, especially during the festive period while he's on his own. With this time off we should be making the most of it and be seeing our loved ones. 


Cards. This is a controversial one. Some people like to give and receive them, some people cannot be bothered with them. The ones from suppliers and manufacturers I can understand. But the ones from friends and family are the ones that matter. RCG, remember cards can be recycled! Don't insult the good will some people are genuinely trying to send you!


Commercial. Yes Christmas is about the most commercial thing on the planet! Shops started to sell festive stuff back in August, way too early! But we don't have to succumb to the commercialism, we aren't forced to. We can do things which don't involve spending copious amounts of money. It's the simple stuff which I think can make people happy at this time of year.


So, I wish everyone (even RCG!) a very special Christmas and a fantastic New Year. Enjoy the time off. Re-charge and get ready for another busy year ahead!

Everest Mementos Stolen!

It appears someone has stolen a framed photo and feather from the Ted Moult Everest TV adverts. Here's the report from The Northern Echo:
An ill wind has blown through Britain’s highest pub, taking with it an “irreplaceable” piece of television history.

Staff at the Tan Hill Inn, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, are appealing for the safe return of the Everest feather and a framed picture of TV personality Ted Moult.

For more than 20 years, the mementos have hung on the wall next to the window made famous by an advert for double glazing.

In 1986, window company Everest filmed a commercial at the pub.

Viewers watched as a feather dropped by Moult fell gently to the floor while a gale raged outside.

To this day customers still recount the famous line: “You only fit double glazing once, so fit the best, fit Everest.”

The feather and picture disappeared in October when a stag party was taking place at the pub.

Assistant manager Shell Buckle said: “We don’t know whether it was members of the stag party who took them or another customer.

“They’ve hung on the wall for nearly 30 years and we just want them back.”

Owner Tracy Daley described the photograph and feather as Tan Hill’s “crown jewels”.

“We are desperately saddened by their loss,” she said.

“Many customers ask about Ted Moult and the feather used in the draught test on the adverts and are always pleased to see the picture beside the window where it was filmed.

“Everest has replaced and updated the double glazing only once at Tan Hill since they were originally installed.

“However, the picture and the feather are irreplaceable.”

Ms Daley said the thief could return the mementoes by any means and the matter would not be pursued further.

Everest returned to the pub in 2008 to remake the commercial.

The new advert starred ITV sports presenter Craig Doyle.

Everest decided to film the advert after being asked to replace windows and doors by Ms Daley.

Solar panels were also fitted to the roof.

Anyone with information on the missing picture and feather is asked to call the Tan Hill Inn on 01833-628246.

New Glasstalk Website Is Launched

The long-awaited revamp of the Glasstalk website has finally been unveiled! And it looks good!


Major changes include a fully dedicated News section and the introduction of an advertising page. But the first obvious thing is the refreshed layout of the whole site, which is much better and more modern than the previous site. Not there there was much wrong with the old one!


The Wall page is displayed clearer than the old way. Comments are shown better, and I like the introduction of an option to see the posts of your friends on the site.


All in all, worth the wait!

A Right Balance

There are two things most sales people boast about in this industry: conversion rates and order values. However you need both to make a success of yourself. There is no point having a 80% conversion rate with a low average order value. Just because you sell 4 out of 5 leads doesn't necessarily mean your making good money. But alternatively, you don't want to be on a 10% conversion rate with that one sale being of a high order value. Again that's not going to make you much money either.


You've got strike the right balance. 50% is a good conversion rate to aim for, perhaps with and average order value of anywhere from £2500 to £5000. You sell 5 leads a week with those sorts of order values then your doing OK. Anything more than 50% then you really are doing well, just make sure the orders are of a decent value!

Door-Stop vs Rockdoor

Over the past couple of years, Door-Stop and Rockdoor have become the two main brands that customers have come to see as representing composite doors the best. So much so that they ask for them by name, something which you don't usually associate with the double glazing industry. But that is from a customer's point of view. I want to know what installers think of these two market leaders. Who they think is best? Who has the best product? Who provides the best customer service? If they think they're cheap or too expensive?

Why Electric Cars Won't Work

Well, they will, just not for a very long time. They have a number of simply huge problems to get around before they become a viable and cheaper option than traditional petrol and diesel cars.


First issue to be resolved is their mileage. It's terrible. For those in the double glazing selling game, like the national managers who do hundreds of miles a week, this just isn't an option worth considering. Typical mileage on a single charge might squeeze out 200-250, maybe slightly more depending on the battery and make of car. Charging takes between 8-12 hours, which again for those doing lots of travelling, this is only going to hold them up. Manufacturers and scientists need to come up with a solution to charge the cars batteries a lot quicker, and find a way to store more charge in them.


The next problem is where you charge it. The Government has announced the installation of 4000 electricity charging points across the UK. This may sound a lot, but in reality it is nowhere near enough. You can imagine the scene. 20-30 years in the future when we may have possibly made the jump from petrol to electric, you would have hundreds of people vying to get a space at a charging point. This is the wrong way to go about it. For people to properly adapt to electric driving, charging points need to be installed from people's homes, not in random public places.


Then you have the issue of generating the electricity. The power stations used to generate electric really aren't as green as they should be. If the country is to gear up for electric driving, then we are going to have to open up more power stations to cope with the extra demand. But we need to find a way to do this in a more environmentally friendly way.


So, they cost too much, you can't get decent mileage and producing them causes a huge carbon footprint, which goes against the environmental principles of electric driving.


Problem is we can't wait decades for electric cars to overcome these issues. The route we should be heading down is the hydrogen fuel cell one. It's cleaner to produce. The end result is water from the exhaust, hydrogen is all around so we don't have to produce it in the way electricity does. All we need to do is to develop a way to store and compress it on mass (which is already being done in places like Germany) and we have a more viable solution.

Kommerling Raise Prices

As of 1st January Kommerling will be raising their sealants and adhesives prices by a whopping 20%. They say that by raising their prices it will ensure 'continuity of supply' and will be able to maintain 'it's levels and quality of service'.


They are blaming this price hike on the rising cost of polymers, carbon blacks, resins and plasticisers. This is something which I talked about in an earlier post. The rising costs of raw materials mean't that there had to be some form of increase on the horizon. A rise of 20% however is quite a large one, and I suspect that Kommerling have taken the last few rises on the chin but are unable to keep on doing so, and quite right too.


This is probably going to be one of many increases announced before the end of the year, and we're likely to see many more in the New Year.


A full report can be found at: http://ggpmag.com/newsitem.asp?newsID=735

New Page, And A Bit Of Gossip

For those who haven't already seen, I've added a new page called 'Images'. I thought it might be interesting to see a slideshow of the images I've used on the blog. Most are of either the last severe winter and this one, pictures of installations we've done, and the odd image embedded in blog posts.


I'm always looking at ways for readers to do more on the site, so I saw this as a way in which they could spend more time on here.


Also, there's a bit of information about Yale's Keyless entry on the Gossip page. They're stopping selling the polished chrome and gold handles due to problems with the salt spray tests. Replacing the gold and chrome is a matt grey/silver colour. It looks OK, not as nice as the chrome in my opinion. But the big issue is that as of yet, there is no plan to bring out a suited hardware option so that the handle matches a letter box, numerals or hinges. The changing of the handle colour isn't the problem, the matching of the hardware is.


UPDATE: 16:45pm
After a meeting with our suppliers this afternoon, the polished chrome and gold options are now being reinstated. They have managed to find a supplier within the UK who can supply Yale with the quality and quantity of chrome and gold plating that they require. This now rules out the matt silver finish and the connecting problem of matching hardware.

Help Please!

I've got two targets for this blog this month, and if you don't mind, I need your help to help me reach those targets.


The first of my goals for this month is for this blog to have had 2000 visits. My best month so far has been September with 1504 visits to the site. But I'd like that to reach 2000 this month. Think of it as a Christmas present for me, without spending any money!


The second of my targets is for December to have had 2500 page views. My best month for page views was November with 2264.


So, if you can recommend this blog to anyone you know who might be interested, it would be much appreciated!

The G10 Award Winners

Well done to all those below who picked up an award at the G10 Awards Presentation.

Health & Safety Initiative Of The Year: Pilkington

Component Supplier Of The Year: Solaglas Ltd

Public Sector Project Of The Year: Nationwide Windows

Promotional Campaign Of The Year - Retail: ERW Joinery

Promotional Campaign Of The Year - Trade: Edgetech IG

Apprentice Of The Year: Arron Clegg, GGFi, and Scott Burrows, NSG Pilkington

Customer Care Initiative Of The Year: Bohle Ltd

Energy Efficiency Initiative Of The Year: Bowater Building Products

Conservatory Design & Build Award: Conservatory Outlet

Installer Of The Year: Everglade Windows

Glass Company Of The Year: AGC Flat Glass

Fabricator Of The Year: Lister Trade Frames

Big Price Increases Nigh

The start of the New Year is always a tough period for double glazing companies. Leads are slow, as are sales. Wages still have to be paid, bills and overheads still have to be paid. As much money goes out as it goes in for some. The last thing then the industry needs is price increases.


Unfortunately this is what looks set to happen. The price of oil has shot up in recent weeks, causing the cost of petrol and diesel to rise to near record highs. Not good news for manufacturers as their transport costs are already high enough. A high oil price also means a higher polymer price, affecting the overall cost of the PVCu we use. 


Glass prices have risen steeply this year, and I see no reason why they won't carry on rising throughout next year. The recent Planitherm shortage may have a hand in it. There is speculation the shortage was deliberate, giving manufacturers a platform in which they could raise their prices if they wanted to. But that is speculation of course!


Polycarbonate prices also look set to rise. With transport costs going up as well as raw material costs rising too, polycarbonate roof sheets are set to become more costly yet.


And then we all know about the new 20% VAT as of January 4th. All this wouldn't be so bad. But the Government's spending cuts are due to kick in this month. People are going to find out if they are losing their job or not, spending will fall compared to this year and economic growth is due to slow next year according to experts. 


Early 2011 could be quite a tough trading period for the double glazing industry.

Double Glazing Ban Lifted In Scotland

A double glazing ban on A and B listed buildings in Edinburgh looks set to be lifted. 


The ban was put in place to make sure that the historic fabric of the buildings was kept. But now that ban has been overturned, surely due to common sense prevailing.


They aren't going mad here. This isn't paving the way for PVCu frames and 28mm sealed units. The stipulation is that slim double glazed units are to be used, probably with timber frames, not PVCu and aluminium. But, this means that historic older buildings will now be able to benefit from reduced heating bills. This could help the owners of the buildings to claw back the cost of the installation through lower fuel bills.


Hopefully this may pave the way for other councils to re-think their laws on windows in listed buildings.

Next Week's Forecast!

With the weather being such a focus on the news, and it causing the window industry HUGE problems as it is with the rest of the country, I thought I'd see what we have shaping up for next week.


Monday looks set to start dry, but there's a weather front coming down from the North, and looking at the maps and what the weather men and women are saying, this could leave some more significant amounts. Luckily, this looks due to arrive during the latter part of the day, so it shouldn't cause too many problems. Will just be a pain in the arse for the commute home!


The rest of the week looks set to be drier, quite bright, but flippin' freezing, literally! Temperatures for the North of England (the toughest part of England might I add!) don't look like they are going to get above freezing, meaning the snow that is here now and what will fall on Monday will stay with us.


This is the third winter in a row where we have had consistently low temperatures and snowfall, each getting worse. I know this country hasn't been used to long hard winters like the rest of Europe, but there are things we can do personally to help us get through. The council can't do everything for us!


You'd be surprised by how many people I saw today in Leeds city centre not dressed right for the conditions. People walking about in jogging bottoms and furry Ugg boots and a top. They needed at least 3 more layers on! We all also need to get used to shovelling and driving a lot slower. People not going to work is a scenario that can't last forever, it's too damaging to our already fragile economy. We should be pulling our socks up, clearing our drives, paths and streets (the last one needs a bit of a group effort I know) and getting ourselves into work. Businesses should also be stocking up on grit and rock salt. During the past week we have been clearing our yard so people and cars can use it. Get some grit down to stop the ice and frosts winning.


Hot drinks may sound simple, but plenty of these will keep a miserable workforce going. Nobody likes working when they are cold, so turn the heating up and keep the tea, coffee, hot chocolate or anything else warm coming. This also goes for fitters. If any customers are reading this, make sure the window fitters are well supplied with hot drinks, they work far better when they are warmer!

Cold Weather To Kill Off Weaker Companies?

This is the time of year when business goes quiet, cash flow becomes more like a cash-trickle and so it's even more vital companies make it through the winter months. However, for those companies who have struggles all the way through the year, this long and severe cold weather is the last thing they will have wanted.


Cold weather naturally stops people from coming out on to the streets to shop till they drop. They stay in, keep warm and don't drive. In fact online business is probably booming right about now. Problem is windows and doors aren't really bought online. People come in to buy them. We have noticed it becoming much quieter in terms of new leads over the past few days. Providing the weather stays dry things should pick up. We have been signing up plenty of business from previous leads. 


The worry now is those companies who have struggled on during the rest of the year, if they remain quiet or worse over the next few months, this cold spell could tip them over the edge into bankruptcy. By January we could see a big rise in the number of companies becoming insolvent.

The Cold Snap

I thought I'd show some of the pictures I've taken over the last week or so:

These images are of the yard at work, Leeds city centre during a heavy snow shower, our street an a rare gritter. The last 5 images are pictures of the road outside our office and our garden when I got home today.


What we have been having is significant. This is the most snow we've had in 30 years. The snow in Yorkshire is due to stop by early Friday morning. But despite this, the isn't going to be any thaw as we are set to stay in the cold air into next week also (according to Paul Hudson from Look North!).


I'll try and find a way for you to post your pictures on here!

A Day In The Life Of A Double Glazing Salesman

This post was written has a guest post to appear on www.fensafitters.wordpress.com 


I thought I might give my account of what a day is like in the world of double glazing.

Some background information first about the company I work for; we are a small family run business based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. We will have been in business for 30 years by January 2011. There are three of us that are involved in the selling side of the business.

I'm a fully self employed salesman. This means simply that I have no basic, and I'm paid on what I sell, so it's all purely based on results. Being self employed comes with the perk that I can arrive to work as and when I want, though I do get into the office at 9am every morning, despite having flexible hours! It does also mean I work damn hard for my money. The spectre of not being paid is one I do not like hanging over my head!

First thing for me is to check the diary for leads. I need to know where I'm going so I can plan the rest of the day around my appointments. During the busier spring and summer periods we can expect to have at least 2 leads a day each. It can be more sometimes due to others being away on holiday for example.

Once I know what leads I've got it's straight upstairs to get the showroom open. The outdoor conservatory show site is usually opened up by the time I'm there. A quick sweep round to see if anything needs adjusting by the service engineer and if there are any bulbs that need replacing. Then it's tea and breakfast time!

The way the leads pan out mean we usually have a mid to late morning appointment, and then one in the afternoon. So the hours in between are filled by catching up on paperwork for quotations for clients you've seen previously. If I'm lucky enough to get caught up and I have a bit of spare time I get myself out of the office and on-site. If a customer is kind enough to give you an order, I always think it's nice of the sales person to go out occasionally and show some interest in the job while it's going through the fitting process. I try and do this as often as time will allow me. It's fantastic PR, but it's also helped my fitting knowledge massively. Without going out on site I wouldn't know 10% of what I do now.

Anywhere between 12-2pm is lunch. It can vary like this depending what time leads have been booked on for you. It can also leave you feeling light headed and starving if you have a 12:30pm and you don't get back for a couple of hours and you've not had time to eat.

All the above is assuming you have a quiet day in the office. We are a showroom also. This means we get people regularly coming through the doors wanting to see what we have to offer. So depending who is in and who's turn it is we give demonstrations of what we sell. These can range from anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour depending on what the customer wants and how much they wish to know. The desired end result is that they arrange for one of us to come see them at their property to give them a quote for the work they want doing. Luckily for us we get plenty of people through the doors and we make plenty of leads to go around all three of us.

So, you can have a day where you get in at 9am, not have time to eat because your doing a showroom demo straight away, then go on your morning lead, and get back by 1pm-ish hungry, hot and bothered!

Because we try and space the appointments out, that usually gives us an hour or two again to get paperwork up to date and quotes ready for delivering. If time allows us, the three sales people try and get together to talk about sales figures, what targets we should be aiming for and reviewing what we've done over the past few weeks and what we can be doing to improve. We aren't as regimented as some companies on daily/weekly/monthly meetings. The reason is that both me, by brother and my Dad (the boss) all sell. It means we can talk about work both at home and in the office, so we find no need to set time aside during the working day to talk targets. I understand that most other companies don't have that luxury.

During the busier days I have a sort of flexible routine. During the afternoon I get my quotes ready for delivering, then go on my afternoon lead. After that I go straight from my appointment to hand delivering my quotes. This is something we all do at our company. I feel it gives a much more personal touch. Obviously if we've been out somewhere that's 30-40 miles away we would just put the client's quote in the post! The spring and summer months being the busiest means these are the times I regularly finish anywhere between 7-9pm. You could have 2-4 quotes to deliver in one drop, all miles apart from each other, and you may have to spend some time with each customer going through the quote. I usually get at least one order per night doing this.

Then that's my working day done. The job I do isn't a physically testing one. Not like the fitting side of the job is. But it's a mentally tough one. Uncertain wages, constant late finishes, the nature of my job means I'm out and about all the time, never really sat down relaxing, always on my feet. It's ultimately quite frantic, and that's what takes it out of you.

However, I love what I do. I'm a people person. If your not a people person, then your not right for selling. But I am. And despite the fact that I have no basic wage, I do ok for myself. I've been doing this for about 4 and a half years, and I've got better each year. The recession years were tough, but it made me improve and become better.

This is an outline of a typical day for me, other sales people at other companies will have something a little different. Hope you enjoyed reading!