A Place For Positivity!

As many of you will have already noticed, on the right hand side on my blog I have created a new page, designed specifically to promote the more positive things going on in the industry at the moment.

For the last 3 years, there have been many outlets in where negativity can be written about, including Twitter, blogs (including this one), magazines etc. But there never has ever really been a dedicated place for people or companies to just talk about the positive things going on with them or the industry right now. Yes there's Twitter, but once that tweet is pushed down the list by the many other tweets after, it's generally forgotten about. I want this page to be a place to record the many successes people and companies could potentially have this year. It would be nice to look back on this page at the end of the year and say "yeah, 2012 wasn't all that bad!"

I want everyone to get involved, whether you're a company or a person. Please don't leave anonymous comments as this would be defeating the object of an open forum page designed to create a positive open atmosphere.

I can be something small or something big. It might be that you've broken your sales record for the month or already surpassed your monthly target with a week to spare. Lead levels might be better than expected. You might have won your biggest order to date. These are just some examples, the news can be as big or as small as you would like to share - just make sure it is positive!

One thing I don't want it to turn into is an advertising page, so I'll filter out and dispose of anything which looks like advertising!

Other than that, I hope to be able to make a small difference with this page, and I hope that lots of you will get involved over the next 12 months!

Click this link to go to the page, or just find it on the right hand side! 

First Day Back

It was the first official day back in the office today, and it was a surprisingly brisk start to the new business year!

We had been open at various points during Christmas and New Year, and took some decent quality leads and some sales too. Not bad to say we're approaching another recession and it was during our quietest time of the year.

Lead levels today for the first day back were pretty good, we all signed up deals and there's plenty more decent sized orders in the pipeline to come good.

But, I think this little boost to the start of the year may be a symptom of a reserved December. People were quite unwilling to spend during most of the month, most likely holding off until Christmas had passed to start their home improvements.

The positive start to the year is of course welcomed, however it probably won't be a sustained improvement on 2011. I think that just like last year, business in 2012 will come in fits and starts. The key will be to sell this years contracts with a decent profit margin. People are getting used to things becoming more expensive. Companies should start to use this change in attitude to re-build their profit margins over the course of the year.

Money For Old Frames

Eurocell have just opened their £3 million brand spanking new recycling centre in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. The facility is capable of processing 12,000 post consumer waste frames per week, adding up to an impressive 624,000 frames per year. This massive new operation put them at the forefront of PVCu recycling in the UK.

In an industry which is battling against fluctuating commodity prices and constant price increases, recycling could be a bit of a magic bullet. 

If a manufacturer can count on the majority of it's PVCu raw material coming from a post consumer waste plant on site, rather than buying in new lengths all the time, then the amount of money that could be saved over time would be immeasurable. And I'm sure a massive relief on what would probably be a very strained profit margin. It would give that company more of a freedom on how it wants to run it's manufacturing process, and give them more of a say on the type of product it wants to produce and sell.

The environmental benefits are also enormous. Saving 624,000 frames from going in a hole in the ground will have a big impact. Now if every major supplier and manufacturer did the same, imagine the many millions of frames not going to landfill. Then imagine all that extra material which could be used to make brand new windows without having to waste money buying new materials!

There is also a huge commercial and advertising opportunity. Recent research has revealed that a fifth of consumers would be prepared to spend around 10% more for a sustainable and 'greener' product, and 60% of people want to buy from an 'environmentally responsible' company. So pushing the green ethics of your business and overhauling your recycling commitments has never been so important! Green is cool!

Door-Stop Showcasing Impressive Growth

Door-Stop International has just posted a £17 million turnover in just it's third year of business, that equates to a rise of 30%, up from £13 million the year previously.


The company has been taking a steady 25-30 new customers on per week. They also state that a lot of their growth can be attributed to organic growth.


MD Nick Dutton said: “Our existing customers are now buying 40% more doors on average than they were two years ago.” 


What is obvious is that the market for PVCu panel doors is collapsing at quite a rate. Personally I think I have only sold two PVCu panelled doors all year, the vast majority have all been composites.


We all know turnover is important, but most of us also know that profit is even more important. So it would be nice to know how much of that turnover is profit. A business is only a healthy one if it's making a decent profit.


However, a pat on the back is due to the Duttons at Door-Stop, they've done a sterling job in an industry with many negatives at the moment.

Renting Is The Problem

It has been pointed out today that one of the main causes for the spate of high street stores going under, as well depressed sales, are very high rent rates the stores have been having to pay.


With rising costs and slowing sales, these expensive rent rates have obviously proved the last straw for many businesses. Rents are usually paid quarterly, but have been rising every quarter to make sure landlords have been able to stay profitable. Unfortunately these rents have proved to be too much.


So this got me to thinking; if this can happen to high street stores, could the same scenario play out with double glazing companies that rent office space or warehouse space for manufacturing?


I think it could. If tenancy contracts are up for renewal soon, this is an opportunity for landlords to bump their prices up to help cover their rising costs. Of course this will have an impact on businesses. Rates for companies renting manufacturing space are already going to be quite expensive. Any further rises would surely mean the cost of the company's windows would have to go up. Anyway, you get where I'm going with that scenario, don't want to be too negative, I keep getting told off about being too down beat! Let me know if you agree though!


That's the negative spin out of the way, here comes the good news...well, for those that own their own buildings anyway! The good news is...wait for it...your rent won't be going up! For those who own their own building in which they run their double glazing company from, this is the ideal to not be shelling out cash for sitting in the building your working in. Obviously running costs are still going to have to be paid for, but the mortgage on your building is by far one of the biggest overheads, so if you've just paid it off, or have paid it off quite a while ago, you have one less thing to worry about.


So, yet one more reason why renting in this country is dead money, and why owning the building you live/work in is the better position to be in for the long-term.

I've Got My Traffic Back...And I'm Getting Fit!

It seems that the recent patch of bank holidays were to blame for my drop in traffic to my blog. But I am now glad to say it's picked back up, and with interest! Yesterday was my best day for visitors so far, with 115. Probably not as much as Renegade Conservatory Guy's, but still not bad I don't think!


Also, I've decided to turn over a new leaf, and got myself motivated to start getting fitter and more in shape! We've had a treadmill, bike and weights in the garage for years, but have been used up till now only once! And now I'm single, I've started to grow...outwards. And I've got a holiday coming up. The nice American ladies won't be interested in a beer bellied Englishman, so I've buckled down and got to it! 


I'm also doing it for me. I'd like to be fitter than I am at the moment, so using my spare time to do some more exercise seems like the best thing to do. I'm also going for the 'the sharper the body the sharper the mind' effect. If I feel fitter I may even improve on my sales figures maybe? I'll let you know if it has any effect!

Branching Out

My motivational juices have been flowing pretty briskly over the last few months, and for the most part I've been plying them into the career I'm already developing. But I don't think that this is going to be enough to satisfy me.


Since I've split up with the girlfriend, I've found this new well of determination and drive to be as successful as possible. I wouldn't class this is being greedy for as much money as I can make as possible, but just to channel my new energies and drive into a new project which will provide greater opportunities and rewards for me. But at the same time I want to be able to dedicate the same amount of time to the job I have now. Sound difficult? Probably. It would most definitely mean that evenings wouldn't be free, and probably most weekends. 


I just have this thing in my head telling me I've got a well of potential waiting to be tapped.


I'm leaning towards doing something web/IT based, as that's where the money is in the world right now, and I've got so many ideas running through my head that they often go before I can expand them and get them written down! So I must use the memo function on my phone a bit more!


Anyway, all being well, you might be seeing/hearing a bit more of me in the years to come, providing I achieve what I want!


Night all!

Is Wakefield Set To Boom?

For those who aren't aware, the city of Wakefield has had a lot of money spent on it in the last few years.


Our new Pinderfield's hospital cost £215 million to build. But if you were to compare the new buildings to the old, you will see that it is money very well spent. I've heard very good things about the service, facilities and food available.


We have a brand spanking new £210 million shopping mall to bring us up to scratch with other cities. The tired old Ridings Shopping centre didn't really show Wakefield in the best light. It was old fashioned inside, nowhere near modern enough, and it had a funny smell on the middle floor which only added to the dowdy, down and out feel.


Also, Wakefield is currently part way through one of the biggest urban regeneration projects it's ever seen. Called Merchant Gate, the £140 million project is seeing a massive mix of office, residential and business space being created. An enormous multi-story car park has already been created, as well as Phase One of the overall project, Burbage Square has been completed. Yet to be started is a proposed hotel next to Westgate train station which is also set to be revamped, a ring of new flats and yet more mix-used office space is also still to be started. So my guess is that £140 million will go up by the time all the work is complete by (probably) 2013.


Not mentioned above is the modernisation of part of the city centre to include a new central water fountain (though it's hardly ever turned on!) So my estimates put the total amount spent, including some of the other smaller projects that have taken place, to over £600 million. This is a lot of money to be spent on such a small city like Wakefield. However there is a point to this splurge of spending. The people in charge of Wakefield are hoping that all the new facilities, office space and desirable living areas will bring in new investment from businesses, create more jobs and attract new shoppers from further afield who normally wouldn't consider Wakefield as a shopping destination. 


Wakefield has always been in the shadow of Leeds. They have always had better and more abundant office spaces, far better shopping and more of it, and a better business community. But with these new premises, Wakefield should be set to benefit for many years to come. And even now, people are already reporting busier trading conditions in The Ridings shopping centre.


My personal opinion is that when all the works are completed, Wakefield will be by a far a better place. Hopefully the wealth that will be created will be spread evenly throughout the city so everyone will be exposed to the benefits.

Ambition

I am as a person a determined one by my nature. Give me a task, and I'll get my teeth stuck into it. Whether it's for money or just to attain that sense of achievement and accomplishment, I'll do it, and I'll do it well.


On that basis, the challenge of ever improving, expanding and growing the business that is part of my family is one of the biggest, and one that I relish. And gratefully so does my brother. We have been given a chance to make something that is already successful, even more so, and to expand it beyond it's current abilities. And the mood we're both in right now, you can bet your bottom dollar that that is what is going to happen.


New opportunities are going to present themselves within the next few years which are going to help tap into our ambition, and which is going to help us become more aggressive in a business sense. As these opportunities get closer, we have both been thinking about the long-term possibilities for us and the business, and we both have to keep a lid on our excitement. Patience counts for a lot in this game, but luckily we've got that in spades too!


Keep an eye on us. We're 22 and 21. We've got lots to achieve, plenty of time to do it in and the tools to do it with.

Hot Weather = Hot Sales

The Met Office announced today that this April was the hottest, and driest on record. Which is quite impressive if you consider the records go back 101 years.


These dry conditions have two impacts. One, reservoir, river and canal levels have fallen dramatically. And you just know that the jumpy British Government are going to start issuing hose pipe warning soon. The second impact, in my opinion anyway, is raised sales for home improvement companies. From the beginning of March we have seen pretty much perfect weather. Temperatures above average, way above on some occasions, plenty of sunshine and very little rain (unless you're in Scotland!). And what do people do when the weather has been like it is? Home improvements. People go out into their gardens, look at their properties and they then see all the de-grading parts of their property. And this spurs them into having work done.


There is a huge difference in January's and February's figures compared to March and April's. Now I know Spring is the time when the industry starts to move into second gear, but when you consider that this April saw a 64% increase in sales compared to April last year (and we did pretty well last year), you have to contemplate that the brilliant recent weather has cheered up an economically depressed spending public. 

Strange Time Of Year

We are about to enter a part of the year like no other. The Easter Bank Holidays.


Easter is the only time of year where the working weeks become so disorganised and skewed for everybody involved. Delivery schedules are all over the place, fitting schedules become shorter hence less income, sales reps can't sit leads because offices close. Personally, I wouldn't mind if we had less bank holidays during this time, and they were spread out a bit more evenly throughout the year. Plus, we get an extra one because of the Royal Wedding.


Being self employed and commission only based, I like to work as much as I can to earn as much as I can. So having so many days off like the ones coming up are more a pain in the backside than anything else. Is this just me being grumpy and greedy?


On a more positive note, I'm happy to say that sales and continued to be very strong, more than making up for a slow start to the year. Lead levels have continued to be healthy, as have sales and profit margins. I think that the recent good weather has spurred people on into making decisions on improving their homes, and with the forecast for the rest of this week to stay sunny and warm, this trend will hopefully continue.

Pilkington To Open £36 Million Energy Efficient Glazing Line

More good news has been released from Pilkington, with their announcement that they are to open a new energy-efficient coating facility at their current base in St Helens, worth £36 million. This new line will also create 50 brand new jobs.


This is further good news, following the re-opening of their production plant in St Helens last year, which created 130 jobs.


The new line will produce highly energy efficient glass which will be used in residential properties where the glass will be installed to reduce CO2 emissions and lower energy bills for home-owners.


The opening of this new line was helped after Pilkington was given £5 million by the new UK Regional Growth fund, and the new facility should be turning out the first sheets of glass by October 2012.


A report by the Liverpool Daily Post can be read here.

Are Reduced Margins A Certainty?

A bit of a debate started yesterday on Glasstalk about margins and how they will naturally become less due to the mature market place, competition and struggling economy. As proof of the opposite, I'm taking the view that just because things aren't so easy, there are ways to stay profitable.

One way to increase margins is to improve the quality of the product that is sold. High-end products can command a better profit margin. It's easier to sell a higher price to a customer when the product is a good one. Cheaper products can only achieve medium price ranges with poor profit margins.


The other way is to accept the financial situation we are all in. Loss leading offers are not the  way to bring the custom in when profit is needed so badly. It's time to implement those price increases that your manufacturers have been passing on and eating into your profit levels. Just because the price of a door might go up £30-50 doesn't mean you won't get that sale now. Just sell the benefits of the product and explain that raw materials prices have gone up. The last few leads I've sat I've explained how the current financial climate has caused raw material prices to go up, having a knock-on effect on our prices. They're are fully understanding as they know everyone, including themselves are having to pay more due to the rising cost of living.


Get your staff to do more. If you're busy and think you need to hire more staff, try using your current employees first before you add another wage to your bill. Perhaps give them a small pay rise to cover the extra work, but this will still be cheaper than taking on another member of staff when maybe you don't need to.


Increase your levels of personal service. You can command higher prices if the customer thinks you're doing more for them than the other company is willing to do. The more work they see you doing, the more justified the higher price becomes.


We don't have to be scared of higher prices. If we can embrace it in the right way, adapt to a more expensive market and communicate that well to the customer, there's no reason why companies can't start to recover their profit margins.

Poor Start To The Year For The Window Industry

A report from Quotatis last week confirmed what many of us knew, that the beginning of 2011 was pretty rubbish!


The report stated that conservatory leads were down by a massive 27%. Though enquiries for windows were down only 1%.


There was plenty of talk in the first eight weeks of how quiet things were in the double glazing industry. Companies were wondering if the pace was ever going to pick up, pondering the thought that the beginning of this year was much quieter than normal.


Due to the bad weather at the back end of 2010, the best thing the industry needed was an early boost to trade, as seen at the beginning of 2010. But this didn't happen. 


Luckily however, March seemed to make up for a poor January and February. Customers came crawling out of the woodwork, ready to make leads and commit to new business. I'm also happy to report that this trend has carried on into the first few days of April.

Budget 2011

For those who listened to this years Budget and are in business, it didn't sound too bad. Here are the main points from the Chancellor's speech:

• 1p cut from fuel duty from 6pm tonight
• annual 1p fuel increase scrapped until 2015
• no inflationary rise in fuel duty until 2012
• personal tax allowance to rise a further £630 to £8,015 in April 2012
• 2011 growth forecast down from 2.1% to 1.7%, revised down for the next 4 years
• Public borrowing down £2.5 billion, to £146 billion for year
• Road tax duty for HGV's frozen
• Private jet users to pay passenger tax
• Rise in air passenger duty to be frozen this year
• Corporation tax to be cut by 2% in April, instead of 1%
• £100 million to help repair potholes

If your a business, this should all make relatively good reading, especially on the fuel front. The Chancellor has also said that they would be implementing the fair fuel stabiliser scheme to help relieve the burden of high fuel costs. This should be good news for all manufacturers who have suffered over the last few years with enormous diesel bills.

On a personal level, millions are going to benefit from a higher tax threshold - OK it's only £45 on average, but that's the equivalent of a weeks worth of fuel for a family car!

Growth however has been revised down. This is significant as the Government is relying on the private sector to help soak up the job losses from the public sector. So to combat this they are setting up 21 'enterprise zones' across England. These are designed to get people's entrepreneurial juices going and new businesses off the ground. And the Chancellor has said that they will be improving again the amount of credit available to small and medium businesses - though he's said this before and the business community has still said they're suffering from a lack of credit.

It wasn't a big news budget, the 1p decrease in fuel duty was really the only major surprise in his speech. In a years time, when the effects of what he's announced have been felt, only then can we make an accurate assessment of how successful this Budget was.

Positive Budget?

For the first time in a while, we could have quite a positive budget to listen to tomorrow.


It was reported by the BBC yesterday that the Government finances were set to have a windfall of over £8 billion pounds, owing to lower than expected public borrowing and higher tax revenues. Question is how much of that spare cash is going to go towards funding the Libya conflict and how much is going to go towards paying off the nations credit card.


George Osbourne could also announce that he is going to a freeze on April's 1p fuel duty rise (which is actually more than 1p when you take into account VAT and other costs, it actually makes it a 4/5p increase). Even better, he might tell us about the fuel price stabiliser scheme and that the Government is going to implement it soon!


The Chancellor has also said that his budget tomorrow is going to be focussed wholly on growth, putting much of that emphasis on the private sector.


The Ernst & Young Item club have forecast that the Government, at this current rate, will meet it's deficit reduction targets by the end of the Parliament.

Camden Group Creates Hundreds Of Jobs

At last, some positive news for the double glazing industry in the UK! The Camden Group has made a £16million investment in Northern Ireland, creating 225 new jobs. Here's the report from the BBC:

An Antrim-based company, Camden group, is to create 225 new jobs with a £16m investment.

The company is one of the UK and Ireland's largest manufacturers of PVC windows, doors and conservatories.

The expansion has attracted £1.6m of public grants and most of the investment will be focused on a new research and development plant.

The new jobs will be created over the next three years.

Invest NI said when they are in place, they will create £4m in wages and salaries annually.

Announcing details of the investment Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said it was "welcome news for the local community and wider economy".

"Camden is among the many Northern Ireland companies that are focusing on new product and process innovation to enhance business performance," she said.

"With support from Invest NI, Camden will streamline its manufacturing process and be best placed to gain new business."

As well as research and development, Camden will also establish a new sales division to target opportunities outside Northern Ireland.

Kieran Lavery, managing director of Camden Group said: "We have identified significant opportunities in the GB new build housing market, particularly in south east England.

"The benefits gained from this project will place us in a strong and competitive position to win new business."

It's refreshing to see the bigger companies involved in this industry really getting stuck in and injecting some serious money into a weak sector of the economy.

(See Nige, something positive!).

Synseal Come Out On Top

Over the Christmas break my poll on who is the best profiler came to an end, and Synseal was picked as who you think was best. WHS Halo came in second and Spectus came third. It would be interesting to know who people voted for and why. Comments are welcome!

2011 Predictions

My general prediction is that 2011 may be a little tougher than last year. VAT has risen, government cuts and their effects are going to be felt soon and wages for most aren't rising enough to keep up with the rising cost of living. So continuing the recovery from recession will be made harder.

More specifically, I see further polycarbonate and glass price increases as well as rises in the cost of PVC. One factor which is really going to put a strain on all businesses this year is the spiralling cost of fuel. Petrol and diesel are at all time highs, and the last time I looked on the BBC website, it now takes about £75,000 a year to fill ONE lorry. Now imagine the bills for haulage companies. Now imagine the knock-on effects of that massive yearly fuel bill. That has to impact on all products, never mind just the ones involved in double glazing.

However, if you take a look at the wider economy, there are signs that normality is starting to return. The FTSE managed to climb above 6000 points which is both financially and psychologically important for investors. The pound vs dollar has stabilised, though it could do with being a little higher. But it's going to take more than this to make sure the public keep spending.

The high street suffered generally a very poor Christmas period, bar the odd company like John Lewis. Sales were down over the period by over 10% compared to 2009. The Christmas period provides a springboard into the New Year when people generally tighten their belts. This didn't happen and for stores like HMV who were hit hard, they are having to close stores (60 in total) to try to recoup losses.

For us as a business, we fully expect to increases sales again this year. Leads at the start of the year have been flowing steadily through, with sales copying that trend. So, lets build on what was a great 2010 for many, ignore, like we always try to do, the negative press, and push on to success.

Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a great break and are ready for what could be a tough slog this year. This post is mainly just to get off my chest how great a time I had in New York. Once I've done this, I promise to keep it to double glazing stuff, and I'll try and keep it brief!


Well, we nearly didn't get there! The original pilot was taken ill in hospital, so Virgin had to call in a spare pilot who was on his day off! About an hour later we managed to take off and landed smoothly at JFK in the middle of the afternoon. However, things were about to get much more stressful as it took four hours to make a 45 minute journey to our hotel. The reason? 51cm of snow. That all fell 48 hours before we were due to set off. The whole of New York just caved in. Three lane roads were ploughed only down the middle, only clearing one lane, causing huge snow piles either side. Not only that, trains and the underground weren't running in the city or in the outer counties, so everyone was driving in, clogging things up further.


We managed to get to the hotel, which was a very nice 4 star place in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. But we had to change rooms as we were right next to some generators and the noise was way too loud to sleep through. We actually ended up with a better room! After we moved it was room service burgers then bed.


Throughout the week we managed to pack in as much as possible, doing the usual tourist places: Empire State Building, so much shopping, Central Park, American Museum of Natural History, Maddam Tussauds, Time Square etc. One thing I'd like to stress is how polite and courteous the American people were...and how rude and arrogant the Europeans were! Every American bar one moody NYPD officer and all the British tourists were extremely kind and helpful. You could go up to either and ask questions and would give your more information than you needed. The mainland Europeans however were some of the rudest I've ever come across. A great example is where we were on a bus tour around the city and while we were trying to listen to the tour guide on the microphone, this Spanish couple were trying their best to talk over the guide, much to the annoyance of us as we were right in front of them. We did tell to be quiet as people were trying to listen, but they chose not to listen so we moved further down the bus. We had Russians and Italians pushing through queues while everyone else was patiently waiting. The French were just as rude. The Germans were OK, but I'm afraid the European tourists didn't give their continent the best impression.


The only poor part of the trip was a couple of passes we bought prior to getting there. We hoped to get into Times Square to watch the ball drop live. We found a website last September which claimed to sell tickets which not only allowed you to get into certain venues around the edge of the square (which is actually a triangle!) but also access to Times Square and get past the NYPD blockades. All I can say about them is that it was all utter bullshit! We had to spend two and a half hours trying to find a way to get past all the security barricades to pick up these passes, and once we had them and read the info pack we got, it became clear that these passes were worthless and we didn't have a chance of getting into Times Square! We were duped by a flashy website which looked absolutely legit. The simple message is if your going to Times Square in the future to see the ball drop and you find somewhere which claims to sell access tickets avoid it! It's too good to be true and don't waste your money. Just occupy a space from about 11am in the morning and be patient!


This didn't ruin any of the holiday as there was too much to do to spoil it. Another observation is that food is quite expensive over there. Menu prices look reasonable to begin with, but when you add tax on then 20% tip, it becomes a bit expensive. But, if you find a great steakhouse like we did then it's worth every penny!


Although bitterly cold for most of the week, we did OK weather wise. Sunny most days and no rain meant we could do everything we wanted to. It was a great week away and neither of us wanted to go home, hence we are already looking at booking again soon! It's a fantastic city full of welcoming people and great sights, just go with patience, it's a very busy place and you don't tend to get anywhere fast. Walking is probably your best option.


So, now that's over I need to sell a few more doors and windows to help pay for the next trip!