A Challenge

I really have got the bit between my teeth on this issue, but it bugs me so I'm going to carry on talking about it.


I'm proposing a challenge: I'm asking those reps/companies who are currently signing up their contracts with little or no profit to come on here and explain why. I would like you to explain why, in a time of rising costs, you insist on bleeding your quotes dry of profit, to try and win the order? I know this has been going on for a good 18 months to two years, surely some of you are on the brink of collapse? Do you realize you have employees that rely on the business surviving so they can earn an income?


There are a lot of competitors of mine which are selling their wares for absolutely bugger all. Those who know who I am, know exactly who I'm talking about. This is your platform to come on here and respond to what I've said - if you're really bothered about the people you employ and the businesses you're supposed to be running responsibly.


It's time to earn money, not become a 'not for profit' organisation!

It's Time To Wake Up Sales People!

Why is it that when companies are being told time and time again that making a decent profit margin is an absolute priority, am I still surrounded by fools who still think it's a good idea to sweep their quotes so much they're doing the work for nothing? All to make sure they win the order? Whats the point!!


We have one of two reasons to choose from here folks. The first choice is that the people in charge of these companies have no basic understanding of mathematics and have no business skills. They don't understand that in a time of economic hardship, the work they bring in must have some profit attached to it so that they can stay afloat to hopefully make more money and honour the guarantees they give out.


The second choice we have is that they are unable to sell the benefits of their product over their competitors'. They feel that the only way to secure a deal is to make it cheaper than everyone else's, even if it means making very little or nothing at all. But they think it's OK because even though they're doing it for nothing, no else has got the work.


Which ever reason you pick, both are ridiculous. Duncan Bannatyne was on Sky News Wednesday morning and the news reader asked him what was one of the biggest mistakes people make in business. He said that one of the biggest failures of people in business was people blaming everything but themselves for their shortcomings. And this applies here. I don't believe that you can't make a decent profit during times like these. If you sell your benefits well, believe in your product, know your product inside and out, and provide exemplary service from the beginning, there's no reason for your quotes to have little or no profit. These hairy fairy excuses of 'there's too much competition' and 'times are tough' don't wash with me. We managed to increase our profit margin all the way from the recession in 2008 to now - through professional salesmanship good business sense.


And you don't have to give in you know, when a customer asks for a discount, more times than not they're prepared to accept the quote you gave them in the first place, they're just trying their luck.


You may ask why I'm so bothered about this. It bothers me because the reason why people are in business is to make money. Why else would businesses exist? Yet during these last few years we've seen many people lose their heads, become irrational and have forgotten how to run a business effectively and profitably. This to me is completely unacceptable when there are people's jobs and livelihoods at stake. Owning/running a business means you have a lot of responsibility, if you can't hack it, leave and don't run the company into the ground!

The Media Are Not Helping

Here's one theory I have: if the media never reported on the financial collapse and the ensuing recession, we would never have had one.


This is a point of view I hear regularly from people. And I must say that I agree pretty much completely. 


Over the past few weeks, and even today, the TV news has been littered with doom and gloom stories about high inflation, low interest rates, stagnant wages, job cuts, government spending cuts etc. This is exactly the bad press that the spending public do not want to hear. Why do we all want to be made to feel even more depressed about things when we turn the TV on?


We're all in this together, the media should shoulder some of that moral responsibility and start to broadcast some more positive news. Negativity isn't going to get this country spending again. Good evidence of this was the recent royal wedding. I don't know about everyone else but leading up to that day business was booming. People were happy, positive and ready to spend their cash. After that, and when the media lost interest and focused back on the economy, it all dipped again.


Things like this really grind my gears. Businesses are doing their damned best to make the best of a bad situation. Negative media will only exacerbate the problems and make life even harder.


And before any of you lot go saying: "well you're not so positive yourself", well I think I'm allowed to be a bit downbeat about things sometimes on here, I'm not watched by tens of millions of people in this country every night. I don't think I'm not going to have a national impact on here!

Fuel Prices On The Rise Again

The start of the week saw Scottish Power announce that it was raising it's gas prices by a staggering 19% and electricity by a further 10% by August this year. It begs the question; why are we paying so much for gas when there is so much of it around? It's not in the same position as oil where supply will outstrip demand in a few years time.


With Scottish Power raising their prices, other power companies are expected to do the same soon. What this means is yet more pressure on households to make ends meet in a time when wages have stopped rising and high living costs are crippling family budgets. This is going further suppress people's spending power, which is the last thing businesses need. 


People tell me that I'm always banging the downbeat drum, and I'm afraid I'm going to bang that same drum now. 


While wages are stagnant, and living costs are sky rocketing, people simply are not going to spend. And with gas and electricity prices also shooting up, this is making the current situation ever more difficult to turn around.


I also think that the government should be looking into how these power companies come up with their prices, because from here it looks to me like they're all in a cartel and profiteering from the current hardships.

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.

More Evidence Of Under-Selling

A new follower on my Twitter account: @AlexanderUpvc has been advertising this offer:

Fantastic UPVC Doors With Our Unique Lifetime Warranty – Only £395

This Alexander Windows Special Offer is for a 6 point locking, fully reinforced white uPVC front or back door and frame with your choice of clear or obscure glass. Choose from a selection of over 10 uPVC door styles, including both half and fully-glazed doors. It comes with a standard threshold and white furniture (handles, knocker and letterplate if required). This unbeatable price includes VAT, fitting and our Unique Lifetime Warranty.


What I'm doing on this post is politely asking how the hell do you make any money out of a £395 door including VAT and fitting?! What's even more baffling is the lifetime guarantee that is given with this price!


When prices are shooting up quicker than ever, this sort of pricing is utter suicide!


Another new follower on my Twitter page was advertising this offer on their Twitter account @HuddsGlazing:


7 windows including a bay window, fitted for £2100 inc VAT. Now that's a good deal.


I'm sorry but that is not a good deal from your point of you @HuddsGlazing. It's way too cheap. How are you making any money out of that?


I tear my hair out when I see things like this about. I don't understand how companies still think that churning out these sorts of prices are going to be good for business. Overheads are up, raw materials are up and margins are down. This is exactly the last thing that should be happening.

Rant over.

Over £10 Billion To Repair Potholes

This is a real pet hate of mine, as it probably is with all road users, but pot holes really are a pain in the backside!

The problem is that to repair the 2.2million+ potholes around the country, it's going to cost £10.7 billion! Money that our councils have said they simply don't have.

The potholes have been caused by 3 severe winters in a row, and the running repairs done by the councils have been undone by frosts overnight. However, due to these potholes, there has been a rise in insurance claims due to damage done to cars by the holes. Tyres and suspension springs are at risk by going over particularly deep holes, and cyclists can easily be dis-mounted by riding over one.

The big question here is why our roads are in such a terrible state but other country's aren't. Scandinavia, Canada and USA all have far longer and colder winters than we do, yet their roads aren't in anyway near as bad as ours. 

I'm sure many of you have cringed as you've driven over a pothole and your tyres and suspension have jolted, then driven much more tentatively for the next half mile to make sure that no lasting damage has been done to your car!

'Profit' Has Become A Dirty Word, But It Shouldn't Be!

Over the past few years, the word 'profit' seems to have been dragged through the mud a little bit.


This is down to two things. The first is due to the appalling behaviour of the banks in this country. Their reckless spending and greed brought the financial sector and this country to it's knees. The general public had to bail them out. But now when the very same banks are reporting huge profits again, so soon after potential meltdown, it seems highly distasteful that these huge profits aren't being used to pay back the people who were so kind as to bail them out in the first place.


The second reason is the recession. As companies cut their prices to win new business, it was their margins that suffered. But now it seems customers have got used to this scenario. A perfect example occurred yesterday. We were quoting for a roofline price for a customer whose next door neighbour had gone ahead with us a week previously. He was pushing us on price so I made sure I did my best, and made sure it was cheaper than next doors. There was less materials involved so that was do-able. Realistically our profit margin was lower than it should have been, and so was the commission. Once I got back to the customer with the price all they could say was that they couldn't understand why it was so much (even though their neighbour told them how much they paid), and that we seemed to be making a lot of profit it out of the job. I explained to them that scaffolding and their black materials made up a lot of the cost, as well as labour. We didn't put much profit down and I was earning very little out of the job. They seemed offended that we wanted to make profit out of the job in the first place.


From what I read and hear, customers don't want companies to be making profits right now. But do they not understand that businesses are here to make money, and that profits mean their ten year guarantees are honoured. If companies don't make any profit and go bust, than that catching door which would normally be sorted out FOC under the terms of the guarantee would cost to be put right!


Profit IS NOT a dirty word. It is something every business should be striving to achieve, on every single job, not matter how big or small. People are in business for a reason, to make money. I suggest that those in business who don't like profits, or to those people who don't like businesses to make money, go work for/buy from non-profit organisations. Don't waste the time of those people who want to build something for themselves.

Blazing A New Trail

Have you ever sat down in contemplation, looked at your life where you are right now, and thought: I think I need a fresh start somewhere else?


That's where I am right now. Certain personal events have caused me to analyse my friendships with certain people, which, when a lot of them make up the circles you travel in, is a hard one to swallow if your thinking you perhaps don't want to be involved with them.


Then there's where I live. I'm still at home, in Wakefield. A city which is struggling to inspire me at this moment in time. I visited New York over New Years, and I loved being there. There always seemed a chance of opportunity and positivity, something which Wakefield, and probably most of the country just doesn't have. I'm someone who feels has a lot of potential, but this city just isn't nurturing it. If I were ever to move, it would be out of the country...that's providing I get the opportunity and money to allow me to do so.


But then I look at what I have here; a family business where, all being well, I'll be sitting in the same seat as my Dad. I have some of my best friends still here, and a caring family. 


Maybe this is just me wanting to bury my head in the sand and is struggling to cope with an ex-girlfriend and hot 'n' cold mates. Simple fact is that I'm frustrated and either need calming, or have better opportunities presented to me.


Next post will be about windows...promise!

My Message To Downing Street

I don't know what it is, but my frustration with the utter incompetence of this Government, the last Government and the selfish, greedy banks seems to be over-flowing right now. I can't keep it in, so like all good bloggers, I've sent a message. This first one is to Mr Cameron, and it read as follows:


Hello. I am writing to convey my utter frustration and anger about the current economic situation this country is facing. I'm writing not only on the behalf of a young population that has become utterly disillusioned with politicians and the greedy selfish bankers, but also on behalf of a struggling and stifled SME sector.


Now I understand that the previous Government has a lot to answer for, what with their recklessly high levels of public spending, burdening our younger generation with huge debts for some time. But your cuts are way to fast, and way too much. Your hoping that private sector growth is going to be able to mop up the job losses from the public sector cuts. But I can promise you that it's not coming. There are too many jobless for the slow growing, if not growing at all, private sector to cope with.


Also, the banks have had a big part to play in all this. Their greed and selfishness has impacted on everyone terribly. You MUST put more pressure on the banks to lend in decent amounts, and you MUST do it now. I fear that this Government, the last Government and the recklessness of the banks have now lost a generation. Well done.


It's probably not word perfect as the original message I sent because I forgot to save it so I've done it all from memory, but it's pretty much all there in the right order!


I'm going to work on a scathing one for the banks tomorrow when I get the chance. I'm not daft. I don't expect a reply from either Number 10 or any bank I send this to. But I do hope people read what I have to say and understand why I'm so angry.


People my age are being crippled by the sheer lack of opportunity to get anywhere in life. I'm still living at home like many people my age, without the chance of getting a mortgage for years. Insurance costs are sky high. There's no job opportunities, there's nearly 1 million 16-24 year old people out of work. I'm lucky to have had such a smooth transition into work. Wages aren't high enough and because of all this, our generation is about as turned off to politics as is physically possible.