What Keeps You Up At Night?

Is it cash flow?  Is it getting new business?  Is it a personnel quagmire? Is it a personal or family problem?  Is it all of these?

I am the kind of a guy who needs a full eight hours of sleep, and usually nine.  I am so jealous of people that live on four or five hours a night.  They have so much more time to worry!  But I do get restful sleep and don't worry about my problems.  Here's a couple of tips to forget your troubles for eight hours a night.  No, my blog has not changed to a medical advice chat.  But we can look at ways to help clear your mind and get that problem solved. 

Keep an active 'To-Do' list on your desk, your computer or IPad.  Once your write a problem or an idea down on paper, ignore it until you get back to your desk.  Put it out of your mind.  This takes practice.  Force yourself to think, "It is on my list, and I will get to it when I get to it."  This really works if everyday you spend some time on your list.  It may only be fifteen or twenty minutes, but you will cross items off your list.

Also, keep a pad of paper and pencil next to your bed.  When you wake up at night thinking of a particular idea or problem, write it down.  Don't stay up hoping to remember it for the morning.  Write it down, get it out of your mind now, and look at it when you get up.

1. Now that you have a to-do list with, let's say, thirty items, let's rate them as easy-to-do, a pain-in-the-neck, or a no-sleeper.
2. Knock off the easy ones ASAP.  Let's say you have fifteen left, of which five are the no-sleepers.
3. Keep telling yourself it is on your list and you will get to it when you get to it.  Take one of the five and invest time and energy to solve it.  If you can't solve it, (and there will be ones you can't solve...accept it) move on. 

What about the one problem that keeps you up the most.  Talk to your business advisers, be it a key customer or vendor, your accountant, banker or lawyer, or call in a consultant.  If the problem is bothering you so much, then use every resource you can.  Define the problem in its most basic form, break it into manageable sub problems and solve the parts.  You may not solve the whole problem in one flash of insight, but you can nibble away at all of the parts making the problem conquerable.  Just about every problem is solvable. But whether it is worth the resources to solve it is the key. Keep in mind that every problem you are having has probably been encountered by someone else in our glass industry. Ask your business advisers...don't be embarrassed to ask...and you will get good answers!

Don't let the no-sleepers rob you of energy to run the business. If you come to work dragging your backside, you will not be efficient, you won't work safely, and you'll set a lousy example for your team.

What Do You Do With Your "D" List Customers

We all have them.  We may not want them as they cost us more than they make us.  The take up more time than we can afford to give.  They give grief without allowing us to make a fair profit.  They are the "D" list customers.  The bottom of your barrel.  What's a company to do?

List all of your customers in an high-to-low format, based on last year's sales.  Note where the top 90% of sales come from, and all customers below that line get the grade of D.  If you are like most glass businesses, these D-listers call for quotes, but you never get the work, ask for samples, but you never get the order or give you work that you just can't make a buck on. 

On the other hand, some D folks may actually have good potential and you should jump at the chance to bring them up your ladder. If you have 100 accounts on your computer, the top 50 will give you 90% of your business, with the bottom 50% being one-time buyers, serial quoters and very small users of your services.

Here some things you can do to improve your bottom line.

• Go over the accounts one-by-one and make a phone call to each one asking if they are still in need of your services.  Ask them when their need will be, now or in the future.  You'll probably find that half of your list will decline to be on your mailing or call out list. 
• Next, look at the ones that do have potential.  Make a personal visit with the key decision maker; make your case for them to include you in their buying program.  Let them know you will work hard for their business.  If they don't quote with you or do any business in the next 120 days, give them one more phone call.  If this still doesn't pan out, check to see if you are speaking with the correct decision maker.  It is fairly common that multiple people at firms will ask for quotes or place orders, and you need to get someone else's attention.  If you still strike out, delete from your list.
• With the ones still left, if they quote you a couple of times and you don't get any orders, politely refuse their quote request the next time around, explaining that you don't have the time to be used as a quoting source just to get your numbers bounced around.  Be firm, but polite.  You may gain their respect, but if not, you have lost nothing.
• When you get repeated requests for samples with no follow-up orders, explain that in the future samples will be charged for.  Give them an incentive to order from you.  If you charge $50 for samples, give them a $100 rebate on the order.  This will get attention.
• Hold an open house, and only invite the D list customers.  Any that show up, you will gladly continue working with.  And with no A list customers there, you will focus on the D people, which shows them you are attentive to their needs.

There will always be a bottom 10%.  Each year look at this list.  It may be your untapped gold mine, or an anchor.  Either way, you will move some people up the list and clean up the ones with no potential.

Do You Have Backup Lights On Your Buffalo?

Suppose you are out for a day's ride on your pet buffalo, (OK, bison), and you realize that you were supposed to turn left at the last tree and you went straight ahead.  So, you put your buffalo in reverse and go back and take the turn.  Now, a buffalo goes slow enough that you don't need backup lights or a beeper.  And if this is at night, you shouldn't be backing up on your buffalo anyway. 

The bottom line is: who the heck cares...but speaking of backups...

Last week my trusty five-year old best friend, Paul's laptop, folded its keys and went for the long sleep.  No warning.  It is now recycled.   

And I didn't panic. even though I couldn't transfer my data to my new best friend.  I had my laptop backed up to an extra hard drive and on one of the internet back up services.   The on line service cost about $60 a year, which is the best insurance I ever bought. 

Hey out there...every small business that doesn't have an IT person in your company, it is your job to back up your computer every day and make sure your backup is in a different location than your computer.  Every day some one's business is hit by lightning, or a flash flood, or a drop from the side of your desk.

Don't wait, place an external drive on your computer (usually under $100) or search for 'online backup' on Google or Bing.  Do it now.  Don't wait, and don't make up any silly excuses like your buffalo ate your internet cords.

 

Preventing Accidents Is Better Than A Hot Fudge Sundae On A Hot Summer Night

And if you know me, you know how much I like hot fudge sundaes, with cookies and cream ice cream.  Or really any ice cream except maple walnut.  (Maple ice cream is BIG in New Hampshire)  But, let's get back to safety.

Preventing accidents and injuries is key to the long-term success of any company, and most definately in the glass industry.  We have talked about keeping a shop clean and clutter free, and wearing of safety gear to reduce the extent of an injury. 

Now, just after an accident occurs, and the employee is in the hospital, or back at work, what do you do?  There are definately specific steps to take.

1. Have each person who witnessed the accident write a complete report of what they saw.  Tell them this report will help to prevent injuries in the future.  Most union members will balk at this, but stress how important it is to your overall safety program.  Help any employee who may not be literate in English to write their report.  If you get four people to write reports, you will have four different views that will not agree with each other, but they all will be helpful.  These reports should be started within minutes of the accident so that the incident is clear and not subject to reinterpritation. 
2. Your safety coordinator (of course, you have one, or it is you) looks at all the causes of the accident...rarely is there just one.  The coordinator then should change or improve the conditions that caused the accident.  It may mean changing a work flow pattern, changing a product location in your shop and usually includes an education plan for all employees.  Don't ever think that an accident can not be prevented.  All can be prevented...it is just a matter of cost and procedure to do so.  If you tell an federal or state OSHA inspector that an accident can't be prevented, they will close the section of your company that you can't prevent accidents in!  Yes, they will and you can appeal all you want...you will lose this one.
3. It is your responsibility to change any aspect of your business to prevent that same accident again.  At my glass fabrication company we enforced our safety rules to the point of a first and second warning, and then terminations for failure to wear the proper safety equipment.  The message went out that we were serious.  Our accident rate had spiked up, causing a significant increase in insurance costs.  It took a couple of years for our comp rates to go down, and we discovered it would have been one heck of a lot cheaper to invest in prevention. 
4. Your comp insurance carrier should be your best friend.  Use their accident prevention services to help you, at every chance you get.  These folks will be real pros at helping you to avoid accidents.  They will ask you to spend here and there to improve this and that.  Do it.  It will save you in the long run.
5. Whatever kinds of accidents you have, keep accurate records on your OSHA log.  OSHA does not go out of their way to punish companies.  In fact, they have many programs for voluntary safety inspections. 
6. Go to http://osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/index.html for great information for small businesses. 
7. When an OSHA inspector knocks on your door, invite them in.  Never tell them to come back with a warrant. They will and you won't be happy with the results.  Give the inspector the documents they ask for, which will include your accident log, your lost time hours, and saftey reports including your accident investigtion paperwork.  You can certainly give them time to review your reports, and have a cup of coffee, while you send someone to the shop area to "clean up". 
8. Make sure you have the basics, like the MSDS sheets, phone numbers posted for ambulances and well-stocked first aid kits.
9. Answer their questions with all honesty, but answer only what they ask.  If an inspector takes a picture, you should take the same picture.  If they interview an employee, you should sit in. 
10. If you think you are in 'trouble', immedietely call your comp insurance broker, who may have should be able to get a qualified person to assist you in the walk through.

That's enough for now.  Just remember that safety is your responsibility...you can't blame an employee...it comes out of your financial hide in the long run.

Glass Shop Safety, And The Beat Goes On

So, here is part II...How to reduce the impact of an injury that may occur in your company.  The best course is to prevent the accident, but we are now beyond that.

It starts with you, you must enforce that all personnel who work with or near glass wear safety gear.  This is what you should have:

• Everyone who enters your shop or manufacturing area has to wear approved safety glasses.  Absolutely no exceptions.
• Everyone who who is in contact with glass, of any sort, tempered or annealed, should wear glass gloves and wrist gauntlets.  Some glaziers and workers prefer the wrist guards, and some prefer the long gloves.  Give your people the choice...whatever is comfortable for them.  But, there is no choice to wear them or not.  This includes you!
• All people who unload glass from trucks should wear hard hats.  Anytime glass is overhead for any reason...being carried by hand or by a crane, wear a hard hat.  You can make this fun...hard hats are available in many colors and styles, from cowboy hats to baseball hats. 
• Anyone who carries glass should also be wearing glass worker's sleeves.  Get the kind without the metal ringlets.  When carrying the glass against your shoulder, the rings will scratch the glass.
• Fabricator's and manufacturer's should also wear leggings or a leather apron.

Yes, it sounds like a lot.  It will cost you about $200 to outfit each person.  And that is cheap compared on one major accident that is reduced to a five-stitcher.

That is the key.  Reduce the severity of an accident.  What would have been a three inch gash is now just a bruise.  No lost time and no hospital charges.  Instead of a cut and a concussion, you have a bump.  There is no way to say how much you will save because of the correct wearing of personal protective gear because you won't have the accidents!  Ask your comp carrier them what your comp bill would have been if your last couple of accidents were reduced to a non-reportable situation.  The dollar signs will light up with that one.

Respond instantly to any accident in your company. Have a trained first-aid person working on every shift. Send one employee for CPR, blood-born pathogen and first-aid training to your local Red Cross. They do a great job! Keep your first-aid supplies fresh and available. Place a sticker with the local ambulance or fire department number on every phone in your building. It is better to call a paramedic early in the process. I have met many firemen and ambulance staff, and they all have said it is better to call them to your business and not have a problem than to call them ten minutes after a cut where you can't stop the bleeding!  It is better to call an ambulance than to drive someone to the hospital or clinic yourself.  If the employee goes into shock, they can handle it better than you can.  Even though it may take a couple of minutes for the ambulance to get to you, they will still give better care than you can and they will get immediate entree to the emergency room.

Get the rest of your employees back to work.  Don't let them stand around and stare at an injured person.  This will destroy productivity and reduce moral. 

Next, make the reporting of any accident immediate and mandatory.  Failure to report an accident should be cause for a long suspension.  This will reduce the incidence of someone saying, "Well, a couple of weeks ago I hurt my back, and now I want to file a claim."  By coincidence, this conversation will take place twenty minutes after the employee was told to do a job he doesn't like doing.  You still have to honor the injury claim, (Most states give up to one year for an employee to file a claim) but you have a better chance of fighting it under these circumstances.

Next week we will discuss your obligations under OSHA regulations and investigating accidents in your shop.