You Can't Get A Good Bagel in Western New Hampshire, And Other Problems Of Life

It is just one complaint after another…it’s too hot, it’s too cold, the glass is warped, the other guy is ten cents a foot cheaper.

When I ran Floral Glass, we had customers who complained about everything, and those who found a way to make lemonade when life rained Sunkist. Everyone has problems, and the last thing anyone wants to know is that you are having one of those days. Here are some thoughts on how to keep your face smiling, rather than frowning.

• Set realistic goals. Two weeks ago, I had a lot of flying to do. Some people had a goal of landing exactly on time, and if we were ten minutes late, they would be upset. Many upset people on that day. I set my goal as being able to walk off the plane after landing. As long as there was no crash, I had a good flight. I knew up front that every leg of the flight could have been delayed. I scheduled enough time between flights to allow for this. I could have been home an hour earlier, and the cost would have been being under tension for the whole day. Not worth it.

• Order glass from your supplier with enough lead-time for them to do a good job. When your tempered shower doors are a rush, there may not be enough time for proper inspection, or to polish a slight chip. If you quote every job as rush, you will be disappointed way too often. If your customer insists on a rush, explain to them the difficulties and extra costs involved. If they still want a rush, get paid extra for it, and the extra dollars will cover your grief.

• Understand that Murphy’s law (If it can go wrong, it will; and only at the least desirable time) runs your business, and the lives of your employees. With about 240 work days, someone will take a sick day just when you have an important job. The average employee will take five or six sick days per year, or will have an ‘obligation on the first day of hunting season’ and you can’t control it. How to remain calm? Expect that this will happen, and have a good program of cross-training in your company, so that pinch-hitters can step up when needed. They may not be as good as the starting team, but you will get the job finished.

• Accept the fact that you will have to replace people in your company. Moreover, it will always be someone that you think is irreplaceable, but he comes in late, hung over, and can’t read a tape measure until 10:00am. When you finally make this replacement, the rest of your employees will cheer. It is not a problem to replace this guy; it is an opportunity to improve your company!
  

• “The check is in the mail.” Yes, this is a rough one. How can you turn this happy? Most people call their customers at sixty days and hope to be paid by ninety. Call your customers on the thirty-first day, politely reminding them of your good work, and the terms that were agreed to. It seems that no contractors pay their bills without thirty days of heartburn. If you start at thirty, you will be paid at sixty, and that falls into the “I am still happy time period.”

• You're upset when your trusted vendor is undercut by a new fabricator from across town. Remember what you tell your customers when you get beat on a price--"If you buy from that guy, you will be calling me in three weeks to correct his work. He cuts too many corners to satisfy you!" When you call up screaming that your first vendor is overcharging you, be sure to compare qualities, and, probably, you will still be smiling. Yes, sometimes you will find a new, less expensive source, but do the experimenting on an easy job, and not the critical job for a fussy customer.

All That Glass In The Airport

Last week I was in airports in Kentucky, New Hampshire, Georgia, Arkansas and Michigan. They were all fairly new, kept very well, and the most common building material is (you guessed it) GLASS. It is everywhere. Daylight flooding in, people staring out at the planes on takeoff and landing, and surprisingly cool and quiet.

What a wonderful product we work with. But there is not enough WE in airport work. Only large, usually union-affiliated glaziers get to work on these projects. Let's see how every other glass shop can get work from airports.

First, don't be afraid to tackle work at an airport. Sounds easy...it can be...Call your local airport and ask to speak to purchasing. Ask what their set-asides are for small business. Ask what % of their purchases must be from a local source. Get the definition of local...5 miles from the airport, 10 miles, or maybe just the city or town the airport is in. You are not going to get the tower windows, those are a specialty to themselves, but you should be able to get on the bid list for other structural work. Sometimes it is union only, or prevailing wage. Make your own decision if you want to open up that box. But, (yes, the famous 'but') there is more work on the interior than in the structural envelope. This is where every local glass shop can get a lot of work.

Check with the airport management if you need a license to work on airport property. Let them check you out, visit you, or whatever it takes to get this license. Look at all the rest rooms in the airport. Look at all the hand rails, the smoke baffles and decorative displays. All use glass, and a major union glazier can't be competitive going in to replace one piece of mirror in the rest room.

The mother-lode is all of the retail stores. Every one has fixtures made of glass. Whether a sneeze guard at the fast food, or the display cubes at the clothing store. Here's how to get this business:

Walk through the entire airport writing down the name of every merchant, big and small. The Cincinnati airport, for example, has over 200 merchants, according to their info desk. Small airports will have a news stand, three types of restaurants and a book store. Whatever the count, give the names to the person in your office who answers the phone. When the phone is not ringing in, have her/him call each and every store and ask how you can get on the bid list for their local glass work. If the store is putting up a new front, there are glass shops that come in a specialize in that on a national basis, but the replacement of one lite is almost always the responsibility of the local manager. After the phone contact, follow up with a letter and whatever you give away that has your name and phone number.

Follow up twice a year with a note describing your services, emphasizing your willingness to repair or replace even one lite, and mentioning you are cleared to work in the airport, and you will work at odd hours, which is usually required, just like at shopping malls.

Raise your service charge to cover two extra hours of time, just to get in and get out of the airport. This may be expensive, but the stores are used to paying this. They know it is part of their cost to be in the airport. Make sure your employees are clean, neat and have their picture ID's. Have a work order from the store and a manifest of what is on your truck for a security stop.

Shopping malls can have one or two recognized glaziers who are the only ones allowed to do work in their location. This is usually based on a financial arrangement. But airports are always owned by governmental authority and can't grant that type of restrictive work arrangement. Whatever size your shop is, if you want to go after this market, you can do it.

Obama--McCain--Obama-McCain What to do when politics hits the glass shop

The election is coming and it will be all pervasive in the country, and in your workplace. What's the impact of allowing your workspace to become politicized? All the answers point to: don't let it happen. The only role the workplace should play is to encourage and make it easy for all people to register and then vote.

Some companies don't let any politics in, no buttons worn on employee uniforms, no signs at desks and no tag lines on e-mails. The bigger the firm, the more likely it is to have more restrictive rules. Sounds draconian, but it really isn't. You don't want someone wearing your company's uniform to then place a political ad on your logo. This will upset exactly half of your customer base, unless you know which gentleman will win.

If you don't provide company shirts or uniforms you have a little less ability to say what buttons can or can't be worn, but you can insist that anything worn while you are at work needs to be below a certain size, does not contain hate language or obscenities. Avoid bumper stickers on your company trucks, whether for a candidate or an overall position. Put all you want on your personal car. Make all the contributions you want with personal funds, not with company money. When employees who happen to disagree with your position sees that the company has donated to or endorsed a candidate, they will question why they are working hard for you to give money to the campaign they don't support. Also, exactly half of your customers will ask why they are giving you work, and money, to spend on someone they don't want elected!

Avoid posters in your storefront window supporting one way or the other. Avoid letting your company name being used in a support ad. Avoid having a meet & greet with a local politician or a representative of a national campaign on your premises.

We all benefit from an active debate and information flow to all people, including your employees. Your workplace however, or during your work time, should not be the time and place for this debate.

It's Sum, Sum, Sum, Sum...Summertime

Bar-B-Ques, ball games, family picnics, long weekends, and of course, vacations. Vacations are great. Everyone remembers their favorite trip or place they went on a vacation. As a business owner or manager, your take on vacations usually is 'a scheduling nightmare'. Here are some tips that may help every business.

Vacation is not a mandated benefit. Some companies don't offer vacation, especially to part-time or contract workers, but there are three reasons you want to offer vacations: A good vacation program allows you to hire and retain the best employees; most employees come back from vacation with their batteries recharged and are ready to perform at their best for the company; and managing a vacation schedule allows leadership to cross-train and observe other members of the company.

That's the textbook in me writing. Let's get to what we in the glass industry can do to help ourselves with proper vacation scheduling. The most common vacation schedule in the United States is two weeks during the summer, as that is when the kids are out of school. If everyone wants their vacation in the summer, you may find yourself without enough people to staff your business needs.

In your employee manual, or just your vacation policies sheet, you may make any rules you want. There is no federal guideline. If you want to offer vacation only in the fall and winter, your quiet season, that's OK. You might not hire or retain great employees, so you have to strike a balance.

Set a number of employees, by company or department, that can be on vacation at any one time. For instance, you have six field glaziers, you might say no more than two at any given time can be scheduled out. The single best way to set the schedule is based on employee seniority. It is the simplest and prevents any other problems. Ask for a vacation schedule early in the year, by February if you can. People may say they can't make their plans this early, but others who take a planned week will want to get reservations early to save money on travel and hotels.

So, ask for a schedule by February 15th. If there are conflict dates, or too many people in a week, talk with the group and tell them that the most senior people get the requested weeks, and ask the others for their next choice. A week later, hand out a note with the scheduled vacations. After that, fill in requests only as they meet your minimum staffing requirement. Please don't make the mistake of allowing someone to beg for a closed week. This will only hurt the rest of the company.

It is OK to allow one week during the summer, and the other week sometime during the rest of the year. If an employee has earned more than two weeks, only the first two weeks should go into the advance schedule. A person with a month off should not hinder the rest of the group.

An extremely common situation is the employee who asks to work through a vacation week, earning an extra week's pay. If you accomodate this request, you should allow for one of an employee's two weeks. Remember, you are now paying this person for 53 weeks, not 52, and your budgeting is getting a hole blown in it.

Never, ever grant an employee to work through their entire vacation, most especially any employee that handles cash, your checkbook, pays bills, invoices customers or places vendor orders. You want them away for week and you want someone else to learn and do their job. Why? So that when the customer says, they normally get an order at half price, your alarm bell goes off. It is a major warning when a financial person says they want to work through vacation. This is the time to be suspicious.

You should also have a policy on returning from vacation. If someone is due back on a Monday, they should be back and ready to work. If someone drives from 500 miles away all night Sunday, and comes to work looking like they are half-asleep, send them home, without pay. The old joke about having to go back to work, so they can recover from vacation, is no joke when it affects your company's productivity.

I always have a hard time with the employee who calls at 8:00 on Monday morning, saying they will be late because their flight came in late. Being on vacation is not an excuse for being unreliable.

The most common vacation-earning schedule is:

• First Year - one week earned
• Second Year - two weeks earned
• Eight-Ten Years - three weeks earned
• Fifteen-Twenty Years - four weeks earned

Don't fall into the trap of trying to match other companies or industries. We are not high-tech or education. I have seen many glass companies that offer vacations to three weeks, and just a very few who go to five weeks.

One of the biggest decisions in vacation policy is: when is a vacation earned and eligible to be taken. Is it after one year of employment, and then take one week during the second worked year? Or is it one week earned and taken during the first year? There is no correct or right decision. If you tend to hire employees for long-terms, then go with the earn and take in the first year. On the other hand, if you turn people over, then wait until one full year worked to earn the vacation.

What about when an employee leaves you--do they get their accumulated vacation? Remember, it is not covered by federal law, so you may pay it or cancel it. (some states may have other policies). I know some employers who forfeit accrued vacation when an employees resigns. This may make an employee think twice before quitting after a disagreement in the plant; but for the most part, this just causes ill-will, which is transmitted by the ex-employee through out your community. We paid all accrued vacation after confirming hours worked in the last pay period, and after all company materials, (phones, safety gear, etc) were checked back in.

If an holiday occurs during the employee's vacation period, make it optional if the employee gets the following Monday, or another day of their choice.

Some companies let employees take a vacation day or two in advance, in effect loaning them the days ahead of when they are earned. This is really a win-win situation. You give the employee something they are going to earn in a short period of time, the employee thinks you are really accommodating, and you can still with hold a day's pay from their last paycheck if they quit the week after the vacation. Do this when it is within a month or two of actually earning the last day, and to an employee you want to reward.

We'll talk more about vacation scheduling when winter vacations come up for scheduling, later in the fall. To all, have a great trip, wherever you are going!

Change In The Glass Industry

Sure, you think this will be about Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain and the politics of change. Wrong.

This is about change in your store. Read on----

Last month I was on a visit to a client and I forgot my small calculator, usually packed in my briefcase. Stopping into a national printing and office supply store I found a $4.70 calculator, which was just right. I brought it to the counter where two young women were talking. After waiting about thirty seconds, I asked if one of them could take my money.

The dirty look told me volumes about their customer service. I handed one of them a twenty-dollar bill. She told me the amount was $5.03 with tax. I said, wait a second, here is three cents. She froze like a deer in headlights, looking at me and then at the cash register. She had already recorded my twenty and had the change amount flashing on her screen. She looked petrified. Finally, after about 15 seconds, I asked if she was all right. She shook her head kind of up and down, and then sideways. She said wait a minute, she had to see a supervisor. She came back with the supervisor who used a key insert to void the sale, and the the clerk reentered the transaction with $20.03 tendered, and gave me my change. I asked her why she called the supervisor, and slowly she replied, she didn't know how to make change without the screen telling her.

All together, it took over three minutes to pay. Now, three minutes is not that important, but then again, it was. I was irritated that my time was wasted, as was the time of my partner in the car. I was surprised that a national store couldn't train their counter help to make change.

The moral of the story is: make sure your counter help is trained. When you hire someone, test him or her to see if they can make change. Don't depend on the school system to do this. Make sure your staff knows how to use whatever systems you have to finish a transaction.

Train your staff to ask if there is anything else the customer needs. Have them ask for their e-mail address for your mailing list. Have them say, with enthusiasm, "Thank You" for shopping in your store. Teach them to say, "And by the way, we sell mirrors for your home, and we can replace your old windows with new low-e, energy saving, windows."

Don't let the weakest link in your chain be the last person your customer sees!

You Know You Have To Fire Him, But...............

You have cursed him for three years; told yourself you would do it on three different times; you almost did it once; why can't you fire him? He does just enough to get by, most of the time; he shows up on time, on pay day; he said he was sorry for spilling his coffee on Mrs. Customer's white rug, after she stopped payment on the check; why can't you fire him? You gave him a raise every year for three years because you didn't want him complaining.

Yes, it is hard to do. You loose sleep over it, and you chew antacid pills by the dozen. It is easier to live with mediocrity than fire someone. He might sue you for something. He will play on your heartstrings, telling you about his sick daughter. He may bad mouth you to the rest of the employees. He might work for a competitor and tell them who your best account is.

On the other hand, your other employees will thank you for getting rid of a rotten apple and you will sleep better. You may save money, because, with our current economy, you are not going to replace him.

Here's the plan. Put him on probation. Write a thoughtful and accurate critique of his work. Comment on his attitude, his quality and quantity of work, his safety habits, and his reliability. When you say something negative, (and you will), give a specific instance which backs up your comment. Most important, set a target date and work goal you expect for improvement. It is hard to figure out for attitude, buy you will know it when you see it. It is subjective, yes, but you are within all bounds to ask for better and more polite communication with all levels of the company and customers.

Meet with him for an half-hour, laying out your concerns, and your goals for his improvement. (If he does improve, you have a win, and all is fine!!)Set a time to meet again, usually 30-60 days. Explain that his job is in jeopardy if he does not improve. Give him every reason to improve in your meeting, specifically, he will keep his job. Keep accurate notes during this time period about his failures and his successes. Since tigers don't change their spots, his failures will continue.

At your next meeting, explain where he has not met your goals and now you are going to suspend him for 1 week. Tell him to go home and think about whether he wants to work for you. Keep his medical and other benefits intact for this week, but no pay. This is not a lay-off. Be clear, this is a dire consequence of his inability to meet your goals. He may ask to be paid a week of vacation...split answer on this. No pain, being no pay, may improve him. My feel--give him the vacation money, you will owe it anyway, and you are showing the strongest support by doing this.

After the suspension, give no more then 30 days to your next meeting. If he doesn't improve, it is time to terminate. Make it quick and simple. Tell him he hasn't met your goals and his job is done. Do not get into an argument, have another person present with you; don't present details; if he is going to sue you, don't give him the ammunition. Save this for your lawyer.

I promise you, all the fear and problems will be offset when one or two other employees come to you and say thank you for letting the rotten apple go. You will sleep better. Your company will be a better company.

This is a simple note on a complicated situation. It is a start. Think about him and his impact on your business. Do you want to talk with an impartial person? Drop me a note a paulbaseball@msn.com.

US Glass and Medal

So, I have this cousin Mark, who really means well. It is just that his recent activities have caused me to hope if he ever has kids, his wife's gene pool will overflow his. What makes me talk about Mark, especially here in this blog that is based in the glass industry? Here's the story, and at the end, I think you will agree.

I ran into Mark at a recent family get-together. We were alone at the table, while the other couples and our wives were swapping baby and grandchild stories and photos. Mark said to me, "Hey, Paulie, I hear your retired from the glass business, what are you doing now?" I told him I was a writer for US Glass and Metal. Mark says, "What is this us glass--is it like us and them glass?" (Are you beginning to get an insight into Mark?)

I told him that US Glass and Metal is a very successful business and told him about the people who run it. "It's simple...do something better than anybody else, have a great idea, and you, too, will be a success." Well, our wives came back to the table, and we dropped the conversation. As we left, Mark said, "Paulie, can I call you about this glass and medal business?" "Sure," I said, "anytime at all."

He didn't call, not that I was looking forward to it. Six months later at another cousin's wedding, Mark pulls me into the bar and begins to tell me this story.

He had thought a lot about the glass and medal business, and if a mere 'girlie' (Our publisher Deb Levy), could succeed, than he would be a shoo-in to be a success. So, Mark opened up a store, without having the faintest idea of how to be in business. He went around to every senior citizen home and offered to pay two bucks to every war vet for each of their medals. He paid an extra buck for purple hearts. Mark told these unsuspecting vets that he was going to open a store to showcase these medals, and he might sell a few. Everyone would share in the profits, with the two dollar payment being an advance of the profits to show his good faith.

Soon, he had over six hundred medals. Now, what would the glass be. He knew. He went on-line and bought hundreds of imported magnifying glasses, to better see the medals. He opened the store, selling the medals for $100 bucks each, and throwing in the magnifying glass for free.

Let's make a long story short...he lasted about three months without a single sale. A few people came in looking for a quote on patio doors, and Mark didn't know what to do. He did donate six magnifying glasses to a kindergarten teacher so the kids could see some caterpillars.

The moral of the story? The glass and medal business is not as easy as it looks.