Today I wanted to address something after speaking to a few tradesmen, I have dropped in the conversation with my builders over the course of a month the idea of The Consumer Protection Guarantee.
There is a universal intrigue and concern, with the 10 or so I have mentioned it to, they were all interested and everyone of them also had the same concern.
You might have guessed it from the title (Don't look at it now I'm about to tell you!) they all said how am I going to get my customer on board? It's a fair question and really with what TCPG are offering it shouldn't be all that difficult!
So as I always do I try and put myself in the mindset of the end user, I want a job doing and the builder quotes me, he mentions TCPG and that he would really like us both to be on board with no extra cost for me.
My concerns? who is this company? are they legit? Do i really want to part with a lump sum of money for someone else to judge if the work is up to standard? How do i know the person judging is qualified and fair?
Taking out what I know about the company and thinking about what my concerns would be I'm pretty sure if I had any amount of money over £2000 these are the questions that would run through my head, there pretty big concerns and most customers don't give a reason for saying "no" and to be fair who would challenge them if your job is on the line?
It's about educating your end user, addressing there concerns and bringing across that you have there well being in mind and that your proud of what you do and this is a guarantee to back your work up.....again at no extra cost to the customer, but were still not addressing my questions as the customer are we.....
Who is the company?
The company TCPG was started to combat "The cowboy builder" The guy that does a half A** job and does a runner and is never to be heard of a again, but....
It was also started to protect YOU, the honest, hard working tradesman who is skilled in there field and when a customer says "I'm sorry I know the work you've done is great but I have no money" or holds up the cash because there swearing blind you've done an awful job when it's more than up to standard!
Are they legit?
Well check for yourself, they have company registration, company address, telephone number, e-mail.
Even get them to check the company registrar themselves if they have concerns.
Do i really want to part with a lump sum of money for someone else to judge if the work is up to standard? & How do i know the person judging is qualified and fair?
Well just in case your customer still has reservations it's all conducted by an official RICS Surveyor if a dispute arises, again this is to protect YOU and the customer.
I know it wouldn't put you off doing a job if your customer said "No I don't want this free policy that your providing" but I the builder would be cautious, why would your end user say no to this? it's a policy to protect them against rouge builders and lets be honest its still a red hot subject in the media and something that the general public are more than aware of, they are more than likely than ever before to question your work no matter what the standard, I'm sure you've all come across the dreaded beast that is:- The customer that can not be pleased.
To summarise this post, your customer will need educating when it comes to TCPG don't try and force it on them because they just may have concerns that can't be over come and there still honest and reliable when it comes to paying and the last thing you want is to lose the job but really it's something that all jobs over £2000 should have.
I'll leave you with the scenario:- You do a job for £5000, you finish it and your customer isn't happy with your work, the work itself is up to the high standard its always been but your customer is refusing to pay you the money.
You have maxed out your credit account at your merchants and the next job has a start date coming up, tell me how are you going to do the next job without materials? Maybe pay with a credit card? how far away is the payday for the next job? is it going to cover your credit card bill and the bill for your merchant account? and this is just your business outgoings don't forget mortgage repayments or rent, food.....I don't need to go on but you get the idea.
Add the TCPG to the scenario:- You do a job for £5000, you finish it and your customer isn't happy with
your work, the work itself is up to the high standard its always been
but your customer is refusing to pay you the money. You contact The Consumer Protection Guarantee and they send out a RICS surveyor to inspect the work you've done and is happy with the standard of work.......The funds are paid directly into your bank account.
On with the next job then!
Take a look at how they work and then decide if you think it's a good idea, at the end of the day its your decision:-
http://www.tcpg.co.uk/
Save Build.
Monday 6 May 2013
Which supplier should i use? part 2 (Heavy building materials)
Today I will be talking about what you should look out for when it comes to choosing your merchant for Heavy Building materials.
As tradesmen the bulk of your material cost comes from heavy side building materials, it may be timber or blocks, cement & sand, regardless its the primary expenditure.
So who do you choose?
A real tough one because there are lots of factors involved, if your organised and a medium to large builder your national merchant should really be taking care of you, if your small to medium then your national merchant might not be taking care of you as well as a regional or independent, so back to the question, who do you choose?
National merchants may seem like the easiest answer, largest buying power means you get the best price, right?
I doubt it because even though the national merchants have the best buying power there treated as separate commodities, they have different budgets, different systems, different staff members the only thing they have in common is the name.
Unless you have an extremely large development on the cards the chances are the prices you get from your nationals are easily beatable by regionals and in most cases independents, there are rare exceptions depending on the staff but in most cases its the same outcome.
The regionals depending on what stage there at in regards to growth are in my opinion the best to deal with for HBM, there willing to beat prices, make a name for themselves and want the business, I work for a regional company (almost national) and even though LBM for us is slipping away i can certainly take out nationals for price, they offer little resistance and rest on the morals of "there's always someone else to spend" I fight tooth and nail for business in regards to HBM and it's rare that i will be beaten.
The independents hold a dear place in my heart and the only thorn in my side when pricing jobs is.....you've guessed it an independent, I know there weakness when they price jobs so on most occasions if a large job is being priced by the independent and me, i come out on top.
The draw back is that most sales are done at a very low sales margin because the independent has my back to the wall in terms of price, they are extremely keen on insulation, blocks & cement which is some of the very core of HBM.
If you were to ask the hypothetical question of "if i had to choose two companies to price up my job, who would they be?" I would answer the independents and the regionals, you just get a more deserving attitude from the smaller guys than you would from the nationals and when your pricing you want this attitude to come across.
To summarise this post I do have a little of a biased opinion towards the smaller guys but this is with good reason, I've worked for all three and the hardest i had to work to keep my customers happy was the nationals, I don't want to carry there attitude of "If you don't like the service and price then there's the door" I'm a firm believer of the better the service and price the more my customer will spend, this leads to a faster turn around of selling goods and the profit is made, I'm happy, the company is happy and more importantly the customer is happy.
There are exceptions in every case, your national merchant may have the same attitude as me but I'm yet to see it myself, your regional maybe having the same attitude as the nationals and your independent may just not have the buying power to compete, it's up to you to find out in your area what your suppliers can do but this post gives you the generalisation of each supplier.
Save Build.
As tradesmen the bulk of your material cost comes from heavy side building materials, it may be timber or blocks, cement & sand, regardless its the primary expenditure.
So who do you choose?
A real tough one because there are lots of factors involved, if your organised and a medium to large builder your national merchant should really be taking care of you, if your small to medium then your national merchant might not be taking care of you as well as a regional or independent, so back to the question, who do you choose?
National merchants may seem like the easiest answer, largest buying power means you get the best price, right?
I doubt it because even though the national merchants have the best buying power there treated as separate commodities, they have different budgets, different systems, different staff members the only thing they have in common is the name.
Unless you have an extremely large development on the cards the chances are the prices you get from your nationals are easily beatable by regionals and in most cases independents, there are rare exceptions depending on the staff but in most cases its the same outcome.
The regionals depending on what stage there at in regards to growth are in my opinion the best to deal with for HBM, there willing to beat prices, make a name for themselves and want the business, I work for a regional company (almost national) and even though LBM for us is slipping away i can certainly take out nationals for price, they offer little resistance and rest on the morals of "there's always someone else to spend" I fight tooth and nail for business in regards to HBM and it's rare that i will be beaten.
The independents hold a dear place in my heart and the only thorn in my side when pricing jobs is.....you've guessed it an independent, I know there weakness when they price jobs so on most occasions if a large job is being priced by the independent and me, i come out on top.
The draw back is that most sales are done at a very low sales margin because the independent has my back to the wall in terms of price, they are extremely keen on insulation, blocks & cement which is some of the very core of HBM.
If you were to ask the hypothetical question of "if i had to choose two companies to price up my job, who would they be?" I would answer the independents and the regionals, you just get a more deserving attitude from the smaller guys than you would from the nationals and when your pricing you want this attitude to come across.
To summarise this post I do have a little of a biased opinion towards the smaller guys but this is with good reason, I've worked for all three and the hardest i had to work to keep my customers happy was the nationals, I don't want to carry there attitude of "If you don't like the service and price then there's the door" I'm a firm believer of the better the service and price the more my customer will spend, this leads to a faster turn around of selling goods and the profit is made, I'm happy, the company is happy and more importantly the customer is happy.
There are exceptions in every case, your national merchant may have the same attitude as me but I'm yet to see it myself, your regional maybe having the same attitude as the nationals and your independent may just not have the buying power to compete, it's up to you to find out in your area what your suppliers can do but this post gives you the generalisation of each supplier.
Save Build.
Friday 3 May 2013
Which supplier should I use? Part 1 (Light Building Materials)
Today I will be talking about what you should look out for when it comes to choosing your merchant for light building materials (Shop floor goods).
It may not seem overly important to you if your choosing a merchant for LBM but every penny counts and believe it or not LBM does mount up and when you think about it, its part of everyone of your orders.
Just look at your delivery order and tally up the LBM and you can see that its not the bulk of the cost but its still a big part of the money that your spending.
For instance:-
3 x Packs of blocks (216)
2 x Holm sand LBB
10 x Cement
5 x Celotex 8x4 50mm
20 x Celotex 450x1200 50mm
10 x 47x100 sawn treated 3.6m
So that's an order for heavy side and may cost between £400-£600 roughly.
So the LBM for this would be:-
Mortar plasticisers,
cement colouring
fur fixes (wall starters)
wall ties
retaining clips
screws
saw
trowel
And this would cost depending on the quantities around £60-£130.
So LBM makes up between 20-30% of your spend, all subject to your trade but regardless even if we went as low as 10% of a £10'000 job it's still £1000.
So what do you look for if your choosing your merchant for the light side materials?
First off you want a builders merchant or supplier to trade on "EVERYTHING" this is extremely difficult to get this attitude out of a nation merchant, The ones I've worked in have restrictions on shop items, you name it and they want a very high mark up on about 95% of the shop items, I used to get embarrassed to serve a customer at one particular merchant because we were next to a independent fixings and fastenings shop, when one of my high spending customers has spent £2000 with me on one order and they bring a box of screws to the counter and ask "how much?" and my price was 5 times more than a stand alone small fixings shop and I was unable to reduce the price it makes you want the ground below to swallow you up!
Then there are the regional merchants and some you are able to get a great deal in for the smaller items, just be careful though some are getting a little to confident and are trying the same tactics as the nationals and believe me it will come back around and bite them on the backside, nationals can fall back on other large orders taken from there 100's of branches, regionals don't have that luxury.
Then we have the independents who i have explained before in a previous post but not in much detail, they have there feet firmly planted on the ground, with this in mind they may not be able to offer the most show stopping deals on HBM they can certainly wipe the floor with bigger greedier merchants on LBM.
Finally there is the "non traders" don't be fooled by the name, there a national but wont trade and the reason for this is? there prices are low to start with, some tradesmen I've come across turn there noses up at these guys because they feel that they as the "tradesman" should be entitled to a better deal but they wont budge, everyone gets the same cheap deal, take it or leave it attitude.
There is one final one i forgot to mention but you have to be extremely organised to pull this one off:-
The Internet!
A tough one but with technology being as good as it is nowadays and the fact an online shop can be just as ridiculed as a physical shop most are legit and the overheads are almost non-existent so the costs of running an online supplier is minimal and this leads to prices being low, down side? If you forget an item you have to wait for it to be delivered.
To summarise its a tough call but if you put the leg work in when you start your shopping you can relax a bit more when you have identified who is the cheapest and what it takes in terms of time when you have to start the process again.
A word of warning, make sure that the items your buying don't slow up the job, there is no point in saving money on LBM if the items your using that are the cheapest around and with good reason, if an adhesive doesn't stick but is half the price of one that does which would you buy? it's all to do with trail and error initially.
Save Build.
It may not seem overly important to you if your choosing a merchant for LBM but every penny counts and believe it or not LBM does mount up and when you think about it, its part of everyone of your orders.
Just look at your delivery order and tally up the LBM and you can see that its not the bulk of the cost but its still a big part of the money that your spending.
For instance:-
3 x Packs of blocks (216)
2 x Holm sand LBB
10 x Cement
5 x Celotex 8x4 50mm
20 x Celotex 450x1200 50mm
10 x 47x100 sawn treated 3.6m
So that's an order for heavy side and may cost between £400-£600 roughly.
So the LBM for this would be:-
Mortar plasticisers,
cement colouring
fur fixes (wall starters)
wall ties
retaining clips
screws
saw
trowel
And this would cost depending on the quantities around £60-£130.
So LBM makes up between 20-30% of your spend, all subject to your trade but regardless even if we went as low as 10% of a £10'000 job it's still £1000.
So what do you look for if your choosing your merchant for the light side materials?
First off you want a builders merchant or supplier to trade on "EVERYTHING" this is extremely difficult to get this attitude out of a nation merchant, The ones I've worked in have restrictions on shop items, you name it and they want a very high mark up on about 95% of the shop items, I used to get embarrassed to serve a customer at one particular merchant because we were next to a independent fixings and fastenings shop, when one of my high spending customers has spent £2000 with me on one order and they bring a box of screws to the counter and ask "how much?" and my price was 5 times more than a stand alone small fixings shop and I was unable to reduce the price it makes you want the ground below to swallow you up!
Then there are the regional merchants and some you are able to get a great deal in for the smaller items, just be careful though some are getting a little to confident and are trying the same tactics as the nationals and believe me it will come back around and bite them on the backside, nationals can fall back on other large orders taken from there 100's of branches, regionals don't have that luxury.
Then we have the independents who i have explained before in a previous post but not in much detail, they have there feet firmly planted on the ground, with this in mind they may not be able to offer the most show stopping deals on HBM they can certainly wipe the floor with bigger greedier merchants on LBM.
Finally there is the "non traders" don't be fooled by the name, there a national but wont trade and the reason for this is? there prices are low to start with, some tradesmen I've come across turn there noses up at these guys because they feel that they as the "tradesman" should be entitled to a better deal but they wont budge, everyone gets the same cheap deal, take it or leave it attitude.
There is one final one i forgot to mention but you have to be extremely organised to pull this one off:-
The Internet!
A tough one but with technology being as good as it is nowadays and the fact an online shop can be just as ridiculed as a physical shop most are legit and the overheads are almost non-existent so the costs of running an online supplier is minimal and this leads to prices being low, down side? If you forget an item you have to wait for it to be delivered.
To summarise its a tough call but if you put the leg work in when you start your shopping you can relax a bit more when you have identified who is the cheapest and what it takes in terms of time when you have to start the process again.
A word of warning, make sure that the items your buying don't slow up the job, there is no point in saving money on LBM if the items your using that are the cheapest around and with good reason, if an adhesive doesn't stick but is half the price of one that does which would you buy? it's all to do with trail and error initially.
Save Build.
Wednesday 1 May 2013
Keeping your account Clean.
Today's post is discussing the importance of getting bills paid on time and in full.
I know most of you may turn your noses up at this post but please read on and I will give you the insight on what happens behind the scene's when bills aren't paid.
We have all been in the situation where we haven't paid a bill on time and a letter gets sent asking for money NOW or.......we will send you another letter in a more demanding way, don't pay that one and we will send a letter this time.....with BOLD LETTERS and if you don't pay us again we will send you a letter this time in BOLD LETTERS and a big RED BANNER!!!!!
Finally it sends a letter with all of the above and a threat of court proceedings.
All payments and activity's have a dedicated diary section in which notes are kept, this diary section starts from your account being opened and lasts until the account ceases trading.
I will put a damage rating (out of five) next to each stage and explain what it does if you go through each step of not paying.
So lets start with your account being opened, rule of thumb you will get 30 days credit and when the 30 days are up you need to pay your bill, you will get a little bit of a cushion period (maybe a week) before a call is made from the merchants credit control if you don't pay and they will inform you that it's due and how and when your going to pay.
Damage rating:- X
The company and credit control understand that sometimes its not possible to pay on time but it will state you paid late on your diary notes, it won't worry them but it will state you paid late on this occasion.
7-14 days, So you have forgot to pay after a weeks grace and credit control have called and you haven't stuck to the date you were going to pay, a letter will be sent and another call will be made asking for a new date, this sometimes means that your account will be put on stop although its down to the credit controller and your history so far on the account, this period runs from 7-14 days without payment.
Damage rating:- XXx
Starting to become a little more serious and the small "x" is a half rating because it depends on your history so far, if its a genuine reason that you can't pay then its excepted, if you just keep forgetting they will REMIND you by just putting your account on stop.
14 days - 1 month, It means that your account will definitely be on stop with a call made every other day from credit control asking for the circumstances and if you wanted to look at part payment (this wont get you off stop but something is better than nothing in there eyes) again diary notes start to fill your account on every call made, what was said and why payment hasn't been received, a letter will be warning of court proceedings but informing you that if you make payment it won't come to that.
Damage rating:-XXXX
This will really damage your account to a point where they may think about putting your account on a "prompt stop" meaning not even a days grace, if your account is due for payment and it goes a day over then it instantly goes on stop until you pay, it takes a while to come back from this and its a case of the company wanting to trade with you but your leash has become very tight in terms of trust.
A Month - Onwards, your account will be on stop and depending at what point your paying (The longer you leave it the worse it gets) a payment towards your account might still not be able to get it trading, letters will state that the debt has been passed to the legal team to retrieve the money and a phone call will come almost daily from the legal team to chase the money.
Damage rating:-XXXXX
At this point not only will the account be passed to the company's legal team but this will effect your credit rating, even if your account does get paid and your able to start trading again, the trust will be non existent, your credit limit will no doubt be decreased and it will have a prompt stop attached to it, the only way to gain trust again at this point is to never go on stop again for the next
6 months - 12 months and if you get close to your credit limit pay an interim to bring it back down.
To summarise this post isn't a scare tactic to get your bills paid on time (although its a pain in the backside if you don't) its to inform and help you, if you hit the later stages of what i have discussed and you have a large job come up what do think your supplier is going to say when you ask for a credit increase to get the materials? It sounds silly but the diary will look similar to this:-
01/01/13:- account opened, letter sent to customer informing of this and a 5k limit.
05/02/13:- over due £3510, called customer, is going to pay in branch tomorrow.
10/02/13:- called customer asking for payment, cheque sent to us in the post.
15/02/13:- no cheque received, account put on hold, spoke to customer and asked for him to cancel the cheque and drop a new one into the branch, informed he will do it Monday.
17/02/13:- no cheque, customer not answering mobile, left message, letter sent.
24/02/13:- no answer on mobile, letter sent.
literally every detail is logged of all the activity but this gives you an indication of what happens and Carry's on this way, if you keep your nose clean then it will give you a much better chance of a credit increase.
The other thing i want to mention to finish off is communicate with credit control, DON'T LIE! if your having money trouble then tell them, they are human and you maybe able to keep your account trading until you can get the funds together, if you lie to them and they suspect it they will put your account on stop, it isn't a machine that makes these decisions its a human and although they have to follow rules there are times that they can bend them to help you out of a difficult circumstance.
As usual you have my details for FaceBook and there's always Gmail if you wish to contact me privately but if you need help or advice concerning this or anything building related then please get in contact.
Save Build.
I know most of you may turn your noses up at this post but please read on and I will give you the insight on what happens behind the scene's when bills aren't paid.
We have all been in the situation where we haven't paid a bill on time and a letter gets sent asking for money NOW or.......we will send you another letter in a more demanding way, don't pay that one and we will send a letter this time.....with BOLD LETTERS and if you don't pay us again we will send you a letter this time in BOLD LETTERS and a big RED BANNER!!!!!
Finally it sends a letter with all of the above and a threat of court proceedings.
All payments and activity's have a dedicated diary section in which notes are kept, this diary section starts from your account being opened and lasts until the account ceases trading.
I will put a damage rating (out of five) next to each stage and explain what it does if you go through each step of not paying.
The stages:-
So lets start with your account being opened, rule of thumb you will get 30 days credit and when the 30 days are up you need to pay your bill, you will get a little bit of a cushion period (maybe a week) before a call is made from the merchants credit control if you don't pay and they will inform you that it's due and how and when your going to pay.
Damage rating:- X
The company and credit control understand that sometimes its not possible to pay on time but it will state you paid late on your diary notes, it won't worry them but it will state you paid late on this occasion.
7-14 days, So you have forgot to pay after a weeks grace and credit control have called and you haven't stuck to the date you were going to pay, a letter will be sent and another call will be made asking for a new date, this sometimes means that your account will be put on stop although its down to the credit controller and your history so far on the account, this period runs from 7-14 days without payment.
Damage rating:- XXx
Starting to become a little more serious and the small "x" is a half rating because it depends on your history so far, if its a genuine reason that you can't pay then its excepted, if you just keep forgetting they will REMIND you by just putting your account on stop.
14 days - 1 month, It means that your account will definitely be on stop with a call made every other day from credit control asking for the circumstances and if you wanted to look at part payment (this wont get you off stop but something is better than nothing in there eyes) again diary notes start to fill your account on every call made, what was said and why payment hasn't been received, a letter will be warning of court proceedings but informing you that if you make payment it won't come to that.
Damage rating:-XXXX
This will really damage your account to a point where they may think about putting your account on a "prompt stop" meaning not even a days grace, if your account is due for payment and it goes a day over then it instantly goes on stop until you pay, it takes a while to come back from this and its a case of the company wanting to trade with you but your leash has become very tight in terms of trust.
A Month - Onwards, your account will be on stop and depending at what point your paying (The longer you leave it the worse it gets) a payment towards your account might still not be able to get it trading, letters will state that the debt has been passed to the legal team to retrieve the money and a phone call will come almost daily from the legal team to chase the money.
Damage rating:-XXXXX
At this point not only will the account be passed to the company's legal team but this will effect your credit rating, even if your account does get paid and your able to start trading again, the trust will be non existent, your credit limit will no doubt be decreased and it will have a prompt stop attached to it, the only way to gain trust again at this point is to never go on stop again for the next
6 months - 12 months and if you get close to your credit limit pay an interim to bring it back down.
To summarise this post isn't a scare tactic to get your bills paid on time (although its a pain in the backside if you don't) its to inform and help you, if you hit the later stages of what i have discussed and you have a large job come up what do think your supplier is going to say when you ask for a credit increase to get the materials? It sounds silly but the diary will look similar to this:-
01/01/13:- account opened, letter sent to customer informing of this and a 5k limit.
05/02/13:- over due £3510, called customer, is going to pay in branch tomorrow.
10/02/13:- called customer asking for payment, cheque sent to us in the post.
15/02/13:- no cheque received, account put on hold, spoke to customer and asked for him to cancel the cheque and drop a new one into the branch, informed he will do it Monday.
17/02/13:- no cheque, customer not answering mobile, left message, letter sent.
24/02/13:- no answer on mobile, letter sent.
literally every detail is logged of all the activity but this gives you an indication of what happens and Carry's on this way, if you keep your nose clean then it will give you a much better chance of a credit increase.
The other thing i want to mention to finish off is communicate with credit control, DON'T LIE! if your having money trouble then tell them, they are human and you maybe able to keep your account trading until you can get the funds together, if you lie to them and they suspect it they will put your account on stop, it isn't a machine that makes these decisions its a human and although they have to follow rules there are times that they can bend them to help you out of a difficult circumstance.
As usual you have my details for FaceBook and there's always Gmail if you wish to contact me privately but if you need help or advice concerning this or anything building related then please get in contact.
Save Build.
Saturday 27 April 2013
The summer is coming.
Today I wanted to talk about the big summer push that all your merchants will be focusing on (including myself at work).
Its the time of year where you get up in the morning, go to the kitchen, make yourself a coffee (or tea) look out at the garden and because the sun is rising nice and early you get to see the blank canvas that is your garden.
Well at least this is the scenario that your customer is going through, this year (fingers crossed & touch wood) we WILL have a summer and instead of your potential customers thinking "You know what, lets go to Spain with the money we saved for the garden as we wont get to enjoy it even if we get it done" there now thinking "You know what, Lets get this garden done and we can finally have a BBQ and invite the neighbours round and show off".
So your customer has you round to get a quote, you price up the labour but where do you source the materials?
This is the big question! There is no easy answer this year because so far ALL my competitors at work are throwing out very good deals and some i cant keep up with no matter what i do.
My advice first off is get an idea of what your customer wants doing (yes i know I'm telling you to suck eggs again) once you have an idea get on the Internet and check the big guys out (national merchants) there all putting up digital firework displays on there homepages and see if there deals are matching up with what your customer wants.
My second piece of advice is ring the smaller regional merchants, these guys are usually backed by a buying group like L.I.M.A so there buying power is still pretty strong and again see if there matching up with your customers requirements.
Now we have a product in mind and you show the customer and there happy with what you've shown them so like a previous post advised get them down to YOUR merchant, let them see the product in the flesh.
Not only will this put your customers mind at rest with what they have chosen, the merchant can close your sale (job) for you and even offer add on sales (which could lead to more work for you....that you get paid for of course).
I'm speaking from previous and very recent experience as a landscaper came down with his customer and they wanted a new shed and a decking area, well the shed was a straight forward sale, just a bog standard apex shed but the deck turned out to not just be a 6m x 10m deck which was originally wanted it actually turned out to be the following:-
6m x 10m decking area,
Handrail, Baserail, Balustrade, Newels,
An arch,
and alot of Stains, Timber protectors.
This gave my landscaper a much bigger pay day.
The last thing you should all look out for is watch out for hidden inflated materials.
So you have a great deal on paving slabs! cheaper than every other merchant and your happy right? well what if your sub base costs more? or your cement? I would break the enquiry up into two parts if you really want the best deals, price up the prep work and then price up the finishing product, this way merchants and suppliers wont try and sting you as its alot harder to hide an inflated price when its broken up into smaller parts.
In summary for this post, your options for landscaping this year are in my opinion the best it's been for along time, a recent suppliers meeting informed me that alot of my suppliers took a really heavy hit on sales as winter lasted 12 months last year so they are pushing hard to make up for it this year, deals are flowing like rain in summer 2012, take full advantage and if you do need any help or advice don't hesitate to ask me.
Its the time of year where you get up in the morning, go to the kitchen, make yourself a coffee (or tea) look out at the garden and because the sun is rising nice and early you get to see the blank canvas that is your garden.
Well at least this is the scenario that your customer is going through, this year (fingers crossed & touch wood) we WILL have a summer and instead of your potential customers thinking "You know what, lets go to Spain with the money we saved for the garden as we wont get to enjoy it even if we get it done" there now thinking "You know what, Lets get this garden done and we can finally have a BBQ and invite the neighbours round and show off".
So your customer has you round to get a quote, you price up the labour but where do you source the materials?
This is the big question! There is no easy answer this year because so far ALL my competitors at work are throwing out very good deals and some i cant keep up with no matter what i do.
My advice first off is get an idea of what your customer wants doing (yes i know I'm telling you to suck eggs again) once you have an idea get on the Internet and check the big guys out (national merchants) there all putting up digital firework displays on there homepages and see if there deals are matching up with what your customer wants.
My second piece of advice is ring the smaller regional merchants, these guys are usually backed by a buying group like L.I.M.A so there buying power is still pretty strong and again see if there matching up with your customers requirements.
Now we have a product in mind and you show the customer and there happy with what you've shown them so like a previous post advised get them down to YOUR merchant, let them see the product in the flesh.
Not only will this put your customers mind at rest with what they have chosen, the merchant can close your sale (job) for you and even offer add on sales (which could lead to more work for you....that you get paid for of course).
I'm speaking from previous and very recent experience as a landscaper came down with his customer and they wanted a new shed and a decking area, well the shed was a straight forward sale, just a bog standard apex shed but the deck turned out to not just be a 6m x 10m deck which was originally wanted it actually turned out to be the following:-
6m x 10m decking area,
Handrail, Baserail, Balustrade, Newels,
An arch,
and alot of Stains, Timber protectors.
This gave my landscaper a much bigger pay day.
The last thing you should all look out for is watch out for hidden inflated materials.
So you have a great deal on paving slabs! cheaper than every other merchant and your happy right? well what if your sub base costs more? or your cement? I would break the enquiry up into two parts if you really want the best deals, price up the prep work and then price up the finishing product, this way merchants and suppliers wont try and sting you as its alot harder to hide an inflated price when its broken up into smaller parts.
In summary for this post, your options for landscaping this year are in my opinion the best it's been for along time, a recent suppliers meeting informed me that alot of my suppliers took a really heavy hit on sales as winter lasted 12 months last year so they are pushing hard to make up for it this year, deals are flowing like rain in summer 2012, take full advantage and if you do need any help or advice don't hesitate to ask me.
Thursday 4 April 2013
Your suppliers delivery service.
Today i wanted to talk about a very important part of your suppliers business, the delivery service they offer.
This may sound a little broad but let me explain, the last two weeks in my merchant we have had four different relief drivers (I'm sure you understand the terminology but just in case, they are drivers who are hired to cover when our normal driver is off) and without sounding rude three of these drivers couldn't find there arse with both hands and one was up to standard.
This post is not really about relief drivers but the regular delivery drivers your merchant has employed, this may seem in words a small and obsolete subject but just for a second think about it.....
Have you ever had a driver with a bad attitude?
Have you ever had a driver who wouldn't help you handball a couple of heavy items?
Have you had a driver who is incompetent on the crane and makes you wince when he has a pack of blocks swinging 12ft in the air next to your newly built section?
Have you had a driver that has the urgency of a sloth on cannabis?
I've worked with quite a few drivers over the years, maybe close to 100 taking in agency drivers that come and go and i can only think of four who were the "perfect" driver, these guys were fast, reliable, helpful, knew the customers well and one of the most important aspects they carried around with them a positive can-do attitude, if i needed any one of these drivers to stay late or come in early I would barely need to even ask.
My point with this post refers back to "know your merchant" your merchant is only as strong as there weakest link, whats the point of a fantastic driver if the sales staff are incompetent? whats the point of the worlds greatest salesman if the yard staff can't pick your order right? what's the point of having all the right ingredients for a fantastic merchant if the company itself is putting a noose round there neck which restricts pricing or is asking them to reduce stock?
So if we get back on track with the drivers, it's very easy to spot a good driver, it's how they carry themselves when they turn up for a delivery, it's how they handle the crane, it's what there attitude is when something is wrong with the delivery, I talk about know your merchant but the driver is a huge piece of the customer service you require, so next time you get a delivery what type of driver is going to turn up to your site?
Also if you haven't checked it out already please visit the TCPG page, I may have gone on a bit about these guys in the past but I can't stress how important it is to just take a look if your going to be starting a job.
The Consumer Protection Guarantee
This may sound a little broad but let me explain, the last two weeks in my merchant we have had four different relief drivers (I'm sure you understand the terminology but just in case, they are drivers who are hired to cover when our normal driver is off) and without sounding rude three of these drivers couldn't find there arse with both hands and one was up to standard.
This post is not really about relief drivers but the regular delivery drivers your merchant has employed, this may seem in words a small and obsolete subject but just for a second think about it.....
Have you ever had a driver with a bad attitude?
Have you ever had a driver who wouldn't help you handball a couple of heavy items?
Have you had a driver who is incompetent on the crane and makes you wince when he has a pack of blocks swinging 12ft in the air next to your newly built section?
Have you had a driver that has the urgency of a sloth on cannabis?
I've worked with quite a few drivers over the years, maybe close to 100 taking in agency drivers that come and go and i can only think of four who were the "perfect" driver, these guys were fast, reliable, helpful, knew the customers well and one of the most important aspects they carried around with them a positive can-do attitude, if i needed any one of these drivers to stay late or come in early I would barely need to even ask.
My point with this post refers back to "know your merchant" your merchant is only as strong as there weakest link, whats the point of a fantastic driver if the sales staff are incompetent? whats the point of the worlds greatest salesman if the yard staff can't pick your order right? what's the point of having all the right ingredients for a fantastic merchant if the company itself is putting a noose round there neck which restricts pricing or is asking them to reduce stock?
So if we get back on track with the drivers, it's very easy to spot a good driver, it's how they carry themselves when they turn up for a delivery, it's how they handle the crane, it's what there attitude is when something is wrong with the delivery, I talk about know your merchant but the driver is a huge piece of the customer service you require, so next time you get a delivery what type of driver is going to turn up to your site?
Also if you haven't checked it out already please visit the TCPG page, I may have gone on a bit about these guys in the past but I can't stress how important it is to just take a look if your going to be starting a job.
The Consumer Protection Guarantee
Sunday 31 March 2013
Getting what you pay for.
Today I wanted to talk about paying that bit extra may or may not save you money in the long run.
Over the years there have only been a few companies who have put a higher price on there products and they have still been keeping there sales high, Marshaltown, Dulux, Snickers, Hamilton, etc....
So how have they kept there sales high with such high prices?
With our current financial climate everyone is looking for something that costs alot less and more or less does the same job, it's unfortunate that this isn't always the case and can sometimes end up costing you more money.
Cons:-
Lower quality product.
Could effect your work quality.
Time spent replacing tools.
Effects any personal warranty you have given.
Pros:-
Cheap.
Now don't get me wrong just because there is a cheaper alternative doesn't mean there always going to run the "cons" list, I've come across many many companies who offer a cheaper alternative and have still done the job, sometimes even better than the over priced companies but what you need to identify when weighing up your decision on when to buy a high priced and low priced product is, are you paying more for the brand "name" or are you just buying a better product overall?
I'll leave you with a perfect example:-
Two companies who i can't name, both are national landscape suppliers and one is owned by the other, the lesser known company is alot cheaper but the two companies catalogues are about 95% the same, all the products they both manufacture are made on the same site, the worst case is a anti slip paving slab:-
Well known company:- £4.00 + vat
Lesser known company:- £2.90 + vat
Beware of your purchase the name is just as expensive as the product.
Over the years there have only been a few companies who have put a higher price on there products and they have still been keeping there sales high, Marshaltown, Dulux, Snickers, Hamilton, etc....
So how have they kept there sales high with such high prices?
With our current financial climate everyone is looking for something that costs alot less and more or less does the same job, it's unfortunate that this isn't always the case and can sometimes end up costing you more money.
Cons:-
Lower quality product.
Could effect your work quality.
Time spent replacing tools.
Effects any personal warranty you have given.
Pros:-
Cheap.
Now don't get me wrong just because there is a cheaper alternative doesn't mean there always going to run the "cons" list, I've come across many many companies who offer a cheaper alternative and have still done the job, sometimes even better than the over priced companies but what you need to identify when weighing up your decision on when to buy a high priced and low priced product is, are you paying more for the brand "name" or are you just buying a better product overall?
I'll leave you with a perfect example:-
Two companies who i can't name, both are national landscape suppliers and one is owned by the other, the lesser known company is alot cheaper but the two companies catalogues are about 95% the same, all the products they both manufacture are made on the same site, the worst case is a anti slip paving slab:-
Well known company:- £4.00 + vat
Lesser known company:- £2.90 + vat
Beware of your purchase the name is just as expensive as the product.
Saturday 23 March 2013
Broaden your expertise.
Today's post will be about your own personal expertise and how we shy away from jobs that don't fall under that umbrella.
With the spring upon us the public are out in there masses looking for ways to improve and get that garden they've had there eye on, things are a lot simpler in terms of how we do things (please don't take this as comment that your jobs are easy) my point being is that some landscapers won't touch a decking job and want to stick to hard landscaping, some roofing companies will sub contract another "specialist" company to fit a GRP roof.
It's informing you that your hard earned cash from the jobs you do is being thrown away because of misconceptions that it's not something that can be completed by yourself, a couple of times I've come across this with contractors.
A builder came in asking if i knew of anybody who could do GRP roofing and i looked at him and said "yeah....I'm looking at him" he said that he had never done it before and he couldn't do it and that a company he asked to quote for the job said £4000 but he wanted to see if it could be done cheaper by anybody else, I showed him a video from my suppliers that was 9 minutes long on how to install and the materials he would need for the job.
He installed it himself with a labourer within two days and the roof cost £1600, the perfect example of a misconception that could have cost this particular builder £2400 in pure profit, he could have had it all done in a day if it hadn't been for the weather.
Addition, someone uploaded the video onto youtube if your thinking about taking on a GRP roofing job:-
I had a similar situation with a landscaper again asking if i knew anybody who could install a decking area, he was capable of installing a standard deck if the base was straight forward along with the top deck running in the opposite direction but his customer had spotted the Chevron effect on the Internet and wanted the same, the landscaper didn't know where to start, I explained that it really wasn't difficult as long as his measurements were spot on along with his angle's but he would need a chop saw to make things easier, I worked out what he would need and the system which would give him the least amount of wastage, he reluctantly had a go and it ended up being a nice piece of work.
The point of this post is don't shy away from something because you think it's difficult, suppliers are always looking for quicker and easier ways for you to use there products and the quicker and easier it is to use, the more likely you are to buy it.
A word of warning, make sure you do your research first before having a pop yourself there are still things that need a specialist and it could end up you being even more out of pocket if you try and then realise it's still out reach of your capabilities.
With the spring upon us the public are out in there masses looking for ways to improve and get that garden they've had there eye on, things are a lot simpler in terms of how we do things (please don't take this as comment that your jobs are easy) my point being is that some landscapers won't touch a decking job and want to stick to hard landscaping, some roofing companies will sub contract another "specialist" company to fit a GRP roof.
It's informing you that your hard earned cash from the jobs you do is being thrown away because of misconceptions that it's not something that can be completed by yourself, a couple of times I've come across this with contractors.
A builder came in asking if i knew of anybody who could do GRP roofing and i looked at him and said "yeah....I'm looking at him" he said that he had never done it before and he couldn't do it and that a company he asked to quote for the job said £4000 but he wanted to see if it could be done cheaper by anybody else, I showed him a video from my suppliers that was 9 minutes long on how to install and the materials he would need for the job.
He installed it himself with a labourer within two days and the roof cost £1600, the perfect example of a misconception that could have cost this particular builder £2400 in pure profit, he could have had it all done in a day if it hadn't been for the weather.
Addition, someone uploaded the video onto youtube if your thinking about taking on a GRP roofing job:-
I had a similar situation with a landscaper again asking if i knew anybody who could install a decking area, he was capable of installing a standard deck if the base was straight forward along with the top deck running in the opposite direction but his customer had spotted the Chevron effect on the Internet and wanted the same, the landscaper didn't know where to start, I explained that it really wasn't difficult as long as his measurements were spot on along with his angle's but he would need a chop saw to make things easier, I worked out what he would need and the system which would give him the least amount of wastage, he reluctantly had a go and it ended up being a nice piece of work.
The point of this post is don't shy away from something because you think it's difficult, suppliers are always looking for quicker and easier ways for you to use there products and the quicker and easier it is to use, the more likely you are to buy it.
A word of warning, make sure you do your research first before having a pop yourself there are still things that need a specialist and it could end up you being even more out of pocket if you try and then realise it's still out reach of your capabilities.
Monday 18 March 2013
The Consumer Protection Guarantee.
Today's post will be something that I didn't really want to do when i started this website and that is to give a certain company more of a spotlight than others, there is no money changing hands and the people I'm speaking about have no clue that I've wrote this post but after finding out a little bit about these guys i felt i needed to shed some light on what they do and my feelings towards it.
The consumer protection guarantee:-
My feelings towards this company is of extreme frustration, I have had so many customers and friends go under because there has been no protection from people who have the stupidity of hiring a tradesman to do a large project and figure out once it's almost completed that they can't pay, my anger is directed at this company because they have taken this long to come up with this idea. It's not there fault by any means but so much built up frustration seeing close friends pleading for goods to go on there account to try and claw back there business on there next job but i cant help them because if i let them have the goods it would be classed as stealing, they can try small claims court but they end up with a bigger sum of money to pay for than the one there chasing from there customer, I'm having trouble putting my frustration into words because for so long it's been pent up.
We see so many articles and television programmes stating "cowboy builders" with a bald chap chasing after a dodgy bloke asking "why did you build a house without any doors!!?" that we forget that tradesmen aren't always the bad guys, have you ever seen a TV programme where the bald chap asks a customer "this respectable builder has spent six months on your property, has completed the job so why haven't you paid him!?" I'm taking a shot in the dark here but i guess it just doesn't make for good TV.
My whole point in this post is to shed the light on Consumer Protection Guarantee, I have a very emotionally attached past with my customers and not just because they spend money but because i have seen so many times there whole entire life come crashing down, we forget that the work they do is the same as everyone else, they do it to pay there bills, put food on the table and to support there loved ones, it's something i have great respect for and that i can relate to being a family man myself, i couldn't imagine what would happen if i lost my job with a huge debt and having to tell my family that i was in trouble and it may end up with my family losing everything we own, The consumer protection guarantee get there own post on my website because they help everyone, not just tradesmen but the customer as well, no more worrying if your customer will cough up, the consumer protection guarantee will give you protection for any project over the value of £2000.
They have my upmost respect for what they are offering and i hope it comes across in my post today, i hope that you all at least consider looking at the website because if you end up with a customer that can't pay, can your business afford to take that hit? why should it have to even if it could.
http://www.tcpg.co.uk/
The consumer protection guarantee:-
My feelings towards this company is of extreme frustration, I have had so many customers and friends go under because there has been no protection from people who have the stupidity of hiring a tradesman to do a large project and figure out once it's almost completed that they can't pay, my anger is directed at this company because they have taken this long to come up with this idea. It's not there fault by any means but so much built up frustration seeing close friends pleading for goods to go on there account to try and claw back there business on there next job but i cant help them because if i let them have the goods it would be classed as stealing, they can try small claims court but they end up with a bigger sum of money to pay for than the one there chasing from there customer, I'm having trouble putting my frustration into words because for so long it's been pent up.
We see so many articles and television programmes stating "cowboy builders" with a bald chap chasing after a dodgy bloke asking "why did you build a house without any doors!!?" that we forget that tradesmen aren't always the bad guys, have you ever seen a TV programme where the bald chap asks a customer "this respectable builder has spent six months on your property, has completed the job so why haven't you paid him!?" I'm taking a shot in the dark here but i guess it just doesn't make for good TV.
My whole point in this post is to shed the light on Consumer Protection Guarantee, I have a very emotionally attached past with my customers and not just because they spend money but because i have seen so many times there whole entire life come crashing down, we forget that the work they do is the same as everyone else, they do it to pay there bills, put food on the table and to support there loved ones, it's something i have great respect for and that i can relate to being a family man myself, i couldn't imagine what would happen if i lost my job with a huge debt and having to tell my family that i was in trouble and it may end up with my family losing everything we own, The consumer protection guarantee get there own post on my website because they help everyone, not just tradesmen but the customer as well, no more worrying if your customer will cough up, the consumer protection guarantee will give you protection for any project over the value of £2000.
They have my upmost respect for what they are offering and i hope it comes across in my post today, i hope that you all at least consider looking at the website because if you end up with a customer that can't pay, can your business afford to take that hit? why should it have to even if it could.
http://www.tcpg.co.uk/
Sunday 17 March 2013
How to treat your suppliers.
Today I wanted to talk about how to treat your suppliers and the real truth on what happens if you push your luck to far.
Over the years I've come across hundreds of customers, all different from the stressed to the laid back, from the 6'8ft to the 5'2ft, the extremely organised to the extremely disorganised, the range of personalities is broad and all unique.
My post today makes you aware of how you treat your merchants, how it reflects on the service you get and the prices, now I have three customers (who will remain nameless):-
First customer is the most organised customer i have ever dealt with, his attention to detail is in no uncertain terms ridiculous, if on the rare occasion I get a price wrong he will e-mail me with the details and even the amount that's due to be credited.....with and without VAT.
This customer when he first walked into my branch had a folder of all the best prices he gets from three other merchants and basically said "if you beat the prices we will buy it from you" it was a big list and about 30% of the items i couldn't even get near but i managed it on 70%.
He is courteous, understanding, to the point and organised, the simplest customer to deal with and spends alot of money, if all my customers were like him i would have my nine working hours cut down to two.
My second customer is a plasterer and is unmanageable, not because he takes the mick or is loud or rude but because he constantly lies and tries his luck with prices, he puts words in my staffs mouths to try and get cheaper prices and conveniently forgets when a price is given. No matter how i try and approach his account my work gets undone every month, i caught him at the counter saying to the staff member that another merchant has offered multi finish £0.75p less than what we were selling it to him for, not an unreasonable statement? apart from i had already had this conversation 3 days ago with him and i had set the term up on his account, so my staff have been warned that prices won't be discussed and that if he does want to discuss prices then send him to my office.
Within three months of this rule being set he has seen me on 10 different occasions trying the same old trick, he doesn't spend much and says after each encounter that he will have to shop elsewhere, we still see him on a weekly basis and he still tries his luck.
The third customer spends as much as my first customer and when i made the comment of only working two hours if all were like him, well this customer takes the remaining seven hours, the most disorganised customer, we have been through the motions many many times when he starts a job, he brings in the plans, he asks if i can take them off, i explain I'm not a QS and that i don't have time, i send off the plans. He gets good prices because i set them from the start but if I'm off on holiday his service dips, not because we want his service to dip it's because he depends on us so much that if we lose one member of staff he doesn't get the attention. I'll be honest, if i see his name on caller ID i always look to the ceiling and say some profanities under my breathe.
It's not that i don't want his business or that he isn't a nice bloke it's because i have to do a large majority of his job and the worst part? if i construct a time frame call off for his materials imagine the frustration when his account goes on stop because he forgot to pay his bill, we had a big falling out one time and he went to another merchant for about 3 weeks, lets just say he came crawling back, i have 2 children and one of them is a young baby, the other is a 45 year old customer.
My point for this post is just be a little more organised, I'm not trying to come across as someone who is having a moan who works in a merchant but because this advice helps you, i have come across quite a few people who have said to a customer "no i can't add that extra item onto your delivery" when they can or "no i can't squeeze you in for a drop tomorrow" when push came to shove we can, there will be occasions when the most organised of customers need a big favour but your chances to have that favour delivered is alot greater if the big favours aren't constantly asked for.
I've said in a previous post that merchants want your business but make this decision alot easier for them, the tolerance levels may be alot higher today but there is still a limit.
You don't need to be customer one because as organised as i am i still wouldn't be able to hit his level if i was a tradesman but just taking the time to book your delivery in advance or picking up the materials that you can pick up in your van, these things don't go unnoticed by your merchant.
Finally i had rugby tickets to give away last week, who do think i took?
Over the years I've come across hundreds of customers, all different from the stressed to the laid back, from the 6'8ft to the 5'2ft, the extremely organised to the extremely disorganised, the range of personalities is broad and all unique.
My post today makes you aware of how you treat your merchants, how it reflects on the service you get and the prices, now I have three customers (who will remain nameless):-
First customer is the most organised customer i have ever dealt with, his attention to detail is in no uncertain terms ridiculous, if on the rare occasion I get a price wrong he will e-mail me with the details and even the amount that's due to be credited.....with and without VAT.
This customer when he first walked into my branch had a folder of all the best prices he gets from three other merchants and basically said "if you beat the prices we will buy it from you" it was a big list and about 30% of the items i couldn't even get near but i managed it on 70%.
He is courteous, understanding, to the point and organised, the simplest customer to deal with and spends alot of money, if all my customers were like him i would have my nine working hours cut down to two.
My second customer is a plasterer and is unmanageable, not because he takes the mick or is loud or rude but because he constantly lies and tries his luck with prices, he puts words in my staffs mouths to try and get cheaper prices and conveniently forgets when a price is given. No matter how i try and approach his account my work gets undone every month, i caught him at the counter saying to the staff member that another merchant has offered multi finish £0.75p less than what we were selling it to him for, not an unreasonable statement? apart from i had already had this conversation 3 days ago with him and i had set the term up on his account, so my staff have been warned that prices won't be discussed and that if he does want to discuss prices then send him to my office.
Within three months of this rule being set he has seen me on 10 different occasions trying the same old trick, he doesn't spend much and says after each encounter that he will have to shop elsewhere, we still see him on a weekly basis and he still tries his luck.
The third customer spends as much as my first customer and when i made the comment of only working two hours if all were like him, well this customer takes the remaining seven hours, the most disorganised customer, we have been through the motions many many times when he starts a job, he brings in the plans, he asks if i can take them off, i explain I'm not a QS and that i don't have time, i send off the plans. He gets good prices because i set them from the start but if I'm off on holiday his service dips, not because we want his service to dip it's because he depends on us so much that if we lose one member of staff he doesn't get the attention. I'll be honest, if i see his name on caller ID i always look to the ceiling and say some profanities under my breathe.
It's not that i don't want his business or that he isn't a nice bloke it's because i have to do a large majority of his job and the worst part? if i construct a time frame call off for his materials imagine the frustration when his account goes on stop because he forgot to pay his bill, we had a big falling out one time and he went to another merchant for about 3 weeks, lets just say he came crawling back, i have 2 children and one of them is a young baby, the other is a 45 year old customer.
My point for this post is just be a little more organised, I'm not trying to come across as someone who is having a moan who works in a merchant but because this advice helps you, i have come across quite a few people who have said to a customer "no i can't add that extra item onto your delivery" when they can or "no i can't squeeze you in for a drop tomorrow" when push came to shove we can, there will be occasions when the most organised of customers need a big favour but your chances to have that favour delivered is alot greater if the big favours aren't constantly asked for.
I've said in a previous post that merchants want your business but make this decision alot easier for them, the tolerance levels may be alot higher today but there is still a limit.
You don't need to be customer one because as organised as i am i still wouldn't be able to hit his level if i was a tradesman but just taking the time to book your delivery in advance or picking up the materials that you can pick up in your van, these things don't go unnoticed by your merchant.
Finally i had rugby tickets to give away last week, who do think i took?
Tuesday 12 March 2013
Winning jobs through your merchant.
First of I had a cracking day at work and it ended with a fantastic sale for a customer who was extremely frustrated by his customer, he came in at around 1pm with his first visit and had a face like thunder, i asked him what was wrong and he told me the couple that had hired him to landscape there garden couldn't make up there mind, sound familiar?
So what i wanted to discuss today is how your merchant can help you win the job you want, the thing is so many tradesmen do all the running around for prices and options for there potential customer that they eat so much time up and get a little frustrated, this shows and can sometimes sour a sure deal.
The situation for my customer turned from him being really frustrated to finally getting the job and a start date, i said to him after he said about his customer "send them down to see me" i said this because i can address any problems they have as there at the branch, he came down with the couple and i sat down with them asking what did they have in mind when it came to there garden, they were vague at first but i managed to narrow it down and give them some options, i then proceeding to take them out to the yard and showed them what could be done, it ended in them having buff textured slabs and a large parameter wall with the smaller slabs acting as copings, they needed to be cut to suit but we all addressed this issue, i suggested it and asked the builder if it could be done and then asked his customer would you like it if it matched your paving.
The whole point of this is use your merchants and not just for materials, you can address any issue by taking your potential customer down to your supplier, make it an official visit, make your contact aware that you will be bringing someone down, explain what your expecting and let the merchant do the work, your merchant will be an extension of how you come across to your customer and this is what we do for a living and the whole thing is a bonus for everyone involved, we get the sale, the builder gets the job, the customer gets the garden they have chosen, that's the result we want, isn't it?
Side note:- I have to say this because certain situations can arise where it can go wrong and resorts back to a previous post of dealing with your merchants, your contact has to be good for you to use this option, there's no point if your contact at your merchant is someone who doesn't give a hoot and has the attitude to match because this reflects on you, when you bring your customer down to the branch your merchant is an extension of your business so make doubly sure that your merchant is up to this, most merchants are but it could cost you your job for this particular customer if your merchant doesn't have that person to make you the builder look good and help your customer make there mind up.
To summarise, this option extends to anything that the customer requires, it could be a kitchen, a bathroom, re-tiling a roof, landscaping, even hanging a couple of doors, treat your merchant as the information hub of options your customer has, if you open up your doors to your customer and they defiantly want the work doing going through the process of sitting with them with your merchant is a very professional and beneficial way of securing the work they need doing.
Try it once and see how you get on and i promise with all the things in place it will be very hard for your customer to not be impressed with how you carry yourself and your business and all this leads to one thing - you securing another pay day.
So what i wanted to discuss today is how your merchant can help you win the job you want, the thing is so many tradesmen do all the running around for prices and options for there potential customer that they eat so much time up and get a little frustrated, this shows and can sometimes sour a sure deal.
The situation for my customer turned from him being really frustrated to finally getting the job and a start date, i said to him after he said about his customer "send them down to see me" i said this because i can address any problems they have as there at the branch, he came down with the couple and i sat down with them asking what did they have in mind when it came to there garden, they were vague at first but i managed to narrow it down and give them some options, i then proceeding to take them out to the yard and showed them what could be done, it ended in them having buff textured slabs and a large parameter wall with the smaller slabs acting as copings, they needed to be cut to suit but we all addressed this issue, i suggested it and asked the builder if it could be done and then asked his customer would you like it if it matched your paving.
The whole point of this is use your merchants and not just for materials, you can address any issue by taking your potential customer down to your supplier, make it an official visit, make your contact aware that you will be bringing someone down, explain what your expecting and let the merchant do the work, your merchant will be an extension of how you come across to your customer and this is what we do for a living and the whole thing is a bonus for everyone involved, we get the sale, the builder gets the job, the customer gets the garden they have chosen, that's the result we want, isn't it?
Side note:- I have to say this because certain situations can arise where it can go wrong and resorts back to a previous post of dealing with your merchants, your contact has to be good for you to use this option, there's no point if your contact at your merchant is someone who doesn't give a hoot and has the attitude to match because this reflects on you, when you bring your customer down to the branch your merchant is an extension of your business so make doubly sure that your merchant is up to this, most merchants are but it could cost you your job for this particular customer if your merchant doesn't have that person to make you the builder look good and help your customer make there mind up.
To summarise, this option extends to anything that the customer requires, it could be a kitchen, a bathroom, re-tiling a roof, landscaping, even hanging a couple of doors, treat your merchant as the information hub of options your customer has, if you open up your doors to your customer and they defiantly want the work doing going through the process of sitting with them with your merchant is a very professional and beneficial way of securing the work they need doing.
Try it once and see how you get on and i promise with all the things in place it will be very hard for your customer to not be impressed with how you carry yourself and your business and all this leads to one thing - you securing another pay day.
Sunday 10 March 2013
The Horror stories.
Today i wanted to do something different and recap on some of the personal and my fellow colleagues horror stories when it came to the building merchants, How customers reacted to news, how we as supplies balls up and just some stories on this nature.
So first up a customer was building a new build from the ground up, he got to the stage where he was laying his block work (normal 4", 7n) , he was talking 2 loads a day (12 packs) for two weeks straight, it was a massive development and he was getting to the tail end of this stage and noticed that the blocks were crumbling, obviously a little worried he contacted us and asked if the blocks were indeed 7n, we contacted the supplier (no i can't give the name) and they assured us even in that state they were indeed 7 newton, well our customer who saw the state of these blocks on a daily basis got more and more concerned the more he saw these blocks, so he hired someone externally to test the strength......turns out they weren't 7 newton.
So the job is on hold, guys on site on a day rate, all the block work has to come down including the mortar that was used, i mean this really was a colossus mistake, he got from our supplier:-
All the blocks replaced (this time they were 7 newton!)
& £12,000.
He settled for this.
Second up a customer wanted a brick match done so i sent out our sales rep to match them up and let me know what they were so i could get a price, the customer was happy with the price and needed them pretty fast, the best i could do was 5-7 working days as they were wire cuts and needed to be brought down from somewhere, so 5 working days pass they came into our yard and I ring the customer, he wants them straight out so off goes my delivery lorry........i get a call saying these are no where near what's existing, i jumped in the car and went down there, the sales rep had matched up the house directly across the road from the job and the availibilty of the bricks he needed? 3 weeks specially made. He went ballistic.
He got his bricks in the end and apologised to me personally as it was me who got the brunt of his anger, nice bloke overall though.
Third one up a big misunderstanding and the very first and only time I've fallen out with a customer, The bloke wanted an artic load of light weight foundation blocks i gave him a price but unfortunately the supplier only had the tongue and grooved blocks at short notice, i explained to the customer that if he wanted them in the time frame that was given he would have to pay about £3 a square metre more for the T&G but said the time saved using these ones means he will get them around the same price overall with the labour saving so he agreed.
A month later he comes into the branch screaming and shouting saying we have charged him loads more when the price was agreed, he was speaking to the manager at the time and i wondered over from my desk and asked what was the matter, he again in a very aggressive manner repeated what was said to the manager and I first said calm down as if he keeps it up i won't even bother to speak to him i then proceeded to explain what was said with him shouting inbetween my words, when i was finished i said "I'm done with this guy, your the manager you sort him out" I'm not an aggressive person but this guy was pressing all my buttons and i needed to walk away otherwise a minute more and i may have lost my job.
This ended up with him getting money back (which was a loss to the order taken) and the area manager wanted to give me a verbal warning, i asked my manager to arrange a meeting with said area manager as i would not except a warning on these grounds, the meeting was never arranged and the warning was dropped.
And finally we suspected a staff member (assistant manager) of stealing and i mean this guy was a brown nosing weasel of a man, he stood for everything i hate in the cooperate game, he took credit for other people's work, he ran from his work load and worst of all? He b*******d his way through life, he said he was an experienced mechanic but when he took out the company van he needed to refill as the fuel was getting low, he went to the petrol station and rang up the branch asking "what fuel does this take?" A VAN!?!
Anyway a few of us noticed a bag down by his desk and he kept sheepishly putting items in there, paint brushes, white spirit, some paint just a few decorating items and we all didn't think anything of it except the next day there was no bag, now I'm not a grass, i wouldn't stab someone in the back to get ahead but with this guy i wanted to make it my business to see if something was going on, as soon as i asked the other staff members if they had booked out any goods for him they all said no and wanted a part in taking this guy down, so i went to the manager and explained what had happened, he checked the camera and he caught him on camera with the bag walking to his car, problem being is without seeing what was in the bag no action could be taken, thinking he had gotten away with it the weasel then picked up 5L of paint and put it next to his desk, i went to the manager again and said send admin on her break and take one yourself and lets see if he puts it in his car, he did! the worst part of all this is that because my car was in the shop that day i was forced to get a lift home with this guy, so we went to leave work at 4.30pm and as we were reversing back the manager stepped in front of the car, came to the drivers window and pointed to the tin of paint at the back seat and asked "do you mind explaining that?" so the weasel turns to me and said in a panic "i asked you to book it out" i was having none of this and said "no you didn't" long story short the weasel lost his job for stealing goods.
I don't really like seeing anyone lose there job but this guy? we weren't that bothered.
Really this post is just to make everyone aware that human error does occur but what makes a good supplier a great supplier is if they learnt from there mistake and how fast they get the mistake fixed.
So first up a customer was building a new build from the ground up, he got to the stage where he was laying his block work (normal 4", 7n) , he was talking 2 loads a day (12 packs) for two weeks straight, it was a massive development and he was getting to the tail end of this stage and noticed that the blocks were crumbling, obviously a little worried he contacted us and asked if the blocks were indeed 7n, we contacted the supplier (no i can't give the name) and they assured us even in that state they were indeed 7 newton, well our customer who saw the state of these blocks on a daily basis got more and more concerned the more he saw these blocks, so he hired someone externally to test the strength......turns out they weren't 7 newton.
So the job is on hold, guys on site on a day rate, all the block work has to come down including the mortar that was used, i mean this really was a colossus mistake, he got from our supplier:-
All the blocks replaced (this time they were 7 newton!)
& £12,000.
He settled for this.
Second up a customer wanted a brick match done so i sent out our sales rep to match them up and let me know what they were so i could get a price, the customer was happy with the price and needed them pretty fast, the best i could do was 5-7 working days as they were wire cuts and needed to be brought down from somewhere, so 5 working days pass they came into our yard and I ring the customer, he wants them straight out so off goes my delivery lorry........i get a call saying these are no where near what's existing, i jumped in the car and went down there, the sales rep had matched up the house directly across the road from the job and the availibilty of the bricks he needed? 3 weeks specially made. He went ballistic.
He got his bricks in the end and apologised to me personally as it was me who got the brunt of his anger, nice bloke overall though.
Third one up a big misunderstanding and the very first and only time I've fallen out with a customer, The bloke wanted an artic load of light weight foundation blocks i gave him a price but unfortunately the supplier only had the tongue and grooved blocks at short notice, i explained to the customer that if he wanted them in the time frame that was given he would have to pay about £3 a square metre more for the T&G but said the time saved using these ones means he will get them around the same price overall with the labour saving so he agreed.
A month later he comes into the branch screaming and shouting saying we have charged him loads more when the price was agreed, he was speaking to the manager at the time and i wondered over from my desk and asked what was the matter, he again in a very aggressive manner repeated what was said to the manager and I first said calm down as if he keeps it up i won't even bother to speak to him i then proceeded to explain what was said with him shouting inbetween my words, when i was finished i said "I'm done with this guy, your the manager you sort him out" I'm not an aggressive person but this guy was pressing all my buttons and i needed to walk away otherwise a minute more and i may have lost my job.
This ended up with him getting money back (which was a loss to the order taken) and the area manager wanted to give me a verbal warning, i asked my manager to arrange a meeting with said area manager as i would not except a warning on these grounds, the meeting was never arranged and the warning was dropped.
And finally we suspected a staff member (assistant manager) of stealing and i mean this guy was a brown nosing weasel of a man, he stood for everything i hate in the cooperate game, he took credit for other people's work, he ran from his work load and worst of all? He b*******d his way through life, he said he was an experienced mechanic but when he took out the company van he needed to refill as the fuel was getting low, he went to the petrol station and rang up the branch asking "what fuel does this take?" A VAN!?!
Anyway a few of us noticed a bag down by his desk and he kept sheepishly putting items in there, paint brushes, white spirit, some paint just a few decorating items and we all didn't think anything of it except the next day there was no bag, now I'm not a grass, i wouldn't stab someone in the back to get ahead but with this guy i wanted to make it my business to see if something was going on, as soon as i asked the other staff members if they had booked out any goods for him they all said no and wanted a part in taking this guy down, so i went to the manager and explained what had happened, he checked the camera and he caught him on camera with the bag walking to his car, problem being is without seeing what was in the bag no action could be taken, thinking he had gotten away with it the weasel then picked up 5L of paint and put it next to his desk, i went to the manager again and said send admin on her break and take one yourself and lets see if he puts it in his car, he did! the worst part of all this is that because my car was in the shop that day i was forced to get a lift home with this guy, so we went to leave work at 4.30pm and as we were reversing back the manager stepped in front of the car, came to the drivers window and pointed to the tin of paint at the back seat and asked "do you mind explaining that?" so the weasel turns to me and said in a panic "i asked you to book it out" i was having none of this and said "no you didn't" long story short the weasel lost his job for stealing goods.
I don't really like seeing anyone lose there job but this guy? we weren't that bothered.
Really this post is just to make everyone aware that human error does occur but what makes a good supplier a great supplier is if they learnt from there mistake and how fast they get the mistake fixed.
Monday 25 February 2013
Chains vs Independents, Part 2 The Independents...
So today we will be proceeding to part 2 of the Chains vs Independents and discussing the pros and con's of using independents over the chains, so let's take a look.
Independents pros
* The personal touch - The independents have this because there small and usually have the owner on site, they offer a service that feels like your business really does mean something to them, a close community of staff and every sale matters, If they can't compete on price they will pull out the service card.
* Company policy's - All chains have company policy's and sometimes they get in the way of offering good service or galvanising the professional bond between customer and company, My work place (which is a national chain) wont let a customer run home to get his card if he has forgot it one morning when he wanted to buy goods, it doesn't matter if he has given over £100,000 the previous year and has £100 worth of goods on his truck and we have known him for years, its a rule that can't be broken and if he does try to take off it would be classed as theft, Independents have policy's but can rely on a bit of common sense to bend rules on occasion, i know they wouldn't let someone unknown take the goods with the promise they will come back to pay but if they know a long standing customer is good for it whats the harm.
* Company credit card - I'm going out on a limb here as i don't 100% know that this is a universal rule through all independents but the two I've worked for and a supplier took on this system, it basically means whatever you need it can be bought, if it's on amazon it can be brought in, ebay? no problem! Chinese dog curling practise kit from Chinese dog curling .com? as long as they take credit card it's yours! The system they take on is that basically they pay for it and then book it to your account, the only down side to this is that your paying over the odds as they buy in at whatever price it's selling for and add a percentage on.
* Reliable - It's written in stone as every sale matters to the independents, there around to make money and keep afloat, that means when they promise something they will move heaven and earth to deliver, it's simply really because if they let you down or waste your time you move on but unlike chains where another branch in the area can pick up the slack they are on there own, they have one shot and there aware of this.
* Understanding - Tough times have hit all some more than others and chains have the system of don't pay, no goods on credit accounts. It's kind of understandable but what if you needed to finish off a job so you could pay your merchant? try explaining this to a national chain, the person you speak to in branch may understand but unfortunately it's not his decision to make but the independents have the common sense factor, they may be reluctant to do so but at least they will take all factors into account before making a decision.
* Management - They are still grounded even if they hold a management position and on most occasions there the owner, they see the benefits of knowing there customers and being involved with all aspects, they come into work not just for the same pay day month after month, the two independents i worked for left there respected management roles with other national chains and started up there own because they saw huge gaping holes in service and the system they worked with, they prey on the chains because they know there weaknesses and it's easy to manoeuvre a small independent merchant to attack those weaknesses, in terms of size and bringing in new directions it's easier to spin round a tiny power boat than a cruise ship.
* Buying options - They have the ability to buy from who they want, they don't have huge contracts tying them down to just one particular supplier, if you need a cheaper option on a particular item then it's something your independents can offer, huge contracts are often struck between leading merchants and suppliers so suppliers are "sole" suppliers, they may have an excellent deal when buying from said supplier but what if there is a product that does the same job from a different supplier that's a lot cheaper?
* Product range - There a bit more in touch I've found with items that sell well, chains have there products broken up into categories of fast to slow moving lines nationally but it's different for every area, your independents tailor there business to bring in stock that sells well in your area.
* Trading on everything - They trade on everything you see from shop floor to the yard, it's not a case of overcharging on shop items because head office have put restrictions on price reductions, they are trading on all items which is a huge plus when you want to really give customers a great deal on the WHOLE order.
* Staff Levels - They are in touch with how there branch runs, its not a case of "they will cope" because boss's aren't aware of how stretched staff are, so even though they have staff busy there aware of the staff they need to run the operation.
Independents cons
* Buying power - Unfortunately this is a big weakness for the independents, they could claw back some of the gap between the chains buying power by joining a buying group like LIMA but they will never be able to compete when the chains when they want to win the quote.
* Resources - Independents don't have the resources of the chains, advertising, marketing, bulk deals struck with suppliers, trade days, celebrity appearance's, the list is endless when it comes to how a chain can get there name out there and the independents who are local can really only rely on local advertising, maybe the local newspaper or a radio advert but there both pricey avenues to get the name out there.
* Stability - If an independent does make it in a local market and are a pillar in a good community of builders then the chances are eventually one of the chains will buy them out, it's a typical ploy of the chains and the reason that they spread so quickly, some of the branches are greenfield and are brand new but a lot of them are previous companies that have been bought out. Some independents will have the business plan to cause a thorn in the side of big chains to a point of getting bought out, a risky bet when your public records are there for anyone to see on the net.
* Fighting there corner - If a chain moves into the area they have to have an extremely loyal customer base who have money to burn, well that's none existent now a days, money is money and if anyone can save they will, it's not a malicious statement towards customers, if someone offered me a much cheaper deal i wouldn't need to think twice about switching to save my money, it's my money that i take home, chains when they move into an area are a wrecking crew, they have done there homework on there competitors and will sell high moving items like cement, blocks, aggregates, timber close to cost to get there customer base up, what chance do independents have when a chain is offering there customers to save thousands within a year?
To summarise the two posts it's all down to the independent or chain your comfortable using, a chain may come into the area but it doesn't guarantee the same service that your independent offers, yes you may get a great deal with the chain but if they let you down on service any savings go out the window with the delay on getting your goods, if a chain does offer great deals when they move into the area that wont last, I'm bias towards the independents because they still have the integrity and care more than chains ever will about your business but unfortunately they can only offer service and with how things are at the moment great service and a slightly more expensive price gets beat by average service and a great temporary price.
My advice to you all is give them both a chance and if possible use both, if your independent goes under your left with the chain and if the chain is standing alone at the end your pocket will suffer.
Independents pros
* The personal touch - The independents have this because there small and usually have the owner on site, they offer a service that feels like your business really does mean something to them, a close community of staff and every sale matters, If they can't compete on price they will pull out the service card.
* Company policy's - All chains have company policy's and sometimes they get in the way of offering good service or galvanising the professional bond between customer and company, My work place (which is a national chain) wont let a customer run home to get his card if he has forgot it one morning when he wanted to buy goods, it doesn't matter if he has given over £100,000 the previous year and has £100 worth of goods on his truck and we have known him for years, its a rule that can't be broken and if he does try to take off it would be classed as theft, Independents have policy's but can rely on a bit of common sense to bend rules on occasion, i know they wouldn't let someone unknown take the goods with the promise they will come back to pay but if they know a long standing customer is good for it whats the harm.
* Company credit card - I'm going out on a limb here as i don't 100% know that this is a universal rule through all independents but the two I've worked for and a supplier took on this system, it basically means whatever you need it can be bought, if it's on amazon it can be brought in, ebay? no problem! Chinese dog curling practise kit from Chinese dog curling .com? as long as they take credit card it's yours! The system they take on is that basically they pay for it and then book it to your account, the only down side to this is that your paying over the odds as they buy in at whatever price it's selling for and add a percentage on.
* Reliable - It's written in stone as every sale matters to the independents, there around to make money and keep afloat, that means when they promise something they will move heaven and earth to deliver, it's simply really because if they let you down or waste your time you move on but unlike chains where another branch in the area can pick up the slack they are on there own, they have one shot and there aware of this.
* Understanding - Tough times have hit all some more than others and chains have the system of don't pay, no goods on credit accounts. It's kind of understandable but what if you needed to finish off a job so you could pay your merchant? try explaining this to a national chain, the person you speak to in branch may understand but unfortunately it's not his decision to make but the independents have the common sense factor, they may be reluctant to do so but at least they will take all factors into account before making a decision.
* Management - They are still grounded even if they hold a management position and on most occasions there the owner, they see the benefits of knowing there customers and being involved with all aspects, they come into work not just for the same pay day month after month, the two independents i worked for left there respected management roles with other national chains and started up there own because they saw huge gaping holes in service and the system they worked with, they prey on the chains because they know there weaknesses and it's easy to manoeuvre a small independent merchant to attack those weaknesses, in terms of size and bringing in new directions it's easier to spin round a tiny power boat than a cruise ship.
* Buying options - They have the ability to buy from who they want, they don't have huge contracts tying them down to just one particular supplier, if you need a cheaper option on a particular item then it's something your independents can offer, huge contracts are often struck between leading merchants and suppliers so suppliers are "sole" suppliers, they may have an excellent deal when buying from said supplier but what if there is a product that does the same job from a different supplier that's a lot cheaper?
* Product range - There a bit more in touch I've found with items that sell well, chains have there products broken up into categories of fast to slow moving lines nationally but it's different for every area, your independents tailor there business to bring in stock that sells well in your area.
* Trading on everything - They trade on everything you see from shop floor to the yard, it's not a case of overcharging on shop items because head office have put restrictions on price reductions, they are trading on all items which is a huge plus when you want to really give customers a great deal on the WHOLE order.
* Staff Levels - They are in touch with how there branch runs, its not a case of "they will cope" because boss's aren't aware of how stretched staff are, so even though they have staff busy there aware of the staff they need to run the operation.
Independents cons
* Buying power - Unfortunately this is a big weakness for the independents, they could claw back some of the gap between the chains buying power by joining a buying group like LIMA but they will never be able to compete when the chains when they want to win the quote.
* Resources - Independents don't have the resources of the chains, advertising, marketing, bulk deals struck with suppliers, trade days, celebrity appearance's, the list is endless when it comes to how a chain can get there name out there and the independents who are local can really only rely on local advertising, maybe the local newspaper or a radio advert but there both pricey avenues to get the name out there.
* Stability - If an independent does make it in a local market and are a pillar in a good community of builders then the chances are eventually one of the chains will buy them out, it's a typical ploy of the chains and the reason that they spread so quickly, some of the branches are greenfield and are brand new but a lot of them are previous companies that have been bought out. Some independents will have the business plan to cause a thorn in the side of big chains to a point of getting bought out, a risky bet when your public records are there for anyone to see on the net.
* Fighting there corner - If a chain moves into the area they have to have an extremely loyal customer base who have money to burn, well that's none existent now a days, money is money and if anyone can save they will, it's not a malicious statement towards customers, if someone offered me a much cheaper deal i wouldn't need to think twice about switching to save my money, it's my money that i take home, chains when they move into an area are a wrecking crew, they have done there homework on there competitors and will sell high moving items like cement, blocks, aggregates, timber close to cost to get there customer base up, what chance do independents have when a chain is offering there customers to save thousands within a year?
To summarise the two posts it's all down to the independent or chain your comfortable using, a chain may come into the area but it doesn't guarantee the same service that your independent offers, yes you may get a great deal with the chain but if they let you down on service any savings go out the window with the delay on getting your goods, if a chain does offer great deals when they move into the area that wont last, I'm bias towards the independents because they still have the integrity and care more than chains ever will about your business but unfortunately they can only offer service and with how things are at the moment great service and a slightly more expensive price gets beat by average service and a great temporary price.
My advice to you all is give them both a chance and if possible use both, if your independent goes under your left with the chain and if the chain is standing alone at the end your pocket will suffer.
Thursday 21 February 2013
Chains VS Independents, Part 1 the chains....
Today i wanted to talk about your suppliers and the pro's and con's of dealing with the big chains against the smaller independents.
Big Chains Pro's:-
* Buying in large quantities - Big chains have the strongest buying power, if there is a large job and the big chain wants to beat the independent they will, if the items are like for like there is no chance for the little merchant.
* Suppliers Service - With the big chains they have a very strong and powerful relationship with suppliers when a contract is struck between the two, the big chains would have negotiated the best turn around and price and have separate and dedicated departments to negotiate these deals, i worked for a company where i wanted to order an item, minimum order value was £200 and if it was under there order value it would be a £15 carriage charge and would take 3 working days, i moved to a different and bigger company and the same supplier didn't have a minimum order value and delivery was next day if the order was placed before 3pm.
* Stock Levels - Stock levels in bigger merchants are usually better, the national merchants have an automatic ordering system, if an item runs out there system will generate a purchase order to replenish the stock, this isn't on every item but on the large majority.
* Larger base of suppliers - You can bet that the national merchant will have accounts with almost everyone, it means that they can get hold of almost anything you can think of.
* Complaint procedures - Company appearance is everything to the big chains, bad press hurts them more than most and if word gets out that it's not a great company to deal with, it costs them alot of money, this is why they invest alot of time and money into combating this, if a complaint is made and it's brought to the attention of there head office, it's taken very seriously and gets rectified within certain parameters.
* Locations - These guys are everywhere, all cities and most big town's, if there is a market and they can make money in the area they will build or lease a property to start up.
Material sourcing - It's always ethical, could you imagine the flak they would get if they used a company who didn't conform? It wouldn't surprise me with the size of these companies that they don't investigate each other, if it got out that they brought from India and the raw materials were mined by a one armed 4 year old child who gets 10 pence a day, well it's the image companies don't want to have.
Management - Most not all branch managers have had to have thorough training to get to there respected positions and it takes years, they have made presentations, sales plans, margin reports, man management training, they have been through the mill to get ready to run a branch.
Big Chains Con's:-
* Service - I was told when i worked for a large chain that the small to medium builders were bread and butter, they make there real money from huge sites such as the Olympic stadium and projects of a similar size, the branches don't even factor in these developments, all items are delivered direct, when a company has this attitude it's hard to trust them with your business, i wouldn't if i heard this statement but it all depends on who you deal with in the branch. Many times I've taken business off of other merchants because they have let the customer down, it may be down to deliveries not being done when they have been promised or just prices being inconsistent.
* Unorganised - This is down to the staff once again but it always seems to be the same story, when a national chain has a very busy and profitable branch it's very difficult for them to keep on top of everything, this causes many problems, overcharges on goods, credits not being done, terms not being set, site visits not being conducted, the list is endless but the large chains will never turn away business and this leads to them biting off way more than what they can chew.
* Greed - Always looking for more, targets to hit, bonuses to be had and it's all down to margins and sales, so many items within the shop floor are ridiculously priced and the unsuspecting customer just picks it up and books it out without batting an eyelid, well most items have a mark up of 60-80% sales margin and it's mostly the silicone's, screws, nails, ironmongery, building chemicals, dpc's, etc... a very broad range of items and the worst part? staff can't change the price, head office have put restrictions on the price so staff cant drop it.
* Staff levels - The big chains are always looking how to cut costs, the first thing to go is staff, labour costs in any field are the biggest budget eaters and it's no different in the merchants, think back if you have been dealing with your merchant for a while at what the staff levels were like when you first stepped into the place, My last merchant had 10 staff when i first joined by the time i moved to another company it was down to 6 within 18 months, sales hadn't dropped and margins were still high but because we were coping well the higher ups thought that we could cope with less, we did but boy did our service drop, i went from a confident, composed, organised and dependable salesman to a shaking, stress raged, bumbling mess, always letting people down and running around like a headless chicken doing hours that would make Henry Ford proud, it took its toll and i moved on, i couldn't deliver what i first promised anymore and i took most customers with me, luckily my customers knew the crack and still had faith in me when i went to pastures new, it's one of the reasons I'm doing this blog.
* Upper Management - Upper management loses touch with the customer and it becomes more about figures than the customer, branch managers get stuck between a rock and a hard place, they want to take care of there customer base but the guys up top want more, this takes it's toll on the branches, it's a cascade of bonuses and bollockings, there all chasing a big fat bonus but if there figures drop for there area someone is going to get a firm telling off, well if this happens the next guy under him gets it in the neck until eventually it runs through right to the bottom.
* No "I" in team - I spoke to another manager a few years back and he said this year was going to be tough as a branch had opened less than a 100 metres away "The company had bought out another company and changed it into the chain" i had never been in this situation but he told me that they were basically on opposite sides of the road from each other on a one way system and even though they were both the same company they were separate branches, customers used to go one side get a quote then run across the road to the new branch and ask if they could beat it....which they did! He was getting annoyed with this and contacted his area sales manager who looked after all the branches in the area and proceeded to say "Why are the other branch under cutting me?! were in the same area! it all goes into the same pot so why give it away for less?" his manager replied saying it was a grey area and that the new branch needed to become established.
First off apologies on just posting part 1, I've decided to break this into two parts as it's a long post and it would be easier to read it in two separate posts.
Part 2 will follow and will have the independents.
Big Chains Pro's:-
* Buying in large quantities - Big chains have the strongest buying power, if there is a large job and the big chain wants to beat the independent they will, if the items are like for like there is no chance for the little merchant.
* Suppliers Service - With the big chains they have a very strong and powerful relationship with suppliers when a contract is struck between the two, the big chains would have negotiated the best turn around and price and have separate and dedicated departments to negotiate these deals, i worked for a company where i wanted to order an item, minimum order value was £200 and if it was under there order value it would be a £15 carriage charge and would take 3 working days, i moved to a different and bigger company and the same supplier didn't have a minimum order value and delivery was next day if the order was placed before 3pm.
* Stock Levels - Stock levels in bigger merchants are usually better, the national merchants have an automatic ordering system, if an item runs out there system will generate a purchase order to replenish the stock, this isn't on every item but on the large majority.
* Larger base of suppliers - You can bet that the national merchant will have accounts with almost everyone, it means that they can get hold of almost anything you can think of.
* Complaint procedures - Company appearance is everything to the big chains, bad press hurts them more than most and if word gets out that it's not a great company to deal with, it costs them alot of money, this is why they invest alot of time and money into combating this, if a complaint is made and it's brought to the attention of there head office, it's taken very seriously and gets rectified within certain parameters.
* Locations - These guys are everywhere, all cities and most big town's, if there is a market and they can make money in the area they will build or lease a property to start up.
Material sourcing - It's always ethical, could you imagine the flak they would get if they used a company who didn't conform? It wouldn't surprise me with the size of these companies that they don't investigate each other, if it got out that they brought from India and the raw materials were mined by a one armed 4 year old child who gets 10 pence a day, well it's the image companies don't want to have.
Management - Most not all branch managers have had to have thorough training to get to there respected positions and it takes years, they have made presentations, sales plans, margin reports, man management training, they have been through the mill to get ready to run a branch.
Big Chains Con's:-
* Service - I was told when i worked for a large chain that the small to medium builders were bread and butter, they make there real money from huge sites such as the Olympic stadium and projects of a similar size, the branches don't even factor in these developments, all items are delivered direct, when a company has this attitude it's hard to trust them with your business, i wouldn't if i heard this statement but it all depends on who you deal with in the branch. Many times I've taken business off of other merchants because they have let the customer down, it may be down to deliveries not being done when they have been promised or just prices being inconsistent.
* Unorganised - This is down to the staff once again but it always seems to be the same story, when a national chain has a very busy and profitable branch it's very difficult for them to keep on top of everything, this causes many problems, overcharges on goods, credits not being done, terms not being set, site visits not being conducted, the list is endless but the large chains will never turn away business and this leads to them biting off way more than what they can chew.
* Greed - Always looking for more, targets to hit, bonuses to be had and it's all down to margins and sales, so many items within the shop floor are ridiculously priced and the unsuspecting customer just picks it up and books it out without batting an eyelid, well most items have a mark up of 60-80% sales margin and it's mostly the silicone's, screws, nails, ironmongery, building chemicals, dpc's, etc... a very broad range of items and the worst part? staff can't change the price, head office have put restrictions on the price so staff cant drop it.
* Staff levels - The big chains are always looking how to cut costs, the first thing to go is staff, labour costs in any field are the biggest budget eaters and it's no different in the merchants, think back if you have been dealing with your merchant for a while at what the staff levels were like when you first stepped into the place, My last merchant had 10 staff when i first joined by the time i moved to another company it was down to 6 within 18 months, sales hadn't dropped and margins were still high but because we were coping well the higher ups thought that we could cope with less, we did but boy did our service drop, i went from a confident, composed, organised and dependable salesman to a shaking, stress raged, bumbling mess, always letting people down and running around like a headless chicken doing hours that would make Henry Ford proud, it took its toll and i moved on, i couldn't deliver what i first promised anymore and i took most customers with me, luckily my customers knew the crack and still had faith in me when i went to pastures new, it's one of the reasons I'm doing this blog.
* Upper Management - Upper management loses touch with the customer and it becomes more about figures than the customer, branch managers get stuck between a rock and a hard place, they want to take care of there customer base but the guys up top want more, this takes it's toll on the branches, it's a cascade of bonuses and bollockings, there all chasing a big fat bonus but if there figures drop for there area someone is going to get a firm telling off, well if this happens the next guy under him gets it in the neck until eventually it runs through right to the bottom.
* No "I" in team - I spoke to another manager a few years back and he said this year was going to be tough as a branch had opened less than a 100 metres away "The company had bought out another company and changed it into the chain" i had never been in this situation but he told me that they were basically on opposite sides of the road from each other on a one way system and even though they were both the same company they were separate branches, customers used to go one side get a quote then run across the road to the new branch and ask if they could beat it....which they did! He was getting annoyed with this and contacted his area sales manager who looked after all the branches in the area and proceeded to say "Why are the other branch under cutting me?! were in the same area! it all goes into the same pot so why give it away for less?" his manager replied saying it was a grey area and that the new branch needed to become established.
First off apologies on just posting part 1, I've decided to break this into two parts as it's a long post and it would be easier to read it in two separate posts.
Part 2 will follow and will have the independents.
Sunday 17 February 2013
All under one roof.
Today i wanted to talk about buying everything in one place, I know not everyone does this because it doesn't really save you money but a lot of people don't take into account time and petrol.
The one thing that usually brings in the crowds is a special promotion, now nine times out of ten the marketing team for a big company don't have the slightest clue, they have never sold anything to a customer, they don't know what the needs are and read from a book what products are actually used for, along with this there information for promotions is done on a national scale (tarring every area with the same brush) There fresh out of university or college and they have a nice shiny bit of paper to say in there interview process "i have studied marketing" and this gets them a nice cushy job, i think you may have gathered i don't have a lot of time for the marketing field with the experiences i have had so far in my professional career (that's not to say that ALL marketing people are the same, just the ones i have come across).
So you come in from a hard days work, your post is on the side with your invoices and within the invoices is a flier that says *Multi finish plaster - £1.50 a bag* so you think this is a cracking deal! well your right and wrong depending on what action you take, the first thing i would advise to do is get together the rest of the prices you need, it's all well and good if your skimming plaster is £1.50 a bag but what if your paying well over the odds for skim beads, joint tape, plasterboard and Adhesive then any savings on the multi finish goes out the door.
You have your list now and you price it up, with the multi finish offer overall the price is cheaper than the other merchant down the road but the only thing that is cheaper compared to the other merchant is the multi finish, so what do you do?
Do you just buy the multi finish and go to the other merchant for the rest? or do you buy it all from the one merchant with the overall cheapest price?
This is where you need to weigh up your options and take into account the following factors:-
How much time and petrol is it going to take to buy from both merchants?
Will the second merchant hold there price if you say your buying the multi finish else where?
Can you ask the first merchant who has the multi finish offer on to match the second merchant?
It's an extremely difficult situation that needs to be addressed whenever there is a promotion, marketing make my life difficult because if a offer comes along that's cheaper than what my customer has been paying for years they ask the question:- " have you been ripping me off all this time?!" fair question and one i would ask if i was in there shoe's! the truth is merchants and there staff aren't given the true cost on a huge scale of there items, what we see as an amazing deal because were making 10% margin on an item may not be that great if the company is getting a 30% rebate from the supplier at the end of the year, so were in the dark as much as you, a cold truth but the truth non the less.
Another post will address this as it needs more depth.
To summarise, when you get your quote realise that the job your taking on isn't just about the materials and your payday, there are a lot of other factors and if there addressed it brings you to what I'm trying to do for you all.......saving you money.
As always tradesmen connect get there links posted as they have helped me with referrals and get the blog up and running. If you wish for a similar deal please contact me.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
The one thing that usually brings in the crowds is a special promotion, now nine times out of ten the marketing team for a big company don't have the slightest clue, they have never sold anything to a customer, they don't know what the needs are and read from a book what products are actually used for, along with this there information for promotions is done on a national scale (tarring every area with the same brush) There fresh out of university or college and they have a nice shiny bit of paper to say in there interview process "i have studied marketing" and this gets them a nice cushy job, i think you may have gathered i don't have a lot of time for the marketing field with the experiences i have had so far in my professional career (that's not to say that ALL marketing people are the same, just the ones i have come across).
So you come in from a hard days work, your post is on the side with your invoices and within the invoices is a flier that says *Multi finish plaster - £1.50 a bag* so you think this is a cracking deal! well your right and wrong depending on what action you take, the first thing i would advise to do is get together the rest of the prices you need, it's all well and good if your skimming plaster is £1.50 a bag but what if your paying well over the odds for skim beads, joint tape, plasterboard and Adhesive then any savings on the multi finish goes out the door.
You have your list now and you price it up, with the multi finish offer overall the price is cheaper than the other merchant down the road but the only thing that is cheaper compared to the other merchant is the multi finish, so what do you do?
Do you just buy the multi finish and go to the other merchant for the rest? or do you buy it all from the one merchant with the overall cheapest price?
This is where you need to weigh up your options and take into account the following factors:-
How much time and petrol is it going to take to buy from both merchants?
Will the second merchant hold there price if you say your buying the multi finish else where?
Can you ask the first merchant who has the multi finish offer on to match the second merchant?
It's an extremely difficult situation that needs to be addressed whenever there is a promotion, marketing make my life difficult because if a offer comes along that's cheaper than what my customer has been paying for years they ask the question:- " have you been ripping me off all this time?!" fair question and one i would ask if i was in there shoe's! the truth is merchants and there staff aren't given the true cost on a huge scale of there items, what we see as an amazing deal because were making 10% margin on an item may not be that great if the company is getting a 30% rebate from the supplier at the end of the year, so were in the dark as much as you, a cold truth but the truth non the less.
Another post will address this as it needs more depth.
To summarise, when you get your quote realise that the job your taking on isn't just about the materials and your payday, there are a lot of other factors and if there addressed it brings you to what I'm trying to do for you all.......saving you money.
As always tradesmen connect get there links posted as they have helped me with referrals and get the blog up and running. If you wish for a similar deal please contact me.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
Wednesday 13 February 2013
Your merchants supplier and how they can help you?
Today i wanted to talk about your merchants suppliers and how they can help you in a number of ways.
I've stated before that your merchant wants your business and there's no getting around that fact but it runs a little deeper than you think, the order you place with your merchant (unless they manufacture the product your buying) comes from there supplier, there maybe a few middle men from the manufacturer to your merchant but the bulk supplier you can rely on them for help for many different things, some examples:-
Kitchens:- Most occasions your merchant will have someone that comes out and does the measuring and design for you, you can request what you want and they will give you what your customer desires, a simple one really and hardly a secret.
Stairs:- Some of the big guys actually offer an online service where you can drag and drop what you want, get your customer to do the same and it will give you the list price with the components you need to build the staircase and the codes for each item, take this into your merchant and they can price it up, in some instances where the ground and first floor are a little more unconventional your merchants supplier will come out and measure for you.
Metal Lintels:- Every metal lintel company i have come across offer the service that will work out what lintels you need. If you send your architects drawings off to the lintel company they will come back with what lintels you need and where they need to be used, this really does go into great detail from load bearings to size and description, try this one out and you will be very impressed. Your drawings can be sent across by e-mail also.
Bricks:- Brick matching is offered by all merchants, if it doesn't offer this service then it isn't a merchant but if you send a picture to the brick companies they will come back with there nearest equivalent, they can send samples direct and if they don't offer this service they will send it to your nearest stockist.
Drainage:- All big suppliers for underground drainage offer a service where they will work out what you need for your job and give you detailed drawings, you will have a list of all the items but it will also come with a list price attached, don't pay any attention to this as your merchant will then discount it accordingly.
Trusses:- Another simple one, i would advise your merchant to organise this one, If you require measurements to be taken and your not comfortable then the truss supplier will send someone out to measure for you, once this is done they will work out the price and any further components you require (ladders, treatment, braces...etc).
Insulation:- All insulation suppliers will help when your trying to achieve a certain 'U' Value, all you need is what your trying to achieve the materials your using and the specifications of said materials, if your having trouble and need the spec for the materials ask your merchant, they have data sheets for all of this.
Roof tiles:- It's something that your merchant should be able to work out but don't hold it against them if there not really a supplier of tiles, contact one of the big suppliers once again and give them the pitch of the roof, the width and height and they will work it out for you, again like the brick companies if you need to match a particular tile send a picture and they will come back with an exact match or there equivalent.
To summarise the list really is endless, your business is more important than ever and customer service is being offered in abundance, suppliers and merchants will basically do everything aside from build your project, it's fine getting advice from others but manufactures are the best to get the advice from because they become liable if the advice you take goes wrong.
Sometimes when drawings are involved for instance Block & Beam flooring or trusses you may have to sign the drawings just to confirm your happy with what's been worked out, always check everything, your signature puts the blame on you if there wrong, it's a rare occasion when it does happen but it does happen.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
I've stated before that your merchant wants your business and there's no getting around that fact but it runs a little deeper than you think, the order you place with your merchant (unless they manufacture the product your buying) comes from there supplier, there maybe a few middle men from the manufacturer to your merchant but the bulk supplier you can rely on them for help for many different things, some examples:-
Kitchens:- Most occasions your merchant will have someone that comes out and does the measuring and design for you, you can request what you want and they will give you what your customer desires, a simple one really and hardly a secret.
Stairs:- Some of the big guys actually offer an online service where you can drag and drop what you want, get your customer to do the same and it will give you the list price with the components you need to build the staircase and the codes for each item, take this into your merchant and they can price it up, in some instances where the ground and first floor are a little more unconventional your merchants supplier will come out and measure for you.
Metal Lintels:- Every metal lintel company i have come across offer the service that will work out what lintels you need. If you send your architects drawings off to the lintel company they will come back with what lintels you need and where they need to be used, this really does go into great detail from load bearings to size and description, try this one out and you will be very impressed. Your drawings can be sent across by e-mail also.
Bricks:- Brick matching is offered by all merchants, if it doesn't offer this service then it isn't a merchant but if you send a picture to the brick companies they will come back with there nearest equivalent, they can send samples direct and if they don't offer this service they will send it to your nearest stockist.
Drainage:- All big suppliers for underground drainage offer a service where they will work out what you need for your job and give you detailed drawings, you will have a list of all the items but it will also come with a list price attached, don't pay any attention to this as your merchant will then discount it accordingly.
Trusses:- Another simple one, i would advise your merchant to organise this one, If you require measurements to be taken and your not comfortable then the truss supplier will send someone out to measure for you, once this is done they will work out the price and any further components you require (ladders, treatment, braces...etc).
Insulation:- All insulation suppliers will help when your trying to achieve a certain 'U' Value, all you need is what your trying to achieve the materials your using and the specifications of said materials, if your having trouble and need the spec for the materials ask your merchant, they have data sheets for all of this.
Roof tiles:- It's something that your merchant should be able to work out but don't hold it against them if there not really a supplier of tiles, contact one of the big suppliers once again and give them the pitch of the roof, the width and height and they will work it out for you, again like the brick companies if you need to match a particular tile send a picture and they will come back with an exact match or there equivalent.
To summarise the list really is endless, your business is more important than ever and customer service is being offered in abundance, suppliers and merchants will basically do everything aside from build your project, it's fine getting advice from others but manufactures are the best to get the advice from because they become liable if the advice you take goes wrong.
Sometimes when drawings are involved for instance Block & Beam flooring or trusses you may have to sign the drawings just to confirm your happy with what's been worked out, always check everything, your signature puts the blame on you if there wrong, it's a rare occasion when it does happen but it does happen.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
Monday 11 February 2013
Ordering in special items and Brick enquiries!
Today i wanted to talk about ordering in special and none stocked items from your merchants and suppliers.
On a previous post i said that this was a minefield if not done correctly so here's a few tips on what to do when ordering in a non stocked/special item:-
a) When you are ready to order your special item always ask about the returns policy, you maybe 100% confident when you order that you wont be returning it but if the job ceases to exist or your customer has a cash flow problem your stuck with the item.
b) Inform your customer about the importance of getting their order correct, it's a simple comment, sometimes the general public think that all items are easily sourced and that returns are done without batting an eyelid, after asking the returns policy from your merchant make sure your customer knows that if it's not to their liking it may cost them if they want something else.
c) Always order in samples, this obviously doesn't relate to a garage door or anything along those lines but if it's a brick or something that is style or colour orientated then ask your merchant to order in a sample that you can show the customer, your covering your own back, it may put the lead time back on the order by 2-3 days but if it's going to make the customer 100% sure on there choice it's worth taking the hit on time.
d) Be careful who you make the purchase from, this relates to which of your merchants gets the best price, put the enquiry around and see who comes back with the best price.
e) ***IMPORTANT*** When it comes to bricks and you need a very large amount, choose your merchant very carefully!!! This goes to who you put the enquiry towards not ordering.
Example:- You have a site where you need a large amount of bricks, you have the idea that your going to put your enquiry round to every single merchant in town, you know there is two merchants on the way to your main merchant, the two merchants that are on the way don't know you that well and you use them on the odd occasion to spread your credit or to pick up the odd item if your in the area, so you proceed to drop the enquiry to both merchants and then you go to your main merchant.
All three merchants come back to you with a price, now you would think that your main merchant that you spend thousands of pounds with would wipe the floor with the other two, well they end up 2nd in the price war with the first merchant you went into beating them by about 5%, you ring your main merchant asking can't you do better? this order is worth a lot of money, they reply no it's the very best they can do. so why is this?
Brick companies offer a register the site option, the first merchant you put the enquiry forward to rang up the brick company and said "can i register this site, they are going to need X amount of bricks" once the site is registered by a merchant they alone get the best price, there offered a better discount than anyone other merchant who rings up there after, worse still it's first come, first serve! your main merchant would have offered you a much better price if you had only gone to them first.
You can try every trick in the book to get this reversed, even as far as ringing up the brick companies sales Representative and asking if your main merchant can have the discount but believe me you wont get what you want, they stand firm and they are loyal to the first company that comes forward.
To summarise this post, be careful when ordering in any special goods, cover yourself on all angles because if you don't your last resort maybe trying to flog it at a loss on eBay.
As always my friends who gave me a helping hand to start this blog a get there links posted, if like tradesmen connect you wish for a referral please contact me.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
On a previous post i said that this was a minefield if not done correctly so here's a few tips on what to do when ordering in a non stocked/special item:-
a) When you are ready to order your special item always ask about the returns policy, you maybe 100% confident when you order that you wont be returning it but if the job ceases to exist or your customer has a cash flow problem your stuck with the item.
b) Inform your customer about the importance of getting their order correct, it's a simple comment, sometimes the general public think that all items are easily sourced and that returns are done without batting an eyelid, after asking the returns policy from your merchant make sure your customer knows that if it's not to their liking it may cost them if they want something else.
c) Always order in samples, this obviously doesn't relate to a garage door or anything along those lines but if it's a brick or something that is style or colour orientated then ask your merchant to order in a sample that you can show the customer, your covering your own back, it may put the lead time back on the order by 2-3 days but if it's going to make the customer 100% sure on there choice it's worth taking the hit on time.
d) Be careful who you make the purchase from, this relates to which of your merchants gets the best price, put the enquiry around and see who comes back with the best price.
e) ***IMPORTANT*** When it comes to bricks and you need a very large amount, choose your merchant very carefully!!! This goes to who you put the enquiry towards not ordering.
Example:- You have a site where you need a large amount of bricks, you have the idea that your going to put your enquiry round to every single merchant in town, you know there is two merchants on the way to your main merchant, the two merchants that are on the way don't know you that well and you use them on the odd occasion to spread your credit or to pick up the odd item if your in the area, so you proceed to drop the enquiry to both merchants and then you go to your main merchant.
All three merchants come back to you with a price, now you would think that your main merchant that you spend thousands of pounds with would wipe the floor with the other two, well they end up 2nd in the price war with the first merchant you went into beating them by about 5%, you ring your main merchant asking can't you do better? this order is worth a lot of money, they reply no it's the very best they can do. so why is this?
Brick companies offer a register the site option, the first merchant you put the enquiry forward to rang up the brick company and said "can i register this site, they are going to need X amount of bricks" once the site is registered by a merchant they alone get the best price, there offered a better discount than anyone other merchant who rings up there after, worse still it's first come, first serve! your main merchant would have offered you a much better price if you had only gone to them first.
You can try every trick in the book to get this reversed, even as far as ringing up the brick companies sales Representative and asking if your main merchant can have the discount but believe me you wont get what you want, they stand firm and they are loyal to the first company that comes forward.
To summarise this post, be careful when ordering in any special goods, cover yourself on all angles because if you don't your last resort maybe trying to flog it at a loss on eBay.
As always my friends who gave me a helping hand to start this blog a get there links posted, if like tradesmen connect you wish for a referral please contact me.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
Sunday 10 February 2013
What makes a price go up on your day to day items?
Today i wanted to talk about what items temporally increase in price and why?
1) Rock salt:- Simple one really, if it snows you need rock salt, everyone needs rock salt, the companies know this and put the price up as soon as the word hits that snow is coming, the marketing department process Point of sale banners and so it starts.
Solution:- Buy in the summer months, store it in your garage, chances are you will only need 5-10 bags but what would you rather pay £15-£30 or £50-£75 for the salt you need?
2) Fence Panels:- Like the rock salt this is mostly weather orientated, get a very windy spell in your area and you can bet a lot of fence panels are going to fall like domino's, if it's in a localised area the price doesn't fluctuate to much but if it's national and it's lasting a few days then the prices will fly through the roof, this is mostly down to main suppliers being unable to cope with demand.
Solution:- This may sound drastic but if you know the wind is coming buy as many fence panels that you can store, if your merchant runs out and you have 15 stored in your lock up/garage and a customer rings you and another builder/landscaper saying that they can see every garden down a terrace street and they need it doing as fast as possible. who gets the job if the other builder can't source the materials for 2-3 weeks? who is to stop you once you have finished the job posting a card through every door down that street saying your in the area and are able to replace fence panels?
3) Timber Lengths & Grades:- First off it doesn't matter when you buy the goods the price increases when you go over 6.4m lengths it's a universal rule, it's a lot harder for your supplier to source these lengths and longer, now forgive me as i only know the grades in the uk but I'm sure that if it was translated to your own location the same rule would apply, when your job requires a higher grade of timber (C24) it's going to cost more.
Solution:- unfortunately unless you join the timbers to make the length you need you will pay an excess charge it's not a great deal but if it's in large quantities it will sting a little, as for a higher grade of timber ask your merchant if they have it in stock, now some merchants actually have C24 timber buried in with the C16 packs, it's down to there supplier not separating it but it's good news for you.
4) Lead:- The rollar coaster item, the price for this rises and falls almost on a monthly basis, always ask the price before you buy, with the recent trend of criminals stealing this off churches and your roof top, it's a simple case of supply and demand.
Solution:- There's only one thing i can think of.....Don't buy lead! there are numerous companies now who do an equivalent, it's cheaper, lighter and people for some reason don't want to steal it, if your dead set on buying lead there is also a 50% tin based version but my comments here aren't promoting this item, it's an alternative if you wanted to look into it.
To summarise it's all down to supply and demand, timing is an important factor along with organisation and please refer to previous posts for more hints and tips on how to get the best price.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect?fref=ts
1) Rock salt:- Simple one really, if it snows you need rock salt, everyone needs rock salt, the companies know this and put the price up as soon as the word hits that snow is coming, the marketing department process Point of sale banners and so it starts.
Solution:- Buy in the summer months, store it in your garage, chances are you will only need 5-10 bags but what would you rather pay £15-£30 or £50-£75 for the salt you need?
2) Fence Panels:- Like the rock salt this is mostly weather orientated, get a very windy spell in your area and you can bet a lot of fence panels are going to fall like domino's, if it's in a localised area the price doesn't fluctuate to much but if it's national and it's lasting a few days then the prices will fly through the roof, this is mostly down to main suppliers being unable to cope with demand.
Solution:- This may sound drastic but if you know the wind is coming buy as many fence panels that you can store, if your merchant runs out and you have 15 stored in your lock up/garage and a customer rings you and another builder/landscaper saying that they can see every garden down a terrace street and they need it doing as fast as possible. who gets the job if the other builder can't source the materials for 2-3 weeks? who is to stop you once you have finished the job posting a card through every door down that street saying your in the area and are able to replace fence panels?
3) Timber Lengths & Grades:- First off it doesn't matter when you buy the goods the price increases when you go over 6.4m lengths it's a universal rule, it's a lot harder for your supplier to source these lengths and longer, now forgive me as i only know the grades in the uk but I'm sure that if it was translated to your own location the same rule would apply, when your job requires a higher grade of timber (C24) it's going to cost more.
Solution:- unfortunately unless you join the timbers to make the length you need you will pay an excess charge it's not a great deal but if it's in large quantities it will sting a little, as for a higher grade of timber ask your merchant if they have it in stock, now some merchants actually have C24 timber buried in with the C16 packs, it's down to there supplier not separating it but it's good news for you.
4) Lead:- The rollar coaster item, the price for this rises and falls almost on a monthly basis, always ask the price before you buy, with the recent trend of criminals stealing this off churches and your roof top, it's a simple case of supply and demand.
Solution:- There's only one thing i can think of.....Don't buy lead! there are numerous companies now who do an equivalent, it's cheaper, lighter and people for some reason don't want to steal it, if your dead set on buying lead there is also a 50% tin based version but my comments here aren't promoting this item, it's an alternative if you wanted to look into it.
To summarise it's all down to supply and demand, timing is an important factor along with organisation and please refer to previous posts for more hints and tips on how to get the best price.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect?fref=ts
Saturday 9 February 2013
Discounts, What do they mean?
Today i wanted to share with you what discounts really mean.
I've had in the past on a number of occasions customers asking me "what discount am i getting?" it's a fair question but one i despise being asked, in my mind it's a question that if i answered correctly (from a companies point of view) i could make alot more money out of your sale, so lets put a situation forward:-
Customer approaches me with 10 items of underground drainage, i start a ticket to process the order, half way through he asks what discount is he getting?
So to this i answer "your getting 65% off list" now a few maybe raising there eyebrows thinking that's a good discount and again a few maybe thinking that's rubbish but if your doing this your making a very dangerous assumption.
List prices vary greatly! If you assume there all the same then you won't get the best price, yes you may have a higher discount than the place down the road but if your paying more what's the point?
No two companies have the same list price, and that's not just plumbing materials.
I had a customer once when i first got into working within the building merchant sector and he asked for a large job to be priced, now my supplier gave me the list price for all underground drainage and offered 80% off list, the customer came back to me after to say another merchant had offered 83% he placed the order with them.
Afterwards i spoke to my manager at the time and i had made the same assumption as my customer, even though he was getting 83% off he would still be paying £500 more than what i had quoted, the list price with my competitors was higher than mine which meant i was cheaper yet like my customer i just looked at the discount figure, to this day i have never made the same mistake.
To summarise this post, always look at the price not the discount, it may seem like a fantastic deal but looks can be deceiving, i could offer you 99.9% off an item and my fellow merchant could be offering 10% off but what if his list price was £10 and mine was £100,000? Don't assume.
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
http://www.tradesmenconnect.com/
I've had in the past on a number of occasions customers asking me "what discount am i getting?" it's a fair question but one i despise being asked, in my mind it's a question that if i answered correctly (from a companies point of view) i could make alot more money out of your sale, so lets put a situation forward:-
Customer approaches me with 10 items of underground drainage, i start a ticket to process the order, half way through he asks what discount is he getting?
So to this i answer "your getting 65% off list" now a few maybe raising there eyebrows thinking that's a good discount and again a few maybe thinking that's rubbish but if your doing this your making a very dangerous assumption.
List prices vary greatly! If you assume there all the same then you won't get the best price, yes you may have a higher discount than the place down the road but if your paying more what's the point?
No two companies have the same list price, and that's not just plumbing materials.
I had a customer once when i first got into working within the building merchant sector and he asked for a large job to be priced, now my supplier gave me the list price for all underground drainage and offered 80% off list, the customer came back to me after to say another merchant had offered 83% he placed the order with them.
Afterwards i spoke to my manager at the time and i had made the same assumption as my customer, even though he was getting 83% off he would still be paying £500 more than what i had quoted, the list price with my competitors was higher than mine which meant i was cheaper yet like my customer i just looked at the discount figure, to this day i have never made the same mistake.
To summarise this post, always look at the price not the discount, it may seem like a fantastic deal but looks can be deceiving, i could offer you 99.9% off an item and my fellow merchant could be offering 10% off but what if his list price was £10 and mine was £100,000? Don't assume.
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
http://www.tradesmenconnect.com/
Friday 8 February 2013
Pricing up your job and the Christmas period.
Today i wanted to talk about how to go about pricing up a job and how to get the best price's possible.
The first thing you want to do is work out the materials list, this will give an indication of how valuable this job would be to your merchant, don't think of this as your job and what you need to complete it, think of this materials list as a bargaining chip because you need to buy your materials and your merchant will want to be the supplier for this.
They are there for a reason and that reason is to make money same as everyone in business, without having a shot at pricing that list they may as well close up shop so don't underestimate how much they want the sale, times are tough.
A few years back merchants could pick and choose who they dealt with, if you were a pain they could steer you towards the door and wait for the next tradesman to come along but now this is far away from the current situation they find themselves in, you maybe a pain but that luxury your merchant did have is long gone, they want your business!
I spoke briefly about how to go about setting the prices on your account but when a large job comes along the terms on your account become mostly obsolete, your day to day purchases are set but a large job may need for your merchants supplier to get involved, this may lead to a special price agreement depending on the products and this will give you substantial savings.
We can state the obvious that when you buy in bulk you get things cheaper, it's common knowledge, what isn't common knowledge is how far you can push for a better price, your merchant contact might not be aware that this action is needed and this is the reason why you should put your price list to a few merchants, following this ask for there suppliers area sales Representatives contact details.
Please don't assume that all merchants are in the same boat in terms of who they buy from, for instance:-
You need trusses so you put the enquiry to three different merchants:-
Merchant A comes back with a price and its the most expensive with a long lead time.
Merchant B comes back with a price and it's slightly cheaper than merchant A but the same lead time.
Merchant C comes back with the best price and the lead time is half of the other two.
Why?
Merchant A deals with an outside truss company, on a similar contract as the one you hold with your merchant, they order the goods for you, the truss company delivers, the truss company charges your merchant and the merchant charges you.
Merchant B deals with the same company but merchant B deals with this company alot more and the professional bond the two hold is stronger than merchant A, they spend more so they get the better price.
Merchant C is owned by a very large parent company and the parent company happens to own a truss company, the price they get charged is cheaper and the lead time is cut considerable.
The point of this is find out what situation your merchant is in when putting an enquiry forward, ask where there getting the price? who is the company and what relationship do they hold with them? but don't put your eggs in one basket, assume that merchant C is the only place to go for trusses and the situation changes it means you lose, worse still if your merchant finds out that you only put your enquiry for trusses through them it gives them the green light to make that little bit extra out of your business, that little bit extra comes out of your pocket and into there bank account.
Be very careful around the times of Christmas/new year and a couple of months after, a price increase for a job that you priced before Christmas could be a large chunk of change out of your profits, i will go into more detail on this subject at a later date as again it's a common trap that alot of people fall into.
To summarise the post, explore your avenues when pricing your job, the bigger the job the more power you hold when it comes to pricing, push the extra mile to get the best price, your business can be moved else where but your merchants targets and sales figures can't. You hold the power in this situation and your merchant knows this.
As always my friends at Tradesmen Connect get there links posted, Please visit the site if your not aware of these guys, they offer just as much help to you guys as I do.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
The first thing you want to do is work out the materials list, this will give an indication of how valuable this job would be to your merchant, don't think of this as your job and what you need to complete it, think of this materials list as a bargaining chip because you need to buy your materials and your merchant will want to be the supplier for this.
They are there for a reason and that reason is to make money same as everyone in business, without having a shot at pricing that list they may as well close up shop so don't underestimate how much they want the sale, times are tough.
A few years back merchants could pick and choose who they dealt with, if you were a pain they could steer you towards the door and wait for the next tradesman to come along but now this is far away from the current situation they find themselves in, you maybe a pain but that luxury your merchant did have is long gone, they want your business!
I spoke briefly about how to go about setting the prices on your account but when a large job comes along the terms on your account become mostly obsolete, your day to day purchases are set but a large job may need for your merchants supplier to get involved, this may lead to a special price agreement depending on the products and this will give you substantial savings.
We can state the obvious that when you buy in bulk you get things cheaper, it's common knowledge, what isn't common knowledge is how far you can push for a better price, your merchant contact might not be aware that this action is needed and this is the reason why you should put your price list to a few merchants, following this ask for there suppliers area sales Representatives contact details.
Please don't assume that all merchants are in the same boat in terms of who they buy from, for instance:-
You need trusses so you put the enquiry to three different merchants:-
Merchant A comes back with a price and its the most expensive with a long lead time.
Merchant B comes back with a price and it's slightly cheaper than merchant A but the same lead time.
Merchant C comes back with the best price and the lead time is half of the other two.
Why?
Merchant A deals with an outside truss company, on a similar contract as the one you hold with your merchant, they order the goods for you, the truss company delivers, the truss company charges your merchant and the merchant charges you.
Merchant B deals with the same company but merchant B deals with this company alot more and the professional bond the two hold is stronger than merchant A, they spend more so they get the better price.
Merchant C is owned by a very large parent company and the parent company happens to own a truss company, the price they get charged is cheaper and the lead time is cut considerable.
The point of this is find out what situation your merchant is in when putting an enquiry forward, ask where there getting the price? who is the company and what relationship do they hold with them? but don't put your eggs in one basket, assume that merchant C is the only place to go for trusses and the situation changes it means you lose, worse still if your merchant finds out that you only put your enquiry for trusses through them it gives them the green light to make that little bit extra out of your business, that little bit extra comes out of your pocket and into there bank account.
Be very careful around the times of Christmas/new year and a couple of months after, a price increase for a job that you priced before Christmas could be a large chunk of change out of your profits, i will go into more detail on this subject at a later date as again it's a common trap that alot of people fall into.
To summarise the post, explore your avenues when pricing your job, the bigger the job the more power you hold when it comes to pricing, push the extra mile to get the best price, your business can be moved else where but your merchants targets and sales figures can't. You hold the power in this situation and your merchant knows this.
As always my friends at Tradesmen Connect get there links posted, Please visit the site if your not aware of these guys, they offer just as much help to you guys as I do.
www.tradesmenconnect.com
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
Thursday 7 February 2013
Following up Leads and a few more tips.
This is following on from the last post "sell your yourself not your business" a few more pointers on winning the jobs your quoting for.
A pro-active approach can mean the difference between winning and losing the job, a simple follow up call the next day to ask how you got on could identify the reason you have lost the job or swing a decision your way if there trying to decide between a few of you, believe it or not there aren't that many people that chase a quote that was previously done they just assume that if they haven't had a call then they didn't get it, a 2 minute phone call could be securing your next pay day.
Just going back to the subject of what to try when quoting following along the lines of offering a more personal approach:-
Offer your opinion but respect the customers:- This again shows your wanting to get involved but listen to what they want, if there is a flaw in there idea that they haven't spotted then bring it to light but be cautious, they don't want to feel stupid or small so offer an alternative to what they want but state that if they do want what they've asked for, it may cause a problem in the future but it's there decision and always state your just trying to help them and prevent them from spending more than whats needed, again this looks good on you because your not just there to quote your there to give advice.
Portfolio addition :- When giving the quote ask if they wouldn't mind you taking a picture for your work portfolio, just this comment is giving them piece of mind, your willing to add it to your portfolio before you even have the job! this means your giving off the impression that your very proud of your work and this job will be no different.
To summarise were all different but when your quoting always think what is the next guy going to be offering and think long and hard about what you can do to offer the customer something better.
The next post will be getting back to pricing materials and the things to look out for when pricing over the Christmas period.
Also after everything that Tradesmen Connect have done for me in such a small space of time they will be getting a permanent link to there website and there facebook page, i can't sing these guys enough praise and the best thing about them is.......there around to help you!
http://www.tradesmenconnect.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
A pro-active approach can mean the difference between winning and losing the job, a simple follow up call the next day to ask how you got on could identify the reason you have lost the job or swing a decision your way if there trying to decide between a few of you, believe it or not there aren't that many people that chase a quote that was previously done they just assume that if they haven't had a call then they didn't get it, a 2 minute phone call could be securing your next pay day.
Just going back to the subject of what to try when quoting following along the lines of offering a more personal approach:-
Offer your opinion but respect the customers:- This again shows your wanting to get involved but listen to what they want, if there is a flaw in there idea that they haven't spotted then bring it to light but be cautious, they don't want to feel stupid or small so offer an alternative to what they want but state that if they do want what they've asked for, it may cause a problem in the future but it's there decision and always state your just trying to help them and prevent them from spending more than whats needed, again this looks good on you because your not just there to quote your there to give advice.
Portfolio addition :- When giving the quote ask if they wouldn't mind you taking a picture for your work portfolio, just this comment is giving them piece of mind, your willing to add it to your portfolio before you even have the job! this means your giving off the impression that your very proud of your work and this job will be no different.
To summarise were all different but when your quoting always think what is the next guy going to be offering and think long and hard about what you can do to offer the customer something better.
The next post will be getting back to pricing materials and the things to look out for when pricing over the Christmas period.
Also after everything that Tradesmen Connect have done for me in such a small space of time they will be getting a permanent link to there website and there facebook page, i can't sing these guys enough praise and the best thing about them is.......there around to help you!
http://www.tradesmenconnect.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TradesmenConnect
Wednesday 6 February 2013
Sell yourself not your business & Tradesmen Connect
This is going slightly against what my blog is about but it is to help you, i have come across hundreds of tradesmen over the years and there is only a few that stand out from memory and the reason? there likable and have been around as long as i have been in this game and they spend alot.
They have been around for years because of a few reasons, there good at what they do, they have developed a word of mouth advertising within a community and the most important aspect......they know how to sell themselves.
I had a long conversation with one of the builders i mentioned and he runs around all day picking up goods for his work force (who are excellent at there job, various on site visits confirm this) and he isn't anything special in terms of a specific trade, he is pretty unorganised but i can see from a mile off why he gets the jobs he quotes for.
He is a wolf in sheep's clothing, he parades around as a tradesman but you strip away the layers and he is a salesman.
This got me thinking and as i always do when I'm doing anything for someone else, i think long and hard about what would i want if i was the customer? this advice is absolutely key.
You can bet your life savings on the fact you wont be the only one pricing up for the job, construction is a competitive market so i will put what the customers general concerns will be and how to address them.
1) Price - The price isn't as important as you think, you need to be in the same league as your fellow tradesmen because if your price is to high you wont be looked at, if your to low warning signs will pop up in your customers head, if your selling your service to cheap they may think your not going to be doing the job to a high standard and you will be cutting corners.
2) Standard of work - This for me would be a deal breaker, if I'm hiring you to do a big extension, a loft conversion or even a small area to be landscaped in the garden, the one thing that would put me at ease is proof of your work, now this may not be in the customers head so you want to bring this up, a portfolio to hand is essential or a recommendation from a previous customer if there happy to be contacted is a big boost to what your offering.
3) Don't put down your fellow tradesmen - When your pricing up the job for the customer don't try and put down your competitors, it comes across that your in bad taste. If someone asked "who else is quoting?" and started to put them down it wouldn't really come across well to me the customer.
4) Be approachable - Over the years as a salesman i always tried to be different, i would never make it all about work, i would try and strike up something personal when dealing with my customers, I'm not saying tell them your life story but when going to a customers property there house will tell you alot about them, if i had just finished 2 weeks of painting and decorating and a landscaper came to my house to price a job up and mentioned about the work I'd done, I'd be pretty chuffed and that man would stick in my head when choosing, same as seeing a football trophy on the mantle piece that there son has won in under 13's football, mention something and if it's something you have in common all the better, These things are something the customer is proud of and giving a compliment goes along way, I'm not saying to come on to strong but just be approachable, another question:- which is easier hiring a stranger or a friend?
5) Be honest - I don't really need to tell you this but don't start promising the world if you can't deliver, if you can't start on the date they want don't say you will and deal with the problem later, be completely straight with your customer and explain the reason why, I'd respect my tradesman alot more if they came straight right of the bat than tell me something and not deliver.
To summarise your customer knows what they want done, what they don't know is what they should be asking, when your pricing the job put the concerns in there head and address them before they ask, it will show them that you care and that it seems that others don't, it also puts you in a terrific light if your the last man to quote because if others before you haven't addressed the concerns you have put in there head then it makes you look like the best man for the job and again if a trademan comes after you and they can't answer the questions you answered it makes them look less professional as you.
Finally i was lucky enough after only a few days of starting this blog to be contacted by Tradesmen direct, on a similar goal as myself to help tradesmen and customers alike, Please click on the link below and find out what this website can offer you to help.
http://www.tradesmenconnect.com/
They have been around for years because of a few reasons, there good at what they do, they have developed a word of mouth advertising within a community and the most important aspect......they know how to sell themselves.
I had a long conversation with one of the builders i mentioned and he runs around all day picking up goods for his work force (who are excellent at there job, various on site visits confirm this) and he isn't anything special in terms of a specific trade, he is pretty unorganised but i can see from a mile off why he gets the jobs he quotes for.
He is a wolf in sheep's clothing, he parades around as a tradesman but you strip away the layers and he is a salesman.
This got me thinking and as i always do when I'm doing anything for someone else, i think long and hard about what would i want if i was the customer? this advice is absolutely key.
You can bet your life savings on the fact you wont be the only one pricing up for the job, construction is a competitive market so i will put what the customers general concerns will be and how to address them.
1) Price - The price isn't as important as you think, you need to be in the same league as your fellow tradesmen because if your price is to high you wont be looked at, if your to low warning signs will pop up in your customers head, if your selling your service to cheap they may think your not going to be doing the job to a high standard and you will be cutting corners.
2) Standard of work - This for me would be a deal breaker, if I'm hiring you to do a big extension, a loft conversion or even a small area to be landscaped in the garden, the one thing that would put me at ease is proof of your work, now this may not be in the customers head so you want to bring this up, a portfolio to hand is essential or a recommendation from a previous customer if there happy to be contacted is a big boost to what your offering.
3) Don't put down your fellow tradesmen - When your pricing up the job for the customer don't try and put down your competitors, it comes across that your in bad taste. If someone asked "who else is quoting?" and started to put them down it wouldn't really come across well to me the customer.
4) Be approachable - Over the years as a salesman i always tried to be different, i would never make it all about work, i would try and strike up something personal when dealing with my customers, I'm not saying tell them your life story but when going to a customers property there house will tell you alot about them, if i had just finished 2 weeks of painting and decorating and a landscaper came to my house to price a job up and mentioned about the work I'd done, I'd be pretty chuffed and that man would stick in my head when choosing, same as seeing a football trophy on the mantle piece that there son has won in under 13's football, mention something and if it's something you have in common all the better, These things are something the customer is proud of and giving a compliment goes along way, I'm not saying to come on to strong but just be approachable, another question:- which is easier hiring a stranger or a friend?
5) Be honest - I don't really need to tell you this but don't start promising the world if you can't deliver, if you can't start on the date they want don't say you will and deal with the problem later, be completely straight with your customer and explain the reason why, I'd respect my tradesman alot more if they came straight right of the bat than tell me something and not deliver.
To summarise your customer knows what they want done, what they don't know is what they should be asking, when your pricing the job put the concerns in there head and address them before they ask, it will show them that you care and that it seems that others don't, it also puts you in a terrific light if your the last man to quote because if others before you haven't addressed the concerns you have put in there head then it makes you look like the best man for the job and again if a trademan comes after you and they can't answer the questions you answered it makes them look less professional as you.
Finally i was lucky enough after only a few days of starting this blog to be contacted by Tradesmen direct, on a similar goal as myself to help tradesmen and customers alike, Please click on the link below and find out what this website can offer you to help.
http://www.tradesmenconnect.com/
Knowing your supplier.
This next post is about knowing your supplier and how they work, if you familiarise yourself on how your suppliers work then it speeds up the processes of:-
a) Buying goods (when you have to pay)
b) Credits
c) Booking Deliveries
d) Ordering in stock
e) Pricing Jobs
f) Ordering in special items
Now you maybe asking how do i find out this information, well it's as simple as asking your supplier, once you have this information it means that you can make the decision on who to use for certain items, but i will break the list down on what this information will benefit you on and how it will help you save money and time.
Buying Goods:- For this cash accounts aren't really relevant as you pay as you go but credit accounts there usually attached to a 30-60 day credit agreement booking the goods at the right time could be the difference of paying for goods at the end of the month or the month after, you may not be to bothered when you pay but if you book goods on the last working day of the month you will be paying roughly 30 days earlier than if you booked them on the first day of the month after. If your waiting for a customer to pay or snagging is taking a little longer than expected then this could help you. If your account is on stop how can you start the next job or even finish the current one?
Credits:- I will be posting another page on this subject as there are many details to this but just to give you a little information make sure you know your suppliers return policy, an expensive item that can't be returned is a big lump of cash that you can't spend or use.
Booking Deliveries:- Very important to be organised on booking deliveries as asking at 16:00 for a deliver the next morning is going to be very unlikely no matter how hard you push your supplier for it, ask the question, if you booked your delivery 3 days ago for a morning drop and an unorganised builder comes in screaming and shouting for a drop the next morning and your delivery gets pushed back to the afternoon you wouldn't be particularly happy would you? so state the importance of your delivery when booking your slot, again booking deliveries is a broad subject and will have another post for this subject.
Ordering in stock:- This subject will also need another post but to give you a little information check your lead times on items, if your asking for a price then always follow up with the question "do you have it all in stock?" there's no point in organising a start date for a job if your supplier only has 70% of the goods you need.
Pricing jobs:- This goes back to the first post and who you deal with as a contact, there's nothing worse than trying to quote for a job and your contact is slow at coming back to you with prices and availability, to combat this the best option is to go into the branch and sit with your contact as they price the job it may take 1/2 an hour to do but which would you prefer, waiting a few days for them to come back to you or spending a short amount of time and walking off with a hard copy in your hand and being able to price a job confidently knowing what your items will cost.
Ordering in special items:- A minefield in no uncertain terms, be very careful on who you choose for this, just because your supplier is classed as a stockist doesn't mean they will get a good price on the item you need, you could be paying well over the odds because you didn't do your homework, a helpful tip is if the item you need is from a certain supplier and your merchant stocks alot of other items that they do then chances are they will be getting a good price, if they don't stock any of there goods then chances are they won't get a great price, of course there are exceptions to this rule but always put the enquiry forward to all your suppliers.
a) Buying goods (when you have to pay)
b) Credits
c) Booking Deliveries
d) Ordering in stock
e) Pricing Jobs
f) Ordering in special items
Now you maybe asking how do i find out this information, well it's as simple as asking your supplier, once you have this information it means that you can make the decision on who to use for certain items, but i will break the list down on what this information will benefit you on and how it will help you save money and time.
Buying Goods:- For this cash accounts aren't really relevant as you pay as you go but credit accounts there usually attached to a 30-60 day credit agreement booking the goods at the right time could be the difference of paying for goods at the end of the month or the month after, you may not be to bothered when you pay but if you book goods on the last working day of the month you will be paying roughly 30 days earlier than if you booked them on the first day of the month after. If your waiting for a customer to pay or snagging is taking a little longer than expected then this could help you. If your account is on stop how can you start the next job or even finish the current one?
Credits:- I will be posting another page on this subject as there are many details to this but just to give you a little information make sure you know your suppliers return policy, an expensive item that can't be returned is a big lump of cash that you can't spend or use.
Booking Deliveries:- Very important to be organised on booking deliveries as asking at 16:00 for a deliver the next morning is going to be very unlikely no matter how hard you push your supplier for it, ask the question, if you booked your delivery 3 days ago for a morning drop and an unorganised builder comes in screaming and shouting for a drop the next morning and your delivery gets pushed back to the afternoon you wouldn't be particularly happy would you? so state the importance of your delivery when booking your slot, again booking deliveries is a broad subject and will have another post for this subject.
Ordering in stock:- This subject will also need another post but to give you a little information check your lead times on items, if your asking for a price then always follow up with the question "do you have it all in stock?" there's no point in organising a start date for a job if your supplier only has 70% of the goods you need.
Pricing jobs:- This goes back to the first post and who you deal with as a contact, there's nothing worse than trying to quote for a job and your contact is slow at coming back to you with prices and availability, to combat this the best option is to go into the branch and sit with your contact as they price the job it may take 1/2 an hour to do but which would you prefer, waiting a few days for them to come back to you or spending a short amount of time and walking off with a hard copy in your hand and being able to price a job confidently knowing what your items will cost.
Ordering in special items:- A minefield in no uncertain terms, be very careful on who you choose for this, just because your supplier is classed as a stockist doesn't mean they will get a good price on the item you need, you could be paying well over the odds because you didn't do your homework, a helpful tip is if the item you need is from a certain supplier and your merchant stocks alot of other items that they do then chances are they will be getting a good price, if they don't stock any of there goods then chances are they won't get a great price, of course there are exceptions to this rule but always put the enquiry forward to all your suppliers.
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