Following my conviction that, “You have to put up or shut up,” I decided that writing the article “Are You Working For Minimum Wage?” and presenting seminars on proper installation were not enough to convey the message that the industry is selling itself short.
The answer: do a seminar on Sales! This proved to be a good idea, I received positive feedback and we exchanged valuable information. Yes, one of the reasons I like doing the seminars is because I still want to learn more, and who better to learn from than those working in the trenches?
We exchange valuable information, such as how to deal with certain climate conditions, construction problems, good techniques and ways to troubleshoot. I have been happy to pass this information on in my seminars and articles. To all of you, I say thank you for helping me to be a better installer, salesperson and a more knowledgeable seminar instructor.
The purpose of this article is to explain where many of us are coming from, and to show that we have, and are willing to do what we can for OUR livelihoods and our industry.
1) I will show how I have shared some of my short- comings and have been corrected by those in the know.
2) I will share how I have for the last 13 years have tried to share with the industry what many of you have shared with me on what would help all of us.
3) I will share some success we have had.
Once on a job site, a young electrician was telling me of his failures and I told him of an old truth that says, “Success is based on Failure.” He responded, “Great, I can tell my boss that I am a Flaming Success!”
This is in part why I wrote April’s article, “Troubleshoot Before You Shoot.” As humans, we are all subject to mistakes. And this has to be expected and accepted as long as we learn from our mistakes.
As mentioned in previous articles, this space is not only devoted to “Tricks of the Trade” but also tries to improve our industry and hence, our incomes and lifestyles. Since I am not infallible, I have also made this space available for rebuttal or correction and am happy to give credit where credit is due. When shown with Sound Reasoning, my ego is not so shallow that I cannot stand to be corrected and let all know that I have erred. For it is indeed through error that we learn the most.
With that said, it was brought to my attention by Ray Storti of Cen-Tec, that my January article was not wholly factual regarding hard wire hoses. He showed me in Cen-Tec’s publication Tool Talk that there is now a 1 3/8” hose that has good airflow. I appreciate this correction and encourage others to help me with the opportunity to disseminate good information.
Unfortunately at my seminars every time I ask, “Have any of you ever had someone tell you that CVS are no good?” virtually everyone raises his or her hand. This is very sad; it should be one or two. Every time the foot soldier in the trenches has to hear someone say that CVS’s are no good it is like saying that, “You and what you do are/is a rip off.” And in some cases told just that. Do we feel put down? Do we feel some rage? Do we feel angered that we/our industry is put down because of what others have done, or failed to do? Do we feel angered because those who have the ability and obligation to offer their best, do their best, and treat others the way we want to be treated, have failed? The answer is YES!
When we sell a hard floor tool that has no edge cleaning and in six months flattens out to just push dirt around, the end user never had reasonable cleaning from the beginning. How can they say that CVS are any good? We need to offer inexpensive hoses and attachments that at least, start off to reasonably clean to get people to at least, start off liking CVS’s.
The bottom line is this, “If we are not selling products that enhance our product or industry, we are our competitors best friend.” This is a fact. Portable vacuum dealers love the way we treat our end users, WE make their sales easy. Don’t believe me… ask them!
The sad part is, that in my opinion, there are only a few bad fittings, hoses, attachments that hurt our incomes and industry. Unfortunately, these are some of the most popular items sold. Many of us understand the need to offer inexpensive products to meet the consumers desires and cash availability. However, we know the answer is to offer inexpensive, reasonable performance hoses and attachments, not just cheap and ineffective products.
With that said, I have for years always offered a high and a low package on every bid that usually has a $4-500 difference and only sell the low once every two years, normally a Spec home. This last January I was $800 more than the other guy on a 3500 sq. ft. new home and got the job. That’s my norm.
Some suppliers and manufactures have, at great expense, developed wonderful new products. I regularly tell customers that in the last eight years, I have seen more good movement than in the last 30 years.
Unfortunately, a few bad products and installations can negate those investments. The truth is that it only takes a few bad fittings, hoses, attachments or installations to hurt the industry.
For some time I have felt, in speaking with manufacturers and suppliers over the past 13 years, that I am just an annoying pain in the ___ .I have tried to share with them my experience and information gleaned from my seminars, and correspondence from colleagues all over North America, feeling all the while, “Oh its just Vincent, he’s just a peon who only thinks he knows what he’s talking about after working nearly 20 years in the trenches.” I have not been given any sound reasoning as to the continued failure to correct, what we have shown to be, things that do not enhance our performance, sales and industry image.
The president of the company that manufactures the nearly best commercial floor tool on the market has promised me several times to correct a simple problem of the adjusting knob from spinning loose, thus the tool falls apart. I have talked to the president of the manufacturer several times, showing him one that fell apart. The last time, three years ago, I asked him why he associates his good name with something that falls apart. This went on for six years before I was left to believe what appears to me as planned obsolescence and he believes in ripping people off. What other conclusion can I come to after coming to the table with what I see as an inexpensive simple way to fix a defective product? What would you think?
In February, I had two service customers, one in her 40s and one in her 50s that did not know what or how to use a dust brush. Needless to say, I was blown away. At this last convention, a manufacturer told me that it is not important for people to get basic instruction on how to use hoses and attachments. How can you appreciate anything you bought if you don’t know what you have or how to use it? How can you expect to build a business if your end user cannot appreciate your product? Again this is “Business 101.”
One supplier told me at the show that the market will play out whether the product is good or not. Coincidently, I have had service customers complain about an attachment from that same supplier, and thus tell me CVS are no good. I see two problems with his thinking.
- Neither end user nor the average dealer is informed before they buy. The average dealer assumes that the suppliers/manufacturers offer packages to enhance their motor units performance, not detract. Too many dealers drop and run. My March article, “The Most Critical And Important Part Of The Sale Is…The Presentation,” explains in detail the value of the presentation. If the dealers had to demonstrate what they sold, they’d have end users point out their products’ shortcomings and request better. Then they could also upsell the builders/developers package. We commonly upsell the hose, attachments and motor unit at this time for just the cost difference. I make my vacation pay by upselling.
- As told to me by one of the better suppliers, the industry fails to recognize whom their real customer is. They think it is the builder/developer. What they fail to recognize is that the builder/developer does not generate sales. The Greatest Salesperson is a satisfied End User. The Greatest Destroyer of Sales is a dissatisfied End User. One happy customer will tell one or two; one dissatisfied customer will tell 10 to 20. This is taught in “Marketing and Sales 101.”
Twelve years ago at a CVS roundtable, I told a story of a service customer, an interior designer, who had her customer install a CVS during their remodel. She said the customer was replacing the hall carpet because it was not staying clean and the carpet company was denying defective carpet, but suggested they were not cleaning it properly.
She asked if I could check the CVS out. Ironically, my next service call was two blocks away from her customer. I first disconnected the intake pipe from the unit and checked the H2O and CFM. For that unit, it was on the mark. I then checked off an inlet where they were replacing the carpet, again on the mark. I then checked at the end of the two long wands, the H2O barely went up. The wands leaked at the straight and curved connections. I then measured off the curved wand of the hard wire hose and the airflow was 1/3 less through the hose than off the inlet.
I told the customer that I had to agree with the carpet company—that the carpet was not being properly cleaned. They returned the hose and bought a good CFM crush proof hose from me.
I proceeded to state at the roundtable, that manufacturers and suppliers need to offer only items that enhance their products and not hurt the industry. At the end of the roundtable, the gentleman in the suit and tie sitting next to me said, “Would you mind telling me what product that was?” I said, “In trying to be politically correct, I didn’t want to mention the name but I will tell you one on one, “It was…”. In my opinion they offer the worst hoses and attachments on the market, they are making me money because they are easy to sell against, but I wish they’d stop! Because virtually every time people tell me they don’t like CVS’s it’s because they had a….
He then gave me his card; he was a VP of that product. He said, “Don’t worry, I came here to learn how to improve our product and sales. Would you mind sharing more of the things you see that we can do to improve our product?”
We then sat for 45 minutes with another VP as I explained all the things I encountered from customers and service work that hurt their product and the industry. This last year, their new catalog featured what looks like the same hose with many of the same and some new shortcomings of their product line.
Credit where credit is due, we have experienced some success. A few years ago Ted Hayden understood the need to ensure the best airflow with easier installations and now offers a street/spigot 30° Hayden part #2032, a triumph! Canplas/Vaculine, at the show, has agreed to make some changes and improvements. They also went back to their original O Ring for their plastic mounting plates because they are listening to the dealers. The industry is converting to 1 3/8” hoses to ensure the best airflow from all units. Most power brushes use the chevron brush so as not to throw dirt out one side.
The problem, as I see it, is that the suppliers and manufacturers need to have the end users come into their booths at the convention and face what the foot soldiers face. It is my bet they would not appreciate people in their showroom/booth telling them the truth about what they sell.
Years ago the manufacturers and suppliers attended the CVS roundtable. Maybe they can head the roundtable next year to get firsthand, from the committed dealers, what they need to do for all of us to make a better and easier living.
There is an old truth that it is OK to complain but it is better if you try to come to the table with a solution. WE have and are trying.
As always this space is not just my bully pulpit but for others to share positive and negative. We need your input.
Thank you for your time and service to our livelihoods and industry.
