Window manufacturers treat you right when you visit their plant. Ours had a unique “limo” for us!
I’m not sure how it came to be this way, but it seems that if you sell a nation-wide brand of windows, tradition dictates that you will make pilgrimages to their manufacturing plant with a group of builders.
That’s fine. The problem is that the tours always happen in the dead of winter, and the manufacturers all seem to be located within spitting distance of the North Pole. The main window supplier we used in my former life made a great window and provided great support, but they would have had a run for their money if I ever found a reasonable window made in Hawaii.
So, there we were in the airport at eleven o’clock in the morning, lugging parkas, gloves, boots, and handwarmers, and looking for a comfortable place to wait.
Since the group of 15 was mostly made up of builders, of course, that meant the bar.
I landed at a table with four long-time customers plus Harry, an on-again, off-again customer, and the owner of what we liked to call ‘PITA Construction’.
He wasted no time in living up to his reputation.
“Mike, you are lucky I’m here,” he said. “I had half a mind to stay home after what you guys did to me about 10 months ago.”
Fair enough, I thought. If you’re here half-heartedly, why don’t we make it a one-way trip to Frostbite Falls?
As much as I wanted to, I didn’t say that. However, I was wondering who the heck invited Harry. But instead, I took the high road: “Gosh, I’m sorry there was a problem. I’m not aware of it. Tell me what happened.”
What happened was that we had a roofing supplier who went through some blow-off problems, and, of course, Harry had to be one of them. I was surprised to hear the issue hadn’t been settled, though. I was sure they had all been resolved.
Harry begged to differ, and he begged louder and louder until the rest of the group gathered around our table to see what they thought might be a potential fistfight. As he went on, it turned out that between the manufacturer and us, the shingles were replaced, and the labor was covered. Harry was upset because the entire roof wasn’t replaced.
“I made sure everyone knew about it, too,” he said. Knowing Harry’s reputation, I bet he did.
The room went dead quiet; all I could think about was that it was going to be a colder-than-normal trip. Then Steve, one of our long-time customers, piped up.
“So how old was the roof, and how many shingles blew off?”
“About a year old and maybe 20-30 shingles,” said Harry. “But I made it clear that I wanted the entire roof replaced.”
“I’m sure you did,” replied Steve, “but that’s ridiculous. No manufacturer is going to give you a new roof when you lost only 20–30 shingles on a 1-year-old roof.”
“I don’t care,” said Harry. “My client was probably wondering what other products I used might be defective. That’s bad for business.”
Then Bill, another long-time customer, chimed in. “Yeah, but you’re not handling it the right way. Your client needs to know any unforeseen problems will indeed get fixed, but you also need to be fair to your suppliers. It seems to me that Mike’s team went to bat for you.”
The argument got more and more heated until it seemed everyone was yelling, mostly at Harry. The elderly couple a few tables away and three nuns at a table in the corner were staring at our group, wondering what was happening.
I finished my beer and slipped away to the gate. The secret to a successful factory tour is to break the ice early so that no one feels uncomfortable with the others. Mission accomplished!
Mike McDole has 40+ years of actual LBM experience, including being SVP of a large regional pro-dealer, and is the principal of Firing Line LBM Advisors. He’s also partners with Greg Brooks of Executive Council on Construction Supply and his LMS. Mike can be reached at 774-372-1367 or Mike@FiringLineLBM.com.
