Tag: collaboration

Building Better Relationships with Personal Touch

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I’ve written before that collaboration between all stakeholders in the fenestration industry is a key part of how we’ll meet our collective goal and overcome our shared challenges in the coming years and decades. Because no matter what we’re facing, we’re still an industry that revolves around people. Whether its manufacturers, installers, architects or building owners, our ability to form meaningful connections is critical.

I’ve been thinking about this lately in some of my recent interfacing with the architectural community. Architects know that high-performing glass and glazing technology is essential to meeting new building codes in some of North America’s biggest markets — and they need solutions when incorporating it into their designs. Part of my job is helping identify those solutions and providing them not just with product options, but the technical and performance data they need to work those options into their specifications.

I find these to be rewarding conversations. They’re collaborative, and perhaps more important, they’re personal, with each party working to understand and educate each other. Ideally, the result will not just be a successful project, but an ongoing and mutually beneficial relationship.

I think this is a mindset that professionals throughout our industry should approach every interaction with. Because it’s important to remember that no matter what kind of business you run today, your customers have options. And providing them with an experience they’ll remember — one that shows you care about their success as much as your own — can set you apart from your competition. Here are a few ways you can accomplish it:

Intangibles matter. A great product or service might not be the only reason your customers choose to do business with your organization. Other reasons could include:

  • The decade-long relationship a salesperson has formed with a key customer.
  • That same salesperson’s ability to proactively anticipate customer needs.
  • The additional service and support provided to tackle any challenge that may arise.
  • The friendly service customers are always treated to, no matter whom they’re interacting with.

All of these things are indicative of something deeper: that you truly care about your customer and their success. With that, you can better understand how best to serve them, help meet their challenges and work to offer new solutions they want and need.

Internal customers matter, too. Ensuring your customers (or any stakeholders you regularly interface with) are receiving the best experience possible means taking care of the people that are responsible for providing that experience: your employees.

That could mean investing in training for your plant floor employees, helping them do their jobs better to deliver a more reliable product. It could mean empowering teams to do whatever it takes to provide exceptional customer care. It requires an environment of respect, alignment, and collaboration, and it should start at the very top of your organization.

In an industry where new challenges seem to crop up with increasing frequency, meeting customer expectations is becoming more demanding. Finding a way to deliver a personalized experience and foster an ongoing relationship can help.

Joe Erb is national account manager for Quanex.

Meeting New Demands Without Compromise

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I’ve written a lot in recent months about the ongoing influence energy performance has on the commercial fenestration space. We can’t ignore it. Delivering on the needs of our evolving market will require our collective innovation, advocacy and commitment to delivering quality commercial glass and window systems.

Of course, we’re not pursuing this mission in a vacuum. A confluence of unique circumstances continues to challenge the traditional ways we’re used to doing business. Many commercial glass professionals are focused on dealing with labor and supply chain issues, and it can seem difficult if not impossible to focus on other areas of the business.

How are you dealing with these challenges? How are you responding to lengthy lead times? Product shortages? Demand for systems that meet new building codes? Price increases? These are the questions I’ve been trying to help my customers answer in recent months, and in those discussions, some common themes have arisen. Here are a couple of them:

Choose the right components for the right reason. In the face of longer lead times, shortages or rising prices on critical components, a simple solution presents itself: Look for alternatives.

The reality of that decision, however, can be anything but simple. If you’ve been building your glass systems a certain way for a long time, a different component can potentially throw a monkey wrench into your process. Perhaps it isn’t handled or applied the same way and may require retraining your plant floor staff. Or, say you’ve switched to a component for pricing reasons. It’s important to consider whether your alternative supplier’s product has a reputation you can trust, and whether that supplier will support your team should any type of issues occur. After all, your reputation is at stake.

The point is this: The way you design and construct your glass systems should be intentional. It can be tempting to let pricing or availability guide your hand (and in some cases, it may be a short-term necessity) but it can’t be at the cost of sacrificing the quality of your systems. This is particularly true as the glazing industry contends with rising thermal performance demands. Not only must our products meet high standards for performance, but they also must demonstrate the ability to be durable.

Find a helping hand. While you’re making decisions about sourcing critical components, another consideration to make about the suppliers you choose to work with is the value they can provide beyond just the components themselves.

The new thermal efficiency demands provide a good example. Let’s say you’ve bid on a project where local codes (or perhaps the project’s architect) dictate the window systems in the structure achieve a certain thermal performance minimum. It’s a more challenging target than a lot of your recent work—but it’s a project worth pursuing, and if it’s accomplished successfully, can grant your business some extra clout.
Design assistance can be valuable here, and your supplier maybe able to help. For example, a high-performing spacer provider has likely been involved with numerous projects requiring top levels of performance and may be able to provide ideas that can help you hit the required performance numbers in a more efficient manner. They may also be able to provide training or quality assurance services to ensure every unit meets the quality levels your customer expects.

Meeting the challenges of today’s industry requires collaboration. Working with vendors and suppliers who are willing to share ideas along with quality products can be a recipe for success.

Engaging and Inspiring Our Workforces

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A few weeks ago, while I was visiting a customer, I had the opportunity to spend some time with two of the company’s newest sales team members. One was an industry veteran, coming on with significant experience in the fenestration industry; the other, a younger man coming out of college with a degree in construction management.

In their new roles, both are focused on architectural sales. We visited a few of the company’s larger glazing contractors in the area to discuss some of companies latest investments (automation, service, support) and the real value that will bring to the table.

I share this because at numerous turns throughout my trip, I saw a real eagerness to learn and succeed from the new sales professionals. And beyond that, I saw how a passion for the work that we do as an industry can ignite new opportunities for collaboration and success as we continue to deal with an ongoing labor shortage. Here are a couple of takeaways:

Breaking down boundaries. There’s a lot to be said for taking a walk in another person’s shoes. During my trip, and throughout similar trips I’ve had in the past, the opportunity to interface with those outside the glass shop itself can’t be overvalued.

As glass manufacturers, it can be easy to lose sight of what happens after product leaves the floor. Out of sight, out of mind, right? In this recent scenario, interacting with glazing professionals helped this sales team better understand their customers’ wants and needs, based on real experience in the field. Working together, collaborating, makes the experience a greater success for all parties.

From a broader perspective, closer collaboration between all parties can lead to great things when it comes to architectural glass. Take the MERGE Program, recently reported on by USGlass, intended to unite architect students and apprentice glaziers, “to enhance the academic experience of architecture students specific to the use of glass, and for them to gain a better understanding of construction methodologies related to their designs.”

Bringing the trades together, to have them understand each other, their needs and their goals, can be an inspiring thing. And at a time when maintaining employee engagement is so critical, we should be seeking these opportunities constantly.

On their level. And as technology evolves, we have new ways to connect. On my trip, the younger sales representative told me a bit about his college days and his areas of study and his experience with Building Information Modeling (BIM) software. This working knowledge of BIM better enables him to “speak the language” and better demonstrates how he can bring real value to architectural customers beyond just providing a great product.

I think it’s a good example of connecting with people in new ways on their own terms, which becomes all the more important when we’re trying to bridge generation gaps across the industry.

I’ll share another, different example on connecting: The 2018 IGMA Winter Conference hosted guest speaker Dustin Anderson, owner of Anderson Glass in Waco, Texas, also known for his frequent appearances on the hit HGTV show Fixer Upper. USGlass caught up with him for an interview, where he shared his opinion on how we can continue bringing people into our industry.

“Industry has become more of an artistry than slapping in a piece of glass,” Dustin says in the video. “There’s a movement for young folks to start using their hands and doing more stuff that’s creative, and I think those things tie together.”

He further notes the importance of meeting younger generations on their level, citing the use of social media and other techniques, and the necessity of communicating the “cool stuff” our industry can do when it comes to architectural glass and design.

And I’ll say that Dustin walks the walk. I had a chance to chat with him myself at the conference. His being a recognizable HGTV personality, he was gracious enough to FaceTime with my daughter—a Fixer Upper fan extraordinaire. She was thrilled.

I think we should keep some of these things in mind as we continue working toward engaging younger workers to grow our businesses. Being eager to learn and connect is going to be invaluable moving forward. Regardless of our age or experience we all need to teach and learn.

Joe Erb is a commercial sales specialist at Quanex Building Products.