A monumental moment

Well folks there’s a price increase on the streets which begs the question of… Will it stick? Will this much needed maneuver be properly accepted, passed on and built in to the crumbling pricing structure of our industry or will it be like so many others that came before it, ignored, bargained away or abused? So many times you’d hear the line “it’s just not the right time for an increase” and you’d see people buying into that theory. Well I gotta say if there was ever a “time” for one, it’s now. But the problem is it’s not as simple and clean as people want it to be. Competition is nightmarishly tough. Every job is a battle whether you are the biggest on the block or a Mom & Pop shop. So when this increase starts to trickle down, the paranoid mindset will be in full bloom. Thoughts like “hmm I wonder if my competitor is pricing this job with the increase” and so on will penetrate every bid. And in every market, every segment, every industry there’s always that “guy/company” that goes against the grain and does what they think is best and if that includes absorbing double digit pricing increases then so be it. This increase will be one too look back at when the end of 2010 hits. If it sticks and is successful this moment could be the start of the renewal. If it fails, this is the moment people will point to about when the dysfunction and inability to help ourselves did us in.

Elsewhere…

-- I was very saddened to hear of the Saturday passing of Bill Cully. Bill was the President of United Plate Glass in Butler, PA and helped drive that business to its current incredible heights. My condolences go to Bill’s sons Mike and Bart and daughter in law Joyce- All of who are first class and incredible people. No doubt they will continue doing tremendous work in honor of Bill. The glass industry just lost yet another great founder and my thoughts go out to all in the UPG family.

-- AIA show is this week in steamy Miami… will be interesting to see how the turn out is, and what the attitude is… the architects are supposedly busier, so this will be the first test of it. Though Miami in June may scare some people away and give off a false impression.

-- If you missed it… my daughter (post before this) made her Belmont picks Friday night… she liked “First Dude” but she also really liked “Drosslemeyer” and so I noted it…. And lo and behold the 13-1 shot Drosslemeyer came in (with First Dude finishing 3rd) Yep I think she is ready for a career at the track….

-- We’ll see if she can pick the World Cup like she does the horses… she is going with France to win it. Now if she pulls this off we are moving to Vegas. ASAP. And as for the World Cup- it starts Friday and should be a ton of fun… England and the US on Saturday is a pretty cool way to get things moving that’s for sure!

-- The GlassBlog entry from last week with Jim Benney as the guest writer was pretty interesting and brought a few decent comments. Though I did crack up that one comment was from NFRC’s PR agency… I guess for an easy 6 figure deal the least you can do is leave a comment eh?

-- The GANA Solar symposium looks to be a must attend if you have an interest in getting into that business. George Petzen is one of the speakers and I know he has a tremendous grasp of how that whole industry works and its integration inside the traditional glass world- so hearing him would be worth the trip. Good guy as well…

TWEET of the WEEK:

Shep Hyken

/Hyken or click here for Shep Hyken’s Twitter page. Shep spoke at BEC a few years ago and was easily one of our best speakers. (ever) The guy is just fantastic and now with Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, you can get plenty more of Shep outside of his excellent books. Basically now is the time to take customer service to the next level and Shep is amazing in getting you and your people there. In any case there’s a reason thousands of people follow this guy…

LINKS of the WEEK:

-- Funny one.. the Top 10 Things your airline baggage handlers WON’T say….

-- Quick and interesting article on the fact that beer sales are dropping but other spirits growing among other liquor related stats…

-- Builders are suing to stop the new Green Building law in Washington state… umm guys, Washington state is the home to John Hogan and the birthplace of all illogical evilness as it regards to construction… you won’t win… anyway the comments at the bottom of this story is what makes it…

VIDEO of the WEEK:

Thanks to my sister Marcie (who still actually reads this blog despite the fact she is now living very large at her awesome new gig) for this week’s video… you’ll only need to watch for a few seconds but its mesmerizing… a 4 year old kid playing the drums like no one could believe… this could be the next Neil Peart… (AKA the awesome drummer of RUSH)