Hearthlist Digest #513 - Friday, October 13, 2000 Re: Saving money with in-house reps... by <[email protected]> correction on last post by "Rod Poplarchick" <[email protected]> Re: pellet install #511 - 10/11/00 by "Rod Poplarchick" <[email protected]> RE: customer service by "Tim Nissen" <[email protected]> IDing a fireplace? by "Noel Gilmore" <[email protected]> Commodity hearth products continued. by "Roger Sanders" <[email protected]> Re: Inventory Software by <[email protected]> Energy futures by "John Gulland" <[email protected]>
(back) Subject: Re: Saving money with in-house reps... From: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 20:47:56 -0400 But Ray, look how much money they saved with in house reps! Kinda hard to beat Jay Hanson isn't it?
(back) Subject: correction on last post From: "Rod Poplarchick" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 20:48:17 -0400 The pipe we slip over the 3 " flex is a 3012a 3" not a 3112A 4" ooops that would have been a sloppy install. Rod P
(back) Subject: Re: pellet install #511 - 10/11/00 From: "Rod Poplarchick" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 20:48:34 -0400 Re: > Subject: Pellet Stove installs > From: "Louis Tweed" <[email protected]> > Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 12:52:45 -0400 Louis, We NEVER do a direct vent install on free standing stoves to reduce the = call back for smoked up walls and smoke in the house. Most stoves work fine adapting to 6" or 8" Class A but if the 8" is a long run we will run 4" through it to the top. Most manufactures recommend using 4" pipe if over 15" so here is how we do inserts...... Our Policy for installing Pellet inserts has always been reline all the = way to the top and seal of the top with a chase cap and stuff the damper = section with insulation. We use Ventinox 3" SS flex around the damper connected to the stove, Slip = a 3112a slip with a 3-4 Dura vent pellet adaptor over the flex sealed with = Red high heat sealan and run Dura vent rigid pipe to the top with a chase = cap, storm collar and a rain cap. Over 100 units in the past 10 years this way with no venting problems. Rod Poplarchick Climate Control Systems Oakhusts, Ca [email protected]
(back) Subject: RE: customer service From: "Tim Nissen" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 20:49:26 -0400 Craig, Roger, all: I notice that the further one is away from dealing with actual customers, the more committed to 100% satisfaction guaranteed one becomes. Sometimes the customer is wrong. Sometimes he is a crook. We have a terms and conditions page that is the back side of our estimating/sales order. It has the usual "stuff" on it about permits, inspections, payment, warranty, prevailing party's attorney fees, etc., stated in plain English. We also have a statement: "Satisfaction Guaranteed, as follows: If you are unhappy with the appliance you = purchase from us, you may return it during the first year of ownership for a 90% credit, which may be applied to any other merchandise we sell. This warranty applies to the appliance only; not the venting system, labor or other materials employed." In a case such as Roger describes this at = least gives you considerable negotiating leverage, and we have made it stand up = in court (the customer was refusing to pay, stating that the stove didn't work). Clearly, Roger's customers should have communicated with his business and worked with him on the solution to their problem, real or perceived. We try and use this guarantee as a positive selling tool and explain that while we want them to be very happy with their purchase and tell all their friends, we want there to be some cost to them for making a switch. A new stove has become a used stove that you are going to discount far more than 10% and you don't want them trading it in on the new pretty model in the 51st week. We have 5-10 people a year take us up on this option each = year, usually because they bought too large or too small, sometimes because = there is some aspect to the stove or insert that they find endlessly irritating. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, we will also discount some part of the replacement installation or are otherwise more generous. We also have one or two customers a year who are such a royal pain in the butt that we do whatever necessary to get rid of them and cut our losses = and figure that sooner later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences. I'll get back to commodity fireplaces and builder business after I recover from Roger's latest fusillade and figure out how to get Bubba's customer = to walk out of here with that $3,500 grill (with a 40% margin). I've got = some ideas. Tim Nissen Home Fire Stove 1695 Market Street NE Salem, OR 97301 [email protected] (503) 364-6339 (voice) (503) 364-1083 (fax) www.homefirestove.com (web page)
(back) Subject: IDing a fireplace? From: "Noel Gilmore" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 20:49:45 -0400 Got a customer who needs to replace her termination...she cannot find a manufacturer name, only the model number: HB42A Might anyone out there recognize this model number and be able to tell me the manufacturer? (And while you're at it, if a replacement termination is still being made by the manufacturer?) Thanks for any info. Noel Gilmore Autumn Moon Fireplaces
(back) Subject: Commodity hearth products continued. From: "Roger Sanders" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 20:51:12 -0400 Hi again Ken, Ken Fulgione in his last posting says he likes to promote accessories to Bubba the plumber=92s Heat-N-Glo commodity fireplace customers instead of promoting more profitable non-commodities, and he particularly likes to do e-retail and ship to other states like Oregon. Ken, this makes sense to me. You should promote the low margin commodity stuff to the low price buyers and even sell a big bucks mantel or two at a huge discount. And, when that doesn=92t work too good, why not sell on the internet at low margins instead of promoting premium non-commodities. Guess that leaves the high end business for the rest of us. You can sure have all that business that Bubba doesn=92t want. Honest. I=92ll refer it all to you. Oh, . . . I guess you said you already got her business from us. Darn it. Ken, you can sure have that next Bubba referral though, if she ever shows up. By the way, I checked and we did get three Bubba referrals this last decade and actually sold two cheapie Heat-N- Glo trim sets to them. And hey, what a great idea for you to sell high end BBQs at a big discount over the internet so you can and keep all that 25% margin to yourself. Because as you say, there=92s no overhead when you sell over the internet. Ken, glad you=92re getting all that free overhead so you can keep your big 25% margin. You know, all that free labor for doing the e-retail order taking, warehousing labor, management labor, software development and e-commerce site development and maintenance, not to speak of the free offices and warehouse, free inventory, free utilities, free computer systems and free website site referrals. Seems to me that there could be a big difference between selling a bunch of stuff on the internet (very easy) and actually keeping a good profit from internet e-retail (very hard). Didn=92t I recently hear of how many e-retail businesses are actually making money =93living off the mix=94, after they burned through their investor=92s money. Was it one? Come to think of it, I don=92t know if = that one made it either. Amazon? No, they cratered bigtime. Priceline? No, they cratered too. e-Bay? Nope, they cratered. Some little guy somewhere? Who knows. Anyway, I guess I=92ll have to get back to trying to eke out a meager living by blindly promoting those overpriced, non-commodity hearth products in our high overhead, obsolete brick and mortar hearth stores, since Bubba=92s commodity customers don=92t seem to like us and we can=92t figure out how to do all that free overhead e-retail. Darn it, our parking lot is filling up again with those Bimmers, big SUVs and new trucks. Boy, those folks must be real dumb. I don=92t know where they get all their money. Haven=92t they heard of Bubba=92s cheapie fireplace deals or = of saving big bucks on the internet? They keep wanting to buy quality, non-commodity products and good local service from us. Oh, well. Gotta go now Ken. It=92s been fun. Roger Sanders Fireside Spa & Patio Bachelor Spa & Stove Bend, OR
(back) Subject: Re: Inventory Software From: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 20:56:55 -0400 We use Real World. It allows you to enter open orders for all the = materials and holds them as committed until the order is eventually invoiced, = usually after the install. Real World is owned by Great Plains Software. Craig Chapello
(back) Subject: Energy futures From: "John Gulland" <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 10:00:15 -0400 Hearth industry colleagues: Conventional energy prices are higher and they are erratic. This is not = just a temporary glitch in the market, but is a symptom of structural problems with the supply of fossil fuels. I have put up an oil depletion resource page on = my web site to help explain what is going on. http://www.gulland.ca/depletion/depletion.htm Some quotes from the posted articles: "The world is not running out of oil=97at least not yet. What our society = does face, and soon, is the end of the abundant and cheap oil on which all industrial nations depend." Campbell and Laherr=E8re, 1998 http://www.gulland.ca/depletion/endofcheapoil.htm "The end of the oil road will not be the end of the world. Just be the = end of the world as we know it." Mike Neligh, 2000 http://www.gulland.ca/depletion/Endofroad.htm "The situation is real. And it is very grave." Matthew Simmons, October 2, = 2000 http://www.gulland.ca/depletion/simmons.htm "With only about two million barrels of spare OPEC capacity left, the = global economy is hurtling towards an oil supply wall at alarming speed." Bank economist's report; Ottawa Citizen, October 6, 2000 http://www.gulland.ca/depletion/CIBCarticle.htm What to do about it? That is up to you, but good planning is based on = good information, so this is a starting point. Those of you who were running businesses in the late 1970s and early 1980s have a distinct advantage. Remember the scramble to conserve energy and use renewables? Remember = double digit inflation, interest rates and unemployment? Some analysts expect = the coming oil crisis to be tougher and longer than the last one. As one of the petroleum geologists who first sounded the alarm said: "I'm = not a pessimist, I just have better information." Regards, John Gulland