How Easy is it For You to Change?

I was reading an article the other day that discussed the change in the name of the Boy Scouts. I was a Cub Scout, my mom was the den mother. Our son was in the Boy Scouts for ten years and loved every minute. Yet, something as tradition-bound and established as the Boy Scouts are, they can change. They have allowed and encouraged girls to join. They have just finalized the change in their name from Boy Scouts of America to ScoutsBSA, a gender-neutral name.

Can you do the same? I don’t mean the gender-neutral part. Can you change your glass company? Can you adjust to changes in our industry and profit by them, as opposed to just reading about them in blogs and USGlass magazine?

I have met glass shop owners who have been in business for five years and are doing twice the volume of the company down the street. Maybe they didn’t have to change because they were new. They simply sold and serviced what our industry now does, which is more about balancing the indoor and outdoor weather than glass repair and replacement. It is about large glass with thermally broken metal holding it in place.

You know where our industry is headed. Yet, you sit there saying, “I am making a good living so why should I change?” Because you are falling further behind every day. I help companies trying to sell themselves. When I see their shop, or factory, or whatever, more often than not, it is 20 years behind. Behind what? Behind in products, safety, inventory management and marketing.

Have you ever sold a house? The first thing the agent tells you is how to maximize the value. Get rid of the clutter. Paint this room. Fertilize your grass. Do you want to wait until I come in and show you that your business can be 50 percent more profitable to a new buyer or do you want those profits?

You have to change. Maybe not overnight. Add a new product line once a year, or more often. Carry multiple lines of door closers: good, better and best. Learn about switchable glass and advertise that you now have it. Change is a mindset that you must have to continue your profits and to have a chance of leaving a business or funds from a sale to your next generation.

As I lift my morning cup of tea…here’s to change.