More Concrete Repair

In the new issue of "Concrete Repair Bulletin", there is an article named "Repair of Concrete Structures under Construction" by Bud Early. The topics are general topics and talk about the issues in simple terms and explanations. The topics are Concrete Cracking, Poor Construction Techniques, Concrete Curling, Honeycombs/Voids, Repairing Cracks in Concrete, Repairs to Curled Slabs, Repairing honeycombs/Voids and Avoiding Problems in the Future. What grabbed my attention the most was under Repairing Cracks in Concrete. He writes, "Before you begin to repair cracks in concrete, you should answer the question: 'What is the purpose of this crack repair?'" I love the question because it is the same one I ask when customers tell me of their cracking problems. So many times when the question is asked, they do not know the answer. Many assume that all cracks are structural. Sometimes they are limited by money and they only want to make it look better or keep it from getting worse. He spends more time dealing with this topic than the others but does keep it easy to understand and read. Repairing cracks in concrete is important and cracks do happen. Structural cracks need to be addressed and fixed properly. For the cracks that are merely cosmetic, you can have other less expensive choices. When you are unsure of what to do on the crack repair call someone that can give you the information you need.

The link to the magazine is

http://www.icri.org/publications/bulletin.asp

I tried to get the article online but was unable to. However, it will become available in the future. I can look at the articles back to 2005 but there is a search feature in there to get ones further back. I like the site because of the articles and it is a good source of information.

Crystalline Waterproofing

One of the magazines I started reading is "Waterproofing Magazine." In the newest issue there is a very good article titled "The Basics of Integral Crystalline Waterproofing" by Sunny Shao. In it is described the basics of how crystalline waterproofing works. The article explains that the crystals grow, filling the pours of the concrete. It can be as an admixture to the concrete or applied to the surface later.

In my experiences with crystalline waterproofing products, I have found that they work well in certain circumstances. Rules that I have found out about them are they require water to work. Which according to the article is true. They take a little time to work with the water. They also do not stop large cracks. I had a customer that used some ICW (Integral Crystalline Waterproofing) in a fountain. A few days later he was called by the owner that the fountain was leaking. It was suggested that he wait about another week and it would no longer leak. There was plenty of water in the fountain and it stopped leaking because the ICW had plenty of water. Another time I had a customer with a concrete flat roof on a house with living space below. He bought some to mix with the concrete, not from me, and as he was building the house he noticed every time it rained that the concrete roof leaked. I told him there was not enough constant water coming through the roof for the ICW to work and grow to stop the leaks. Lucky for me that I sell a good deck coating and got that sale.

I tried to get the whole article online at

http://www.waterproofmag.com/index.php

I never made it to the online article because of the way they have it set up to get the catalog online. However, there are 3 articles that you can read "Green Roofs ", "Deep Foundations" and "Dimple Membranes."

Winners

"Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people." Nido Qubein

When you are having an average month or even a bad month, it is good to remember the quote above. It is another one that I keep on my wall of quotes. I have always found it good to have around and read occasionally. It is especially good to read at times in sales when things aren't going right or well. The reason is that you have to compare what you do to your own goals. It would be nice to say that other people aren't doing as well. If you did that then you compare yourself to what others are doing and according to the quote above, that is what losers do. You need to own up to your own shortcomings and strive to do better based on your own goals.

If you are interested in reading more about Nido Qubein, the link to his website is below.

http://www.nidoqubein.com/

Losing Orders

Even when you have a good business relationship with a customer, you can still lose an order on occasion. Is it bad? Maybe. Is it frustrating? Yes. Can you get over it? That is the question.

Losing an order from a good customer on occasion is not necessarily a bad thing but it can turn out to be a bad thing. If he is spreading the business around to someone that he doesn't buy from much, he is keeping their relationship open. You may even do the same thing with your own vendors. However, you do want to find out the reasons you lost the order. Is it just to keep that relationship open or is it because you are failing in some way?

The loss is also frustrating because if you work on commission then you just lost X dollars. It gets under your skin because you feel like they owe you for doing such a good job for them previously. Actually they owed you nothing after you shipped them the material, invoiced them and they paid the bill. You start from scratch next time. The business relationship hangs on their own perception of you as a sales professional. Do not look at the loss as a failing of something you did, unless you have done something earlier for them to perceive failure. Dust yourself off and do better next time. Think of the times that they buy without questioning the price. Think of the other items you have sold them that may be smaller, but much more of it that they buy day to day. Chances are if they are a good customer, then you are making up the loss by having earned their loyalty.

Getting over it is a you problem. If it is a shortcoming that has happened, then you correct the issue. If it is just your feelings that are hurt, then you have an issue that you need to get over. In sales you are rejected everyday for something. If not, then you are not seeing enough people.

The only time I really had my feelings hurt in sales was when I was fairly new at it and I changed jobs to another company in the same industry. I had a large good company that I thought was buying because of me, not in spite of me. Bright and early on the Monday of my new job I went by the job site and told him that I had changed companies and was wanting to sell him the same products that I had been selling him. He told me that just because I changed companies that he didn't change companies. I thought of all the Saturdays and Sundays that I had delivered stuff to his job site. When I say all, I mean every Saturday that the job went on and some Sundays and Holidays. I was frustrated. So, I went to the next guy and he said he would continue to buy from me. There I felt better. When Saturday rolled around I called the customer that rejected me and asked if he needed anything to be delivered. He wanted to call me back. Ten minutes later I had a little order to take to him. This went on with no orders during the week and little orders on the weekend for about 5 or 6 weeks. One day he called and told me that I would be getting his business from now on because I took care of his material needs on the weekend and my former company didn't.

Keep trying, it works.

For The Sales Professional

I was sent a list of wonderful predictions for all sales people. It was sent from my boss. I have attached the link here for all to read.

http://www.gsabusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56

The statement that rang most true to me was

• You will miss selling opportunities at dinners and parties where people ask you what you do, because you have not practiced (or created) your 30-second personal commercial, and you forgot to bring a business card.

It made me think about what is my 30 second commercial. I can talk business to those that understand my field of business. But, it got me to thinking about the commercial I would give to someone that doesn't understand what I do but could benefit from my knowledge. Have I been missing out of some potential sales because I want to remain to technically proficient? Apparently this is something I need to work on because I do not want that prediction to come true.

The rest of the list has many true points and things all sales professionals think from time to time.

Positive Selling

One of the ways sales people get business is by asking for it. Many sales people ask not to get it.

Asking for it - "How many widgets do you need to order today?"

Asking not to get it - "You don't need any widgets today, do you?"

These are self explanatory on the type of response you are conditioning the customer for. Even in my position I have salesmen call on me wanting to know what I need or don't need. When it happened to me earlier today, from an experienced salesman, it reminded me the benefits of positive selling. He was not selling me that way. He was finding out if I didn't need anything. Sure enough, I had nothing I needed to talk to him about.

Some Concrete Repair

Concrete repair is interesting. I have seen it done correctly and incorrectly and the ones that typically make the most mistakes repairing it are the ones that place the concrete. They do not make the mistakes because they are bad with concrete. They make the mistakes because they are good with concrete. Many of the repair mortars do not require much work. They do involve a little reading of the data sheets. It used to be that most concrete repair mortar required a bonding agent to be painted on the surface prior to the mortar being applied. Now many just require water, but they do require proper preparation of the surface and they want the surface to be SSD, Saturated Surface-Dry. The concrete needs to be soaking wet but no standing water. Many of the manufacturers' products say keep the substrate wet for 24 hours. This is done because the concrete sucks the moisture out of the repair mortar which creates a weak bond. Some still call for a bonding agent but you need to pay attention to the product itself and see what the data sheet says to do. The data sheets state the proper mixing instructions and the physical properties. The manufacturer's expect you to know what they mean when they state SSD. I have also noticed that when the concrete finishers work with the repair products they make the mistake of overworking the product. The finishers want to keep pushing it down to make a tighter surface and when they overwork the products they actually can make it weaker at the surface. So, in the instance of an SSD application, if they put too little water down and over work the surface, they then end up with a product that is bound to fail.

The ICRI, International Concrete Repair Institute has a list of terms that can be downloaded for reference. The link is below.

http://www.icri.org/GENERAL/ConcreteRepairTerminology.pdf

Their website is

http://www.icri.org/

Materials Catalog

One nice thing about catalogs, they let customers know some of the items you can sell. They list items you sell everyday and items that you seldom sell. It takes time to go through a catalog as a salesman for your own company, but it is something you must do. Often it has things listed that you do not know you have access to. It also helps to know what is in there for the time when a customer may call and say "On page 75 it lists....." So, speaking of catalogs, we have our new catalog out and it is available through our website. It can be downloaded. Link is below.


http://www.newsouthsupply.com/fullline.htm

If you are curious what is on it, click on the link to download. It is 16mb.

You can also just look around the site and see past newsletters. I am not that hard to find on the website.

Why is a Credit Limit Good?

I am a salesman. I want to sell. The credit department is a tool and a necessary asset to the company. If it was up to me, I probably wouldn't have customers fill out that fancy paperwork naming their liabilities or have some lawyer review it to make sure it is legally binding. There would be very few I would not set up because I want the sale. I would do this until I got burned one time and then I would change my philosophy. I would have people I don't know very well fill out the fancy paperwork and also have a lawyer review it to ensure it is legally binding. Then once I was burned by a good "friend" I would have everyone fill it out because you can never tell.

So, this brings us to credit limits. Many customers don't like to have a limited amount they can spend with you until they send some money to bring the balance down. They want unlimited spending potential. As a salesman you want unlimited selling power. The more you sell the more you make. The credit department is designed to help the salesman. I know most salesmen see it as a liability, not an asset. To be a successful salesman you must understand credit. No, you probably will not be making collection calls all day or reviewing credit applications, but you do need to know the credit worthiness of the customers you wish to sell. You are the first line of defense in protecting the companies assets to unscrupulous people. Why would you want to sell to someone that will potentially burn you if that is their history? Most people will pay their bills. Some early. Some on time. Some late. Very few never pay. If a greater percentage never paid as opposed to the ones that did pay there would never be credit extended to anyone. You need to know the market and the customers so you can sell good customers. The credit limit is there as a guideline. Some credit managers use it to make sure that not too much money is at risk at anytime but to allow exceptions when deemed appropriate for that particular customer. If you, as the salesman, have a good working relationship and a proven track record to help the credit department, they will most often work with you. You must build that trust though and understand their job is to protect the company. When you go on a sales call and get the order, the customers are not usually mad at you for coming by. When the credit department calls they are not usually treated as friendly and have to listen to excuses or sob stories of why the money has not been sent in.

I have had customers call and ask for the credit limit to be raised. Sometimes I ask for it to be raised because of a large order. I may notice a volume of sales increase and see that it is appropriate to ask preemptively. When a customer calls me and asks for a credit limit increase, I try to go to bat for them. Before I do, I look at the aging report and how much they have spent. If someone has invoices over 90 days, I have to tell them why I can't do it right then. Usually they understand. I don't close the door on them, I just let them know that I need a little of their help, which is getting the invoices paid on time, so I can do my job of getting their limit raised.

A credit limit is good because it keeps salesmen mindful that part of their job is credit management.

Epoxy Grout In Oversized Holes

Regular epoxies are not designed to have more than 1/8" coverage in an anchoring environment. Why? Because it is too brittle when there is that much coverage and becomes weaker. More is not necessarily better. I have seen engineers ask for or specify an epoxy in a 2" pile hole with 3/4" rebar. I am unsure why they do it, but it really needs to be an epoxy grout when they ask for it that way. When they specify actual non shrink grout the issues I am about to address do not apply. You can buy epoxy grout or you can make your epoxy grout with an LV (Low Viscosity), MV (Medium Viscosity) or a Gel (Gels are not rated with viscosity, they are gels). To make an epoxy grout you need about 3 parts of 20/40 graded sand. You need to use kiln dried sand. It can not be regular masonry sand just sitting in a big pile on the job site. It is wet or has moisture in it that cannot be used with the epoxy. The sand helps extend the epoxy and acts as a heat sink as the epoxy is curing. Epoxies get very hot when in too thick an environment which affects their curing and ultimately their strength. When you make the epoxy grout as opposed to straight epoxy in the anchored situation you end up spending less and getting a better performing product.

Companies

I have worked for a few companies. I mentioned my little quotations on my wall. There is one that I really like by Thomas Jefferson. It is a political statement but it can actually be applied to businesses too.

"Through my study of history, I have determined most bad government comes from too much government."

That statement applies to businesses also. How many companies have you seen or worked for that create their own problems? They create too much overhead? Companies should be well run. As companies get bigger, they do need to add certain jobs or positions. It is a necessary function of getting bigger. It is not that new positions are really created. It is that you have a specific job for a person as opposed to letting someone else in the organization handle it as a double duty. When a business starts off as a very small company, the owner may be the billing clerk, receivables clerk, secretary, purchaser, human resources manager, warehouse manager, shipping clerk, forklift operator... you get my drift. But as the company gets bigger there is a need for all of those specific positions. The statement as applied to business is meant to stop too much organization. Yes, when someone owns a business, there is a responsibility to exceed the minimum standards as set forth by laws or rules. The tricky balance is to reflect and determine if it is necessary. Some things may not be.

So, the basic question is, how is your business run?

Designing, I think

I am not a computer genius. I have a fun time with them and use them for many purposes. Yesterday I bought a program that I have just been having fun with. It is Floor Plan 3D Version 8. It is a program for home design. I plotted the first house on the screen. The rooms were nice and large. A wide selection of doors were installed throughout the house. Designed the kitchen and realized after putting in the refrigerator, stove and dishwasher that there was nowhere for the sink. I kept trying to figure out where to put it. POOF. Error message. Dangit. Everything was lost. At least there was no need for me to delete it myself, the computer took care of it. Would I like to send an error report? No, I think not.

OK, on to house number two. Another fine example of my blooming architectural skills. It had a slightly different design. But the rooms were still large with high ceilings. I even made room for a kitchen sink. The master bedroom was fantastic. It had two large closets. There were also two bathrooms. Spare bedrooms were absolutely perfectly designed. I started to marvel at my work, you know, just to fine tune it a bit. The master bedroom, as beautiful as it was, had no door to get in. Dangit. POOF. Error message. Would you like to send an error report? Send. Thank you.

Now onto house three. I hit the save button so many times I think I wore out that corner of the screen, but there were no error messages. Nothing disappeared. Four hours later, after picking the colors of the walls, putting in outlets, fans, vents, a fireplace, windows, furniture and light switches, I take my virtual tour of my grand design. I hurry to get my little feet outside to enjoy the view from the picket fence. That's funny, I don't remember a gap between the ceiling height and the exterior wall. Not a big deal, I will just walk through the inside. I noticed that most of the light switches and plus seemed a little too far away from the wall and it looked like there were five in some spots. I guess it will just take more practice and no architect has to worry about me wanting their job.


I do have a better appreciation of why things seem to be wrong on plans sometimes now. I did not buy the program because I want to be an architect and this program really wouldn't even slightly prepare me for such. But it is a nice way to think and to see a project start and finish on the screen without me really messing it up in the real world.

Also, there is no real point to this story.

More Selling

One of the many things to do in sales is to increase sales from the previous years. No one is happy with doing less or the same. As a salesman, you are in charge of doing better. That is one of the reasons I like sales. If I want to make more money, I need to do better. One of the reasons there are so many people that go into sales and get out quickly is that you have to manage the person that is most difficult to manage, yourself. You must manage your time and work. Typically you don't have anyone tell you that you have to be at the office at a certain time and then punch out at the end of the day. You have to work, on your own. You will be measured each year whether or not you increase sales. So, each year you have to get better at what you do. That is very tough for people that can't manage themselves. Yes, there are benefits to the profession of selling. When you are at lunch or breakfast with a customer and they let you know that they need to go to or back to work, you can let them know that you are working, even during lunch. So, why would they want to stop a person from working?


Another thing about sales is that you have to learn who you are. Believe it or not, the better you understand yourself, the better you will do. Try to understand who you are at the core. There are many types of personalities in sales. Why would there be only one type of personality of salesman? Customers are different and salesmen are different. To really succeed, understand who you are. One of the little sayings that I have on my wall is by, I believe, Thomas Jefferson, and states "Do not prostitute self-respect in an attempt to get people to like you."


I had forgotten about mentioning all the little quotation gems I have on my wall until it was suggested to me by my boss. I had to say "boss" because he enjoys that term so much. Jim really doesn't like that term, but I use it. I mean, why would I change who I am?

A look back

The old year ends and the new year starts. This is always the time to reflect on the past and look to the future. I looked at the clouds over the weekend and reflected. I thought about what the clouds would look like if they were designed by one of us. Clouds are random and always changing. It appears that there are no set shapes. Would we design them with hard 90 degree edges or would we have them with nice radiuses? I saw them as perfect with all the randomness that they offered. I also saw them as a type of reflection to job and life. How many times have you had a building go up with all the little problems that occur? When the job is over, you look back and see that the building is just what it is supposed to be. Life is like that. I attached a picture of clouds from my mother's blog.