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/