By Tex Enoch, Induron Sales Rep
The first of many American Water Works Association (AWWA) Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE) Conventions occurred for me over 30 years ago in San Francisco.
Although I worked for a small, very regional, paint manufacturing company, Pennsbury Coatings, it was decided that I should participate in that meeting. Continue reading 30 Years of AWWA ACE Conventions
By Brian Wolfe, Induron Sales Rep
We’ve talked before about the meaning of value and what that looks like to us at Induron. But I really think it’s a topic worth revisiting, especially since we want to be the best value provider for coatings in our market.
Today, everybody seems to want to do more with less. We have the ability to communicate almost instantaneously. So is it realistic for us to call on design professionals we want to work with and provide each one with valuable information? Continue reading Be a Resource, not a Peddler to Add Value
By David Hood, Induron CEO
Back in the 1990s, I taught a Junior Achievement class to eighth graders at Tarrant Middle School, here in the Birmingham area. This was not the “project” many people associate with Junior Achievement, but an actual 50-minute class once a week for an entire semester with curricula offered by Junior Achievement. The regular Social Studies teacher remained in the classroom to help, but it was truly a “teaching experience” for me.
Tarrant is a “working class,” mixed-race suburb of Birmingham, and my classes consisted of boys, girls, black, white, motivated, not-motivated kids, just as you would expect. Some were from single-parent homes and some were from homes with both mom and dad. But many of them hadn’t had the advantages that other kids their age have had.
I started teaching this class not knowing what to expect, but soon found that most of these kids were bright, inquisitive and really interested in economics and “home business” (how I described balancing a checkbook, creating and sticking to a budget, paying taxes and getting and keeping a job). Continue reading The Learning Curve
I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of selling and feel that every job has some sales aspect – even if it’s just selling yourself to your boss. A teacher is selling education, a minister is selling religion, a politician is selling… well, you get my point.
I started out my sales career thinking all it took to be a good salesman was to treat your customer like you would like to be treated – the “Golden Rule” of sales. Then one day, it dawned on me that Customer Service was a big part of selling. So I started putting more emphasis on Customer Service.
Recently, I talked to a potential new customer about how great Induron’s customer service was. I felt I had made a strong presentation, but it didn’t convince the customer to switch.
Shortly after that I read an article from Alister & Paine entitled, “Do You Need a Customer Service “Spring Cleaning?” It came as a big surprise when I realized that I had at least three of the five bad customer service habits described in the article. It was a good reminder that even people who have been in this business a long time can always make improvements.
For example, probably my greatest fault during my years in sales has been that I worry too much. I worry about not getting orders shipped on time or my customer blaming our products for a failure that wasn’t our fault. This article made me realize that spending more time solving a customer’s problems – rather than worrying about things I can’t control – will make me more productive.
And that, of course, makes for happier customers.
By Tex Enoch, Induron Sales Rep
More than 40 years ago, I went to work for my father, who had just started Pennsbury Coatings Corporation, a small, family-owned coatings manufacturing company. Work was different then – no fax machines, no internet, no cell phones (some of us refer to them as “the good ol’ days”). We did business on land lines and through the Post Office. We also refined the art of the sales call. Back then, a contract was simply a hand shake.
Five years ago, I found myself unemployed and began looking for a company that represented what my father’s company stood for: a company that did what it promised, provided reliable and cutting-edge products, treated its customers like valued friends and offered its customers help if they needed it.
Induron Protective Coatings is a small, family-owned business that has allowed me to thrive in an environment that trusts its employees to work for the betterment of the company, as well as the industries that it serves. We try very hard to keep all the promises we make and never make a promise we can’t keep. It is a philosophy that serves us well. Continue reading Corporate Values – Do they still have a place in today’s business environment?
By Davies Hood, Induron President
Our Core Values here at Induron are Integrity, Respect, RELIABILTY and Innovation. I was reminded of the least referenced one of these while reading this article in “Chemical Processing.”
As industrial paint manufacturers, we are considered part of the chemical industry, not only by ourselves, but also by the U.S. government. This article begins with the statement, “Reliability improvement remains imperative for chemical makers,” and mentions two of our biggest suppliers – Air Products and Chemicals and Dow Chemicals.
At Induron, we regularly report our Cycle Count (read more about Cycle Count here), which is an internal measure of doing things correctly time after time. More accurately put, it’s a measure of reliability. We consistently score in the 0.15 – 0.25 range (the lower the better), which by all accounts is an industry outlier.
This article talks about how Air Products and Dow have both taken an inward-looking metric and turned it inside out. This places their focus more on their customers than just their internal processes, and puts reliability at the forefront.
Two comments by Wilbur Mok, Air Products vice president of North American tonnage gases, that I particularly appreciated are, “We took the best operating practices and shared them globally. So now we operate each plant the same way.” This led to Air Products “freeing up site teams to spend more time on higher value tasks, such as preventative maintenance, improvement projects and troubleshooting.” Continue reading Impacting Reliability
By Barry Peters, Induron Customer Service Manager
Induron is proud to have received the Award of Distinction as a Top 25 Customer for 2012 by Southeastern Freight Lines. This award is an acknowledgement of the amount of products shipped in 2012, which was a very good year for Induron.
But to me, what’s more important than this award is that we, as a company, get to do business with another company that shares our values. At the bottom of the award, it says, “For loyalty, character and integrity in the spirit of true partnership.” This is similar to Induron’s core values: “integrity, respect, reliability and innovation.” Continue reading Partners in Values
By John Anspach, Induron VP of Operations
I recently read an article in a coatings publication and came across the term “sustainability.” It’s quickly become a buzzword in industry – and even in personal – life. But just what does it mean?
One definition of sustainability, written about 25 years ago, is, “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Today, it has been defined as, “providing the best for people and the environment, both now and in the indefinite future.
So how can a small business contribute to sustainability without drastically affecting how it does business? One way is to look closely at how you package your products.
For example, many of our products are packaged in metal drums. Years ago, Induron chose to utilize reconditioned drums instead of new ones for our packaging. The number of reconditioned, rather than new, drums we purchased last year resulted in 115 tons of greenhouse gas (CHG) emissions NOT being released to the atmosphere. That’s more significant than most might imagine – energy “avoidance” through re-use!
This simple example demonstrates that it may not require large sacrifices to your particular process or program to contribute to “sustainability.” Just think about your current process, recognizing opportunities that could incorporate the re-use of a raw material or package in that process. Go Green!
I recently read an article entitled, “Authentic Selling: Be An Advisor”, by Marc Corsini. This article really struck a chord with me, as it represents the notion that I have always felt was the overriding philosophy here at Induron Protective Coatings. That philosophy being, that we work as “advisors” for our clients, not just “salespeople.” The Authentic Selling acronym is as follows:
Advisor
Undisputed Results
Trustworthy
Helpful
Empathetic
Natural
Thought Leader
Integrity
Collaborative Effort Continue reading Induron admits: ‘We are selfish’
Last week, I spoke about the importance of cycle count in terms of efficiency. Our numbers are consistently low, and that’s something we are especially proud of around here.
The final numbers are in, and I can say that annually, our cycle count has been at .25 or less since 2007. That’s 5 years running. So how did we get and keep our numbers so low?
I can sum it up in one word: communication.
Our paint is made great by three teams: Paint Makers in our production department, the technical folks in the lab and quality control. Internally, these departments have a genuine respect for each other’s work. They have trusted relationships that allow for feedback. Continue reading What Cycle Count Says About Teamwork
