You've read about proper sales calls; now listen to them live

As the editors and I conducted interviews for the January 2010 forecast issue of Glass Magazine, we spoke with a number of glass company execs about their plans to remain profitable in what forecasters predict will be a challenging year ahead. Several themes emerged, among them: cutting costs, diversifying product and service offerings, and extending marketing efforts.

We found that the economic downturn has spurred many companies to revisit their sales strategies as they seek out new customers. With this in mind, we are running a two-part series on outbound sales calls in Glass Magazine.

In addition to the written articles, available here and in the upcoming February 2010 issue, we've partnered with ContactPoint to introduce an interactive format on GlassMagazine.com that allows you to listen to examples of good and bad sales calls.

Here is one example of a sales rep effectively gathering information about potential future jobs.

Example 4: Identifying additional job opportunities

For more examples, click here. If you have recordings you'd like to share, please send them to jchase@glass.org.

—By Jenni Chase, Editor, Glass Magazine

Still seeing green after Greenbuild

It’s been more than three weeks since I returned from the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Phoenix, but the green dust certainly hasn’t settled. Maybe it’s all the press coverage about President Obama’s upcoming visit to the climate summit in Copenhagen, or maybe it’s the news that my alma mater was just named America’s Greenest Campus (Let’s go Maryland! *clap* *clap*), but I just keep thinking efficiency and seeing sustainability. And not even hacked e-mails and re-invigorated global warming skeptics can rain on my green parade.

While we (“we” being that universal we, meaning you, me, the lamppost, the industry, the nation, the world) still have a long way to go, I can’t help feeling excited and motivated about the environmental and energy-conscious strides that we have taken, particularly in the construction industry, just in the last decade.

These strides were made very apparent during a conversation I had at Greenbuild with Eddie Bugg, director of sustainable solutions, Kawneer Co., Norcross, Ga., about how the industry has “greened.” Kawneer has been involved with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Greenbuild conference since its inception, Bugg said. “We’ve been here since there were only early adopters. When USGBC hosted the first conference, we were there, with a card table and a couple of table-top samples.”

According to the conference catalog, the first Greenbuild was held in Austin, Texas, in 2002, and hosted a little more than 4,000 people. “Back then, we were an emerging movement, a collection of dedicated, passionate people who knew we were coming together around a good idea,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the USGBC, in the catalog. Attendance topped 27,000 at the recent Phoenix Greenbuild.

“Year after year, the number of exhibitors and attendees grows,” Bugg said. “This used to be considered a niche market. People weren’t sure it would stay around. During the last two years, it’s become evident that green is mainstream. … The direction that architects are going, the direction that the building industry is going, it is right in line with where Greenbuild is going.”

The mainstreaming of the green movement was emphasized by the USGBC’s theme for this year’s Greenbuild, Main Street Green: Connect to the Conversation. Hopefully we’re now at the point where individuals and companies have to decide to get on board or get out of the way. And from the large number of glass and glazing companies on the Greenbuild floor—about 100 by my count—it looks like the industry is getting on board.

Read more coverage from Greenbuild.

--By Katy Devlin, commercial glass & metals editor

Arch files for bankruptcy. What’s next?

One of the big names in aluminum storefront and glass fabrication tripped last week: Arch Aluminum and Glass Co. filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Nov. 25, with the Southern District of Florida U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Court documents list the fabricator's assets at $0-$100,000, with $100MM-$500MM in liabilities, according to TrollerBk.com. The filing does not include Arch's Canadian holdings or Trulite.

Trouble had been brewing at the company for awhile. Arch had 28 facilities in 17 states and 2,400 employees, but in October announced it was "selectively closing or temporarily shuttering" facilities in: Kansas City; Rogers, Minn.; Nashville; and Sarasota, Fla.

According to a South Florida Business Journal report on Nov. 30, “The company said in a news release it would sell all assets to an affiliate of Grey Mountain Partners LLC (“GMP”), a leading private equity firm in Boulder, Colo. The company said it would seek approval for an expedited auction process with the GMP agreement as a so-called “stalking horse” bid, but it did not immediately disclose the bid amount.”

In an interview with Glass Magazine, Leon Silverstein, president and CEO of Arch, said: "It was the size and fall of the economy that caught everybody off guard. With sales down in excess of 20 percent, it is much harder to manage through."

The primary problem was not being able to restructure debt, Silverstein said. "We have a syndicated loan of seven banks. Just think about trying to get seven people to do something. And with the problems the banks have, with the regulators up their rear end, it’s just hard to do things."

What does Arch’s bankruptcy signify to the industry? In particular, to the commercial glazing sector?

At McGraw Hill Construction’s Outlook 2010 Conference Oct. 15-16, Robert Murray, vice president, economic affairs, McGraw Hill Construction, New York, said that the value of new construction starts in 2009 was estimated at $419 billion, a 25 percent decline that follows shortfalls of 13 percent in 2008 and 7 percent in 2007. The level of construction starts in 2010 is expected to climb 11 percent to $466.2 billion, he said. Read story.

However, commercial building construction is not out of the woods yet. Bankers are still tightening lending standards and affecting projects, Murray said. The recovery in commercial construction has been pushed back to 2011 at the earliest, assuming that credit markets continue to improve and lending conditions become more accommodative, according to the Construction Outlook 2010 report.

Max Perilstein, Arch's vice president of marketing, pegged commercial glass industry's recovery even further back. On Nov. 19, he wrote in his blog: “Some analysts see the commercial glass industry struggling until … get this … 2013! Seriously that was a prediction and the first I have seen that has not shown the uptick coming by the end of 2010. Just typing this boggles my mind, but we’ve had such a solid run for a long time, you just can’t fathom that some of the tough times could continue that long.”

What is your take on the market? Will more major players falter before we go on the upswing again?

—By Sahely Mukerji, Senior editor, Glass Magazine