TS –

Congratulations again on your ten years in the fastener blogging business! Hard to believe, but I have another decade milestone to announce, and that’s the launch of the FCH Sourcing Network. That’s right, Brian and I set out on our predominantly fastener-related journey ten years ago today.

Who would have thought it would take us where it has, much less coincide so closely with the launch of your blog? But it’s true.

We’d been in business together for about eight years, doing web application consulting work, and doing pretty well. We stumbled into a fastener project, thought our approach to presenting fastener data online could bring value to the industry, and the rest is history.

When the website, www.FastenersClearingHouse.com was first launched, it was dedicated to slow moving and odd-lot inventory. The scope quickly widened, and we re-branded it FCH Sourcing Network. Today, over 1.3 million listings from distributors across North America are available through FCH, and the network is accessed by over 12 hundred unique users every business day. We’ve gotten to know so many great people as a result of our business, and it’s become our main focus.

Again, who would have thunk it?

As I considered all of this and looked back at the News page on our website, I went all the way back to 2007 where there is a story that appeared in Link Magazine. It describes our vision at the time, and it’s encouraging to see how far we’ve come since then, and how much of our vision has come true.

You can see the story here:

http://www.fastenersclearinghouse.com/fch/main.nsf/link_fch_story.pdf?OpenFileResource

Many of your readers are frequent users, and network members. To them, Brian and I offer our great thanks and appreciation.

Like you, we feel grateful for the friends we’ve made and the experiences we’ve had as a result of our work in the fastener industry during the past ten years. We also look forward to the next stage of development of FCH. We have lots of big plans for the network, and we hope they make a positive impact on this industry that we’ve come to call home.

All the best to you and your readers,

Brian & Eric

FCH Sourcing Network

Today is the 10th anniversary of this blog site.  I should have prepared some kind of great historical post reminiscing about how things have changed over the last 10 years.  I should probably be dropping names (Andy Pels, Eric Dudas, Daniel, Rivalin, Mike McGuire) of people who supported my early efforts on this site, but I didn’t really prepare that either.  And I do not have a list of all the names of companies that were in the fastener business 10 year ago that no longer are in business today – but all those ideas did cross my mind.  No, instead I spent Sunday working in a booth at the Do-It-Best show with Ross Shepard and I got home late last night.  I did make one really good contact which I will write about soon, but otherwise I just got home and checked on my fantasy football team and went to bed.  However, today has been a productive day.  I finally delivered a good number of Hall of Fame bricks to the IFI building where Rob Harris has agreed to ship them out to the people or family members of several past HOF inductees.  Thank you Rob for doing that.

And thanks to anyone who has read this blog over the last 10 years.  Originally, I thought it might be a site where people respond and interact, but that has never really developed.  For the most part, I write something and nobody says anything much.  But I got past that several years ago and all is good.  On the other hand, I regularly get contacted by people from throughout the fastener industry who read the blog and seem to mostly enjoy it.

One request I have on this anniversary (if you have read this far) is please respond to this post with the city, state or country where you are located.      You don’t even have to use your real name.  Make one up or use your real name.  The day I post I get a lot of hits but then over the next week I see more and more people reading. Over the course of a week, the post gets read by quite a few people, depending upon the topic.   So, do me that small favor and feed my curiosity and let me know how far this reaches by posting your location.  And again, thanks for reading.

TS

I just read on Twitter…”Houston Wire & Cable Acquires Vertex Distribution”.  This was reported by Global Fastener News.  Funny, that’s how I hear big news these days…through Twitter.  Seems like a good time to post the following piece about communications within the fastener industry.

Next Monday will mark the 10 year anniversary of Fastenerblog.com.  I dug up the first post and it is shown below.  I’ve got to laugh as the first line discusses industry consolidation…and I just wrote about that two posts ago!  Either I’m just recycling old material or things haven’t changed all that much.  But they have.  More on that next time.  And, on a side note, I can no longer claim I have ANY kids under 20.  And, what happened to “My Space”?

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Fastener Industry Future

We have all seen consolidations, companies close their doors. We’ve seen an influx of fasteners from China and India and many other countries. We have seen online ordering, we see high tech warehousing all across the country. But…..where do we go to discuss the evolution of our industry with other people from our industry?? Welcome to Fastenerblog!

I’m not sure what this site can accomplish. Perhaps distributors across the country can discuss sources for products both domestic and overseas. Maybe someone moving across the country can do some job searching on the site. Maybe a company can discover some marketing insights by linking up with other bloggers. All I know is I have kids under the age of 20 and they all have blogs and “My Space” pages and “Face Book” accounts and I thought….why not us? The bolts and nuts people.

So, welcome the Fastenerblog. Please leave a note and let’s see where we go from here!

posted by Traveling Salesman @ 8:20 PM

For those of you who are not familiar with the Old Rusty Bolt story,  I live near an establishment where I can brew my own beer.     In order to take the beer off the premises, it is legally necessary to have a label on the beer so I designed a label and called it “Old Rusty Bolt”.  The first time I did it was years ago and I produced more than I could consume before it would get too old.  I ended up giving a good amount of the first batch away to customers, suppliers and friends from the fastener industry.  A lot of people seemed to really enjoy it (Allan & Greg from Jay-Cee Sales, to name a few) so I made more and gave much of it away too.  I gave some to Eric Dudas of Fasteners Clearing House (www.fastenersclearinghouse.com)  and Fully Threaded Radio (www.fullythreaded.com) and soon after that he told me that he wanted to make absolutely sure I listened to the next Fully Threaded episode.  He said there was a surprise for me on the podcast.  Eric wrote and performed the first and only Old Rusty Bolt jingle.  You can listen to the jingle on the link below if you have not already heard it on Fully Threaded Radio.

From there, the story of Old Rusty Bolt has grown.  I shared some ORB with Larry Kelly of Buckeye Fasteners (www.buckeyefasteners.com) and soon found out that Larry was a true beer aficionado – a real lover of beer.  Not only did Larry tell me enjoyed the beer but he said he wanted to serve Old Rusty Bolt at the Buckeye Fastener booth at the Vegas Fastener Show.  For the last several years, Buckeye Fasteners has served Old Rusty Bolt beer at their booth and they have even developed two ORB commercials that are played on episodes of Fully Threaded Radio  (see links below to listen to their commercials broadcast on Fully Threaded Radio).  I cannot thank Eric and Larry enough for their support and enthusiasm about beer.

Special Request:

Stop by the Buckeye Fasteners booth at the Vegas Fastener Show and join Larry and the gang for a cold, frosty Old Rusty Bolt.  Their booth number is 840 and the beer should start flowing right around noon on Wednesday, October 26, the first day of the show.  And one last thing…when you have your glass full of  Old Rusty Bolt please take a selfie or have someone snap your picture and post it on Twitter using this hashtag:  #oldrustybolt

After the show, we will add your picture to the fastenerblog media page (see tab above).

Old Rusty Bolt jingle from Fully Threaded Radio:  (press to play!)

Buckeye Fasteners Commercial from Fully Threaded Radio

2nd Buckeye Fasteners Commercial from Fully Threaded Radio

Keep it flowin’, Hoss.  And tell ’em Old Rusty sent ya!

“Italy’s Agrati Acquires Continental-Midland”

“LoneStar Group Acquires AmeriBolt”

“PennEngineering Acquires Heyco”

“Steel Dynamics Acquires Vulcan”

“All Integrated Solution Acquires Great Lakes Fastener”

All of these headlines have been published since July!!  It seems like we are hitting another one of those periods where there are a multiple fastener company acquisitions.  It almost seems like a race.  There are several companies (and holding companies) looking to grow through acquisition and only so many companies for sale at a given time.  At least at the right price.  Companies looking to make acquisitions have to have their finger on the industry pulse,  vigilantly scouring the fastener landscape looking for that next owner or company looking for an exit strategy.

Some larger companies have openly discussed their desire to grow by acquisition.  Wurth acquired both DMB and House of Threads earlier in the year and I would expect they are looking for additional companies to buy, if the fit is right.  They seemed to say as much on Fully Threaded Radio. I know many companies are still looking and it would not surprise me at all to hear about more acquisition activity before the Vegas Fastener Show.

One other headline that surprised me was the one that said Rockford Products was closing.  There was an article in Global Fastener News regarding the closing and one line in particular caught my eye –

“I would say their biggest problem was probably mismanagement not having somebody or the right leadership in position to run the company profitably,” Rockford Area Economic Development Council VP of Development Stacy Bernardi told local TV station WREX.  As the article stated, Rockford was also a fastener company acquired by a holding company.  Also from the GFN article –  The cold-formed fastener manufacturer was acquired in 2007 for $23.2 million in a bankruptcy auction by Michigan-based BlackEagle Partners LLC, a private equity firm.  Subsequently BlackEagle had invested $30 million “without seeing any return on the investment” and the fastener manufacturer has defaulted on payments. The company is seeking potential buyers.  So…there’s an acquisition for somebody!

We have seen a flurry of activity before the Vegas Show other years and that always leaves us all with something to talk about in the show aisles.  I think there will be plenty of that to go around this year too.

We have a dilemma fastener friends.  I called and confirmed that the Bourbon Room is closing after September 11 and will not reopen until some time in December.  So, our usual after hours meeting place will be gone this year.  They mentioned what the new place will be but it doesn’t really matter anyways.  The show is moving out of the Sands Expo Center in 2018 so we probably would not be going to the new place once it is open anyways.

Anybody got any ideas on where might be a good place to congregate?  The outdoor bar by Harrah’s is crowded but not a bad place – weather permitting.  There is a place called the Laguna Champagne Bar in the Palazzo or Venetian, but I’m not sure they have music.

Please feel free to share ideas if you have any thoughts on this topic.

My favorite sales book is “Customer Satisfaction is Worthless – Customer Loyalty is Priceless” by Jeffrey Gitomer.  The subtitle reads, “How to make customers love you, keep them coming back and tell everyone they know”.

I’ve given this book to a dozen people.  I know one of these people read it and then bought the book for his entire department.  I’m not sure if Jeffrey Gitomer is as well known as Zig Ziegler or Tom Hopkins but I’d rate his book among the best.  According to Gitomer, Satisfaction is no longer the acceptable standard of customer service.  His book says, “Just because they’re satisfied doesn’t mean they’re loyal. Satisfied customers will buy from anyone.”  His book proceeds to give countless examples of how you can offer exceptional customer service that helps you to build loyalty with your customers.  There is a lot of comedy throughout the book and it is an easy read.  I don’t want to share too much of the book here but I’ll share a couple parts I found enlightening or entertaining.

Gitomer has a list of forbidden phrases – lines that send the wrong message to a customer and usually add fire to any argument:

• It’s our policy
• What seems to be the problem
• You should have done…
• Let me transfer you to someone who handles that

He suggests you give responses the “Grandma Test”.  If it sounds like something you wouldn’t want to say to your Grandma, then don’t say it to your customer.

• Sorry, we’re closed, Grandma
• What is this in reference to Grandma?
• It’s our policy Grandma

Gitomer kind of has a disdain for the word “policy”.  He writes, “Do you like when someone gives you ‘the policy’?  Kind of sounds like ‘the finger”.   “It’s our policy…to piss off everyone”.    What if customer service policies read like this:  “Hey, you’re in luck! – I just looked it up in the policy book and it says right here I can do everything you want, just the way you want it”.   In general, policy is written to tell you what you can’t do.

Anyways, you get the picture.  I like his book.  A lot.  So, I’m involved in a few fastener associations and from time to time I am involved in trying to set ups speakers or events for these associations.  So, while sipping some Dunkin’ Donuts coffee last Sunday morning, I went to Gitomer’s website and filled out a “speaker request” form to see how I might be able to get Mr. Gitomer to speak at a fastener event.  I mean the Fastener Training Institute is offering all kinds of technical fastener training.  I’m in sales, and I’d like to see more sales training offered.  I filled out the form, included my cell number and within a half hour I got a call — “This is Jeffrey….Jeffrey Gitomer”.

Needless to say, I was caught a bit off guard.  But I pulled it together, gathered my thoughts and explained how I was involved in an association that might like to hire him as a speaker.  He asked, “What industry?”  I proudly announced, “the fastener industry”, and then waited expectantly for him to ask me what was the fastener industry.  Instead I got, “My dad made cabinets and as a young man I installed a lot of screw into cabinetry.  Yeah, and I gave a presentation to Fastenal a while back”.  Damn, Fastenal beat me to the punch.

I’d like to hear Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales presentation.  I’d like the rest of the fastener industry to hear Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales presentation.  How about this.  Go pick up his book, read it over.  If you’re in sales or are a sales manager, I think you’ll like it.  And if you like what you’ve read get in touch with me so we can gather some resources and have him come to a fastener association gathering or trade show somewhere in the near future.  One fastener company has already done that.

This article appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Sunday, August 14, 2016.  Found it kind of shocking.  We need Russian planes to move equipment because we do not planes domestically that can handle the job.  Read on.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/08/russia_has_become_our_uber_for.html

I saw where the Fastener Distributor Index (FDI) for July slipped dramatically, coming in at 45.9 versus 50.6 in June, seasonally adjusted.   Over the last month I have had an opportunity to talk to a lot of people about how their year is going so far.  If I had to summarize, I’d say that a good number of fastener companies had sales that were 5-10% lower in 2016 than 2015.  That is a generalization, but seems to be a common sentiment.  If you are heavy into oil & gas, you might be down 30%.

The weird thing for me is that I really never expected to see such a significant drop in July.  Historically, July can be a brutal month due to vacations & summer slowdowns.  But based on what I have been hearing, I did not see such a big drop coming.

Everywhere, I hear people say they are doing a lot of quoting.  Sometimes that can be because end users are slow and they are out shopping.  But, I’m not sure that is the case here.  I have had some people say just in the last week or so that they have started to see some orders popping that have been worked on for months.  Even one guy in Oil & Gas/Mining told me his customers have really started to pick up in the last several weeks.  It would not surprise me to see the FDI have an equally strong rebound in September or October.  Don’t bet the farm, but as I said it would not shock me.

At the NFDA meeting in June, Brian Beauliu of ITR Economics said his firm was forecasting that business would pick up in the second half of 2016, regardless of who is elected president.  He also said he expects 2017 & 2018 to be much stronger and is more worried about inventory levels and staffing being adequate to handle the upcoming increase in business.  I certainly hope he is correct and this would also lead to an increase in the FDI were this to happen.

Sometimes companies are busy, but sales are not strong.  Purchasing departments are always busy.  If they are buying 1,000,000 pcs. or 1,000 pcs., buyers have to quote and buy and schedule and expedite.  Sales forces too should always be busy.  Unless you have 100% market share there is always business to go after.  And, in both purchasing and sales, you need to work hard to protect the business you have already been blessed with.  So, generally people are still working hard, they will just sleep more soundly when sales and margins increase.  Let’s hope things do improve sooner than later.

One last thing, following up on my last post, I want to direct you to take a look at the updates Fastener News Desk site.  In particular, check out the MFG Day page they have developed:

http://www.fastenernewsdesk.com/mfg-day-2016/

And, please, let them know if your company is going to participate in MFG Day this year.  They will get your name on the map and help promote your event.