Posted Date: 01/30/2011
The last two weeks of December are always slow for the fastener business and I think it continued into the first two weeks of January 2011. At the AFJ office we have been very busy again as the first quarter of the year is always busy with getting out the January/February issue of the American Fastener Journal, The WINTER issue of the Aerospace Fasteners eZine and the Annual American Fastener Source Guide 2011, America’s true fastener Buyer’s Guide for fastener distributors.
Right is line is the March/April issue of the AFJ is coming out with all the information about the National Industrial Fastener & Mill Expo trade show in April. We have fastener speakers, fastener training programs and a plant tour of the brand new METRIC FASTENER distribution warehouse for fastener distributors only. Attendance is limited to 50 distributors ONLY! Sign up early if you are a distributor.
Talking about the Aerospace Fastener Ezine, it was our largest issue ever and we received our greatest response ever. When 48 hours of the broadcast email, we received over 200 new readers signing up for the FREE electronic magazine, and he hasn’t slowed down very much since. We are excited about this publication and have already started to line company profile stories along with technical articles which have really gotten the attention of the readership. Next issue SPRING will be emailed in April.
THE WEEK BEFORE:
I went to two major trade shows in Las Vegas, The World of Concrete to learn more about anchors and anchoring devices as we are expanding the construction fastener section of the American Fastener Source Guide 2011 this year. The second show was The SHOT Show for outdoors sports. I had written a few articles in the past about shotguns and the clay target sports so I wanted to visit with some editors and honestly look at some of the new shotguns coming out of Europe. A Fastener Industry Sporting Clay Tournament in Las Vegas is something to think about for the future. The AFJ would be a sponsor! The SHOT Show is held in the Sands Convention Hall, the same hall the National Industrial Fastener & Mill Expo Show/WEST will be held this coming October. It will satisfy all exhibitors and attendees I believe. There are also several bars in restaurant row that will satisfy the “round bar” meeting place for the industry. It will be the best and largest fastener trade show we have ever held in Las Vegas….period!
LAW SUIT REPORTING:
I hate lawsuits involving the fastener industry. I don’t think; I know both sides lose; only the attorneys win! I love the fastener industry and have always tried to put a positive side or twist to it. Sometimes I write an article or make a comment with only in mind to motivate and get some people in the industry to get up off their ass and do something about it to improve our industry.
So when people ask me why I don’t post a news item about say the recent Fastenal Case, I simply state that it is my policy that I no longer post news items about fastener lawsuits. It’s a negative on our industry! I’ll be criticized about this policy by some, but with over a billion dollars in fastener lawsuits going on all the time I couldn’t possibly cover them all and don’t want to. My time is better spent finding good informational fastener news and new fastener product releases.FASTENAL AWARDS:
At the recent Fastenal Meeting a few fastener companies were recognized for the superior service to Fastenal: Suppliers of the year awards went to: XL Screw, Micro Plastics, NSPA and Androck. Diamond Marketing Partners included 3M, ITW Buildex, Danaher and Loctite.
The long list of Marketing Partners included 46 other fastener companies. For greater and more details check out the Fastenal website www.fastenal.com.WEBSITES:
Speaking of checking out websites, I have a few comments here. I spend a large part of my day on the internet reviewing fastener websites. What really frustrates me is the lack of thought the website designer puts into making it easy for a customer or more important a potential customer to contact the company. I’ve heard all the crap about security, spam, phishing and so-forth. All of these potential problems can be designed around. When a website designer chooses to use “sales” @ or “info”@ they might be thinking of security issues, but in reality they might very well be losing an opportunity for the company to gain a new customer. The web designer that adds a job description, title, a picture of the person and even a phone extension if available puts that company years ahead of his competition. With all this talk about “Social Media” with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, why not use these ideas and make it a whole lot easier to do business with a supplier. Bottom line, make it easy for people to come to your website and find the person they would like to talk to about business. As the owner of your company, you make the decision on what you want your website to do, not some website designer that doesn’t know the first thing about fasteners. Final thought, make it easy for potential customer to contact you by having your address clearly displayed on your website. This is not a game of hide and seek, it is serious business.
MARKETING IDEA:
At The SHOT Show I came across a company that I thought had a product that might be a clever and attractive way to label some specific types of fasteners or packages. They design very colorful Elastic Hang Tags that could be used on threaded rod, studs, special designed fasteners (large diameter) and packages. Let your imagination go to work. Contact Bedford Industries at 1659 Rowe Avenue, P.O. Box 39, Worthington MN 56187-0039 Phone 507-376-4136 or www.bedfordind.com. Good luck and I think you can easily make your packaging more attractive.
PHONES:
Speaking of websites, let’s talk a little bit about phone calls…
Read full article on the given date in the news section via American Fastener Journal.