PA Refinishing & Restoration: Volume 6, Issue 25 (Repost)

In the fields of furniture restoration and touch-up, it's nice to have more: more colors, more ways to accomplish the job, more coffee breaks just checking to see if you are paying attention!, and more stuff--what ever the stuff may be--to make the job go better. One of commedian George Carlin's most famous routines involves "stuff". The more we have, the more storage containers we need to buy to put it in, and the bigger the house we need to store those in, etc.

Applying more finish may indeed protect the furniture against wear and tear but too much finish--can take away from the clarity of the wood grain. And, every coat of finish applied runs the additional risk of reacting with contaminents ranging from chemical to organic (human hair or house flies). Some finishers like to use additives such as Fish-Eye Eliminator or Lacquer Retarder as insurance against bad finishing reactions. Using too much of any of these too often does more harm than good. A really good insurance policy is to read the label more often to see if you are really following the recommendations. In many cases, less is more.

Doing a touch-up often means working on an area where color has been scraped or worn off. Finding the right color to fill in is extremely helpful. However, here again, less is more. Application of too much of the "right" color can actually make it appear too dark. One rule of thumb is to add color gradually. Once it's dry, you can always darken it more if you need to, but once you get it too dark, you may have to start the touch-up over--or worse yet, refinish the whole piece! A little restraint may take more time initially but will save you time in the long run.

PA Refinishing & Restoration: Volume 6, Issue 26 (Repost)

by Paul Smith

Instant communication can be a great thing. Sometimes, it can save a life. On a more day-to-day basis, it can provide comparison shoppers with the data they need to get the best price on whatever they are buying. All of this, of course, assumes that the instant information obtained is correct.

As a proprietor of a furniture touch-up and restoration products business with an online presence, I am very aware of others in the same business, peddling the same or similar items. As much as I would like to believe that my outlet serves customers the best, more than a few end up at other sources when they decide to buy. Because I want as many of them to stay with Moffitt-Smith, my online business, I make a point of searching around the internet to see who else is selling the same stuff, how much they are charging, and what the online experince is like. I do the same analysis on my website, trying to be as objective as possible. If I see something I like on another site, I might ask if that can be applied to Moffitt-Smith. If I see something that I dislike, I'll look at my site and see if that same problem could exist there. Every webmaster (or website editor) should constantly be on the lookout for improvements to their own sites. After all, a positive experience on the internet encourages the customer to order online again at your site, my site, and others. A negative experience, on the other hand, can do great damage to all online merchants.

What can cause a bad experience on the internet? The obvious answers usually involve being the victim of fraud--or your computer screen becoming a rotating billboard for unsolicited products! Less obvious to many online merchants--and web designers--is incorrect information can leave a bad impression on the source as well as as the subject of the material.

On a recent search for sources of touch-up sticks, I came across a "Student Touch-up Kit" with a variety of fill sticks, burn-in sticks, and touch-up markers. The seller had apparently attented a Mohawk Touch-up seminar and had five "hardly even used" sets for sale at what was promised to be less than Mohawk's regular price and "much less" than what the distributors would charge. In fact, her price was less for her slightly used product than what you would pay for new (big surprise!) However, the comments below from previous buyers indicated disappointment in the color selection. The seller's response to one was to say that you could see the selection on the picture (the set was in a clear plastic bag). No mention was made of a refund or exchange offer. Even before the sale was made, the potential buyer was told that this selection was the best available and if it were purchased anywhere else, the buyer would be paying too much. In effect, the seller damaged not only her own crediblity but all of those who sell Mohawk touch-up supplies--maybe even all touch-up supply sellers. At the very least, these buyers will think twice before buying online again.

To set the record straight, I invite you to go to the Mohawk Finishing Products Website and click on "find a distributor". There, you will see many potential sources of restoration supplies, each with their own product selection (not all are Mohawk) and their own prices. I have not seen one website among these that makes wild claims about other sources. They simply describe the product and let you make your own conclusions.

If price is the primary factor, you can use a price comparision service such as Froogle. Provided that what you are looking for is listed, you can see a list of various suppliers and make a choice based on price and service. If your search takes you to resellers like the one I described earlier, I'd advise you to read the comments from previous buyers. Yes, instant communication can be a great thing!

PA Refinishing & Restoration: Volume 6, Issue 27 (Repost)

The ABC's of HAPs and VOC

by Paul Smith

Regulations, by their nature, are divisive. Everytime we hear about a new one we either, (a) embrace it as a much-needed protection for us/our ethnicity/our religion/our environment or, (b) condemn it as an intrusion to us/our freedom/our rights/our business. The truth is, every regulation ever written is both.

When it comes to envirionmental regulations, California leads the United States in the enacting most of the well-known laws governing environmental issues. This is no accident. Since the 1970's, when Los Angeles routinely led the nation in smog levels--mostly attributed to automobile emissions--California has had to find a way to make breathing a little easier. By legislating tougher emission standards in cars allowed to be sold in California, they did two things: They (1) put pressure on our national Environmental Protection Agency to tighen its standards on all cars sold in the USA and (2) put the automakers in the position of either selling two lines of cars--with the lower emission ones being sold to California residents--or tightening the already tighter EPA imposed standards to meet all cars sold in the US. Over time, the second choice became much more reasonable. It was much more efficient to produce one level of emissions standards
on each car model just as it's much easier to stack plates in your cupboard at home if they are all the same size.

Over the last decade, environmental regulations have tightened on many restoration products. HAPS, which stands for Hazardous Air Pollutants, is a regulatory standard applied to air quality. VOC compliance also addresses environmental concerns and applies to lacquers and other finishes. Some states, including Pennsylvania, have offered an even more stringent VOC standard. see PA Code Chapter 130, Title 611 Even so, California has led the nation in environmental standards for restoration products as they have in many issues pertaining to clean air, water, and soil. Like auto manufacturers, restoration products manufacturers have had to choose to upgrade their product compliance or not sell them to California.

With the New England and Mid-Atlantic states becoming the next hotbed of environmental regulations, the strategy of not selling certain products to California will be short-lived. In time, federal regulations will catch-up, forcing formulatic changes to many restoration products that have not yet changed. Already, larger manufacturers, such as Mohawk Finishing Products, have changed formulas to make them more VOC compliant with mixed results. Of course, the products successfully met the standards but, in some cases, the coloration was slightly different and/or the usage was restricted in a different way.

In the 1990's, independent family-owned manufacturers, like Restorco/Kwick Kleen, joined the larger manufacurers in introducing HAPs compliant finishes alongside traditional ones to give customers the best of both worlds. It is likely that the environmentally friendly ones will eventually eclipse the others as more attention is focused on environmental issues. For this reason, users of finishing products should check the labels for the three-letter listings of VOC and HAP and if they do not see them yet, keep a lookout for newer variations that will meet these standards. Becoming familiar with this new generation of restoration products now--before the old generation disappears--will ensure a smoother transition for finishing technicians and a big step in the right direction for environmental protection.

PA Refinishing & Restoration: Volume 6, Issue 28

Credibility and Customer Service

by Paul Smith

The Summer of 2006 has brought us more than our share of credibility gaps in what newsmakers say and do. Tom Cruise, already under fire because of his very public condemnation of anything that is not Scientology, claims that he opted not to renew his contract with Paramount. Sumner Redstone, head of Viacom—which owns Paramount, claims that Cruise was fired because his controversial public persona was costing Paramount millions of dollars. With the obvious bias on both sides, credibility will play a role in how well Paramount, and other studios, will be perceived by the public and how Cruise and other public figures, will be graded for their public behavior. Mel Gibson made a bad situation (drunk driving) worse by spilling out anti-Semitic slurs. His later apology to Jewish leaders lacked credibility because of his history of questionable views of Jews. Israel, in an epic struggle to remain in existence in the volatile Middle East, has suffered in credibility because some of their “defensive” actions appear to many in the region—and some in other parts of the world—as callously offensive. These and the usual partisan political fights underway in the United States this election year would make even Pollyanna skeptical. But there’s more…

John Mark Karr, who confessed to "accidentally" killing Jon Bonet Ramsey in 1996, had a credibility gap from the start because of his previous convictions relating to child porn. Somehow, though, many people, myself included, believed that he was the killer. Channel 9 News in Denver Colorado, http://www.9news.com/ was early in confirming that DNA evidence showed that Karr could not be the killer in question. Channel 9 confirmed two sources before they broke the news. Their cautious approach on this story gives them credibility and trumps the credibility of John Mark Karr's confession.

Of course whether or not someone is credible can be debated and, in the end, not everyone agrees. When Floyd Landis, original winner of this years Tour De France race, tested positive for banned substances twice, his title was stripped by race officials. Christian Prudhomme, who is the Tour De France Race Director, concluded that Floyd Landis was "no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour De France." Family and friends in Landis' home town in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, saw things differently. To many locals, his years of credibility in the community overruled any possibility of doping.

So...what do Cruise, Redstone, Karr, Gibson, Landis, Prudhomme, Israel, and Channel 9 News have to do with customer service? Well, they could be viewed as poster children for how businesses are viewed by their customers and potential customers.

(1) If your reputation is reprehensible, you would have a difficult time selling food to a starving person. Almost nobody would want to do business with someone who has a reputation comparable with John Mark Karr.

(2) If your reputation is stellar, and you make a real or perceived mistake, customers will give you a chance to redeem yourself. As long as you follow through, your reputation is preserved. Floyd Landis is still a source of pride for many in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the United States as a whole. As long as no other similar incidents come to light, he will still be trusted by many locals.

(3) If your reputation is subject to your last known deed, you will be kept very busy keeping customer trust. Some business's are judged for the field they are in rather than how they perform individually. Channel 9 News may be suspect in their coverage of the Jon Bonet Ramsey story because of the public perception that "news hounds" just want the "scoop" no matter how accurate it is. This is one reason that they, and many other news outlets, have to take extra steps to ensure that the news sources are credible and can be verified independently.

(4) If your reputation is derived from being a leader in your field or area of expertise, you will be able to do almost whatever you want (that is legal) as long as you are the undisputed leader in that area. Tour De France officials made their ruling with little concern for public opinion--except maybe the French public. Full disclosure, I’m part French but all American. In the long run, however, public opinion will shape whether or not the said leader is to maintain that position, regardless of whether or not public assumptions are true.

The singular lesson in points 2, 3, and 4 is the importance of earning customer confidence every day. Taking an unpopular stand based on convictions may be admirable but be careful to allow your customer to stand with you. Taking a position based on indifference can be costly to future business. Taking a confrontational position with your "difficult" customer is unforgivable.

Everyone in customer service, me included, has made the mistake of prejudging the customer's objection as being unreasonable or too much trouble to rectify. To paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara, tomorrow is another day. What you do today will determine what kind of day tomorrow will become.