Light At The End Of The Tunnel…
Today I came across an article from the publisher of Surface & Panel magazine titled, “Better Times Ahead,” that I found quite refreshing and worthy of passing along. According to the article, “June 30th is the official bottom of the housing market! From that point forward the housing industry will begin climbing, slowly at first, but accelerating in the last half of 2009 and through 2010.”
Builder confidence is on the rise, and according to the latest index from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), March was up five percentage points, which is the highest it has been since October 2008. First time home buyers are eligible to receive an $8000 tax credit, and interests rates are extremely afforable, so if you’ve been on the fence about buying, it is time to act.
While the stock market generally predicts economic conditions, and has in fact risen 25% from its low, we also need the housing and remodeling market to improve to get the economy rolling again. Thankfully, there are finally signs that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Thanks for reading!
Barb
Posted in Business, Industry News on May 12th, 2009 by Barb | | 2 Comments
Have You Jumped On The Social Networking Bandwagon?
Most businesses have used networking to help grow their business, at one time or another. While networking groups, trade shows and word of mouth, have been part of traditional business networking, with the explosion of the Internet, social networking has also become popular and its growing at an incredible rate.
So what exactly is social networking? According to the search engine Technorati, “Today’s social networks are the Internet-powered relationship engines of the twenty first century. Popular sites like Facebook, My Space, and Linked In are all examples. These services specialize in facilitating connections between people who share similar interests or professional pursuits.” While My Space and Facebook originally attracted college and high school students, they now have become mainstream and are attracting large audiences of people and literally millions of users. Linked In is a business oriented social networking site that basically works as a public resume of yourself, or business and allows users to list details and provide trusted contact connections.
So why should I jump on the social networking bandwagon some might ask? I may date myself a bit here, but do you remember that annoying, shampoo commercial of the 1970′s (Faberge Organic Shampoo)? It always ended with, “…and she’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on and so on.” Well-that is basically how social networking works. The more contacts you make, the better, and the good news is that you can look at other peoples friends, or contacts, and discover that you may know someone they know.
I have to admit, I was a little leary about all of this “social networking stuff” at first. I know from experience with my college kids, that you can spend an incredible amount of time connecting with friends, etc. I also wasn’t sure I wanted to put my personal information “out there” for people to see, but realized quickly I’ve already been posting both personal and business information on the PGC blog site for two years now. I figured it was time to take the next step. I’d received several invitations to join Linked In, and Facebook, and thought…”Why not join this social networking phenomenon and grow our business at the same time?”
For now, you can find me on Linked In, and Facebook, where I’ve already connected to family, some high school and college friends, as well as made some business connections. How about you? Are you building your on-line networking community?
Thanks for reading!
Barb
Posted in Business, Marketing on April 14th, 2009 by Barb | | 0 Comments
2009 Minneapolis Home & Garden Show
This was PGC’s inaugural year at the Minneapolis Home & Garden Show, as well as the show’s 75th year. The show ran from Wednesday, March 4th – Sunday, March 8th, and it was a great success. We displayed a piece of Golden Noir granite that was a show stopper. I cannot tell you how many people stopped by our booth just to admire it and jot down the name.
Below are some photos from the show:
Feel free to share…
Angie
Posted in Business, Company, Granite on March 10th, 2009 by Angie | | 0 Comments
Truly Unethical Practices!
This past Sunday afternoon, my boyfriend and I went to Mongo’s Grill in Maple Grove for lunch. It was fantastic by the way, but on the way out of the restaurant, I noticed a sign outside the door of one of PGC’s “competitor’s.” It said “$19.00/SF (square foot) installation & fabrication” through the end of February. Well, of course this sparked my interest, as I know it is IMPOSSIBLE to provide quality, custom granite countertops at that cost.
I went inside and asked the saleswoman what was included with the $19/SF charge. She explained that was just the cost of fabrication and installation, and there would be additional charges for material cost. For example, some of the materials were labeled at $39/SF (yep, that is one of the places it comes from Barb), in addition to the $19/SF fabrication and installation charge, that brings you to $58/SF. While I was there, another customer came into the showroom and I did not get the chance to ask if that included measure and delivery? Does it include backsplash? What about sink cutouts/cooktop preps? If not, I can only assume that would add an additional $10-$20/SF onto the price.
It is really unfortunate that tactics like this are allowed, as it is deceiving and some might argue, severely unethical. At PGC our pricing per SF always includes, material, measuring, fabrication, delivery and installation. When requested, backsplash is always included, if not, it is optioned. We put it all up front initially on the proposal to make sure the customer knows exactly what they are getting. We do not believe in “hidden costs.”
It is apparent that this “competitor” is taking advantage of the consumer and their pocketbooks. While PGC does not claim to be “the cheapest,” our goal is to be ”the best”. We will not knowingly mislead the customer just to get them in the door, but once they are in the door, we know they will be impressed and excited about the customer service and quality they receive from start to finish.
Feel free to share…
Angie
Posted in Business, Company, Granite, Industry News on February 24th, 2009 by Angie | | 0 Comments
Be Happy—Watch Less TV!
I’ve mentioned this before, but with all the negative news these days, I just don’t watch that much TV. Frankly, it can be down-right depressing. You can be in the middle of a show, or movie, that you are enjoying, when all of a sudden, here comes that trailer from the local news channel… “More bad news for the economy at 10:00!” Yikes!
So how is it that some people just seem to be happy, no matter what the circumstances? Well according to, “What Happy People Don’t Do“, an article published in the November 19, 2008, New York Times, by Roni Caryn Rabin, “Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television a new study finds.” The study looked at what activities happy people do instead of just demographic factors like many other studies on happiness.
I don’t know about you, but I am truly looking forward to the holidays this year, socializing with family and friends. I can’t think of a better way to forget many of lifes problems.
Why not do yourself a favor this Thanksgiving and holiday season…watch less TV and enjoy the company of family, friends, and all those dear to you. You will be glad you did!
Thanks for reading!
Barb
Posted in Business, Uncategorized on November 25th, 2008 by Barb | | 0 Comments
