Most of the conversations I have with our distributors this time of year always seem to start with the same question: "How did the year work out for you?" These past two years have yielded different answers than in the years previous. For a long time, most distributors would talk about growth that was consistent with their competitors.
More recently, I'm seeing that change. We have several distributors who are growing by double digit percentages and we have several that experienced the same downswing. Certainly, the distributors who had down years had other factors to deal with this year. Many local or regional dealers were hit hard by local economies and school budgets in turmoil. Consequently, dealers in "booming areas" (the few we have left at this point!) showed the natural and expected growth.
I'm hearing our distributors more now than ever stressing customer service and quick delivery as areas of focus. Separating themselves from the competition is key with less money out there to go around. Many distributors have been nice enough to send us projections so that we can work hand in hand with them to maintain proper inventory levels.
Over the past several years, we've seen an influx of "web only" dealers show up. Initially, many of these were what I call "Bedroom Lab Supply Companies". Typically, these were individuals starting a business to run in their spare time using their contacts in the industry. Things have certainly changed over the past two years. There are now several very large distributors in both the science education market and industrial/research market who have built very profitable and fast growing businesses. Instead of simply filling spare time, these companies are thriving and creating jobs at the same time. Almost all of our "non catalog" dealers have grown significantly this year and I don't see that trend changing.
My advice would be for lab supply dealers to speed up the turnaround time for loading new products on their websites. For every day that is lost, others are adding new products and attracting new customers. Be sure to include any literature/videos/images/etc you can. Ask your suppliers to provide this information as good manufacturer's/importers (such as the companies Fischer Technical Company represents) will have these available to you.
It's also key to list all accessories and complimentary products on your web listing. It always befuddles me when I see a dealer offering a product such as a pipettor, but makes no mention of the tips, storage racks, etc that should be added on to the sale.
We are expecting 2012 to continue these trends and look forward to serving the science education and research market.
Have a safe and happy holiday season!
Fischer Technical Company
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Top Ways to Stretch your Classroom Budget
As 2012 approaches, we're seeing classroom budgets cut in many states/schools. While many subjects to require demonstration materials, in my opinion, no subject needs them more than science. Here at Fischer Technical Company, we've been able to have another successful year by offering many opportunities through us directly or through our manufacturers to help stretch the budgets of the classroom. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Share the larger purchases. Manipulative Kits, Vacuum Pumps, Portable lab stations, Anatomical models are very costly yet very necessary to demonstrate/teach high school science. This is a great opportunity to pool budgets with other classrooms and share this equipment.
2. Consider "economy lines". Our principal, United Scientific, has been importing high quality glassware, plasticware, hardware, etc for 20 years now. Strict quality control processes are in place enabling teachers to save substantial money by passing on the name brands and stocking their classroom with non branded products.
3. Convert "breakables" to "unbreakables". One good example is to purchase plastic microscope slides as opposed to glass slides.
4. This is an easy one, but store your expensive items safely and properly. Cover your microscopes. Move painted models around carefully to avoid paint chipping. A little TLC goes a long way! If your kit came with a molded storage case, utilize it. Your kit was able to safely ship, likely from around the world in this packaging. It goes to show that this is probably the best way to store your kit.
5. Follow proper maintenance. If your vacuum pump requires oil. Change the oil regularly to ensure a long life for the pump. If your product has fittings that need greased, grease 'em!
6. Finally, make sure you are using the proper tool for the job. This is another obvious one. But many times I've seen people use pens to open boxes instead of a knife (the pen breaks and ink gets on the product), using a ruler as a scraper, using a text book as a shim, etc.
Many of these tips are obvious, but are often overlooked in the stressful and demanding day of our fine educators.
Have a happy holiday season!
John
1. Share the larger purchases. Manipulative Kits, Vacuum Pumps, Portable lab stations, Anatomical models are very costly yet very necessary to demonstrate/teach high school science. This is a great opportunity to pool budgets with other classrooms and share this equipment.
2. Consider "economy lines". Our principal, United Scientific, has been importing high quality glassware, plasticware, hardware, etc for 20 years now. Strict quality control processes are in place enabling teachers to save substantial money by passing on the name brands and stocking their classroom with non branded products.
3. Convert "breakables" to "unbreakables". One good example is to purchase plastic microscope slides as opposed to glass slides.
4. This is an easy one, but store your expensive items safely and properly. Cover your microscopes. Move painted models around carefully to avoid paint chipping. A little TLC goes a long way! If your kit came with a molded storage case, utilize it. Your kit was able to safely ship, likely from around the world in this packaging. It goes to show that this is probably the best way to store your kit.
5. Follow proper maintenance. If your vacuum pump requires oil. Change the oil regularly to ensure a long life for the pump. If your product has fittings that need greased, grease 'em!
6. Finally, make sure you are using the proper tool for the job. This is another obvious one. But many times I've seen people use pens to open boxes instead of a knife (the pen breaks and ink gets on the product), using a ruler as a scraper, using a text book as a shim, etc.
Many of these tips are obvious, but are often overlooked in the stressful and demanding day of our fine educators.
Have a happy holiday season!
John
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Custom Kit Projects From United Scientific
Fischer Technical Company has been the manufacturer's representatives for United Scientific for over 20 years now. We've watched their business continue to grow every year and have seen the product line expand exponentially virtually every year.
One of the areas that United has been extremely successful is custom kitting projects. United can build kits to your specifications or work with you in designing a kit for a specific application/classroom. Most popular is kits of lab supplies and glassware. Would you like to have a full kit of laboratory supplies for each lab station in your classroom or research facility? United can help you!
Many of our kits are packaged in reusable storage boxes with handles to help eliminate breakage and keep all of the kits complete. Of course, we could supply replacement parts as well as students have been known over the years to drop a beaker or two!
We can put together customer prepared slide kits, custom physics kits, and basically any type of high school science kit (sans chemicals) you can imagine. United also has on staff a phd level physicist who can even write detailed activity guides for your kit. Need an expert in Genetics? We got one of them too!
United currently offers several kits in their catalog including: Electricity and Magnetism, Optics, Advanced Physics, Prepared Microscope slide sets, Friction, and many more.
Contact me for details if you'd like to offer these kits on your website or in your catalog or if you have a kit you'd like us to design!
Happy Holidays,
John
One of the areas that United has been extremely successful is custom kitting projects. United can build kits to your specifications or work with you in designing a kit for a specific application/classroom. Most popular is kits of lab supplies and glassware. Would you like to have a full kit of laboratory supplies for each lab station in your classroom or research facility? United can help you!
Many of our kits are packaged in reusable storage boxes with handles to help eliminate breakage and keep all of the kits complete. Of course, we could supply replacement parts as well as students have been known over the years to drop a beaker or two!
We can put together customer prepared slide kits, custom physics kits, and basically any type of high school science kit (sans chemicals) you can imagine. United also has on staff a phd level physicist who can even write detailed activity guides for your kit. Need an expert in Genetics? We got one of them too!
United currently offers several kits in their catalog including: Electricity and Magnetism, Optics, Advanced Physics, Prepared Microscope slide sets, Friction, and many more.
Contact me for details if you'd like to offer these kits on your website or in your catalog or if you have a kit you'd like us to design!
Happy Holidays,
John
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