Normally, I use this blog to introduce new products, speak on market trends, review trade shows, etc. Today, I'd like to use this medium to spread a message to parents everywhere.
Throughout most of the US, school is starting this week or next week (or has already begun). Lets take some time to remember what our teachers do for our kids:
1. They are the most underpaid (along with servicemen/women) profession in the country, yet they go far out of their way to help our kids.
2. They're budgets have been drastically cut and yet they still fill their classrooms with curriculum, many times out of their own pockets.
3. They only ask for our trust and respect back.
As I approach my 35th birthday, I realize that this next comment will make me feel twice that age: When I was in school, parents and teachers stood on the same side/team and worked together. Now, its always the teacher's fault and that is in virtually every case 100% wrong.
I'm putting a call out there for all parents to take a lesson from our parents and give our teachers as much respect to them as they show interest and dedication to our kids. Now is the time to take a stand and believe and support a teacher who brings up a behavior or academic issue to our attention. Let's work towards solutions and not assign misguided blame.
I've seen too many cases where parents tell me that teachers are "picking on their kids" or where the school "doesn't know what they are doing". If a teacher were to tell me that one of my kids were being disruptive or not treating his peers with respect, we'd discuss it with our child based on the observations that the teacher shared with us, not immediately turn it around and accuse the teacher of picking on our boys.
To all of our teachers out there, thank you for what you do and have a great school year!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Quincy Lab Gravity Convection Ovens are a big hit!
Many dealers are having great success offering these Quincy Lab Ovens on their websites. Quincy will drop ship all orders and there is an attractive margin available to our dealers! Are you offering the "Made in the USA" Quincy product line?
These laboratory ovens are designed to meet the laboratory needs of industry, research organizations and schools. Well-crafted and versatile, they are used for drying, baking, sterilizing, evaporating, heat treating, annealing and testing. The GC (Gravity Convection) and AF (Forced Air) series ovens are competitively priced and offer exceptional value and reliability. All Ovens have a Max Temperature of 225°C/437°F. Contact us for dealer pricing, images, additional specifications, literature, etc.
· Quincy Lab uses quality UL and CSA recognized components in all ovens.
Also Available from Quincy Lab: Digital and Analog Incubators, Large Bench Ovens, and Microscope Slide Cabinets. Contact me at jgura@fischertech.com for additional details!
Friday, June 15, 2012
New Poster Sets from Fischer Technical Company!
We're proud to introduce three new sets of laminated posters available to science education dealers direct from us at Fischer Technical Company!
GEOPOS/SET - Introduction to Geology (Includes Introduction to Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and Gemstones) – Four of our most popular posters combined in one kit. All four posters offer detailed explanations of many subjects of Geology.
ANIPOS/SET - Animal Orders (Includes Fish, Reptiles/Amphibians, Mammals, and Birds) – Four content intensive posters featuring all of the vertebrate orders of Animals.
INSPOS/SET - Insects (Includes Insect Identification, Arthropods, Insect Metamorphosis, and Arachnida) – Our most popular insect posters along with the new Arachnida poster together in one convenient set.
ALL POSTER SETS HAVE A COMPETITIVE DEALER PRICE. CONTACT ME AT JGURA@FISCHERTECH.COM FOR PRICING AND IMAGES.
ALL POSTERS ARE 24” X 36” AND ARE LAMINATED FOR MANY YEARS OF CLASSROOM ENJOYMENT!
Note: There is no minimum order on these posters and they need to be ordered directly from us at Fischer Technical Company. Fischer Technical Company has a $50 minimum order total for all items. Each Kit comes packaged in its own “ready to ship” box.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Times where technology is bad for business
When I started in this business eleven years ago, Fischer Technical Company shared one "aol" email address, had no webpage, no twitter account, no facebook page, no Linkedin profile, no digital address book, and only a few of our customers were set up to sell their full range of products on line. Most importantly, I did not have a GPS system to help me travel to and from meetings!
Technology since then has reshaped our industry. More and more of our customers are focusing on their webpage and virtually all of them allows for customers to order direct from the web. Many of them even allow for special pricing to be given when signing in to their account. Also, technology has allowed many new dealers to enter our marketplace. A select group of them have even become powerhouses in the industry with sales far surpassing their long established competitors.
Fischer Technical Company (along with virtually everyone else in the market) now has a webpage, linkedin account, twitter account, and Facebook page (sorry MySpace). I have that elusive GPS in my car now and my cell phone is approximately 782 times more efficient than the desktop computer we had in 2001 when I started. I've given new product presentations on my iPad and images/prices/literature is emailed to customers in a matter of seconds.
Despite all of these advancements, I've seen one area of technology that I believe is hurting our industry. The acceptance of the "virtual meeting" is taking away the key ingredient to a successful business relationship...the handshake and personal relationship. When I started visiting customers, one of our customers from a mid size catalog house told me, "I work with people, not companies." I didn't understand his point very well at first, but over the past several years, I've grown to embrace it.
I make it a point to personally visit as many of our dealers across the country as I possibly can each year. I need them to know that they can personally count on me to take theirs and their customer needs into account as we work together. On the flip side, I need to know that me personally, and the service/products I offer are important enough for them to take a few minutes out of their day to see how we can improve and grow our business relationship.
I have very strong personal relationships with many of our customers, especially those I've been regularly visiting the past 10 years. At first, I'd look to them for advice and suggestions, as I've grown in the business, I find us reaching out to each other more and more. The benefit to this type of relationship is that trust is established and our mutual businesses grow as we bring new ideas to each other. It's very personal.
In my opinion, meeting in front of a computer in a "virtual boardroom" does not accomplish nearly as much. As a sales person, I'm a show and tell type of person. I like to take a sample of our product and point out the advantages or ask for opinions and/or suggestions. Even though I can send a sample to a person before we "cyber meet", I can't be there in the same room to physically point out features/benefits or see an example of how an improvement can be made.
Perhaps I'm from the old school, but when I shake a businessman or businesswoman's hand and look them in the eyes to make an agreement, this holds more weight with me than a 25 page generic agreement written by attorneys (and likely for attorneys) signed by both parties.
In conclusion, while the changes in technology have allowed our business to progress into the next era, its important not to forget the paths we've taken to get to this point. Building personal relationships and in person meetings cannot be replaced by virtual meetings and chat rooms.
Have a great week!
John
Technology since then has reshaped our industry. More and more of our customers are focusing on their webpage and virtually all of them allows for customers to order direct from the web. Many of them even allow for special pricing to be given when signing in to their account. Also, technology has allowed many new dealers to enter our marketplace. A select group of them have even become powerhouses in the industry with sales far surpassing their long established competitors.
Fischer Technical Company (along with virtually everyone else in the market) now has a webpage, linkedin account, twitter account, and Facebook page (sorry MySpace). I have that elusive GPS in my car now and my cell phone is approximately 782 times more efficient than the desktop computer we had in 2001 when I started. I've given new product presentations on my iPad and images/prices/literature is emailed to customers in a matter of seconds.
Despite all of these advancements, I've seen one area of technology that I believe is hurting our industry. The acceptance of the "virtual meeting" is taking away the key ingredient to a successful business relationship...the handshake and personal relationship. When I started visiting customers, one of our customers from a mid size catalog house told me, "I work with people, not companies." I didn't understand his point very well at first, but over the past several years, I've grown to embrace it.
I make it a point to personally visit as many of our dealers across the country as I possibly can each year. I need them to know that they can personally count on me to take theirs and their customer needs into account as we work together. On the flip side, I need to know that me personally, and the service/products I offer are important enough for them to take a few minutes out of their day to see how we can improve and grow our business relationship.
I have very strong personal relationships with many of our customers, especially those I've been regularly visiting the past 10 years. At first, I'd look to them for advice and suggestions, as I've grown in the business, I find us reaching out to each other more and more. The benefit to this type of relationship is that trust is established and our mutual businesses grow as we bring new ideas to each other. It's very personal.
In my opinion, meeting in front of a computer in a "virtual boardroom" does not accomplish nearly as much. As a sales person, I'm a show and tell type of person. I like to take a sample of our product and point out the advantages or ask for opinions and/or suggestions. Even though I can send a sample to a person before we "cyber meet", I can't be there in the same room to physically point out features/benefits or see an example of how an improvement can be made.
Perhaps I'm from the old school, but when I shake a businessman or businesswoman's hand and look them in the eyes to make an agreement, this holds more weight with me than a 25 page generic agreement written by attorneys (and likely for attorneys) signed by both parties.
In conclusion, while the changes in technology have allowed our business to progress into the next era, its important not to forget the paths we've taken to get to this point. Building personal relationships and in person meetings cannot be replaced by virtual meetings and chat rooms.
Have a great week!
John
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
2012 United Scientific Catalog is here
After a long wait, the 2012 United Scientific Catalog is now complete. Over 50 new products are featured. Class A Glassware, Research Grade disposable plasticware, New Deluxe Clamps, and many new Physics/Chemistry/Biology Kits are just some of the featured new products. We'll be sending out a catalog and price list to our dealers in the next week or two. If you need additional copies, please let us know!Below are a few highlights of the new products:
FILTERING KIT:
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY GLASSWARE SETS:
Tie Dye Lab Coats:
DIGITAL AND ANALOG HOT PLATE/STIRRERS: 
These are just a few of the great new products from United Scientific. Many of the Science Education products include United's signature Teacher Activity Guides.Please contact me at jgura@fischertech.com if you would like additional copies of the catalog.
Have a great day!
John
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
New line of products from United Scientific
Just a brief post today as I'm heading to the Pacific Northwest to visit customers very soon! United Scientific is now offering a line of medical/research plasticware from Abdos. Cryo Vials, RIA vials, tube storage, Cryo Coders, and much more will be offered. Please contact me for additional information and pricing!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
United Scientific and CAST 2012
I'm pleased to announce that United Scientific will once again be exhibiting at the CAST show in Corpus Christi on November 8-10. For those of you not familiar with this show, it is by far my favorite Science Education exhibition. This is the state science show for Texas and it is always full of teachers and the exhibition hall is almost as large as NSTA. Being that it is held in November, dealers have a great feel for which of their new products have "taken off" this year and there is some innovative and fantastic stuff on display.
I encourage all of my science education peers (both dealers and manufacturers) as well as Texas educators to attend. Learn more about this show on their website: http://www.statweb.org/cast
As we get closer, I'll fill you in as to which products United Scientific will be exhibiting as well as the Booth locations.
Have a great day!
John
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