My best lead in to deal with a problem is, "I'm glad you're here I need your help", this has worked wonders for me when there's been some pretty sticky issues whether with a customer a boss or even a government official like the DOT or EPA, for some reason 9 times out of 10 this seems to disarm the other person and invoke that innate human trait to "help", the first time I tried it it was astonishing how much it smoothed out getting things solved.
You hit the nail on the head @ 4:20 and into your next segment . ( The new purchasing agent ) That happen to my shop. Had a cake cnc lathe job for about 8 years. Cost me 1 insert, 1 drill, 1 counter sink and 1 saw blade. I made 40K+ parts out of UHMW. Until the purchasing agent retired. New guy came in was rude, abrasive & plain jerk. First he demanded 30% cost cut, then my cycle time, plastic distributor & what type of machine I was running it on. I no longer do the job, and I'm okay with it.
I feel like I’ve met a few of that purchasing agents twin brothers over the years. My favourite is when the purchasing agent wants them to send them the CAD drawing I designed for the part gratis. At that point, I’m half willing to do that - I’m not interested in playing the nickel dime game anymore. Thanks for watching!
My problem with th 80/20 idea, is that from my experience companies always sooner or later run into "urgent jobs" especially bigger ones Plus bigger one often run a list of suppliers which takes time to get on, and they dont like to put tons of suppliers in there. How they always mange to get into this situation, i dont know, probably wasting to much times with meetings Anyway from this jobs, you can get really good money, which helped me in the first 2 to 3 years. So i would not dump a client even if he only has some small jobs or workload is going down. On the other side good clients, that give you work all the time, will expect you to help them out, and also expect you to be more modest with the extra charge. You just have to balance carefully, so you don't get into a situation where you get exploited.
Being a welder I’ve learned walking away from the customers you know are going to be trouble is the way to go. I’ve given too many people the benefit of the doubt and eaten labor and materials over it.... so I’ve learned to listen to my gut. Politely say that you can’t take on the job at this time.
Great advice on shop rules for any type of business. A cool head will put out a fire, A "hot head" will spark a forest fire. We just put to rest a dear customer / close friend that came to our restoration shop July of 2008 for classic car restorations and upholstery. He was a referral, but he came on strong and felt being so picky and complaining about cost, decided to "Fire him" and take his work else where. 13 years later, and over 25 car interiors, he has been one of our best customers and dearest friends. May God rest his sole and bless his family. We will continue his dream with his 3 sons finishing up projects that time took away. Thx for sharing, and really hit home,,Bear @ Bears Rod Shop, TX.
I’m a CNC machinist now, but ran my own woodworking shop years ago, and I agree with you about picking your “battles” and often it’s better to pass over a particular job if you suspect things could be very difficult
I think you should make a phone app that contain practical machinist threads that will recommend threads based on your interests and save where you left for unfinished threads I think this will boost the use of practical machinist as it is a lot more conveniant way of doing stuff
You never know where a job is going to lead to. I have a client who on the surface 1st appeared as abrupt & a potential problem client, 26 years later still doing work for him & one of my best clients, but I don't turn down the little fill in jobs either.
this is 100% true to me，and hear it from someone else make me happy. but I tend to quote higher price to someone maybe difficult to seal with, because to me it may seems to be rude to tell someone I dont to work with you. the other thing, angry doesnt get things done, also it may lead to dangerous behavior or consequence ,so better let the person to cool down a bit than continue to work . machines shop is full of dangerous things, anger is not compatible with machine shop. good communication is essential to tem work.
One of the problems also is that may be the person you are dealing with that seems to be trouble is having problems with his boss or workplace and not with you. That person is upset and can't yell at his boss but can yell at you. I have had this happen only to find that that was the case. Sometimes just talking about something else can defuse the situation and calm the person down enough to uncover the real problem and actually conduct business.
Will the safety nannies usually nail ya if you block up the annoying little holes in the sides of air-chuck guns, sprays a nice aerosol oil mist right in the eye, it's great😑😑
My best lead in to deal with a problem is, "I'm glad you're here I need your help", this has worked wonders for me when there's been some pretty sticky issues whether with a customer a boss or even a government official like the DOT or EPA, for some reason 9 times out of 10 this seems to disarm the other person and invoke that innate human trait to "help", the first time I tried it it was astonishing how much it smoothed out getting things solved.
This is actually brilliant! Very helpful advice, I’ll have to give it a go!
You hit the nail on the head @ 4:20 and into your next segment . ( The new purchasing agent ) That happen to my shop. Had a cake cnc lathe job for about 8 years. Cost me 1 insert, 1 drill, 1 counter sink and 1 saw blade. I made 40K+ parts out of UHMW. Until the purchasing agent retired. New guy came in was rude, abrasive & plain jerk. First he demanded 30% cost cut, then my cycle time, plastic distributor & what type of machine I was running it on. I no longer do the job, and I'm okay with it.
I feel like I’ve met a few of that purchasing agents twin brothers over the years. My favourite is when the purchasing agent wants them to send them the CAD drawing I designed for the part gratis. At that point, I’m half willing to do that - I’m not interested in playing the nickel dime game anymore. Thanks for watching!
All good things eventually go away
This is one of the most insightful videos on shop floor politics that I've ever seen
Thank you sir, I very much appreciate the feedback - thanks for watching!
My problem with th 80/20 idea, is that from my experience companies always sooner or later run into "urgent jobs" especially bigger ones
Plus bigger one often run a list of suppliers which takes time to get on, and they dont like to put tons of suppliers in there.
How they always mange to get into this situation, i dont know, probably wasting to much times with meetings
Anyway from this jobs, you can get really good money, which helped me in the first 2 to 3 years.
So i would not dump a client even if he only has some small jobs or workload is going down.
On the other side good clients, that give you work all the time, will expect you to help them out, and also expect you to be more modest with the extra charge.
You just have to balance carefully, so
you don't get into a situation where you get exploited.
Being a welder I’ve learned walking away from the customers you know are going to be trouble is the way to go. I’ve given too many people the benefit of the doubt and eaten labor and materials over it.... so I’ve learned to listen to my gut. Politely say that you can’t take on the job at this time.
Oh yea, man pricks for sure....
Great advice on shop rules for any type of business. A cool head will put out a fire, A "hot head" will spark a forest fire. We just put to rest a dear customer / close friend that came to our restoration shop July of 2008 for classic car restorations and upholstery. He was a referral, but he came on strong and felt being so picky and complaining about cost, decided to "Fire him" and take his work else where. 13 years later, and over 25 car interiors, he has been one of our best customers and dearest friends. May God rest his sole and bless his family. We will continue his dream with his 3 sons finishing up projects that time took away. Thx for sharing, and really hit home,,Bear @ Bears Rod Shop, TX.
I’m a CNC machinist now, but ran my own woodworking shop years ago, and I agree with you about picking your “battles” and often it’s better to pass over a particular job if you suspect things could be very difficult
I’m glad I’m not the only one - I feel like I’ll take a difficult job over difficult people any day - thanks for watching!
I think you should make a phone app that contain practical machinist threads that will recommend threads based on your interests and save where you left for unfinished threads I think this will boost the use of practical machinist as it is a lot more conveniant way of doing stuff
You never know where a job is going to lead to. I have a client who on the surface 1st appeared as abrupt & a potential problem client, 26 years later still doing work for him & one of my best clients, but I don't turn down the little fill in jobs either.
always diversify.
this is 100% true to me，and hear it from someone else make me happy.
but I tend to quote higher price to someone maybe difficult to seal with, because to me it may seems to be rude to tell someone I dont to work with you.
the other thing, angry doesnt get things done, also it may lead to dangerous behavior or consequence ,so better let the person to cool down a bit than continue to work . machines shop is full of dangerous things, anger is not compatible with machine shop. good communication is essential to tem work.
Best channel i have ever subscribed, definitely
One of the problems also is that may be the person you are dealing with that seems to be trouble is having problems with his boss or workplace and not with you. That person is upset and can't yell at his boss but can yell at you. I have had this happen only to find that that was the case. Sometimes just talking about something else can defuse the situation and calm the person down enough to uncover the real problem and actually conduct business.
I have used your site many times .
I am 18 and message boards seem so ancient 😂. I still use the PM forum all the time.
Will the safety nannies usually nail ya if you block up the annoying little holes in the sides of air-chuck guns, sprays a nice aerosol oil mist right in the eye, it's great😑😑
Eliminating customers is about the stupidest thing I have heard in a while.