BWF membership director -on the move again

Moving from the South East – Sussex, Surrey and Hertfordshire to Bristol in the South West then to various locations in the Midlands, I have then ventured to North Yorkshire and County Durham before my most recent visits to South Wales and the North West. As Membership Director, I have found that with face-to-face meetings I am better able explain the BWF’s role and its services to new members to ensure that, if elected into membership, companies will be able to obtain maximum benefit from their membership.  It also allows me to check their workshop, product quality and general operating procedures to see if we can provide immediate and constructive help especially by reference to the code of conduct model documents i.e. health & safety policy guidance and model employment contracts. With both new and existing members the opportunity is taken for mutual talks on a wide range of topics with workload naturally being top of the agenda and health & safety issues including dust extraction & health surveillance together with various employment, technical and contractual issues such as the difficulties associated with payment delays and bad debts, etc also of immediate importance. Some of these latter problems are down to lack of clarity in regard to the terms of contract between the parties involved but we can be of help – with amongst the many guides available to members two of our guides can be of particular  help- Sample Terms & Conditions of Sale and Basic Contract Law – Golden Rules of Contract Management providing the basics On the workload front cautious optimism is again the general view although this of course varies according to the core business activities of the companies involved and their location. Again companies have reported that is getting more difficulty to confirm contracts because of potential clients being still under the false impression that because things have been tough in the joinery trade, their expectations of members with regard pricing and requested delivery times were often unrealistic. I also was able to update members on current BWF activities such as the recent upgrade of the new BWF website credit checking facility and insurance offer and our involvement in the current Wood Waste Resource Efficiency Project. It was also clear that a growing number of clients were imposing additional requirements on joinery suppliers and these ranged from simply asking for product guarantees or requiring companies to obtain third-party ‘warranties’ to show that they had one or more of the following accreditations: –  Chain of Custody
–  Window Energy Ratings
–  Product Testing for Windows & Doors
–  Dealing with contractors’ demands for health and safety procedures
–  ISO9001 required for joining the BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door & Door Scheme Whilst of course these are areas in which the BWF can help through our Total Support Services, comments I regularly receive clearly illustrate some of our members aren’t aware of the full range of benefits we offer. Although a little surprised, particularly with the introduction of Join In emails and the circulation of BWF News Update as an email enabling members to read the articles by clicking straight through to the BWF website. I do understand that many companies do not automatically think of contacting the BWF and are often very busy solving their own problems. The BWF Engage programme is designed to do something about this. I believe the BWF Engage programme launched last year is beginning to have its desired effect with a better understanding of what we provide and increased calls on the BWF services following such visits – but more needs to be done.
In the coming weeks I will be heading back to South Wales and moving on to the West Midlands and the North West for another series of member visits. Travelling country-wide has its limitations but brings its own rewards – as the celebrate author Henry Miller once said “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”