We all know that we’re in a down market, but thankfully many in the industry believe that down doesn’t mean out.

For example, when interviewing Bill Oates from Medieval Glass a few months ago for an article, I was struck by how adamant he was in not accepting views from salespeople and manufacturers who simply say, “It’s a down market.” He truly believes that the best companies can thrive if they apply themselves in this market and work to differentiate themselves.

Another example came from Edgetech’s Jim Plavecsky in a recent blog he wrote for DWM. He said, “I was in California attending a national sales meeting for one of the most successful window companies in the west. If I didn’t know better, I would never have guessed it was a depressed market. This company was investing in many product improvements as well as some fantastic marketing tools to help their salespeople in the field. They were even taking it one step further—they were getting all their salespeople together for training, awards and motivation to go get the job done in 2008. I was really impressed.”

I was impressed by the above story as well, as was I with a press release received recently from Atrium in which they launched “Training Tuesdays” for remodelers. These are free, targeted webinars held monthly designed to increase remodelers’ profits and to provide a proactive solution for the challenging construction market and a value-added service for remodelers and building industry professionals. The company encourages its dealers to attend the sessions, which cover topics such as sales, advertising, lead generation, management, website how-to’s, business software, legal information and more.

If you’re not already devising ways to help your customers and your company thrive hopefully these stories will inspire you. If you’ve implemented some ideas, such as those found above, I’d love to hear from you. E-mail me at ttaffera@glass.com.