September 2019

Why we should buy local

I talk to a lot of people and they are all saying that business is tough at the moment. Not sure if it is the government or the economy? But with everyone I talk to it seems that there is a lack of activity. So, it got me thinking. I think the problem lies with our overuse of non-local business. Just look at Hallam where we are. There are so many businesses that do great things. We all make, design and repair, you can get almost anything done if you look for it. Yet a lot of the time we buy and use companies that are not in our local area.

Here’s the thing. Local business should feed off each other. We are a part of our own ecosystem. When we use local, the money stays within our area. This gives people in our area money to spend on more things thus building the economy. This, in turn, adds to the wealth of us all. You only have to look at what America is doing with their tariff wars with China to see that at the very least they are looking after their own businesses.

I’m not saying you have to buy local all the time but next time you have to get something done have a look to see if there is someone locally that can do what is needed. At least that way we all get to reap the rewards of our good work

Yours sincerely

Dennis Eliopoulos

July 2019

A note on the trucking industry.

I was sitting in traffic the other day and got stuck behind a slow-moving truck in the right lane. My first reaction was what is this oversized vehicle doing in peak hour slowing everything down. I then saw a sign on the back of the truck saying, “without trucks, Australia will STOP…”

I then thought in my frustration, what if this truck was not on the road? What would happen? The answer resoundingly would be that industry would probably stop. These so-called inconveniences serve a great importance to our society. In fact, the transport industry is one of the Australian industries that is propping up Australia.

Here are some stats:
There are 48,747 registered businesses in the road freight transport ranging from single truck operators to large multi-national corporations. It employs 666,100 persons which accounts for 5.2% of the total workforce. Over the past five years, employment in the industry has increased by 13.9%. 30% of domestic freight is carried by road equating to 726 billion tonne-km. Not a bad effort for one of our own industries.

So next time you are on the road, stuck behind a slow-moving truck, spare a thought for one of the last standing local industries. With a decreasing amount of industries left in this country at least this one is keeping Australia going.

Yours sincerely

Dennis Eliopoulos

March 2019

The importance of understanding our customers

Lately we have had new customers come to us with negative feedback from their current or old suppliers. It got me thinking about what it is to be in a service industry such as ours. As a part of our customer services we need to pick up feedback, so we are always ahead of the game. Here’s how I suggest it is done.

It is up to us as experts in the service industry to make sure that we listen to our customers. What I mean by this is that we must make sure that we understand their situation, not wait until a problem arises and is too late to fix. We do this by making sure we are a step ahead of the customer so we can know what they will be expecting.

Every time we engage with our customer, we must be listening to their concerns not only in the conversation but in the overall aspect of their business. What are they requiring, needing and wanting? We all solve a problem, but it is our duty to foresee any problem that may exist now and in the future. This is understanding the customer. As professionals, we must be comfortable in the fact that whatever the situation may be, we will get it right.

By being proactive on their needs we can assure our customer that they will be looked after and are in good hands. We let them know that we are here to help. It just so happens that we are Engineers and it is our duty to read the customer before they start speaking.

If we don’t, they will move on!

Yours sincerely

Dennis Eliopoulos