Dan Goodman, CEO of Building36

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Originally published: 08.01.10 by Terry Tanker
Terry Tanker caught up with UEi President Michael Kane, who had just returned from a quick trip to Asia. The two discussed travel, management style, economics, and product innovation.
My father was an orphan refugee from Austria and, shortly after World War II, started a business in London using my grandmother’s kitchen as an office. I joined the company when I was 30, and shortly after that my father began handing over the business to my brother and me. In 1994, my wife Juliet and I moved to UEi in the United States “for 18 months,” and here we are 16 years later, and grateful American citizens as well!
I try to keep the trips as brief and as productive as possible. So, this week, I was away for four nights but slept three nights on a plane, one in a hotel.
My family.
Eleven years ago, Juliet and I helped start a school located close to UEi. The school
Over time, we have been fortunate to attract a great team. Since we’re stewards of other people’s funds, we’re frugal and careful about meeting our financial obligations. We invest heavily in new products and promoting them. So, it’s people, products, and promotion.
Our industry has always been concerned about energy and the environment, and our customers have increasing expectations in these areas.
Long ago, someone reminded me of the importance of cash flow, especially in challenging times. Ever since, we’ve worked hard to ensure we’d always have room to maneuver to take advantage of opportunities.
I’m relatively old-fashioned; I keep a schedule on my MacBook, write a daily “to do” list, and fight a constant battle to keep paper off my desk.
It’s a process that takes a team approach and close cooperation with our partners. We have a general plan for the next three to five years. Each project starts with a blank sheet of paper and a wish list. We try to define how we would market the product and keep revisiting that throughout the process. Our customers want innovative products that are easy to use, reliable, and backed by great service.
Focus relentlessly on a few tasks that will make all the difference five years from now — and delegate everything else. It took me a while to realize that.
Our customers want to take advantage of technology, and their customers will still want to find ways to reduce fuel costs.
Our customers vote with their pocket books every day and set high expectations for us: They want innovative products that are competitively priced, in stock, and backed up by great customer service, warranties, technical support, and information.
There’s always been strong demand for products that solve real-world problems.
I’ve faced a number of challenging times over the last 16 years and learned from all of them. The months after 9/11 were brutal and, of course, the last couple of years have been difficult. In 2008, a lot of companies started cutting back, but we decided not too. We kept advertising, traveling to visit customers, investing in new products, and working hard to get new business. We’ve taken on staff, and we’ve kept our benefits intact. Those were tough decisions, but looking back, it has paid off.
We’re one of millions of small businesses. No one is going to bail us out, so we just have to keep going whether the economy is up or down. Rising interest rates and taxes take cash out of our business that would otherwise be invested in the future, so they’re probably our two main areas of concern.
Having a fine management team makes all the difference for me.
For almost 45 years, UEi products have helped our customers earn their living by enabling them to serve their customers efficiently and safely. The better we understand how our customers work in the real world, the better our product development process.
Terry is the owner of JFT Properties LLC and publisher of HVACR Business magazine. He has more than 25 years of experience in the advertising and publishing industries. He began his career with a business-to-business advertising agency. Prior to forming JFT Properties LLC in January 2006, he spent 20 years with a large national publishing and media firm where he was the publisher of several titles in the mechanical systems marketplace.
In addition to his experience in advertising and publishing, Terry has worked closely with numerous industry-related associations over the years including AHRI, NATE and ABMA.
By Terry Tanker. It’s not often you find a person with abundant knowledge to share, a passion for business and a willingness to help the next man in line.
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