Aztec Rental: The Backfill

THE GOOD:

Gross retail sales in the 10-county Houston metropolitan climbed 9 percent to $20.5 billion in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest tally by the Texas State Comptroller’s Office as analyzed by the Greater Houston Partnership.

THE BAD:

Eight of the 12 retail categories posted over-the-year gains for the three-month period.

THE UGLY:

Meanwhile, home furnishing store sales fell 10.5 percent to $573 million; electronics and appliance sales dropped 7.8 percent to $744 million, and building material sales declined nearly 20 percent to $1.23 billion.

Read more: Houston retail sales rose 9% in 1Q – Houston Business Journal

Concrete Contractor, the leading business information resource for concrete contractors, announced today its Contractors’ Choice Top Products of 2010. Top winners are recognized by readers based on interest and inquiries over the past year.

“Having the right tool or product is key to meeting production deadlines, providing high quality workmanship and ensuring budgets are met,” says Editor Rebecca Wasieleski. “The 25 products named Top Products of 2010 help our readers deliver a successful project.”

Full Article Constructionpros.com: Concrete Contractor’s Top Products of 2010 Announced

For the list of the Concrete Contractor’s Top Products: ConcreteContractorMag.com

Recovery or smoke screen?

Construction jobs were added in half the states in August, while the number of states with year–over–year job gains rose to 10 from just six in July, the Associated General Contractors reported in an analysis of state employment data released today by the Labor Department. The number of states that increased construction employment over 12 months was the largest since October 2008.

Read Full Article: AGC of America

As a dealer, we can honestly say this isn’t much of a stretch on the truth.  We see something along these lines everyday by customers who choose not to go with STIHL or other “sales people”.

The STIHL marketing department gets two thumbs up on this one.  Great commercial!

For more thoughts on the approach of how STIHL became the #1 selling brand of outdoor power equipment check out this article: STIHL in “Box Stores” – Negative Ghost Rider

STIHL Outdoor Power Equipment

Associated Builders and Contractors 2010 Outdoor Extravaganza and Barbeque Cook-off Employee Appreciation Day is this Thursday, September 16th. 

Outdoor Extravaganza, Employee Appreciation & BBQ Cookoff

What’s a construction professional’s favorite past time? Outdoor activities! Ask any member of a construction jobsite how he or she likes to spend the weekend and you’ll hear a variety of answers, from hunting, fishing, and camping to off-road adventures or anything in between. What makes the outdoors even better? Barbeque!

Click here for event Registration

SEPTEMBER 11 REMEMBERED

WE LOVE US SOME FOOTBALL!

This is our favorite time of the year. Football season is here, throw in the fact that hunting season is upon us as well and you have the perfect storm for outdoors and sports enthusiasts.

This past weekend College Football cranked up and it did not disappoint. There were upsets, nail-biters and the BCS already has a problem on their hands with Boise State knocking off Virginia Tech. Great start to the NCAA Football season, oh and not to mention, Texas A&M won!

The NFL starts up this weekend, actually tomorrow and all we can say is – it’s about time!

Now, it is no secret we are BIG Houston Texans fans and we are expecting a lot out of them this year. So we wanted to do a big post about our predictions and what we think needs to happen for them to have a good year and solidify the Texans first playoff berth. Then we found an article titled “Our Year” on Houston Press that did the job for us. Why write something on your own when you can just steal it, right?

Written by Sean Pendergast, (great Twitter follow @SeanCablinasian) a weekly contributor to Houston Press and one half of the Sean & John Show on 1560 The Game, “Our Year” puts the Texans Franchise and the 2010 season in perspective.

With a little history:

There’s certainly been plenty of hand-wringing and talk-radio angst over the Texans’ 49-79 record. But fans cast their votes on the team by spending money on game tickets and parking and food and gear. And the fans are still showing up.

Amazingly, they have shown up despite the following historical data. (Warning: If you love the Texans, these numbers will test that love.)

• At no point in their history have the Texans been three games over .500. Ever. Translation: Texans fans have not, for even one week, had a tangible reason to feel great about this team.

• In the eight years the Texans have been in existence, they’ve been over .500 for a total of 11 weeks. That’s it. Peyton Manning had that knocked out in one season by Thanksgiving last year. Translation: Texans fans can practically count on both hands the number of weeks they could even feel slightly good about this team.

• Since 2002, the Texans’ first season in the NFL, every team has made playoffs except for three: the Buffalo Bills, the Detroit Lions and your Houston Texans. Translation: It’s never good to be mentioned with the Detroit Lions in any sentence.

The Pendergast Method:

So now it’s on to the 2010 season. If indeed the Texans are going to make the playoffs, let’s roll with the assumption that they’ll need to go 10-6, something they haven’t done in franchise history. Appropriately enough, in a season in which they have to shatter precedent, the schedule includes five of the six teams that the Texans have never beaten in their eight years in the league — Baltimore, the New York Jets, Philadelphia, San Diego and Washington. (Minnesota is the sixth team; it’s probably a good thing they don’t get a crack at all six.)

The Texans’ overall record against the slate of opponents they’ll face in 2010 is 22-55 (and 13-35 against their division opponents, whom they will obviously face twice).

Being a Texans believer in 2010 involves a lot of blind faith. Can the Texans finish 10-6? Sure, they can. In breaking down the schedule, I have a little thing that I call the Pendergast Bucket Theory, wherein I categorize each game, putting them into three probability buckets. They are as follows:

To a 10-6 Houston Texans Record:

So where do the games on the 2010 slate stack up in the Pendergast Bucket Theory? Glad you asked, young grasshopper. Here you go:

Must wins, 6: @ Oakland, vs New York Giants, vs Kansas City, vs Tennessee, @ Denver, vs Jacksonville

Coin flippers, 7: vs Indianapolis, @ Washington, vs Dallas, vs San Diego, @ Jacksonville, vs Baltimore, @ Tennessee

Steals, 3: @ Indianapolis, @ New York Jets, @ Philadelphia

So the formula to get to the postseason is pretty simple — the Texans need to go 5-1 against the “must wins” (easily the part of the formula with which I’m most uncomfortable; none of those games are lay-ups), 4-3 in the “coin flippers” (split the home games, split Jacksonville and Tennessee on the road, beat Washington — very doable) and win a “steal” game (I’ll go with Philly as the most likely).

If the Texans follow that formula, that equates to 10-6, which would have been good enough for a playoff berth in 2009. (Of course, in 2008, 11-5 wasn’t good enough for the Patriots to make it, but that’s because San Diego won the AFC West with an 8-8 record. That’s obviously not the case this season; 10-6 should get it done.)

It is a fantastic article and a MUST read for Houston Texans fans, for all football fans for that matter. To be honest, in an effort of holding up the integrity of this blog, anything we would have put together on the subject wouldn’t hold a candle to “Our Year” Will The Texans Make It To Playoffs. Great job Pendergast – we don’t think it could be said or broken down any better.

So go read it! It will make a Houston Texans believer out of you…or give you ammunition for the “how they will not make the playoffs, again” argument. Either way, we highly recommend it!

Click Here for full article: “Our Year” Will Texans Make It To Playoffs?

Not to completely ride the coattails of Sean, here is THE BACKFILL’s record prediction for the 2010 Houston Texans:

1 Sun, Sep 12th, 2010 Indianapolis Win

2 Sun, Sep 19th, 2010 at Washington Win

3 Sun, Sep 26th, 2010 Dallas Win

4 Sun, Oct 3rd, 2010 at Oakland Win

5 Sun, Oct 10th, 2010 NY_Giants Loss

6 Sun, Oct 17th, 2010 Kansas_City Win

7 Bye

8 Mon, Nov 1st, 2010 at Indianapolis Loss

9 Sun, Nov 7th, 2010 San_Diego Win

10 Sun, Nov 14th, 2010 at Jacksonville Loss

11 Sun, Nov 21st, 2010 at NY_Jets Loss

12 Sun, Nov 28th, 2010 Tennessee Win

13 Thu, Dec 2nd, 2010 at Philadelphia Win

14 Mon, Dec 13th, 2010 Baltimore Loss

15 Sun, Dec 19th, 2010 at Tennessee Win

16 Sun, Dec 26th, 2010 at Denver Win

17 Sun, Jan 2nd, 2011 Jacksonville Win

That’s right…no miss print, your Houston Texans are going 11-5 this year and taking a franchise first playoff spot! You heard it here first.

Sean Pendergast article ["Our Year"]
2010 AFC Champs [Houston Texans]
Twitter Feeds: Sean Pendergast [@SeanCablinasian] and we have to give out the 2nd half of the Sean & John Show, John Harris [@jharrisfootball] he is another great follow, highly skilled and educated on NFL and NCAA Football.

Pretty sure that statement isn’t true but we are going with it for the purposes of this post.

We were approached by Rental Management, the official magazine of the American Rental Association, about writing an article on our social media efforts.  We are happy to say, Rental Management thought enough of the article we put together to publish the piece in the September issue of Rental Management.

For your pleasure…or maybe ours, here is a section and the link to the full article on rentalmanagementmag.com:

For the past few years, Aztec Rental Center, a construction equipment rental company in Houston, has been looking for innovative and cost effective ways to increase sales and drive more traffic to our website. In doing so, we’ve learned that leveraging different mediums and joining conversations already taking place online can fill this need and produce continued success. The proper kind of attention and exposure gives you the opportunity to promote your company and inform current and potential customers about your business.

In order for a company to advance, you must adapt — and quickly. The explosion of social media in the past few years means information is constantly at your fingertips, but it also means what was news three hours ago is often times no longer relevant. Regardless of whether or not social mediums like Facebook are around 10 years from now, right now they’re effective tools for spreading your message and, even better, they’re free.

The purpose of viral marketing is to create a symbiotic relationship between an organization and its community. In the past, many establishments have been apprehensive to use sites such as Facebook and blogs as they offer no real unit of measurement in regard to the effectiveness of a specific campaign or overall success of any particular marketing strategy. However, the rapid shift to social media websites to market and promote products, causes and companies has made the presence on such media a necessity. As viral marketing has become more pronounced, it is important to focus on why it exists and, more importantly, how to develop your message and tools to make the most of this new medium.

Read the full article: The Blog Approach

Special thanks to Rental Management and the ARA for enjoying our blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page and spreading the word of how awesome we are!

Be honest, how did you do?