2011 was an incredible year for Fireclay Tile and our team. We thought we'd take a moment to remember some of our accomplishments
- Customers: We added 20 new dealers to the Fireclay Tile family. From Boston to Florida to Texas to Washington, these included both some amazing new tile showrooms as well as some great green building supply stores. And we were able to increase our sales to our dealers by 73% in 2011 over 2010, something we are extremely proud of and worked hard to achieve.
- Orders: We completed over 1400 orders this year, ranging in size from one piece to over 5,000 square feet. We completed 208 Crush glass tile orders, and 1,217 ceramic tile orders. Out of all of these orders, over 85% were completed on time (a 15% improvement over 2010)
- Employees: We started the year with 27 full-time employees and are ending the year with 33 full-time employees. We added 5 FTE's to our San Jose team, and 1 to our Aromas team. We hope to hire even more in 2012! In addition, for the first time in 2 years we were able to offer raises to our production team and small holiday bonuses to everyone.
- Customer Service: Over 90% of our customers had an excellent experience with Fireclay Tile in 2011. Our goal is 100%, so we have some work to do!
- BBQs: We take our BBQ very seriously at Fireclay, and in 2011 we celebrated good times with 4 BBQs. This was flat to 2010, and one stat we want to improve!
- Sales: For any business, sales are extremely important. We ended 2011 with a 5% increase in sales. Most exciting is that in Q4 we saw a 2-3x increase in order volume, and we are starting 2012 off with a healthy pipeline.
- Product Launches: We launched our new Crush 100% Recycled Glass tile line in May 2011. We surpassed our sales expectations, and have a production team in place that is making absolutely beautiful glass tile. We are aiming to double our sales in 2012.
- Press: We had some unbelievable press this year, capping the year off with an Honorable Mention for Crush in Interiors & Sources. We had over 32 press mentions, not counting the numerous blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts.
- Samples: We shipped out over 1,222 samples to various customers throughout the country. That's almost 6 samples each and every day!
- Email List: We grew our email list by 25% in 2011.
- Web Traffic: Our web traffic increased almost 2x in 2011 over 2010. We are planning for similar growth in 2012, with many new website updates already in the works!
- Social Media: We are ending the year with 462 Fireclay Facebook fans and over 600 Fireclay Twitter followers. We are planning some great social media campaigns in 2012, and our goal is to see these numbers each hit over 10,000 in 2012.
We have so much planned for 2012, including new products, new marketing ideas, and new sales and customer service initiatives. We can't thank you, our customers, enough for your commitment to Fireclay Tile and all that we do. You make work fun each and every day!
Fireclay Tile is thrilled to be participating in a Dwell Media Event in honor of the Junior League of San Francisco. Attending the event will be top San Francisco and Bay Area designers, along with several manufacturers showcasing their modern collections.
Fireclay will be on site showing ourf our Crush 100% Recycled Glass tile as well as a new glazed brick product we are soon to be introducing!
Fireclay Tile was present last night as Treehouse unveiled itself for the first time to its friends, family members, and some key vendors. First off, let me one of the first to say that what the team at Treehouse has built is incredible. It's a beautiful, 25,000 square foot store that will serve all homeowners and builders needs. From beautiful tile to paint to equipment to planting supplies, they have it all!
TreeHouse will carry a wide range of carefully selected merchandise including paint, floor and wall coverings, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, cleaning supplies, storage and organization options, solar power products plus a wide range of smart-home technology solutions that will allow customers to run their houses or businesses more efficiently. Most important, or so we think, they will have the most beautiful, ecofriendly tile on the planet - Fireclay Tile!
The store is beautiful, and when you walk in you know this store is going to be different. With a movie-theater stereo system carrying great tunes and a staff full of knowledgeable, friendly folks, you will receive great customer service while having a lot of fun!
Last week we had the honor of attending the opening launch party for Ciao Bella Gelato's remodeled Ferry Building location in San Francisco, CA. In the Spring Ciao Bella solicited Fireclay Tile for the backsplash tile, focusing on Fireclay's huge range of bright, vibrant colors. This is what they came up with!
We are so thrilled with how it turned out! Using a combination of 36 colors from our Debris Series Recycled Tile line (and 3 colors from our Vitrail Series), Ciao Bella designed a backsplash that emulated its brand perfectly, highlighting bright, beautiful colors, just likes its delicious gelato.
You can read more about why Ciao Bella chose Fireclay in this great blog post here.
To check out some Fireclay Tile for your own backsplash, consider ordering some samples!
Last week Eric Edelson, Fireclay's VP and Co-Owner, was quoted in the small business section of the New York Times. Receivables are a big issue, especially for a small business, as your cash becomes tied up in your customers' hands, and there is a fear that you may never actually see the pay off for all your hard work. At Fireclay, we had an issue of people not paying us on time, and over time those customers' ability to pay wained as their business faced new challenges. By tweaking a few internal processes, we were able to realize substantial improvements in cash flow just by more tightly controlling our customers' terms.
Ultimately, this has allowed Fireclay to be a better partner for our customers, and for our relationships to be stronger with customers than they were before. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Eric @ fireclaytile.com.
Fireclay Tile was honored to be highlighted in the July 27, 2011 "Workplace of the Day" section of the Wall Street Journal. Basically, the WSJ looks for different types of businesses with the goal of featuring the interior spaces so folks can see what it's like to be in the workplace for a day. Check out what it's like at Fireclay each and every day!
We are so excited to announce a wonderful collaboration between Fireclay Tile and New Avenue Homes, a Northern California start-up that finances and builds backyard cottages and second units. A fantastic new concept being led by Kevin Casey, when New Avenue went to look for surfacing material partners for its kitchens and bathrooms,we were so happy they found their way to Fireclay Tile.
The idea behind New Avenue Homes is that home renovations and additions are expensive. At the same time, many homeowners have unused land and would like to create additional living space, either for friends, family, or perhaps additional rental income. Though the idea of modular homes has been tried numerous times with so far little success due to the financial costs and scale, New Avenue’s model of modular cottage homes makes perfect sense, both financially and aesthetically.
Debris Series Recycled Tile in 2x8 Coral and Crush in .5x8 Rail Forget Me Not (27)
Kevin and the team at New Avenue Homes have made a smart decision to focus on environmentally friendly cottages, with everything from power, to sewage, to building materials. They chose Fireclay’s Debris Series Recycled Tile and our new Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile for both their beauty and sustainability, and for their first two homes Fireclay’s Design Specialist, Amie, came up with an eye-catching mix of ceramic and glass tile colors that carried through New Avenue’s desire for a natural looking surface.
Crush in 3x6 Freesia (16) in Matte and Gloss with Debris Series Bamboo Matte 4x4
“I chose Fireclay Tiles for several reasons. They are beautiful, high quality tiles that have a fantastic natural look. Fireclay Tile is also a domestic company focused on sustainable manufacturing through great recycled product lines and low environmental impact processes. As a company their values matched the values New Avenue Home stands behind and very simply their tiles are stunning.”
– Kevin Casey, Founder New Avenue Homes
Today, New Avenue unveils The Home of Innovation - The central home for the Pacific Coast Builders Conference. The home is sponsored by GE, New Avenue, Southern California Edison, Apple and many others, and it is located inside the Moscone convention center. This home is open for three days - Wed June 22 through Friday June 24. To register for your free pass go to www.pcbc.com/go/freepassand at check out, use discount code newavenue.
Inside the Moscone Center you will also find the San Jose Clean Energy Showcase Eco House - A model of sustainability and energy efficiency. This modular home is located in front of the main entrance to Moscone Center on Howard Street (at 3rd Street and Howard in San Francisco). This home is open for four days – Wed June 22 through Saturday June 25. Tours are open to the public, with no registration required.
Also be sure to check out Kevin Warnock's blog highlighting the cool journey of these modular homes from San Jose to San Francisco.
New Avenue makes it possible for every homeowner to turn their house into two homes so they can share their lives with family and friends or earn additional income. Backyard cottages and second units are one of the the most sustainable, convenient and enjoyable ways to live. For a free consultation or to learn more visit their website: www.newavenuehomes.com or email them at: info@newavenuehomes.com
For those who have been following the Fireclay Tile story for the past few years, you'd know that we rely on Salesforce.com's software to help run our company and ensure we do our very best to satisfy our customers. Beyond just using the product, though, we are always talking about its advantages and trying to educate other small businesses about how they can improve their business with enhanced software and better use of technology infrastructure.
This week Salesforce.com unveiled a new video featuring our company, our employees, and some amazing images of our factory and workers. Though the video is focused on how Salesforce.com has helped transform our company, one can't help but notice how beautiful the videography is.
A big thank you to Salesforce.com for so effectively capturing the spirit of Fireclay Tile. And for those with any questions about how we use Salesforce.com, email me with questions.
Join us March 9 - 19 at our Annual Late-Winter San Jose Showroom Sale. Included in the sale will be:
- 20% OFF All NEW Fireclay Tile materials orders
- 20% OFF the entire Boneyard
Please note, the sale only applies to in store purchases made from March 9 - 19 and does not include any non-Fireclay Tile material, i.e. other vendor products.
We hope to see in our showroom! For hours and directions click here.
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