Fireclay Dealer Survey - October 2009
October 31, 2009 | filed under: Company News
Over the past few months the team at Fireclay Tile has been working hard to re-think and re-shape how we do business. 2009 has been a hard year for anyone who caters to the building materials market, and in the face of this adversity we worked hard to challenge our business practices and find ways to do better. We started from the inside back in February, and asked our team members what we could do better. This led to numerous improvements around basic things such as our phone system, our order and customer management systems, and how our manufacturing plant worked and communicated with our sales and customer service team. Change was not easy, but it kept us focused during several challenging months, and we have come out the other side stronger than ever.
The next part of our process was to go to our customers, and in September we launched surveys targeting our dealers, designers, and architects. Overwhelmingly, the responses were consistent: “Great tile and absolutely beautiful product…but the customer service and operations needs to improve and we need to know more about your product.” So, basically, customer service and education. Anticipating this was helpful, for in the months leading up to this we have rolled out new initiatives around better online interface to enable easier decision making and product understanding, internal order status tracking, more closely monitoring order progress and notifying customers if jobs are running late, shipment notification emails, and just more general email communication.
The vast majority of our efforts have focused on our loyal dealer base, and focusing in on our dealers to ensure they have the right information, are hearing from us in a timely manner, and are supported with timely order shipments and above all the highest quality ceramics on the market.
Our dealer survey was taken by over 80 dealers and showroom managers, and we LOVED the feedback on both our products and our operations. A brief glimpse into the survey results demonstrated the following:
- While 46% of showrooms felt “very” familiar with our product offerings, 54% felt they only “somewhat” or “barely” knew about our product offering
- An AWESOME 92% of respondents liked our product “A lot” and only 8% “somewhat” liked our product. There was not one respondent who disliked our product. (This was our favorite answer!)
- 86% of respondents would recommend our offering to their clients, while 14% would “maybe” recommend it. The main reason people would not recommend it was due to long lead times or price.
- When asked how we could improve our product, a lot of respondents asked for more contemporary looks, more rectangular/subway sizes,, and more reds and blues. Overwhelmingly, though, people talked about how much they loved all of Fireclay’s colors
- When asked how we could increase your confidence in our products, people responded by saying they needed more samples, the color consistency needed to be better managed and controlled, and orders delivered on time and with more communication.
- Most responders were not large fans of our Jelly Bean Glass or Rocks, and due to these replies and some of our own issues with importing a product from abroad that we did not originally design (unlike our Claymonde product which we do have made in Taiwan but which we designed here in the U.S. and many times glaze special orders in the U.S.), we have decided to discontinue the product from our selection as of the end of the year.
- 48% of responders think we offer “Excellent’ customer service, while 40% think our customer service is “Good” and 7% think it is “Poor”. We believe these numbers are completely unacceptable, and have put in place tangible ways to measure our customer service and ensure 100% satisfaction. Our goal for our next Dealer Survey in 6 months is over 90% satisfaction!
- With regard to customer service, the biggest complaints people had were slow delivery of samples, us not providing enough samples, some orders taking too long, and sometimes slow response times on order confirmations.
- Over 68% of responders are interested in having an in-person representative come to their showroom or do a product knowledge seminar. We are still small and lack outside sales representatives, but we do offer a phone product knowledge seminar, where we review this dealer presentation.
- 70% of respondents think we do an “Excellent” job on shipping, while 28% think we do an “Average” job. Only 1 person thinks we do a “Poor” job. We can do better!
- 48% think we do a “Great” job on accounts, while 52% think we do an “Average” job and one person thinks we do a “Poor” job. Since this is my (Eric) area, I can guarantee it will get better!
There were hundreds of comments in each of these areas, and we have taken them all to heart. Many of the things we have already been working on improving, but we also got many new ideas that are helping shape our 2010 initiatives.
Thank you all for your generous comments!
Eric and the Fireclay Team
