I’ve got a couple of local supply houses that are really starting to tick me off. I do a decent amount of business with them but whenever I call or stop in to get pricing on non stock items it seems like I have to constantly hound them to get an answer.
I am starting to take the majority of my business to a couple of places that treat me very well but unfortunately these other places carry lines that I sometimes need.
How many of you have this problem? how do you deal with it if they are the only one carrying a particular line that you need?
Steve
S.J.MERRETTE Carpentry & Construction • Robesonia, PA
Nothing is impossible…It just hasn’t been done yet.
Replies
Steve,
most people in that industry go out of their way to help and inform, sure there is the odd klinker but they are weeded out pretty easily. I do know that if they don't like you they tend to go out of their way to give you grief.
For proof of what I'm saying, get some attractive young lady to place your next order... you won't believe the service she gets.. now go in there and grump, they may be telling you something.
Knowing Steve, he undoubtedly constantly rubs them the wrong way. Probably with comments like: "What! You idiots want how &%*$# much for this. And it will take how &%*$# long. Are you &%*$# guys out of your &%*$# minds?"
I, on the other hand, being a really nice and gentlemanly type of guy, always get treated nice. In fact, "they" can't help enough, carrying me out to my truck, opening my door, starting the ignition, having a fresh cup of coffee in my holder, etc.
Yep, it's definitely Steve's &%*$# fault. I heard about him, even way down here.
I have found that the best way to get good service is to really get to know the people involved. This will naturally happen if you do a lot of business but you can make it happen as well. Ask for the same person when you call and cultivate that relationship. This won't change the flaws of the organization and you will still have to bug them sometimes but at least you will get a courteous and prompt response and you will have someone on your side.
I think SCHELLINGM makes a good point. A personal relationship can make a lot of difference.
If that doesn't work, try sitting down with the manager or owner and tell them what you think. It's possible he has no clue what's going on. He's probably busy enough putting out fires that he doesn't have time to look for other problems.
Redneck Extraordinaire
Steve,
What's that mantra?............personal service?
YOU have to make it personal.
Every supply house I do business with, I choose a sales person to be MINE.
Everytime I walk -in or call, I ask for that person, whether they are commissioned or not.
Sometimes my choice is purely selfish. MY salesperson at a one lumberyard is a knock-out named Patty. Very pleasant to do business with. Easy on the eyes. All above board and comfortable. And she's very good with numbers, always returns a quote that afternoon.
I choose another guy, because I observed his attention to detail. I only ask for answers from him. Same goes for every other supply house I do business with.
Sometimes, MY salesperson is swamped or sick or on vaction, and can't get to me, but the others see me as somehow "special" and treat me as if I'll report any deviation from what I've come to expect.
Most important..........take the time to make this person's day better becaused you showed up and asked for them.......ask about their lives and be ready to listen. Always have a good joke or comment ready to lay on them. Make them look forward to you stopping by.
Tell them what a good job they did and how it made your job better.
I have never been a clerk at a supply house, but I figure they get feed up with smelly, desperate trademen walking in and demanding the utmost in attention. Anything I can do to make that persons' day a little different and better will turn that guy into a friend........................
.........and my friends never screw me.
Edited 5/1/2002 11:45:29 AM ET by Mark McDonnell
Steve Its really hard to tell exactly whats going on but this happened to me recently. I went to my local hardware and hardwood supplier. A guy I never seen work there before ( I usually go on the weekends but this time I went during the week) approached me with the "Can I help you" I know my way around the place but this guy started following me around. He kind of gave me the impression that he thought I was going to ripp something off . Well after a little while I went over to my bud slim shady who is about 6'8" and 400lbs , He was buying a lot of plywood and and maple so we started talking more shucking and jiveing and got around to asking the guy his name ect and Now when i go to that supplier I say Hi to him by name( If I go there during the week and not the week ends). In fact I ask for him even if hes behind the counter and on the phone I wait for him to finish to help me. Now I get tremendous service from him the same as I get from the other guys I know there who work on the week ends. Its all based on relationships and repore.. Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
I try to do the same.
You can also take him and his wife to dinner - where he'll probably tell you how to get the best deals on product with his outfit. Thirty years ago when the first oil embargo sent prices through the roof on asphalt products, it was a good salesman and a relationship with him that saved my butt. He always kept me abreast of the coming price increases on shingles so I was bidding to cover for it. Others were losing money whiule I was ahead of the curve, selling at the higher price and able to get product in a tight market.
You can send him photos of the finished product you do. You are proud of it - no reason he shouldn't be too. That way you are including him in the whole process as part of the team. His intrest doesn't end when the delivery leaves the yard. He'll alsdo have you on top of his mind when some homeowner walks in wanting advice or wondering who he cva hire to do such and such job for him. Referrals count.
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin your right Another hardwood supplier that I buy from the slaes man knows Im using alot f rustichikory/pecan now. He told me he had some nice pieces in and he was gonna call me or set it aside for me. I told him thanks and to go ahead and call me. He rides a harley so we talk about them a little ( i know notheng about the bikes but he has a interest in them so I mainly ask questions and listen.) But anyway I told him yea go ahead and call me if he gets some in. Now thats a good relationship. He even kicks in some extra every now and then. There was a 16' piece of Rustic ( Rustic defined as ugly with nots and worm like holes in it ect) and He charged me or only 8' because he said it was so ugly no one lse would buy it. Its the piece that I made the end panels for my kitchen out of came out very nice. Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Well if it's me (Sonny!) the other supply house's must like a'holes. because they treat me great. I generally deal with one person at most places. either because they were assigned to me, as some places do, or because I selected them for whatever reason, knowledge, attitude, whatever.
The one place that has been the most trouble to me, though, is the local 84 lumber. Maybe it has something to do with a few times I have gotten pricing from them I lost the bids so they didn't get the order after doing the leg work. I'm sorry about that but that happens in this business. but as things pick up I'll remember that and when I do get a good order I'll take it elsewhere.
All's fair in love and war y'know.
(and Sonny, you know what a loveable guy I am, no one can resist my charm)
:)Steve
S.J.MERRETTE Carpentry & Construction • Robesonia, PA
Nothing is impossible...It just hasn't been done yet.
Well, when I referred to you as an a'hole, I was just repeating what your wife told me about you. I tried to defend you but she insisted that since I don't actually live with you I couldn't know you as well as she does.
I still told her I thought you were a loveable teddy bear. However, the guys at 84 Lumber just wouldn't listen to me.
As a supplier, I've had an awful time with 84 yards. They seem to hire people, give them impossible sales quotas to fill, then fire them when they don't meet the quotas. So you never deal with the same person twice, it seems.
I had a job once where they got an estimate for a house, then ordered the trusses, set up a delivery date, and gave us a P.O. number. But when our driver showed up, there was already a roof on the house. We called them, and they denied ever ordering them. When we pointed out that they had given us a P.O. #, they thought a while, then called back and said "We cancelled that job after it was ordered"
There are countless scenarios like that - From messed up orders to a messed up account payable department. since people are hired and fired regularly, no one is around for long when things go wrong and they pass the buck constantly. So I don't want anything to do with that company anymore........
Redneck Extraordinaire
True Boss!
I consider 84, the boxes, and other franchise type supplers to be "self-service" operations. If I know what I want, and I know they carry it, I'll buy it. Other than making pleasent with the check-out clerk as I pay, there is no interaction with any one else.
Today I ran into a Lowe's today to pick-up some luan, carted up to a line and grabbed the first blue aproned person, and asked that they get another check-out open. She looked at me like I was suggesting an action unknown to mankind..............
Hey Boss, what city do you live near or in that has such a lousy 84?
Well Steve I had that problem recently. I still dont know what was going on. I got a superintendent job building a church that is pretty big for around here. I gave the job to another yard. Funny how things change. I was invited to dinner today!!!!!!
You know, to let them know when you take something away helps with pricing also.
I would go out of my way to make a point of it , if I were you, because I did. They lost some big dollars, and Im not done yet. Most yards are contractor driven, and it seems they need reminded of that from time to time.
Tim Mooney
Sonny -
The yards I've had the MOST trouble with are in Springfield and Alton Illinois. But I've had trouble with others, and definitely had trouble getting paid from their corporate HQ.
Redneck Extraordinaire
The reality is that most of the yards you should care about are scratching to compete with the big boxes. They compete, and stay alive, by their volume and longterm customers. If you come in and quote them against 4 other yards, for every bs job you come across, they are likely to hang you out to dry.
Another reality is if you want to have them bid be fair and bid apples to apples.
The relationship issues that have been posted above are important, but it is a two way street. If you want a pal get a dog.
As painful as this is I agree totally with your assesment. We complain about customers low balling us and then bid our material out and chisel down our suppliers. Often I see guys buying material for a job, 50% at one location the rest somewhere else to get the "best price". If you are going to go to a big box (I do often) then fine but don't complain about the service, there rarely is any. But the price and show room is often better. Want advice and competent help, go local supplier. Like most things in life, can't have it all. DanT