We Still Need a Site for Fastener Feedback
I am just starting to read a new book..."What Would Google Do?". Google is a fascinating company. I always enjoying reading about Google. But I have just started the book. At the beginning, the author talks about how he once bought a Dell computer and had serious issues with it. He was able to go on to several blogs that discussed techno-stuff and leave posts about his "Dell Hell". In fairness to Dell, I have not even finished the chapter and I already am suspecting that somewhere along the way Dell became cognizant of the fact that they could get millions of dollars worth of market research for FREE if they just read what their customers were saying on the blog sites.
And I ask...do managers and owners of fastener companies really want to know what their customers think of them? I think many of them do not. In fact, I am almost convinced of it. But still, there would be some progressive companies that would love to know what their customers think. What is their fastener industry reputation, so to speak.
Over the years, I have heard things like:
"They always have what I need but thier price is always high"
"Their price is always good but they screw up on almost every shipment"
"Thier price kills the other guys but they never have everything in stock...they do not have a complete line"
"I call in and get an answering machine and I sit on there for ten minutes before I get someone to answer"
"She never answers my e-mails so I have to call in and get her on the phone to get my quote done"
"They make me fax in if it is more that two items. They will not tell me the prices over the phone"
"Sometimes I sit with an order on my desk for two weeks just waiting to make their minimum order"
My absolute favorite and the one that every owner should know about their own company but probably does not because they are not tuned in is...."By the time I get their quote back I have usually already placed my orders"
These are all lines I have heard. I am sure you could add to the list. If you are the company that will not do a phone quote you might very well have a great reason for that policy and it might be something that has freed up your inside sales staff to do more efficient work. You might read that line and say, "Damn right...they can fax or e-mail or whatever". But, it would be good for you to know what your customers think of that policy. They might be fine with it or you might lose business because of it.
I wish there was a site where distributors could log in and openly discuss vendors. If it were a national forum then people might not mind sharing as much. A lot of distributors do not want to share their good suppliers with other local distributors....and maybe that is why this type of site does not exist.
Still, I think some open and honest feedback would do the whole industry a lot of good. But, I guess for now we'll just stick to the fastener grapevine.
And I ask...do managers and owners of fastener companies really want to know what their customers think of them? I think many of them do not. In fact, I am almost convinced of it. But still, there would be some progressive companies that would love to know what their customers think. What is their fastener industry reputation, so to speak.
Over the years, I have heard things like:
"They always have what I need but thier price is always high"
"Their price is always good but they screw up on almost every shipment"
"Thier price kills the other guys but they never have everything in stock...they do not have a complete line"
"I call in and get an answering machine and I sit on there for ten minutes before I get someone to answer"
"She never answers my e-mails so I have to call in and get her on the phone to get my quote done"
"They make me fax in if it is more that two items. They will not tell me the prices over the phone"
"Sometimes I sit with an order on my desk for two weeks just waiting to make their minimum order"
My absolute favorite and the one that every owner should know about their own company but probably does not because they are not tuned in is...."By the time I get their quote back I have usually already placed my orders"
These are all lines I have heard. I am sure you could add to the list. If you are the company that will not do a phone quote you might very well have a great reason for that policy and it might be something that has freed up your inside sales staff to do more efficient work. You might read that line and say, "Damn right...they can fax or e-mail or whatever". But, it would be good for you to know what your customers think of that policy. They might be fine with it or you might lose business because of it.
I wish there was a site where distributors could log in and openly discuss vendors. If it were a national forum then people might not mind sharing as much. A lot of distributors do not want to share their good suppliers with other local distributors....and maybe that is why this type of site does not exist.
Still, I think some open and honest feedback would do the whole industry a lot of good. But, I guess for now we'll just stick to the fastener grapevine.
I am thoroughly with you on this TS.
We operate a small cable tie and nylon fastener company in the UK and these type of thoughts are definitely a major concern. If there were a central forum where customers could log in and respond to product specific issues anonymously that would give us a greater insight into improving our service.
I would be very interested to hear thoughts from the USA on how this could be achieved.
IMHO an anonymous survey, specific to product or sector, could be made available to the larger buying groups and the results published monthly?
I think to make this work confidentiality would be paramount. Here over the pond, the cable tie and nylon fastener market is highly competitive-and I amongst many would like to keep my sources, clients etc under my hat.
Any thoughts do let me know.
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Thanks for the comment. Good to hear from our friends in the UK. For smaller companies, I think the feedback would be invaluable. Small adjustments to customer service could be the difference between good service and excellent service. And, good sales and great sales. Regarding larger companies....I think some of them do not really realize how bad their customer service really is. Not to say all large companies have bad service...that is certainly NOT true. But sometimes I observe customer service that is so poor that I have to conclude that the upper management could not be aware of the disaster they have in customer service.
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I suspect that no matter the size of the company, objective observations in a companies operational systems and goals can reveal volumes of information. When errors are made, I would first look at the process rather than the worker. Seems that some companies over complicate operations. One size does not fit all in the fastener distribution business. I appreciate flexibility and responsiveness from my vendors. I imagine my customers think the same.
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I enjoyed your comments. You mentioned that some companies complicate things so I'll share a quick story. I once worked with a company that continuously changed their policies every time the president of the company came back from conferences with presidents from other companies (from unrelated industries). Finally, after one frustrating change after another I just blurted out "Look, you tell people what you want to sell them, you tell them the price you will charge them for that product and then, if they choose to give you an order for the prodcut at that price, you ship it accurately and quickly. That is it. That is our business." This person has long since sold off half of his company and I'm not sure if the other half still exists. He got the whole company so mixed up they could never develop good internal processes. Most of his competitors are still around so the business concept was not bad. His approach was.
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TS - We've been carefully mulling over this issue at FCH recently. More and more regularly we are hearing that users want vendor reviews before they'll do business using an online sourcing network. We're in the process of releasing a vendor review system much like eBay and Amazon have deployed. Our hope is to provide users the assurances they want, and thereby increase contacts for our members. Only recognized users who are logged into the network are able to post reviews. This should keep everyone honest and on their toes at once. So based on user feedback and input, we've developed a user feedback and input system for our members, coming soon on www.fastenersclearinghouse.com.
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Does anyone out there know of some companies like Manufacturers Fastener World? I am looking to get rid of some miscellaneous fasteners.
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