WHAT MAKES A GOOD SUPPLIER ? To qualify as one of our "Suppliers of the month" (see below) is no easy task - I am a tough judge of performance & service. I try very hard to give my customers the very best before & after sales service possible, &, as a customer I expect the same level of committment from our suppliers. This year alone I haved culled five of our suppliers due to poor quality &/or service standards. They can have an impact on my reputation & my stress levels - second best is just not good enough.
Below is a brief breakdown of Blue Tongue's qualifying criteria + our suppliers of the month + lists of a) the suppliers we do use, b) those we are not sure about & c) those which we do not.
There are 3 basic criteria catagories to look at 1) The manufacturer or supplier 2) The products & 3) The representative.
1) The manufacturer. Price & quality are both very important but even more so are, quality control, rectification of faults, consistent production or supply schedules, prompt action when product is faulty, delivered damaged, late or wrong, technical back up & suuport, after sales committment and the ability to listen to their customers (my) concerns.
2) The products. Are the products truly competitive (in price & qulity) to other brands ? Do the guarantees truly reflect the product in relation to other ranges ? Are they made locally ? making availability more consistent. Is there a good variety of products with good colour banks ? Are they user friendly for the installers ? a happy tradey is a good tradey !
3) The rep. The rep is the face of the product & can make or break the viability of an entire product range - as an example I have recently deleted an entire product range because after numerous phone calls & faxes (to the main supplier, their Sydney agents & my rep) about changes to ranges + prices, I have not seen or heard from anyone for seven months. All too hard ! - Good bye !! - Some reps always return calls, others never do, some are always thinking outside the square & trying to give my business what it needs, or could use, others either don't care or just don't get it. Sure there are sometimes personality differences but respect & communication is always a two way street.
The bottom line is that I choose to be in the best frame of mind with the best range of products available so I can serve YOUR needs to the best of my potential.
SUPPLIERS OF THE MONTH
Each month we give credit to one of our suppliers in the catagories of Carpet, Timber, Underlay, Vinyl, Tiles and Accessories. We don't give the award to any supplier who hasn't earned it. Some suppliers win their spot month after month. Sometimes no one is up to scratch.
BAMBOO: Premium Floors "ARC" Uniclic.
CARPETS : - NORTH STATE
TIMBER & LAMINATES : - PREMIUM FLOORS ( READYFLOR - QUICKSTEP - UNICLIC )
UNDERLAY: - REGEN
VINYL: - GEORGE LOW SELECTION
TIMBER VINYL PLANKS: - WOODLINE
VINYL TILES: - KARNDEAN
ACCESSORIES: - AFS
WOODEN SPOON FOR THE MONTH
Every now & then there comes along a supplier who's attitude towards service &/or reliability is so poor (regardles of their product range) that is is blatently obvious that life is a whole less stressfull & a lot easier to just NOT have to deal with them. This month we have two (2) equal first place candidates &, I truly believe that it will take some serious mismanagement & stupidity to steal the title away from this dynamic duo. Derrrrr
CARPETS: - TUFTMASTER CARPETS
VINYL: - GERFLOR
SUPPLIERS WE ARE HAPPY TO DEAL WITH
These are manufacturers or suppliers that we feel honor their committment to quality products & quality after sales service with good (as expected) support & representation.
AFS - Access Int - Amalgamated Textiles - Amtico - Armstrong - Arrowhead - Blue Tongue Exclusives - Chapparal - Classic - Dunlop - Edwardstown - Earth Bamboo - Forbo / Nairn / Novilon - Floor Space - Frontier - George Low - Godfrey Hirst - Karndean - McAloon - MJS - Norman Ellison - Northstate - Nolan's - Peter Wright - Premium Floors - PR Floors / Expressions - Regen Foam - Stainmaster - Southern Cross Textiles - Supertuft - Tarkett - Westwools
SUPPLIERS WE ARE NOT SURE ABOUT
These are manufacturers or suppliers we no longer feel total confidence in. We have temporarily suspended sales of their products because of problems in the areas of quality control, after sales committments, sales representation, communication - or attitude / respect of "their" customers.
Simonsons
SUPPLIERS WE DO NOT DEAL WITH
These are manufacturers or suppliers that we do not deal with for two main reasons - 1) They feel that the competition we would present would be too much of a threat to other franchise stores that are geographically "too close". Some of these suppliers we still have access to but do not keep their products displayed in our showroom for a variety of reasons. 2) "Their" behaviour & lack of ethical & responsible trade practices have left us with no choice but to permanently remove them from our list of preferred suppliers.
Bolyu or Beaulieu - Cavalier Bremworth - Crikey Bamboo - Feltex - Gerflor - Interloc - International Floors - Invicta - Kimberly - More Carpet Tiles - Pegulan - Redbook - Shanhua - Signature - Tuftmaster - Quest - VCC - Wonderlay
