Do suppliers listen?

Isn't journalism great, throw in a provocative article or statement and watch a war of the words break out.
Do suppliers listen?
 Listen has many meanings, it could mean they will sit with retailers in the know write an action plan to improve product quality / service and then put this action plan into force. It may mean every now and then the supplier gets its sales team to ring you up to ask if there is anything they can do to help you or to ask what they can do for you to get you to buy more products from them and then there is a just paying lip service by pretending to listen to make themselves look and feel good.
I have had experiences in all of the above in fact on Wednesday this week I was at Omega plc in Doncaster with 19 other retailers and senior Directors, department managers, buyers, reps and customer service managers from the Omega team, I say team because that is how we felt as if we are part of the team, I have been to three other Omega retailer forums and each time when our opinions have been voiced we have been listened to, obviously not every wish or gripe can be actioned upon as we have to be objective and understand as Omega do that in the end it's all about money, they want to make money and they in turn want us to make money which is what makes businesses successful.
I  think that if I am fair to the suppliers then in turn they will be fair back, this sometimes though is not always the case. I have recently stopped buying kitchens from one particular supplier because no matter how many times that I and other retailers have asked them to do things that would help not only us sell more kitchens but provide them with an improved product offering. I know this to be fact because having spoken to certain people within that company they have told me that they are sick of going back and telling their bosses the same thing and nothing gets done or listened to, only that they want more accounts open. We see this all the time when drivers of said companies turn up with virtually nothing on their vans or their run has been doubled or even tripled up so as to fill a van up. There are other suppliers who change things at will and don't even tell you, this causes major headaches, so not only are they not listening they are speaking either.
There was an article in KBB review online update a couple of weeks ago about the worth of distributors, distributors are suppliers only with more products, the article in the main was right but not all distributors should be tarnished with the same brush, I have had great service from Waterline, again it is how I am with them that determines how they are with me. Some suppliers are even dictatorial thinking that they are God and we should do as they say and dance to the tune that they are playing. I don't dance not even a dad dance, I will professionally and politely tell them how it is,
give them so long and then if they continue to stay the way they are I will then not use them anymore.
If we are all to get on which is a must for survival then it is very important for suppliers to listen to us because at the end of the day if we are not selling their products to the end user then only they will suffer because there are other suppliers out there who will listen and will offer products and services that suit us better. In turn though we must give the suppliers a chance and work with them to manage customer expectations.
Russell

Franke sinks and taps

Here is something I want to take issue with, Franke sinks and taps.
This is not about their products as they are very good quality, this is not about their customer service this also is very good, this is about their pricing policy.
Now I am a small fish in a big pond and could not sell enough of their products to warrant a direct account with Franke UK so I use a distributor or distributors ( this is not the distributors fault either). I have just been asked for a price on a Minerva kettle tap, Franke's own brochure has a recommended retail price of £1116.72 inc vat silk steel, my buying price £704.40 inc vat, internet price on the first click £634.49 inc vat and delivery.

Don't get me wrong here I am not against the internet companies selling whatever they like on the net because we all buy and can sell on the internet and I applaud the genuine companies who trade their wares and offer the same customer service levels as all good retailers do. What really gets my goat on this issue is that I display Franke products, I demonstrate to customers Franke products and I promote Franke products but I cannot buy their products at trade price cheaper than retail prices from some internet companies.
If Franke can sell their products to internet companies and still make a healthy profit and those internet companies can then in turn sell them to retail customers cheaper than I can buy them for then there is something definitely wrong with their pricing policy.
The distributor I buy from are the worlds largest distributor of Franke goods and I know that they are not buying these products at a price that they make a ridiculous mark up. So can somebody at Franke respond to this and tell me and other kitchen retailers how and why they can offer their goods to different outlets at vastly different prices.

Russell

A little thought solves a lot of potential problems

We have just had a major issue with one of our direct account suppliers, I am not going to say who as the issue has now been resolved but if the problem was handled in a different way then the problem would not have arisen in the first place. I used to work for a major kitchen player and they had an "Operation White Glove" 'If the customer had a problem sought it out straight away and then resolve any who was at fault issues later'

The problem we had was that the company called us to ask for payment up front for goods we had not yet received otherwise our account would be on hold. I went ballistic, our account credit limit was quite high and we had not reached it, so I enquired as to why they were requesting payment, they told me that "my credit limit had been reduced because a credit insurance company told them to". This made me more infuriated as we are extremely good payers to all of our accounts so much so one of them has given us an unlimited credit limit. Even the company concerned acknowledged yesterday that we always pay our account before the due date. I sent lots of emails to various people within the company from the sales director to the sales rep, letting them know that we would not be treated this way. After some argy bargy and a loss of goodwill on my behalf we received another call from the account supervisor apologising and re-instating our credit limit plus some on top.

The lesson is if the company concerned had looked at our account and called us to discuss things instead of just informing me that they wanted prior payment then I would not be writing this blog and they would have got themselves some brownie points because they could have called me and said there has been an issue with a credit insurance company but we have resolved it, but they didn't #lessonlearnt.

Russell

Next's kitchen offering

Next are advertising that they design, sell & install kitchens, that's fine If a company wants to set themselves up as kitchen specialists then they have as much right as anybody to do so.

This is were the sticky bit comes in:

Next are a national retailer with branches all over the country and some of those branches that they will set up kitchen displays in will be close to other kitchen retailers, not a problem so far, a little competition never hurt anybody and national advertising will bring in general enquiries to other kitchen retailers in the area. But what if I have a kitchen showroom set up with the same kitchens that Next are selling, this brand being the JJ Ormerods Colonial kitchens using the same range names as the independent retailer who may have a showroom nicely and expensively fitted out with the same kitchens and the same range names as the Next kitchens, I can tell you I would be miffed.

It is not beyond common sense that the kitchens that Next and the independent retailer displays should have been given different names with different brochure shots, by not doing this I think it cheapens the brand and thus makes it look like a mass produced product similar to what you can pick up from a DIY outlet which I know is not true of Colonial kitchens because they are good quality and have a great range of sized cabinets.

I currently have eight kitchen displays from Chippendale / Sheraton (soon to be nine) and one other, if my supplier suddenly decided to supply another kitchen retailer with the same kitchens as mine using the same range names, brochure shots etc then I would be looking for a new supplier who will show respect to the time ,effort and investment that I have put into their brand.

Russell