Until the initial appearance of the Brady Bunch, U.S. consumers shopped for goods and groceries at specialty shops for items such as vegetables, meat, or dairy products. The introduction of supermarkets allured consumers with the one-stop-shop experience. In today’s age of convenience, many are leaning towards brands that can offer a combination of services and products under one roof. Although our industry is not centered around milk and eggs, we share the common value of serving the customer with excellence.
Buying Power
One of the great examples of purchasing from a one-stop-shop is their buying power with other vendors. Because their reach spans further than a specialty shop, they are most likely to receive better pricing. These savings, in turn, can be passed down to the customer. Wal*Mart is one of the best examples this: the number of items they order drives pricing down for the end consumer.
Convenience
If you had to decide between calling multiple vendors or one company, the choice would be easy. Not only are you saving time by ordering from one company, but you are significantly streamlining the project from a contractor’s point of view. For a turn-key project, all the contractor needs to do is call one party to discuss logistics instead of juggling multiple rotating schedules at once. Thus, keeping the line of communication directly between both parties.
Customer Loyalty
Conceptually, a higher level of service will most certainly result in a higher level of trust between you and your customer. This concept is why we decided to team up with 1Source Lifts & Equipment on all our service and install projects. “If a customer is looking for quick lube catwalk, it is not difficult to get a plan worked out for their vehicle lifts and oil tank layout as well,” General Manager of 1 Source, Vince Eichhorn, says. “Not only does this give our customers to focus on other aspects of a project, but it gains their trust in our abilities.” Delivering world-class customer service no matter if the job is big or small, goes a long way in terms of customer loyalty.
Better Communication
With every industry, problems can arise with manufacturing, especially when the products are custom. Sometimes the tiniest miscalculation can snowball into issues that could potentially cause a project delay. However, when ordering with a one-stop-shop, you are cutting out multiple reschedules with other vendors, minimizing the amount of time a project could be postponed. This allows DEVON to be the advocate for the customer, so they only have to contact their designated project manager at DEVON instead of calling multiple vendors.
The Bottom Line
Providing a one-stop-shop experience can be both rewarding and demanding. Providing services to quick lubes, government entities, and dealerships require both teams to lean on their strengths. With DEVON, we manage the project with several vendors on our customer’s behalf so they have more time to focus on other projects. A level of service that a specialty shop can afford to give while creating as much value as a larger corporate counterpart produces, is an absolute must-have. The secret sauce: having the ability to increase your services while managing to keep your overhead as low as possible. That way, everyone wins.
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