From all of us in the Cupboards family, we would like to thank everyone for a exciting 2009 and the laying of a stronger foundation of 2010.We hope that you have a prosperous and healthy new year! (May all your resolutions come true!)
Cheers!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Happy New Year
From all of us in the Cupboards family, we would like to thank everyone for a exciting 2009 and the laying of a stronger foundation of 2010.We hope that you have a prosperous and healthy new year! (May all your resolutions come true!)
Cheers!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Maybe I'm Famous!
Recently, I was given the AWESOME opportunity to be a guest blogger for the Kitchen and Residential Design Blog.
It was such an honor and I was really excited to oblige.
If you would like to take a look at the few words I put in you can check them out here:
It's Puppy Love - About our pooches and promoting animal adoptions.
Not Just for June Cleaver - The resurgence of retro appliances in new kitchen design.
Standing Room Only: Running Back to the Urinal - Home Urinals are becoming more and more popular. Take a look why!
So there you have it. Maybe Paul will have me back soon!
It was such an honor and I was really excited to oblige.
If you would like to take a look at the few words I put in you can check them out here:
It's Puppy Love - About our pooches and promoting animal adoptions.
Not Just for June Cleaver - The resurgence of retro appliances in new kitchen design.
Standing Room Only: Running Back to the Urinal - Home Urinals are becoming more and more popular. Take a look why!
So there you have it. Maybe Paul will have me back soon!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Coffee was a BLAST!
Just want to send a BIG Thanks to the good folks at Pincher's Fresh Seafood and the Sylacauga Chamber of Commerce for partnering with us for our Coffee and Contacts Meeting today.
It was nice to see some old faces and meet some new friends!
We are planning to do it again in January 2010- stay tuned for details.
It was nice to see some old faces and meet some new friends!
We are planning to do it again in January 2010- stay tuned for details.
Monday, December 7, 2009
You're Invited!
Cupboards is hosting a Holiday Coffee and Contacts in our showroom with Pincher's Fresh Seafood.
If you are in the neighborhood it will be an AWESOME opportunity to meet with some of the finest business owners in East Alabama.
The kick-off will be at 10am.
Be there or be square!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
News from Cupboards
We hope everyone is having a GREAT beginning to the Holiday season!
Cupboards will be a busy place in December and look forward to seeing many of you around the showroom.
On Wednesday December 9 at 10am we will be co-hosting a Morning Coffee Mixer with Pincher's Seafood Market. I am so looking forward to the treats and coffee. Feel free to drop in and say hello!
We are also pleased to offer all of our customers 10% OFF ALL KraftMaid doorstyles through the end of the year. Even though the holidays are around the corner, it's a great time to get your kitchen or bath in order. Come by and we'll give you the details.
Belated online congrats to our KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway winner Sandra S. from Mississippi! Keep watching and be ready for more great giveaways in the near future!
Be safe out there!
Cupboards will be a busy place in December and look forward to seeing many of you around the showroom.
On Wednesday December 9 at 10am we will be co-hosting a Morning Coffee Mixer with Pincher's Seafood Market. I am so looking forward to the treats and coffee. Feel free to drop in and say hello!
We are also pleased to offer all of our customers 10% OFF ALL KraftMaid doorstyles through the end of the year. Even though the holidays are around the corner, it's a great time to get your kitchen or bath in order. Come by and we'll give you the details.
Belated online congrats to our KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway winner Sandra S. from Mississippi! Keep watching and be ready for more great giveaways in the near future!
Be safe out there!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
This should be fun!
If you follow me on Twitter you know that most days our page is a pretty active place. It's been really awesome making contacts with some industry pros as well as consumers and friends. Sometimes when I have a down moment it's nice to browse around and see what's going on in the Twitterverse with regards to remodels and builds.
This afternoon I stumbled on one that was particularly upsetting(from @pokerface1066).
“getting new kitchen its turning into a nightmare :(“
I went to pokerface’s profile hoping to find the juicy details but there wasn’t anything else there. Therefore, I can only speculate… It doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination.
If you have been in this industry any length of time you know that the makings of a ‘disaster’ are just around the corner. Remodels have all the pitfalls and stressful moments like sloping floors and untrue walls, faulty plumbing, any number of structural issues and the like. New constructions are certainly easier because often mistakes/problems can be corrected with relative ease.
Think about it though, have you ever heard a customer say they thought the process was a nightmare? Better yet, have you as a designer ever thought that a job you’ve been working on was a nightmare? Probably more the latter, but one customer describing what we have been doing in their home as a nightmare would send a jolt through the way we do business.
I’ve been fortunate to work in different markets and see different trends/styles permeate and watch the industry change. Generally, market to market the relationship between the service provider and customer has been similar if not exactly the same. Even though it wasn’t pleasant at the time, I’ve also seen what happens when a company loses sight of the most basic kitchen industry principal… customer service.
Every issue that could possibly come up can be fixed by basic customer service, or be worsened by a lack of the same. Schedule going long, over budget, scratched the hardwood floors, on and on. It all comes back to whether the customer was properly prepared for what was coming.
It certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens to a company that regularly dishes out poor customer service. What does it do to a designer that does? Even only once?
Here at Cupboards we rely so heavily on word-of-mouth advertising. Speaking with designers and industry pros around the country, I know that we aren’t the only company that does that. After all, I could spend tons of money on advertising or I could make sure that my customers are happy and let them do the advertising for me. US News & World Report did a story on customer service a while back and a couple of the statistics always stuck out.
1. Each unsatisfied customer will tell an average of 8-10 people.
2. 20% of unsatisfied customers will tell 20 people.
With the advent of mass social media, one negative quip sends a bad vibe around the world, literally. Thanks to Twitter, everyone knows that @pokerface1066 isn’t having a good time getting a new kitchen. Frankly, we can’t afford that in the current economic environment. It takes 12 positive customer service interactions to make up for that one negative one. Yikes!
The way we do it isn’t complicated and I have no problem sharing our secrets when it comes to customer service.
A. A customer coming through our door is treated like my mother. She always said, “Remember who you represent.” Makes sense.
B. Each of our customers homes are treated as if it is our home.
C. We tell our customers ALL the bad news. Building a home or remodeling one is not all rainbows and giggles. With the good stuff there are always some less pleasant things… Our customers are well-informed and expect the possibilities of the next step in their project.
I love my mother, value my home and sleep GREAT at night knowing what is happening inside my own house. Pretty easy, huh?
It would be pretty discouraging if being treated that way is a nightmare.
This afternoon I stumbled on one that was particularly upsetting(from @pokerface1066).
“getting new kitchen its turning into a nightmare :(“
I went to pokerface’s profile hoping to find the juicy details but there wasn’t anything else there. Therefore, I can only speculate… It doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination.
If you have been in this industry any length of time you know that the makings of a ‘disaster’ are just around the corner. Remodels have all the pitfalls and stressful moments like sloping floors and untrue walls, faulty plumbing, any number of structural issues and the like. New constructions are certainly easier because often mistakes/problems can be corrected with relative ease.
Think about it though, have you ever heard a customer say they thought the process was a nightmare? Better yet, have you as a designer ever thought that a job you’ve been working on was a nightmare? Probably more the latter, but one customer describing what we have been doing in their home as a nightmare would send a jolt through the way we do business.
I’ve been fortunate to work in different markets and see different trends/styles permeate and watch the industry change. Generally, market to market the relationship between the service provider and customer has been similar if not exactly the same. Even though it wasn’t pleasant at the time, I’ve also seen what happens when a company loses sight of the most basic kitchen industry principal… customer service.
Every issue that could possibly come up can be fixed by basic customer service, or be worsened by a lack of the same. Schedule going long, over budget, scratched the hardwood floors, on and on. It all comes back to whether the customer was properly prepared for what was coming.
It certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens to a company that regularly dishes out poor customer service. What does it do to a designer that does? Even only once?
Here at Cupboards we rely so heavily on word-of-mouth advertising. Speaking with designers and industry pros around the country, I know that we aren’t the only company that does that. After all, I could spend tons of money on advertising or I could make sure that my customers are happy and let them do the advertising for me. US News & World Report did a story on customer service a while back and a couple of the statistics always stuck out.
1. Each unsatisfied customer will tell an average of 8-10 people.
2. 20% of unsatisfied customers will tell 20 people.
With the advent of mass social media, one negative quip sends a bad vibe around the world, literally. Thanks to Twitter, everyone knows that @pokerface1066 isn’t having a good time getting a new kitchen. Frankly, we can’t afford that in the current economic environment. It takes 12 positive customer service interactions to make up for that one negative one. Yikes!
The way we do it isn’t complicated and I have no problem sharing our secrets when it comes to customer service.
A. A customer coming through our door is treated like my mother. She always said, “Remember who you represent.” Makes sense.
B. Each of our customers homes are treated as if it is our home.
C. We tell our customers ALL the bad news. Building a home or remodeling one is not all rainbows and giggles. With the good stuff there are always some less pleasant things… Our customers are well-informed and expect the possibilities of the next step in their project.
I love my mother, value my home and sleep GREAT at night knowing what is happening inside my own house. Pretty easy, huh?
It would be pretty discouraging if being treated that way is a nightmare.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Welcome Back!
Thanks for stopping back in and checking out our NEW and vastly improved site! We could've never done it without the help from our SUPER web-pro Erik, so a BIG thanks to him!
The new format will allow us to do lots of new things for you. We hope that you stay in touch!
The new format will allow us to do lots of new things for you. We hope that you stay in touch!
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