We Sell To The Green Industry We Deliver Customer Service
According to Kissmetrics, bad customer service costs American companies $83 billion annually. In addition, according to the Houston Chronicle, companies with excellent customer service will more likely get repeat sales, thus benefiting with greater sales and profits. So, to say it simply, customer service is vital, and, for companies to be successful, it should be at the heart of their businesses. At Advanced Turf Solutions, we are built on this premise.
While we are in a very competitive business, we do not forget the premise for which we were built on and continue to grow our business through—customer service. How do we do this? We engage our valued sales staff and equally important operational support staff.
Without our sales representatives, our business would not be able to continue its upward trajectory of growth. Sales generate the revenue that keeps the business going. However, the customer service our operations partake in is just as vital. Customer happiness is often dependent on how well we provide service that exceeds customers’ expectations. Do we have the products and services our customers want? Can we get those products to them in a timely and efficient manner?
Advanced Turf recognized the important customer service role of the operations side of our business early on, and as our company has grown, we have invested heavily in buildings, equipment and people to give our operations team the tools it needs to keep pace with the sales side of our business. Our goal is to use these tools to out-service our competition and exceed our customers’ expectations on a daily basis. Here’s a look behind the scenes at how our operational staff and equipment work to deliver exceptional customer service.
Equipment
With a service area covering large portions of the Midwest, we make thousands of deliveries each year to customers and our warehouses. In 2015, our large trucks drove 970,000 miles and used 127,750 gallons of fuel. You could travel from New York to LA about 396 times driving those miles!
Our large service area also requires a sizable fleet of trucks. Currently, we have 4 tractor/trailers, 9 stake bed trucks, and 10 pick-up trucks. We also have 17 straight trucks with “piggy-back” type forklifts and tractor trailers so we can unload product and put it exactly where our customers want it.
Buildings
We want to give our customers all the tools they need to be successful in their businesses, so our product selection tends to get larger each year. This takes a great deal of warehouse space. Currently, we have 16 warehouse locations spread throughout our service area, which, when combined, encompass over 210,000 square feet.
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People
Our operations team includes: drivers who deliver products; warehouse staff who pick orders, load and unload trucks; and support folks, who are responsible for order entry, product purchasing, managing inventory levels, and managing our fleet. All of these employees aid in our success.
Today, our operations team has over 60 staff members, and included in this count are 14 facility managers, 3 regional managers, 24 CDL drivers and 25 support employees in various locations. All of these great employees work hard behind the scenes to help our sales representatives do their best and keep customer service at its highest level.
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I would also be remiss if I did not mention our excellent administrative staff, credit staff and marketing department that work diligently behind the scenes to lend support.
Stuart Cagle
VP of Operations
