Many business professionals wouldn't dream of having customers call them at their homes. Customers of Kelty-Best Inc., a 51-year-old distributorship in Madison, Wis., can reach the distributorship's seven employees at any time--day or night.
"We give out our cell phone numbers to everyone," says Doug Tucker, the distributorship's president. "We don't try to hide from our customers. We respond."
While Tucker's beliefs may seem like good business sense, many end users are discovering that excellent customer service is rare among large vendors that have muscled their way into the marketplace. "It's just ridiculous when people start thanking you for calling them back," Tucker says.
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"My life is very intertwined with my business.
If customers feel they need to reach me at home, they can."
Doug Tucker
President
Kelty-Best Inc.
Madison, Wis.
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Kelty-Best's
common-sense approach to satisfying customers' needs has been a leading factor
in the firm's success. When Tucker bought the company in 1986, traditional
business forms accounted for 99 percent of the distributorship's sales. Today,
it also offers commercial printing, promotional products and direct mail projects
as large as 950,000 pieces.
Kelty-Best has offered free warehousing as a value-added service to its customers for approximately 20 years. "We would keep an emergency back-up supply in a back room in the office for customers that traditionally ran out of items," Tucker says. As the distributorship and its customers' warehousing needs grew, the company moved to a larger facility where it could drop-ship orders to customers' branches nationwide. The distributorship is currently housed in a 2,500-square-foot office and warehousing facility. It contracts with outside firms to store large orders that need to remain in storage for more than three months.
In 1987, Kelty-Best began managing customers' printing needs with software from Forms Management Data Systems, a supplier of management software in Reno, Nev. At the time, one of Kelty-Best's biggest customers--a dental billing firm that handled billings for dentists nationwide--was downsizing.
The firm sent Kelty-Best its shelving and printed products, and the distributorship began to handle the entire billing process. Kelty-Best, which charged the dental billing firm a storage and handling fee for items it hadn't supplied, eventually won all of the firm's printing business.
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Kelty-Best Inc., a 51-year-old distributorship in Madison, Wis., provided an insurance company with 6,000 11 x 17-inch, 4-color brochures that folded to 5 1/ 2 x 8 1/ 2 -inch self-mailers to inform cosmetologists in northern California about its cost-saving insurance plans. Designed by one of the distributorship's freelance graphic designers, the brochure featured insurance plan information, photos of cosmetologists and a perforated insurance application for clients to fill out, fold and mail.
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Kelty-Best provides its customers with detailed
reports indicating usage rates, anticipated run-out dates and more. Reports
are sent to customers monthly or as often as requested. The distributorship
also calls customers when reorders are needed. "I don't like the idea of
just sending reorder notices in the mail," Tucker says. "I like personal
contact."
Tucker
recently mentioned to an insurance client that Kelty-Best also could handle
direct mail projects. Relieved that it wouldn't have to locate another source
to handle an upcoming project, the insurance firm asked the distributorship
to take on the job. The client wanted to inform cosmetologists in northern
California about its cost-saving property and liability insurance plans,
but didn't know what the direct mail piece should look like and didn't have
a mailing list.
After
showing the insurance firm five different design ideas, Kelty-Best provided
6,000 11 x 17-inch, 4-color brochures that folded to 5
1/
2
x 8
1/
2
-inch self-mailers. Designed by one
of the distributorship's freelance graphic designers, the brochure featured
information on the company's insurance plans, photos of cosmetologists and
a perforated insurance application for clients to fill out, fold and mail.
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Tucker obtained a list of California-licensed cosmetologists from the state government, then selected cosmetologists in the northern counties for the mailing. Mailing addresses were printed on the brochures with ink jet printers at the manufacturing facility, then sent to a mail house to be mailed. The insurance firm was pleased with the mailing and is currently discussing a second mailing with Kelty-Best.
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Kelty-Best's value-added services build customer loyalty, Tucker says. Some customers order everything online for the lowest price, he says, but others appreciate personalized service. "That's what I'm gearing our business toward--personalized service," he says.
