DOORS & WINDOWS
Customer commitment with Seal of Approval
»»
IN JUST A FEW YEARS, fenestration has come a long, long way. Advances in manufacturing technology and increasingly discerning consumer tastes have made well-designed, high-quality products more widely available than ever. That’ s been fantastic for end-users – but it also means it now takes a lot more than just a great product range to make an exceptional, industry-leading fabricator.
VALUE-ADDED SERVICE
As a result, we’ ve seen major firms shifting focus, funnelling resources and investment into other areas to try and help them stand out from the crowd. As competition at the sharp end increases and consumers demand more value for money, installers are turning to their suppliers for support – and some are rising to the challenge, offering an array of value-added services to earn the loyalty of existing trade customers, and secure all-important new and referral business.
One company that has not just tried but thrived on the back of that customer-focused approach is Wellingboroughbased fabricator Astraseal – a firm that’ s long distinguished itself from its competition with an uncompromising commitment to quality products and exceptional customer service.
Astraseal has gradually developed its industry-leading package of value-added services over a number of years – going the extra mile on everything from quality assurance to product pricing. Now, the fabricator is going even further- enshrining that commitment with a customer support initiative it’ s calling the AstraSEAL of Approval.
“ We started with the concept that to receive the AstraSEAL of Approval – to meet our uncompromising standards, in other words – a product has to be 100 % quality checked,” explains Astraseal Marketing Manager, Zac Nedimovic.“ Over time, the idea naturally evolved, broadening to become a way of highlighting and promoting the huge range of value-added services we offer our customers.”
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
Over the last ten years, in particular, Astraseal has constantly pushed the boundaries of conventional customer support, delivering an outstanding level of service that’ s virtually unheard of elsewhere in the industry. The company uses CAD-drawing software to show clients that their orders will be produced exactly to the right measurements. As part of its flagship conservatories package, Astraseal goes even further, constructing every conservatory roof order in-house before dispatch, to ensure the finished product will perfectly fit together, and will arrive fault-free and ready to install.
Astraseal has started offering online ordering, using software from industry specialists to allow customers to make purchases, get instant quotes, and check the status of live orders in real time, any time of the day or night. The software feeds into another recent technological investment – barcode-tracking. The barcode system gives Astraseal management an invaluable strategic overview of the factory, giving them total control of production in real time. It’ s also used to scan products when they are loaded on and off vehicles, preventing items from getting lost, being missed off deliveries or being sent to the wrong place.
COMMITTED TO CUSTOMERS
The AstraSEAL of approval initiative also comprises services like fast-track remakes – seeing the fabricator pledge to get replacement products, where possible, to installer customers within 24 hours if their original purchase gets damaged on site, allowing them to complete the installation job in the original timeframe – and on-site surveying, which sees Astraseal’ s team of in-house surveyors dispatched to help trade customers prepare for projects.
“ The AstraSEAL of approval initiative, and the years of customer-focused investment that came before it, have all stemmed from the recognition that our customers’ reputations and livelihoods depend on the products and services we provide them,” Zac commented.“ The Seal is our commitment to doing the absolute utmost for our clients – going above and beyond the call of duty for them and their businesses. But we’ re not complacent – every single day we’ re looking for new ways to go even further to improve the quality of the service we offer and make dealing with Astraseal as convenient as possible.”
www. astraseal. co. uk
40 » AUG 2016 » CLEARVIEW-UK. COM