Slant/Fin Q&A Continued from page 60
A young Mel Dubin hard at work — creating what Slant/Fin is today.
is the significance of this? Droogan: Most of our product is American made, including all of our residential base- board, all of our cast iron gas boilers and over 99% of our cast iron oil boilers. We do pride ourselves in being an American company with our main factory and headquarters in N.Y. located on Long Island. We do have a factory in Canada and outsource some of our high efficiency prod-
ucts from Europe. We feel that in order to keep up with all of the European companies entering the market we needed to expand our line and that was the proven way to do it. How has Slant/Fin weathered this particularly rough economy? Droogan: We have focused on customer service and
product development. In tough economy’s many compa- nies cut marketing efforts and R&D. We did the exact opposite. We have expanded our product offerings as well as reworked entire website and entered the social media market. We now have a new website and can also be found on facebook. We also have a blog, which will contain sto- ries of interest for homeowners, contractors and whole- salers. We are focusing on being able reach and service as many customers as possible. How do you see next year and the short term regard-
ing the economy? Bob Flanagan: As we move forward into the next few
years SF is preparing to meet the needs of our customers by revolutionizing a new look baseboard as well as con- tinuing the engineering of new HE boilers. We are prepar- ing for an ever increasing competitive landscape by doing what we do best. We are going to listen to all spectrums of our customer base and continue to provide them with products that will allow them to increase all levels of their business and ours. How can the company help the struggling contractor? Droogan: We as a company have contractor programs
to help them in marketing and sales. We have co-op pro- grams and ways for the contractors to earn more money selling Slant/Fin. We have designed single ads to full mar- keting campaigns and love working with contractors that are dedicated to growing their business through Slant/Fin. We urge contractors interested in joining forces with us to contact the Slant/Fin representative in there area to discuss options and ways we can help them. Explain the significance of creating a strong relation-
ship with wholesalers? Flanagan: Our relationship with our distributors is the most important aspect of our business at Slant/Fin.
Page 62/Plumbing Engineer
Partnering is an old word used in our industry. Slant/Fin takes our relationship beyond this word. Our day-to-day business is centered around working with our distribu- tors to the point of looking at this relationship as just that. We want to be able to meet their needs to the point of establishing a relationship where we work together with the common goal of increased profitability and mar- ket protection. How do you create and maintain brand loyalty with contractors? Droogan:We feel training, product quality and service
are the three most important ways to create and maintain brand loyalty. We continually bring contractors to our fac- tory and main offices to see how we operate. They learn about the diverse line of product we have and get to see our factory and how it is run. They will learn about spe- cific quality practices we have in effect to assure all of our product is manufactured to spec. We have the best tech service dept that is here to help whether the contractor is on the job or designing a job. The last time I said, “Today is a great day,” I was
doing what? Droogan: I was reading an email from Evan Yudell,
product sales manager — Boston Group of Ferguson — A Wolseley Company. The email read as follows: “I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for everything that you have done for
Bob Flanagan: Slant/Fin recognizes and values the importance of HE boilers to both our
industry and the environment. As we continue to grow our research and development into this segment of our business we are striving to provide the very best equipment to meet the needs of both our distributors and home owners across the country.
us during the past few weeks as we tried to supply HD- 1,400 baseboard and accessories to our customer, Fraser Engineering, for Dean College in Franklin, Mass. You guys clearly went above and beyond the call of duty on numerous occasions, and it was your efforts (to essential- ly make miracles happen) that helped us get everything they needed so that they could complete the job. There are a lot of companies that talk about customer service, but few can actually back it up. It is first-class service like what you guys provided that make us as proud to sell your products as you undoubtedly are to make them. Thank you for all of your hard work!!!” Reading an email like this really makes your day. It also
helped show our team that are efforts are recognized! That was a great day! n
October 2011
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