NEWS | Round-up People are funny and in this


regular series, our bathroom retailer proves it, recalling some of the craziest moments they’ve had dealing with customers


Some clients you just can’t love


“LOVE YOU, bye…” Oh, man! Admit it, we’ve all been there! Hanging up the phone and declaring your undying love to the client on the other end. This happens so frequently in our showroom, both ways – staff to clients and clients to staff that this doesn’t even make us cringe anymore. It’s just another added bonus of buying from us – our excellent client relations.


That said, some clients we absolutely do not love.


We’ve had them all, or at least we thought we had, until a recent client of ours called and said in a thick Welsh accent: “My taps have a crown and the word England on, and I cannot live with any reference to England in my house. It’s ruined my new bathroom.” Give us the strength to sand the ceramic discs on every tap and shower knob because, no joke, that’s what we ended up doing. Another recent client started emailing us after she


recommended us to people. After every recommendation she would email us and, at first, we thought this was sweet of her. This grew tiresome


pretty quickly and then, when


we replying with words of


thanks, she emailed saying she expected a case of wine for all the recommendations. We had a discussion in the showroom today about our worst ever client. The results were unanimous. We once had a client who was so aggressive on the phone when she first enquired that the phone got passed around three members of staff, as everyone one by one refused to deal with her and transferred her to the next colleague.


Despite this, she still followed up the call with an in-person visit where she was asking questions like “how do you make money?”, “how much do you mark things up by?”, “how do I know you’ll supply me with what you’ve said you will and not a knock-off version?” In the end, we had to refuse to serve her and send her on her way.


A rival for the top spot was a dry customer — that’s what we call customers with no banter, personality, or life in their bones… dry. We did a lovely bathroom for this client, with a


gorgeous vanity, so we were desperate to take photos for marketing purposes. After we had finished, we received an email accusing us of damaging the shower tray while we were there. They even went so far as to say they heard a loud bang and we ran off. Little did they know, we record visits so it was very easy to get out of that one. When we told them we had a recording of the photoshoot, silence ensued.


10 stopped


Ideal Standard signs retail distribution agreement with Faucets


FOLLOWING THE expansion of its retail network, Ideal Standard has entered into a distribution and service agreement with bathroom distributor Faucets. From July 1, the partnership will make Faucets the first distributor of Ideal Standard’s Atelier Collections in Great Britain. First launched in 2021, the luxury collections were designed in combination with renowned Italian design company Palomba Serafini Associati. Faucets will also be a key distributor for Ideal Standard’s Bathroom Collections range. Both companies anticipate the service agreement will mean retailers will have access to a large range of stocked products, available on a next day basis for a faster, more consistent service. Commenting


on the agreement, Adam


Evans, retail channel director at Ideal Standard UK, said: “Maintaining the strength of our relationship with retailers is vital to us at Ideal Standard. Our partnership with Faucets supports our existing retail network, while providing an enhanced service and ensuring we can provide a wide range of stock, quickly.” Managing director at Faucets, Darren Taylor, added: “We’re delighted to announce this partnership, which helps further cement our


position as a leading stockist and distributor of quality bathroom products. Working with Ideal Standard’s existing retail network helps bolster our offering and means we can provide an excellent service to all customers, every time.” Established in 1983, Faucets is a UK-based independent stockist and distributor of bathroom brassware and sanitary products.


Duravit CEO has contract extended


One customer wanted a case of wine for recommending us


The supervisory board at Duravit AG has announced that CEO Stephan Tahy (pictured)will remain as CEO for a further five years following a year in which he led the company to a record turnover of €604 million (£510m).


At a meeting on June 28, the board unanimously decided to extended his contract for five years, due not only to the record sales achieved in the past year, but also because of the way he and his executive board colleagues Thomas Stammel and Martin Winkle have helped Duravit to build on past success. The board said it is convinced that Tahy will continue to realise Duravit’s full potential. Tahy became CEO of family-run Duravit in July 2020 and his contract was due to expire in 2023. Speaking about the decision, Tahy commented: “I’m delighted about the early contract extension and the show of trust in me. Only by working together can we achieve our ambitious goals. That’s why we want to take advantage of the fair winds and shape the necessary changes together.”


Tahy, speaking of the record turnover figures for Duravit last year of €604m (up 28% year on year), said: “Despite the difficult circumstances on the global economy, we’re closing in on the billion mark.”


The company said that Q1 of 2022 saw sales of €172.1m, compared with €140m in the same quarter of 2021.


Duravit has announced a comprehensive climate mission,


with the goal to be an entirely climate-neutral business at a global level without relying on offsetting or trading CO2 emissions. “None of this would be possible without the team effort of our employees who recreate this success every day afresh despite challenging and changing prevailing conditions,” Tahy said. These


are the best prerequisites for


implementing our corporate vision of ‘We upgrade people’s everyday life’ for all of our stakeholders board.”


Duravit has a global workforce of around 7,000 employees and operates in more than 130 countries.


• Duravit AG has also appointed Annette Becker as vice-president for global marketing, with


responsibility marketing for the newly-merged and commercial product


management divisions. She previously worked in product management at Bosch and was most recently regional director at the Fischer Group. Duravit said her appointment will help the brand achieve its strategic goals of restructuring its marketing and product portfolio management in order to satisfy changing customer requirements. Speaking of her appointment, Becker said: “Duravit is a brilliant brand that represents both German tradition and iconic design. What could be more exciting than developing customer- oriented innovations to make this brand even more successful?”


· August 2022


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