LANDSCAPING
SET IN STONE… & PORCELAIN
Good old-fashioned service, adding value and understanding the need for personal relationships is the driving force at Stone & Porcelain Supplies as Fiona Russell Horne finds out. et up in 2014, Stone & Porcelain
S
Supplies is an independent paving supplier that likes to do things the traditional old- fashioned way.
By that, director Gino Bracco means dealing with merchant stockists only, not direct with landscapers or contractors, and adding the personal touch.
“People buy from people. Yes, it’s a cliché, but, but clichés tend to be true. Our customers will phone us to place orders, not just fill out an online form or email us,” he says. “If they want
something a bit special, a bit different, or they need to fill a load, we’ll have a call with them and work out the best options. It might be a pack of this, a couple of packs of that, four or five patio packs, or a few packs of something else. We work with them to ensure they get the products they need to get their order right.” He adds: “Personal attention to detail and real engagement with our customers is what we encourage.”
Sales and marketing director Mark Ninnim argues that this is even more important now, as 2024 has proven to be challenging for the landscaping industry, with the worst weather since records began. “This unprecedented situation has significantly impacted our landscaping colleagues’ ability to install our customers’ products. Additionally, it has prevented many of our ultimate end users from viewing their outside spaces as usable areas,” he says.
This means, he explains, that simply providing high-quality materials at low prices is not enough. “The key to long-term success and growth is consistently adding value to your customers. By understanding and meeting your clients’ evolving needs, you can build strong, lasting relationships that drive sustainable business growth. By actively supporting stockists with high-quality visual aids, promotional point- of-sale materials, signage, samples, display area materials, social media assets, HTML email templates, and much more, we can add substantial value and help drive the success of their products in the market.”
He says that personalisation is vital in today’s market. “We use customer data to understand their unique preferences and tailor our offerings accordingly. We need to constantly evaluate the value we offer or risk disappearing into the noise created by low price, quality and service distributors. For example, following stockist feedback on our most recent brochure, we have increased its size by 61% to allow them to show their products better than ever - a simple demonstration of continual improvement in customer support and adding value.” n
September 2024 A supplement to builders merchants journal
15
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