Free? You must be kidding.
As Ted mentioned, we’re creating a place for fabricators to buy and sell remnants – RemnantSwap. Why would we do something like this for free?
He touched on one reason – we think that a business based on hiding information doesn’t work on the internet. But wait, there’s more.
Build a community.
We’ve been fortunate that our scheduling software is used pretty widely by countertop fabricators, and our customers include many movers and shakers in the industry. But, from everything we can tell, there are 10 times the number of fabricators – we’ve never heard of most of them, and I bet they’ve never heard of Moraware.
A huge part of our success has been that our users tell their friends about us. So we figured – we need to give countertop fabricators another reason to talk to each other. More people talking means that there’s a chance they’ll mention Moraware JobTracker.
Computers, schmumputers.
But, our industry is behind the times. When we’re talking to prospects, our biggest competition is the paperwork and whiteboards that they’ve been using for the last 20 years. This is changing…slowly. We want to give more companies another reason to use computers.
If selling otherwise worthless remnants helps, we’re on the right track. Maybe we can open their eyes to the fact that using software in your business can directly impact your bottom line. We’re sure that fabricators will benefit dramatically over the long term.
Go big or go home.
The paid remnant brokers are stuck. If we charged for RemnantSwap we’d get forced into their game of constantly selling a service that only pays off for the fabricator once in a while. Paid brokers can’t grow enough to make a market that’s useful to a large number of people.
We’re going to flip that on it’s head – something that’s free, open, valuable and simple will actually get used. The more it gets used, the more it can grow and benefit everyone.
Death of the paid stone broker
Harry and I came up with the idea for RemnantSwap when we were at a conference in Boston. Through a series of conversations with other software business owners, we started thinking about building a site for countertop fabricators to sell granite remnants to each other.
We knew this was not a completely original idea, because we’ve seen brokers at most of the trade shows we’ve been to over the past 7 years. But those businesses have a fundamental flaw because they either:
1) Connect fabricators that are far away
2) Connect fabricators close together
I haven’t heard any fabricators who like the idea of selling granite to far away buyers, because it’s expensive to ship and prone to breaking. So you’re unlikely to have a good experience.
If the fabricators are close together, you probably already know them and have done business with them before. So why do you need a middleman? Why not go directly to the fabricator?
The only way those brokers could make money is if they stand between the buyer & seller, and don’t let each other know who they are, or what material is available. That model is not sustainable. You can only make money if information is kept secret!
RemnantSwap makes the information free, where brokers try to keep it secret. I don’t know if RemnantSwap is going to be the site that takes over the market, but it seems inevitable that something like it will.
Is there some value these brokers provide that I’m missing? I’d love to hear what else they do to make it worth paying for.
Introducing RemnantSwap
We’re really excited to show off our latest creation… RemnantSwap!
What is it?
RemnantSwap is a place to buy and sell granite remnants with fabricators near you. We don’t charge for the service, and we don’t take a cut of the transaction.
Free? You must be kidding.
We think this will be really great for our customers, and the whole countertop industry. We’d like to make RemnantSwap so valuable that every countertop fabricator has a new reason to use a computer in their business.
How does it work?
To buy remnants, just go to http://www.remnantswap.com/ and search for a color in a location near you. To sell, sign up for an account, and post your remnants. Here’s a 2-minute video that shows how to get started.
Free StonExpo admission
We’re exhibiting at the StonExpo Marmomacc Americas trade show January 25-27, 2011. This year, the show is being held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV.
Come join us at booth #B1281 – we’ll be showing off the latest and greatest updates to Moraware JobTracker. And, we might have a surprise or two as well.
If you register before December 16, 2010, you’ll get free admission to the exhibits and education sessions. Since StonExpo is co-located with Surfaces, you also get to see the floor covering industry’s biggest show at the same time.
Also, here are a few tips. We’ve exhibited at countertop and stone industry shows at the Mandalay Bay many times, and we’ve gotten a few ideas from being here.
- Stay at theHotel. In general, the rooms are bigger and newer than the regular Mandalay Bay rooms, and you’ll save yourself lots of walking from the room to the convention center.
- Have a drink at Mix. The view is awesome, and even if you’re not hip to spending over $90 for dinner, having a beer on the patio is a great way to relax from a day of work or prepare for a night of fun.
- Don’t forget your swimsuit. After a day of being on your feet, there’s nothing more relaxing than going for a float in the lazy river at the Mandalay Bay Beach pool area.
- Drink water. Between being in the desert, talking to other stone fabricators all day long, and staying out late – it’s incredibly important to stay hydrated, but really easy to forget this simple rule.
Las Vegas is a fun place for a trade show, and we’re glad that we can promote free admission for StonExpo. Don’t forget to register before December 16th, and we’ll see you there!
How (and why) do you hire the best?
Most countertop businesses that grow have seen their companies go from a small core of family and friends working together to something different and more complex. The company goes from a place where everyone knows each other and has a history together, to a place that has it’s own unique company culture that affects how things run and how you hire.
Last month, I saw a presentation by David Russo, on how company culture affects your ability to hire and retain great employees. David is the author of 17 Rules Successful Companies Use to Attract and Keep Top Talent, and has considerable first-hand experience as the former VP of human resources at SAS – a company consistently voted as one of the best places to work in the United States.
He described how company culture can be broken down into 5 distinct types.
- Bureaucracy: New hires are usually chosen based on their competence for a job. Policies and procedures govern how work is done, and employees join and stay because of stability. Examples include government agencies and other public institutions.
- Autocracy: Hiring in autocratic companies is also based on competence for a job, but control over employee’s activities is much more direct and top-down. Typically, employees stay for money. Examples include Apple and Wal-Mart.
- Engineering: In this company culture, employees join and stay because of their ability to work on cool, innovative, and technically rewarding challenges. Examples are HP or Google.
- Star: In a star-driven culture, employees are picked because of their pedigree and stay because of the potential upside, both in pay and prestige. These types of organizations tend to be extremely competitive, and place big value on autonomy, independence, rapid growth, and professionalism. Examples include consulting firms like Accenture or Bain.
- Commitment: A company with a commitment culture hires based on fit, and keeps employees based on love. Everyone feels like they’re working toward a common goal and everyone values long-term relationships and loyalty. Examples are Southwest and WH Gore.
David’s point was that the commitment culture is the one that works – not just because it’s nice, but because of cold, hard, business facts. There are several studies that show that having a commitment culture leads to the most financially successful, fastest growing companies. Are you creating a company based on love?
Tour of KAT Fabricators in Dallas, TX
Last week, I had a chance to visit KAT Fabricators in Dallas, TX and got a tour of their office and shop. They’ve got an amazing operation, geared around the hundreds of big-box stores (primarily Home Depot and Lowe’s) that account for most of their business.
Since they do little walk-in retail work, when you drive up to their office, it’s very modest and unimposing from the street, and there’s no showroom. But, right inside the front door is the heart of the operation – customer service.
Because they do a high volume of fabrication and installation, it’s critical that they’re organized. I really liked seeing the ridiculously large screens that they use for scheduling, inventory, and tracking every aspect of 
the jobs. Some of the employees in the office have dual 23” monitors aligned vertically. No need to go outside to get a tan. But, when you’re scheduling at least 10 installs every day, this kind of overview is awesome.
Once you walk through the office, there’s the stone shop. Although their roots were in solid surface fabrication originally, about 7 years ago they started fabricating granite and engineered stone. The stone now accounts for the majority of their volume, but offering a large line of products let’s them be a “one stop shop” for dealers and builders.
Behind the shop is a yard for inventory and remnants. Just past that is the solid surface shop.
Although they have a stone CNC machine, it’s only used for cutting sink holes. Where they have invested in shop equipment is a top-of-the line straight-line edger. In the solid surface shop, in addition to two panel saws to do the cutting, most of the work is done by six highly-skilled fabricators.
What surprised me most was that KAT doesn’t compete by being the lowest priced countertop fabricator in the area. Although they are constantly working on becoming more efficient and they have competitive pricing, they offer service and quality beyond what most of the other fabricators in the area can offer.
Many thanks to Deke for showing me around, and to everyone at KAT for giving their time and suggestions.
Notes from the MIA Leadership Workshop, pt. 3
We were a sponsor of the Marble Institute Leadership workshop. I also attended, and took some notes. (see part 1 and part 2)
Marty Gould helps companies with local marketing at Focalize Now. He told us that countertop fabricators do a horrible job of showing how their company is distinctly different from their competitors… and many of them give up on marketing.
He challenged us with an example of another industry that has mostly undifferentiated products, but all of us could name the major brands. Mattresses! Even though I hadn’t bought a mattress in the last 5-10 years, we all knew the major brands: Sealy, Simmons, and Serta.
But Marty took it a step further – the old approach to marketing doesn’t work in the internet era. What each stone shop needs to do is differentiate themselves. Fabricators can’t compete by being everything to everyone – they compete by being different and embracing the differences. But, most shops have done nothing to build a brand, and in the absence of a brand, customers search randomly (aka Google) to find a vendor.
Marty explained that the marketing gobbledygook that’s on most contractors’ websites is there out of fear. They say they’re high-quality, service-oriented, family-owned business as a long-winded explanation that “We’re not crooks!”.
Much better is to find the smallest niche you can and be the best at it. To be unique you focus on just one dimension of being excellent – either your price, service, product, experience, or access. When you find an attribute that differentiates you, focus all of your marketing around that attribute so that you have something unique to hook into your customers’ minds.
Marty’s talk was a great wrap-up to the workshop, and he sent us home with homework:
- Focus on your niche.
- Identify your target.
- Evaluate your content.
- Surround your customers.
- Make a commitment.
It’s easy to say that you don’t have time or money to improve, but I left the workshop realizing that constant improvement essential for any business that wants to be successful.
Notes from the MIA Leadership Workshop, pt. 2
We were a sponsor of the Marble Institute Leadership workshop. I also attended, and took some notes. (see pt. 1, here)
Frank Anton is the CEO of Hanley-Wood, one of the largest media companies in the housing and construction industry. Frank gave some predictions about the future, and although he was wary of predicting any specific outcomes, I was really impressed by the amount of data he shared from their data division.
Some stats that I found really interesting:
- Number of baby boomers (born 1943-1960) in the US: about 60 million. Number of echo baby boomers (born 1982-1995): about 80 million. Based on those demographics, plus the fact that we add about a million people annually to our population through immigration, a housing recovery may be in the works as the new generation starts getting married, having kids, and buying their first homes.
- There are about 115 million existing houses in the US, with an average age of 39. Remodeling has historically been about 40%-50% of construction investment, and should continue to increase as the age of American homes goes up.
- The top 5% of Americans by wealth account for almost 50% of the spending on remodels. And the bulk of remodeling revenue is spent on kitchens.
- Predictions for new housing starts in 2011 are over 600,000, compared to the 362,000 in 2009.
Mark Fernandes is the Chief Leadership Officer at Luck Stone, and told his company’s branding story from the last four years. Luck Stone is an 88-year-old family-run company that makes the bulk of it’s revenue from aggregate stone, or as Mark said “turning big rocks into small rocks”. About four years ago, they started a very thoughtful and intentional campaign to create a new brand.
Company president Charlie Luck gave Mark the mission to create a brand that would appeal to his children: fashion-conscious, forward-looking, embracing technology, and sustainable. What they created was the Charles Luck brand, which has the mission of being a luxurious, style-minded company.
They visited high-style shops in New York, like Ralph Lauren, Saks, and Prada, and took their brand identity and mission from this type of retail experience. Instead of just re-interpreting the concept, the Charles Luck brand takes it one step further – they are actually involved in the fashion industry. They attend the premier textile show in the world — colors and patterns that appear in clothing trickle down to interior design and ultimately stone choices after 12-18 months.
They designed new showrooms that are easy to update with the latest trends, and educated their employees on the value of their interaction with customers. Every interaction – from the buildings they work in, to how they answer the phone is intentionally part of the brand experience. It’s “All on purpose for a purpose”.
Building this brand wasn’t a trivial exercise, though. In addition to spending a significant amount on the design of new stores and marketing materials, Mark has spent over 60% of his time being the brand ambassador both within and outside of the company.
They’re seeing the benefit, though. They’re reaching their target market of wealthy customers both through targeted marketing, and by creating a fashion-forward approach to their showrooms and design that is being picked up by interior design and style blogs. One highlight so far has been (free!) weeklong exposure of their products and company on Reuter’s giant board in Times Square.
Notes about one more speaker… are in the next blog post.
Notes from the MIA Leadership Workshop, pt. 1
We were a sponsor of the Marble Institute Leadership workshop in Dallas, TX and I had the pleasure of attending, too. I found the speakers interesting, and there was a wide cross-section of attendees from the industry. In addition to countertop fabricators, there were also stone distributors, and a few representatives from quarries, too. It was really cool to have conversations with people across the whole range of the industry.
Monday night was a reception hosted by Walker Zanger, a national distributor of tile and stone. Their Dallas showroom was impeccably decorated and maintained, and as a bonus they served a great assortment of Mexican food and drinks.
Tuesday was the all-day seminar with four speakers – Stephanie Vierra, Frank Anton, Mark Fernandes, and Marty Gould. Each one addressed a different topic, but each one surprised me with some information about the industry.
Here’s my one-sentence summary of each speaker, followed by my more in-depth notes:
- Stephanie Vierra: Selling environmentally friendly products can enhance your business.
- Frank Anton: The housing and remodeling markets will get better…eventually.
- Mark Fernandes: If a company that crushes stone can have style, anyone can.
- Marty Gould: Your business is unique and interesting, and you should exploit that.
Stephanie Vierra is a consultant and policymaker in the field of sustainable design, and talked about positioning natural stone as a green product. She discussed the salability of stone on it’s lifetime value. When you consider that stone can easily last 50-150 years, the initial purchase is insignificant compared to other, less durable, materials.
In general, there is a trend of younger, more educated consumers seeking out sustainable materials. But, Stephanie emphasized that continuing to educate consumers, architects, and designers about the value of stone as an natural building product with great properties of strength and utility is essential.
I was surprised when she mentioned that buildings are the largest sources of pollution, and account for 40% of material and energy use in the world. Figuring out some ways to reduce that huge percentage seems like a good goal for the entire building industry.
As I started writing, it got too long, so I’ll continue my notes in the next blog post. (see part 2, here)
Turn your website into a lead generation machine
My friend Rob Walling is an entrepreneur, author, blogger, and startup advisor. I was lucky enough to hear him speak at a conference this month, and the lessons from his talk apply to to every business that has an online presence, including countertop fabricators.
The #1 Goal of Your Website
Maybe it’s not surprising, but the goal of your site is not to sell products, it’s to get visitors to return so they can answer fundamental questions that might lead to a sale. You should think of your website as a way to start an ongoing conversation with your customers and prospects, and the best possible way to have an ongoing conversation is via email.
How do you get email and permission to market?
- Create a killer landing page. It should be centered around getting email addresses. Invest by hiring a designer, and test to see if small changes to the site can improve the rate that people are signing up. We’ve found that using 99designs is a great way to get high-quality design for cheap.
- Give something away. In order to build people’s trust, you need to offer something unique and valuable. An example might be a report or analysis of countertop materials, or maybe a discount on a service that you’re already offering – like repairs or measuring.
- Follow up. Rob recommended MailChimp, which allows you to create a sequence of emails, sent out over time. You may want to send out a guide in the first email, followed by testimonials after a few days, and ultimately provide a coupon for a discount after a few weeks or month.
The goal of your follow up is to provide information for customers seeking more, build trust, and keep your company in the mind of prospects who don’t have an immediate need or the finances to buy a new countertop today. If you can get your prospects to keep coming back, the chances that they’ll buy from you will go up drastically.
