Where customer is king
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Rick Weber
He says all of Ranch Hand's retail outlets have a set day when they receive deliveries from the Shiner manufacturing facility.
“We have 6-18 wheeler tractor rigs, 15-18 wheeler trailers, and 6 truck and trailer combinations in our fleet — that's how much we deliver,” he says. “Shipping is an issue just because of the given size of our products and the fact that they are irregularly shaped. They don't fit on a traditional palletized system very well. It has necessitated having our own fleet of vehicles to get it to the vendors. We distribute through big vendors that distribute other product lines just like we get. They keep our product on the shelves. Some of them have a greater quantity than I do at any given time.
“We have a route driver who fives days a week — all day, every day — delivers to preset stops as far away as Orange, Texas (two hours east of Houston on the Louisiana border). Not only do we deliver to them to fulfill spur-of-the-moment orders, but they also stock our product in huge volumes.”
Sawyer says Ranch Hand doesn't just pay lip service to customer service. He says if someone calls the toll-free number, the call goes directly to the corporate office. If the customer is geographically closer to one of the retail outlets, the call is forwarded directly to that store while the customer is still on the line.
“It's not one of those we'll-call-you-back-later things,” he says. “We have conference calls where they can visit with the actual technician. If we have to go and pull our foreman from the shop, we do it. That's a regular occurrence.
“Being that we are based in Texas and a majority of stores are here, when there are warranty concerns, typically in a very minimal amount of time, the customer's situation is resolved very easily.”
Close to customers
Sawyer previously worked in the San Antonio and Boerne outlets and freely admits he wasn't sure he'd be a fan of Houston and its urban congestion, but he fell in love with the store. He says that's because of the clientele he sees and deals with on a daily basis.
“It's nice to develop a rapport,” he says. “Any time somebody comes in, they know you by name. Just today, Scott and I had lunch with a customer we met two months back and worked on his vehicle. He'll be back later this week for a third time. Any time we can develop a rapport like that, we did something right on a personal level.
“It's like that favorite mechanic we all have. When you find that person, you keep coming back. That's what we're here for. Our business is based on the fact that we go above and beyond to make sure the customer has a pleasurable experience — not just an OK one. One of our most basic desires is for the customer to have that experience and tell his friends over a couple of beers at a barbecue in the backyard, ‘Oh yeah, those guys at Ranch Hand, they took care of my truck. I don't have their card, but here's the Web site.’ While we do advertising just like every large corporation, a huge percentage of our business comes from word of mouth.
“This is a store where somebody's wife or daughter could come in and be comfortable. We are very much a family-oriented business.”
McClaugherty says that the company's 19.3% growth amid the downturn of the past year is due to loyal customers who, regardless of what it's going to cost to buy a new fleet of trucks, are going to outfit them with Ranch Hand products because they've used them for so many years.
“It's a product that's built and designed in such a way that it's going to protect the vehicle, which saves the customer time and money,” he says. “It's an aesthetic and functional product.”
He says the product is high end. People know it and want to pay for it.
“We don't carry something you'd typically buy at a Pep Boys, Auto Zone or O'Reilly's,” he says. “We are catering to people who have your new, higher-end vehicles. We don't claim to be an inexpensive place. Our products coincide with vehicles that come in. A majority of our vehicles are $25,000-plus, and many are $35,000-plus. Your average three-quarter or 1-ton truck is $35,000 plus. Those customers are outfitting those trucks from front to rear.”
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