I can sit here and explain what has happened this past year but some will just think of it as making excuses. I don't make excuses, I just state the facts and let the chips fall where they may.
My business has been growing at a tremendous rate this year. I am a one man shop with a part time helper (2-3 hours a day). Everything I do is done in house with the highest regard for quality. All Cactus Juice is bottled, packaged, and shipped from my shop. All chambers are made here in my shop. In an effort to make stabilizing more affordable for more people, all of my chambers are sold at cost. In other words, I do not make a penny profit on my chambers. As a result, there is not enough money in the chamber to have them made by someone else for me. This leaves me with three options: Raise the price significantly to allow for someone else to make them for me and then just handle completed chambers, have them made in China (never going to happen), or try to improve manufacturing efficiencies. I choose the later.
Earlier this spring, I spent $6,000 on a CNC router to aid in production. It was one that I built myself. The assembly went well and things looked like they would be turning the corner quickly. I am a reasonably smart fellow that is very mechanically inclined and very computer savvy. I figured that once I got the machine up and running, I would be in full production within a couple of weeks and communicated that with my customers. Well, things didn't go as smoothly as I anticipated to say the least. I ruined over $500 worth of material and have spent most of the summer learning how to get the results I need with the CNC. It is one of those things where once you jump in, you have to keep swimming. It was around October before I finally had a grip on things to where the CNC was doing what I needed it to do and to my quality standards.
Naturally, by then, my backlog had grown considerably. I have changed the ESTIMATED lead times on my site numerous times to try to convey what I think they will be and have been making and shipping a bunch of chambers each week. I am working through my backlog as quickly as possible and making good progress but still have a ways to go.
Now remember, being a one man shop, not only do I make the chambers, but I also reply to e-mails and answer telephone calls. I get an average of 4-6 telephone calls per day (including the weekends) that last an average of 45 minutes to an hour each. I NEVER rush a customer off the phone and always make sure they have all the information they need. I try to be more than helpful, even answering calls and e-mails about Alumilite and casting which is not something I even sell or benefit from!
I do reply to all e-mails as quickly as I can. Many of my e-mails are not short, one line answers. Folks are asking how to double dye wood, how to get the best results stabilizing their wood, and how to do many things that are already posted on my website. Rather than just tell them to look at my website, I take the time to reply with a complete answer. I can easily spend 2-3 hours a day just replying to e-mails.
If I spend 4 hours on the phone and 2-3 hours answering e-mails, that is 6-7 hours of the day. Add in a couple of hours packing and shipping orders and my day is now at 8-9 hours and I still need to work on chambers! I usually spend another 4-5 hours a day working on chambers (unless I have family commitments) but 4-5 hours does not allow a huge amount of production.
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining or whining at all. I love very much what I do and would not change it for anything. I love talking with my customers and helping any way I can. This can easily be verified from the over 1,000 customers I have shipped chambers to in the last 3 years. I am just a small business struggling with success.
So, where do I go from here and what steps do I take to increase customer satisfaction and reduce lead times?
First, I have the CNC running smoothly and now that the holidays are over, will be humming right along working on that backlog, putting in extra hours.
Second, just a month ago, I spent $1,600 on a bottling machine to drastically speed up bottling production and free up more time for chamber production. I also spent $400 on a machine just for bottling the catalyst.
Third, my wife is going to start helping with packaging and shipping Not sure this is a good idea but we are going to give it a try!
I am not sure what other changes I can make but would absolutely welcome your suggestions.
Well, it saddens me that, someone feels that bad about you and your service, and while I have a great respect for you Curtis, I believe these people have the right to be most frustrated and upset, that is no question so, what do I thing YOU and OTHERS have to do to allow you to catch up and stop these long delays, complains and need to keep apologising publicly time after time, once and for all...???
Well firstly, you have repeatedly demonstrated the amount of time you have actually left in a day to do some work, after all the email replies and phone time, I know that you like to spend the time to explain things in details BUT, you are not helping at all to resolve the issue, you have to find a better way to get those explanations to your customers, instead of spend 45 minutes per call with each person, that may friend is not helping at all on the other hand, is also very selfish that ANYONE that is aware of your dilemma, thinks that is alright to keep calling you and disrupt your work only to have the his/her issues (even the minor stuff) explained one to one, that is just ridiculous and is as much your fault as is the callers fault to keep doing it.
Sure, your customers deserve to be assisted by you and you have an obligation to do so BUT, this has been going on for far too long and I am no seeing you address the issue as I believe you should.
I'm your friend and also a customer, I hate to see your name and person being jeered in such faction, when I know you are a "good guy" with a big heart but that my friend, isn't helping you much in this situation, believe me, I know from experience so, what do I thing should be done to get things on track...???
*- Have your customers or potential customers to understand that, is not right to call you and expect you to stop what you are doing to answer their questions/issues in such great detail, and yes guys, I'm talking about all you, I'm a customer and I could very easily grab the phone and become part of the problem instead of trying to be part of the solution so folks, try to understand the dilemma this man is confronting and stop being selfish by using his precious time to your own advantage, get off that phone and let the man do some work, do you...??
*- You have to find a way to respond your emails within an acceptable time frame, be less detailed and spend less time with each one, that will help considerably and people have to accept that, unless they need urgent assistance, do not "bog" Curtis with minor issues, that is only adding to the problem...!
*- You need to have someone with you that can work and can work fast and for more than a couple of hours here and there and when you need it and not when the helper feel like come to do some work, that is not helping you a bit, you need someone reliable, responsible and willing to work and you have to accept that, until this second person is able to free you for other things that need to be done, you have to sacrifice some of your profits to get you out of this jam, that is only getter bigger and worse as the time goes by.
As I said many time before, I wish that I was within driving distance to give you a hand getting things to where they should be, I'm old and worn out but, I would get the situation solved in a couple of months, guaranteed...!:wink::biggrin:
Make the beginning of 2014 as the starting point to resolve the problem but, you have to make dramatic changes to obtain dramatic results, there is no other way that I know off...!
You have asked for suggestions, and I'm giving you mine, you know I mean well and I mean what I say, if there is anything you see I can do to help you, you know where to find me...!:wink:
Cheers
George
