This past weekend we bought an SUV to help with small part deliveries and some logistics. Boy was it frustrating. Despite all the marketing to make me feel like the car buying experience had improved, I was sorely disappointed. If we own a vehicle for an average of 5 years, it occurred to me that I will buy at least 10 cars (20 if you include my wife’s cars). That’s a lot of disappointment. Surely we can do better to service ETM’s customers. In fact, we have processes designed to do the opposite of auto sales.
The car buying process these days typically starts with the consumer doing on-line research to narrow down their search for the ideal supplier. At ETM Manufacturing, we have over 100+ pages of content – everything from our capabilities, to case studies, to part pictures, to our supply chain processes. We believe sharing more information will help buyers make a more informed decision about the type of supplier they want for their organization.
The next step in the car buying process usually means checking the pricing of the vehicle the consumer is most interested in. There are MSRP prices, sticker prices, invoice prices, preferred partner prices and e-prices all available to help you feel like you are getting a good deal. When we prepare a quote for our customers, we actually build a quote model for each part. We estimate the programming time, the set-up times, the run times, the material costs and all the secondary costs. This takes extra time, but once this is done, we can quote any quantity or any delivery date you need. If you share your payment terms, we can also quote based on net 10, net 30 or net 45 day terms. In our case, we quote exactly what you want, instead of try to fit you into what a car dealer has.
At an auto dealership, once the consumer has agreed to a specific vehicle and price you are brought into “the box” to meet with the finance manager. This is where you are informed that the attractive rate is not available to you. You are also given the option to buy extended warranties for the car, the tires and everything in between, included the special wax that never fades. This kind of upsell never gets done at ETM Manufacturing. As an example, there are many cases where we turn down expedite money and still get the parts our early. We never try to have our customers feel like a victim. We always think of our customers as the person who buys 20 cars over their lifetime, not the 1 car today.
Sometimes our customers mix the car buying experience up with the ETM buying experience. This typically looks like RFQs that never really turn into orders (tire-kickers) or mass email RFQs (e-price collectors). The ETM difference is everything beyond the price – the quote flexibility, the shipping choices, the payment options, the status updates and the after shipment follow through. Why save $0.50 on the price if it costs you $1.00 in extra hassle? After the ETM buying experience, over 98% of our customers return to order more and many go out of their way to praise our team. Just read the 30+ customer testimonials.
So when you are thinking about choosing your next sheet metal supplier, think about your last car buying experience and imagine what the opposite would feel like at ETM Manufacturing.
from ETM Manufacturing http://etmmfg.com/3581
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