try to make a change, it is incredibly disruptive.” Jerome’s has its drivers and customers phone into a call center after each delivery “to make sure the customer is completely satisfied, that they’ve looked over their product and are happy, that the trash is out and that we’ve done all we can to make the experience what they wanted and expected,” Goodman says. Problems are immediately resolved. “Calling them allows us to ensure that kind of satisfaction.” Goodman says, “The use of outside companies provides an economy of scale, by taking care of what needs to be done efficiently and by bringing best practices to the table, and allows for the flexibility of being able to expand or shrink more easily than by using your own people. As long as you can connect your strategy with the customer experience and with the drivers, and give the drivers the tools, training and resources they need, there are few negatives.” On the other hand, fellow HFA member Jim McIngvale, owner of Galley Furniture in Houston asks, “Why outsource a core competency?” Gallery offers a delivery training class every Jim McIngvale, Monday and McIngvale is proud of Gallery Furniture his staff. “They do extraordinary things every day,” he says, which helps build his company’s brand equity. McIngvale says some customers even request a specific person to make a delivery. “That’s pretty good,” he says. “It’s about standing out in a crowd.” Walnut Creek Furniture, an HFA member in Walnut Creek, Ohio, delivers to customers within a 50-mile radius. Manager Galen Swartzentruber uses a local delivery service he hired based on recommendations and an interview process. He outsources other deliveries. “The company is local and we know and trust them and their work Galen Swartzentruber, ethic,” says Swartzentruber. “It’s much Walnut Creek Furniture like delivering the furniture ourselves. If any delivery issues arise, they call us right away. We also check with the customers to make sure things go the way we want them to. If a company represents you, the customer does not know [their] name, they only know yours.” In Wausau, Wisconsin, HFA member Nigbur’s Fine Furniture owner Linda Nigbur says it has never crossed her mind to outsource delivery. “There is a benefit to keeping our name out there,” she says. “If it is our truck, the neighborhood knows; it’s additional advertising you don’t need to put in Linda Nigbur, your advertising budget.” She uses Nigbur’s Fine Furniture store staff to “allow them to see more
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from beginning to end, to follow-through the whole customer experience. [They are] involved in moving things, prepping the merchandise for delivery and inspecting it,” says Nigbur. “We go through a pretty stringent process prior to delivery [which makes them] more knowledgeable with a better level of understanding about the capabilities of, say, a reclining piece of furniture or what characteristics are acceptable or not in case there are problems.” For example, Nigbur’s staff learns to navigate crown molding to ensure there are no sharp or rough edges, as well as look for fabric flaws and know the mechanics and functions of things. She often sends her crew to the manufacturers to rehearse how they will work and act with customers in homes. Nigbur’s staff “is the final contact with our store; that is huge, as they are the ones to leave a lasting impression—good or bad,” she says. “They reflect our name.”
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“It’s hard to find (drivers) fully insured who have a good reputation, something that really counts.” — Dennis Dieter, Walker Furniture