December 2, 2010 5:27 pm
When my business partner David Cummings and I started Jericho Home Improvements we had one strong vision that we wanted to instill in the culture and life of our business: To provide a level of customer service to all customers so great and unique that our customers become Raving Fans and talk about their wonderful experiences with Jericho to everyone they know. Years ago we started Jericho with just a handful of great people and with this passionate proactive approach to customer service we have become the largest kitchen and bathroom remodeling company in Kansas City with over 50 employees and over 500 kitchen and bathroom remodels a year. Creating Raving Fans isn’t something we just talk about, it’s something we live and breathe everyday!
Creating Raving Fans is about focusing on four main areas, Quality Products, World Class Installation, Proactive Service, and Great Value.
Quality Products: We knew to have a long term Raving Fan we would need to provide our customers with high quality products that would stand the test of time. Unfortunately there are many contractors who will do almost anything to cut costs in order to maximize profits. Typically this type of mentality results in the purchase and use of substandard products and materials. This is especially easy to pull off when considering the materials you don’t see or don’t ever think about such as wall backing material or grout. Using cheap materials will cause major issues down the road. There are so many ways to “build it cheap”. We decided long ago never to have this mind set and to always think with the “end in mind”. We want our bathrooms and kitchens to last forever (or at least until they are outdated, 30-40 years down the road.)
World Class Installation: You can have the best materials in the world but if they are not installed correctly you will consistently have problems. One of the biggest reasons remodeling companies fail is improper or faulty installation. Most remodeling companies hire Subcontractors to perform their installations. The reason they do this is because of inconsistent available work. It becomes too hard to maintain employees if one month you have work and the next month you don’t. So companies find it easier to use Subs. This is such a big disservice to their customers because it creates many variables that cannot be controlled. It’s impossible to control quality when you have Subcontractors who aren’t supervised and regulated by the company. At Jericho Home Improvements the people working in your home are our employees. Our master installers are amazing craftsman that specialize in bathroom and kitchen remodeling. When we hire, our employees go through a rigorous background and hiring process. Since we only hire the BEST, we can guarantee you will have the BEST working in your home!
Proactive Service: We realize being proactive in the bathroom and kitchen remodeling business is a must. Our service team consists of your Design Consultant, Procurement Manager, and Project Manager. We have a customer communication process that allows frequent contact between Jericho and our customers. We want to make sure the normal anxiety that comes with a remodeling project is significantly minimized. Staying proactive with frequent updates on things such as product ordering and project scheduling before we even start your project can help eliminate most of those pre-installation anxieties. Our management team is dedicated to making sure your remodel goes smoothly and an important part of that is keeping you informed at all times.
Great Value: One of the things we are most proud of at Jericho is providing excellent value for our customers with their Kitchen or Bathroom Remodel. We do this by cutting down the “profit pyramid”. We work straight with the manufactures of our products and cut all middle men out to substantially lower price. We don’t hire sub-contractor companies to install our projects instead our own employed master installers perform the work. Cutting the profit of the sub-contractor company substantially lowers price. Our word of mouth marketing created by our Raving Fans has allowed us to spend a very small percentage on marketing which has substantially lowered price. These three things combined have allowed us to give our customers a kitchen or bathroom remodel at a price no one else can touch. Great products, great installation, great service, great price, now that’s Value!
There’s one more ingredient that goes into Creating Raving Fans and that is passion. We believe having a passion for our customers and making them the focus and having a passion for doing the right thing separates Jericho from the rest. We are not perfect and we have made few mistakes. But when those mistakes happen we fix what went wrong and learn from it. Our customers are our life. They are the reason we are in business!
Companies that can provide these four things and implement them with passion will certainly be successful because the customers will keep coming back and will readily recommend that company to friends and family. As for the Jericho family, we would like to thank all our past and current customers and can’t wait to make our future customers into our next Raving Fans!
John Bartrom
Co-Founder and CEO
Jericho Home Improvements