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FloForm: Industry Leader with 14 North America Locations
Residential kitchen by FloForm features Carrara Morro countertops and island'
By Peter J Marcucci Photos Courtesy FloForm and Lauren Butler
Our featured stone shop this month is a once-in—blu-moon opportunity to feature a company that’s built to huge proportions through vision, ambition and motivation. FloForm is one of those companies, and as you’ll see, it is dynamism at its best, but not without a mixture of fortitude and ethics. The original FloForm, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was founded in 1961 by three brothers. The company manufactured post-formed laminate countertops (Plastic laminate sheets are bound to a particle board substrate using heat and pressure). Supplying this style of countertops, to a sparsely populated market throughout the Canadian prairie within the Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces, the company flourished for decades.
That is, until the late 1980s, when unannounced to the brothers the glue manufacturer switched the components used in the glue from natural rubber to more environmentally friendly synthetic rubber. Over time, this glue would prematurely break down and release curved areas of laminate that retained tension, such as rolled edges and backsplashes, basically de-laminating the countertop. One Man’s Problem = Another Man’s Opportunity The brothers, now overwhelmed with warranty issues, did make a valiant effort to correct the situation, but were now teetering on bankruptcy, recalled Ted Sherritt. “The company’s service techs, between the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, knocked on 30,000 doors to repair or replace these countertops,” he said. “That’s a large number, and quite often it was to the same residence to glue a different section that didn’t fail as quickly as the others in the house.” During this time, Sherritt, a Certified CPA and Chartered Business Valuator, worked for KPMG, which was hired by FloForm to provide financial projections used to keep the company from going bankrupt. The huge liability knocked off a significant amount of value from the company’s net worth due to significant warranty costs and growing debt. Now in a downward spiral facing certain crash and burn, Sherritt took a chance. “They were told to go bankrupt many times, but they weren’t going to do that,” he said. “They were honest businessmen who sold the product and would keep working until the customer was happy. "The reputation and longevity of this company is because of their commitment to the customer, and to this day is our guiding principle.
Dekton® Trillium provides a visual contrast in this under-bar space, installed in the FloForm Kent, Wash., showroom.
“I then said, ‘If you guys need money and a CFO, I should buy a part of your business and come work for you.’ So, my wife, Marnie, and I invested money in 1995. As for the two brothers who were still there, one retired in 1997, the other in 2000, when I then became the President and CEO.”
Read more in the April 2024 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
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How Effective Is Your Business Strategy?
by Ed Young Fabricators Business Coach
Economic signals are all over the map. Interest rates remain high, housing starts are down, yet the stock market is setting records. Most of the prognosticators who gaze into their crystal balls for a living are still forecasting a slowdown for the rest of this year. All this uncertainty makes it difficult to make effective business plans. Do you plan for a weak market, or do you plan for a strong market? Would you rather hope the market gets stronger or would you rather have a plan for whatever this economy throws at you? When I ask this question, many shop owners will say they have prepared for a downturn by paying off all their loans and banking cash. That’s a solid strategy – if you’ve already completed implementation of it. Unfortunately, it’s pretty late in the game to start implementing that strategy. One of the challenges with using only this approach is predicting how long any downturn will last and how much cash you will need to weather the storm. For this strategy to really work, it also needs some proactive components. Here are a few to consider. Raise prices now. The mechanic’s adage of ‘tighten it until it strips, then back it off a quarter turn’ applies. Intentionally increase pricing until your customers start to really complain, then back off a little.
All your operating costs are going up, as are your material costs. (A quick check on your pricing structure: For retail jobs, your material cost for the job – including waste – should run about 30% of the sales price. If it is higher, you probably haven’t been keeping up with the increase in your slab prices.) Once inflation is no longer increasing, your customers will automatically push back on price increases. Increase prices now while you still can.
Know your leading indicators. If your first indication of a slowdown in volume is a decrease in orders, you’ll find yourself constantly behind the curve and playing catch-up to current market conditions. To manage your business effectively (in either a downturn or an upturn), you need earlier indicators of business volume. Quote volume obviously precedes order volume. How is your quote volume trending? How is your conversion ratio of quotes to orders trending? Posting this data where employees can see it keeps them from having emotional reactions based on perception – and allows you to operate based on facts. Inbound calls and showroom traffic precede quotes. How are those trending? Are you using a CRM (customer relationship manager software) to track: • Social media engagement • Web site traffic • How quickly your salespeople respond to inquiries • How quickly your salespeople turn around quote requests • Trends for all the above Think of these leading indicators as an early warning system – radar – for your business. It will tell you what business changes are headed your way so you can proactively deal with those changes.
Read more in the March 2024 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
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Take the Guesswork Out of Profitable Growth
Darlene Campagna Direct Opinions
Good strategy is at the core of any organization’s success and defines what the company needs to do to reach its goals and help guide the decision-making process along the way. But running your business on baseless assumptions or half-truths can point you in the wrong strategic direction. What if your assumptions are wrong? What damage can this do to your business and how long could it set you back from achieving your ultimate goals? According to a 2023 Gartner article, “The 5 Pillars of Successful Strategy Execution,” 83% of strategies fail due to faulty assumptions about customers, competitors or internal capabilities resulting in unwanted surprises and stalled growth, reaffirming the importance of creating a business strategy built on insights, not assumptions. Business strategies are full of goals and objectives focused on marketing and sales plans to drive revenue and profitability, gain market share, and beat the competition. be very different from what you believe to be true. Boiled down, it’s all about selling more to your existing customers and successfully converting prospects to buyers.
Business strategies are full of goals and objectives focused on marketing and sales plans to drive revenue and profitability, gain market share, and beat the competition. Boiled down, it’s all about selling more to your existing customers and successfully converting prospects to buyers. However, most business strategies are developed without ever getting feedback from customers — those people you are working so hard to sell to. Assessing your strengths and weaknesses through the eyes of your customers can help identify opportunities and threats, which may be very different from what you believe to be true.
Done right, this customer data can best position your business for growth, especially important now considering the tremendous amount of change in the stone fabrication industry since the COVID boom. Consider how customer insight would drive these most critical elements of your overall growth strategy: Marketing • Establish what marketing and advertising channels are most effectively converting prospects to customers. • Identify your unique differentiators for more effective brand positioning. • Manage your online reputation by promoting elements of positive customer experiences. Sales • Understand why your customers choose you over your competition. • Discover what’s most and least important in the customer decision-making process and prioritize results to improve close rates. • Evaluate competitors’ strategies and operations to capitalize on their weaknesses and enhance your unique strengths.
Read more in the April 2024 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
BB Industries Celebrates 30 Years of Excellence with 30 For 30 Theme
BB Industries was once again one of the main stone industry companies presenting at The International Surfaces Event (TISE) in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. BBI was a Gold Sponsor of TISE, and their booth was positioned right at the front of the Stone section of the show as you walked in, allowing them to greet and meet the many people who attended the event. The attendance was great this year and the overall participation from other stone industry pros was also strong. Many people who came by the BBI booth got to see a nice selection of tools on display, and were able to talk with the BBI experts about the select tools on display, and how they can benefit stone fabricators. BBI also had stainless steel and porcelain sinks on display and their position on the event floor allowed them to be the first distributor being approached by those interested in sinks and their general product offering. Sharing the booth space with BBI this year were presentations from Poseidon, IMS, IPS/Integra, RYE Corp, the Rockheads, and WEHA,
The second day of the show had a slightly larger crowd of attendees. One well-attended venue was the Stone Fabricator’s Alliance (SFA) Booth, where stone industry pros had a chance to exhibit and talk about featured products. BBI was there talking about a new respirator available to the market, manufactured by Swiss Air.
It was also the day that Women in Stone (WIS) held its 4th Annual Amazing Race. This event is a great way to explore the Natural Stone Pavilion, meet fellow women in the industry and expand your network. BB Industries was honored to be a part of this race as a Sponsor and one of the stops for the groups participating in the Amazing Race. On Thursday evening of the show, BBI once again hosted a Partner Appreciation Party at Mandalay Bay’s House of Blues. This year’s party was bigger and louder than ever before, with a great live band, Empire Records, performing awesome tunes from the past and present on the stage for everyone to see and enjoy, and even dance to. According to attendees, the party was popping, the guests were dancing, the food and drink (and adult beverages) were flowing. BBI went above and beyond to make sure that everyone who came to their party had a great time. BBI is certainly gaining a reputation for throwing the best party for stone fabricators at TISE.
Also featured in the April 2024 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette
4100 Appalachian Way Knoxville, TN 37918
Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 7:30AM - 6:00PM (Eastern Time)