New Business Venture.

[4Vman]

Where the hell were you six months ago??? We had Doors Plus (Geelong franchise) signed up to replace both front doors (main and screen) and they turned it into a clusterfuck...

Cliff notes:

- The main door was sitting at the shop for two months because old mate "forgot it was there"
- Said main door had a huge gouge down the front face, lucky I saw it before it was hung.
- Replacement door split as soon as it was hung.
- Third door was fine but the lock jammed as soon as the installer left.
- The screen door we were told would be fitted "two weeks after".
- Old mate decides to go on a holiday to Italy for three months and "forgets" he had to fit our door.
- Ended up with a refund after much teeth pulling.

Oh and the front doors here aren't the standard 2040 x 820, whoever built this place fucked up and set the door frames for 2050 x 840. Instead of resetting the frames they opted for custom doors (which were shit anyway).

Mate, we get sooo much business because of Doors Plus's shit service.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Did you end up with the doors or not?

[Loud]

They came good on the main door, the screen door I ended up getting the BIL to make one up for us.

[FTe217]

The reno market here is still vibrant.

We're Vic only at this stage but im not capping anything.

Our major competitors are Doors plus and Bunnings.

Doors plus have a National footprint, 22 stores across Australia, but the service level is not much above Bunnings.

We currently source from wholesalers but im looking at importing too.

Our website is awesome and in store experience above everyone, and im confident of that.

Showroom is currently being upgraded to improve the experience and help "sell the dream" for consumers.

Manufacturing std sizes isnt economical here, custom stuff is though.

This is a typical premium install we've done.

yes main thing is service service service, its amazing that really isn't that hard to get across but competitors stumble so so many times.
SOH is another but as you mention custom is the "cream" that competitors probably can't do as well as you guys by the sound of it.
Your only trouble I suspect re Importing once investigating what the MOQ is.

[4Vman]

yes main thing is service service service, its amazing that really isn't that hard to get across but competitors stumble so so many times.
SOH is another but as you mention custom is the "cream" that competitors probably can't do as well as you guys by the sound of it.
Your only trouble I suspect re Importing once investigating what the MOQ is.

Yep, lucky my team are already acutely focused and aware of their point of difference V the 2 National corporates.

SOH issues are a tough one, the high moving lines are low margin, and MOQ issues will surface with importing as you say.

Lots to work through, but Service is #1, and luckily the one we're already good with.

Our weakness is we do ZERO advertising or marketing, like NONE.

35 years is testament to strong WOM, but its time to get out of cruise mode.

[Franco Cozzo]

Congrats, good to hear a good news story in amongst all the bullshit over the past few years.

With MOQs and our Chinese 'friends', you might find the MOQ suddenly becomes flexible if you offer more on the unit price.

I've found that Chinese suppliers are pretty keen on getting extra business in Australia, just don't expect exclusive distribution deals.

Get yourself an online presence and some SEO going, worlds-a-changin'.

EDIT: Noticed you've got a website, good work.

Noticed your instagram is inactive though, get active on social media, take photos of all your installs for Facebook/Instagram, get a bit of a write up going on every project you do for insta/facebook. Costs absolutely nothing, get your happy customers doing testimonials/5 star google/facebook reviews for you.

Get into a bunch of community facebook groups around Melbourne too, every council region usually has a large group of people looking for all sorts of services.

Stay off Twitter, joints a cesspool full of Franco's.