Build November_2016

Build Magazine 42 Manufacturing & Supply Since 1988, Absolute Aluminium has provided its customers with the highest quality products and services, wining countless awards and maintaining an impeccable reputation in our market. Having moved its focus from the builder market to the consumer market after the economic crash of 2009. Absolute Aluminium and its team of over 100 employees helps residential consumers with a full array of products that are applicable to an outdoor lifestyle on the west coast of Florida. ver the course of the last 28 years, Absolute Aluminium has grown to take lead management (CRM) and the sales process more seriously than most others in the industry. “Our people are well trained in the process we’ve established,” describes Calvin Gray. “We’ve also added a ‘customer liaison’ to handle people from the sale to installation. They receive constant communication and we typically beat them to the punch regarding updates and communication. Informed people are very comfortable and it lets them know we care.” Clearly Defined Quality O Expanding upon the firm’s culture and the way in which staff are able to participate, Calvin reinforces the company’s commitment to training and improving its people. “We are constantly training, recognizing and rewarding our people. We spend as much money on training as we do on advertising, so through re- educating our people they conduct themselves in the way you’d hope they do. We do Quarterly company meetings with all 100 people, provide breakfast, hand out awards to people in all departments and encourage and reward good behaviour. “We meet weekly on all levels, department heads and departments to review our performance and catch little things before they become big things. We use Guild Quality to survey all completed jobs to find out what we did great and where we may have fallen short. We always communicate with every customer who has some feedback or is less than satisfied in any given area to let them know we’re listening. Then we take action to ensure it doesn’t happen again. This, coupled with clearly defined systems and processes, is certain to allow Absolute Aluminium to continue being the market leader. In fact, Calvin would go so far as to say that Absolute Aluminium’s methods put the company well ahead of the competition already, and while he humbly remarks that good is not good enough and that there is always room for improvement, he declares, “we do everything just a little bit better. “From the initial contact with our company to the very end of the installation, we take every step very seriously. Some companies try to make a sale and want to get the money collected. We, on the other hand, are trying to build a customer for life. This is an especially easy sentiment for Calvin, as he is able to take pride in notable recent projects completed by Absolute Aluminium, such as one at Frenchman’s Creek. Calvin elucidates upon this as an example of the firm’s well-managed services. “It was a million-dollar project that required us to prepare and plan in order to meet our contractual requirements,” he describes. “We’ve now developed a system for insuring that we can do any major project on time.” The success of Absolute Aluminium is a direct result of the company’s people taking tremendous pride in its culture. According to Calvin, it starts from the top with the owner D.J. Desjardins; “he has set the tone and expectation on how we conduct ourselves and created the processes for all of us to follow.” “Only sell the best quality products and don’t be afraid of price,” Calvin says. “So many small businesses get hung up on price rather than focusing on delivering value. Consumers are looking for a cheap price, they want the best quality products and services they can find at a good value. Then have people who care. The formula is quite simple, actually. “We stick to our process. We trust it and we know it works.” At present, Absolute Aluminium are continuing to migrate to products that are proprietary and unique, and are evaluating resources versus revenue, in order to ensure that the company is selling those products that yield the best ROI without having to increase personnel. “We want to continue to build our customer for life relationships. We’ve developed a very large customer base and our customer loyalty (including close referrals) is where our focus is moving into 2017. Company: Absolute Aluminium Name: Calvin Gray Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.absolutealuminum.com Address: 1220 Ogden Road, Venice, FL 34285, USA Telephone: 001 941-497-7777 USA Construction Excellence Awards