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NEVERTHELESS , THEY DO not just pile their warehouse high with every product they can get their hands on . Instead they carefully select from leading industry brands , ensuring that every product they deliver to customers are to the highest standards . However , as a distributor they have to deliver more than just quality products to win over customers .

The core of Total Hardware ’ s culture has always been to build and grow strong relationships with their customers . Understanding their customer ’ s needs enables them to determine the changes in market trends , allowing them to adapt quickly and effectively . This is vital for a distributor to get right , as they do not want to disrupt a fabricator ’ s production flow . To help them achieve this , Total have also built strong partnerships with all of their major suppliers , therefore allowing them to keep close control over stock , deliveries and new products . This control meant that Total were able to deliver over 99 % of lines on time in full every month in the second half of 2016 , which is no mean feat when they offer a nationwide , next day delivery service . Total pride themselves on having over 1,000,000 units of stock readily available for their customers , making sure they ’ re not let down . Daily operations have had to advance in order to handle this volume of stock .

To continue to achieve the highest levels of service Total have had to revamp their internal operations to meet the growing needs of their customer ’ s . Throughout 2016 many changes were made to both warehouse and office operations to guarantee continued customer satisfaction . As part of these changes all staff and departments were informed of their day to day performances and these are evaluated one to one on a weekly basis . This simple change has vastly improved performance and contributed to increasing both productivity and precision . Streamlining order processing , and warehouse operations has also had a huge impact on these performance indicators , freeing employee ’ s time to deal with other customer needs . Another change was a renewed drive towards recycling , a growing concern in the industry . As well as recycling packaging , Total has begun using a local company that donates to Leeds Children ’ s Hospital to recycle their printer ink cartridges .

In 2016 Total even introduced a couple of new departments to offer further support to customers . One of these new departments was technical support , which was made available to their customers in early 2016 . The department is run by Steve Walker , who has over 30 years ’ experience in the window and door industry , along

with an extensive knowledge of both hardware and profile . Though Total is primarily a distributor of branded goods , and therefore relies heavily on their supplier ’ s quality controls , this department has been a welcome addition to the company . Customers experiencing technical issues with products have utilised this department for support and demonstrations . They also introduced a marketing department to further support customers . Total is now able to offer customers bespoke marketing packages , such as product specification sheets and information designed with the customer ’ s logo and company colours .

These additional services have all been created to support customers , and develop a stress free customer experience . The final and most important part of that experience is the products . Using a distributor like Total Hardware gives the customer the variety they need , with a

comprehensive range of quality products to choose from . As this range includes products suitable for PVCu , composite and aluminium systems , Total has developed a one stop shop for every fabricators needs . Having such an extensive range of brands not only gives customers choice , but also gives them access to some of the latest innovations from leading hardware manufacturers . Recent examples of new innovations are the Athena Hinge from Trojan , the GU Secury range and the Yale Autosecure lock , all of which offer unique solutions to give fabricators a competitive advantage .

Total constantly review new products in the market and add them to their portfolio when they feel their customers will benefit from them . 2017 will see continued efforts to improve the customer experience , as well as even more reasons to choose Total Hardware as your supplier .

www . totalhardwareltd . co . uk