I’ve recently completed a full-scale kitchen renovation.
After a very disconnected and painful sales, design and implementation process I was prompted to draw comparisons with our approach here at ICE.
Firstly, the kitchen design was done by a salesperson – it was clear that this step step was completely disconnected from any practical challenges of implementation and the person doing the selling and designing had clearly never been involved in the business end of actually installing a kitchen.
To be fair, some of the design was achievable (but not much). Some components were achievable in theory but not in practice, while others should not have even made it onto the blueprint. This is where honesty should prevail rather than saying yes to all my demands. Being promised the moon on a stick during the initial sale and design stage and then coming unstuck during implementation has been a familiar scenario in my own professional life.
Once I had signed a
nd paid the deposit, our kitchen designer became largely invisible, and that’s when the problems started. With the installer onsite issues arose almost immediately and were generally fixed by me, using what can only be described as an “agile” approach. Now while being a big fan of agile, it’s not ideal when building a kitchen.
Post-sale support was confusing, with some issues being handled by the designer at in the local store and others by a call centre speaking to a different person every time.
Here at ICE the same multi-disciplinary team is with you for the whole of the journey, ensuring continuity throughout the phases and delivering logical joined up thinking applied to your business across all the change activities.
We do make promises – even in our introductory demonstrations and pre-sales discussions, but we also remain involved through to delivery and beyond. We don’t disappear after the sale. We don’t hand over to pure implementers. We don’t make promises we cannot keep.
Because of this approach, our teams of business analysts and IT experts will stay with you every step of the way – from the first introductory demonstrations, through proof of concept and getting to know your needs, to implementation, training and post implementation support.
Our approach has brought us long-established business relationships with our clients that lasts for years. Clients who know they can rely on you when there is a problem. Isn’t that what you are looking for (even from a kitchen supplier)?