Fittings 04

8 ASK OLE 10 WE HAVE A SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 16 IDEAS @ WORK 18 NEW LEVEL IN TOILETS Ta

ke me

home

Wrong attitude ruins business

No. 4Summer 2012

30 min. update

22

15

4

ShopMe and my

Loyalty is not a given

People are Tobler’s

recipe for

success

a publication

SMILE and the world will smile right back. Don’t you just hate it when people say that? I do. There are many sit-uations where smiling doesn’t feel quite natural for me.

But there are plenty of good reasons to smile: Scientists say it relieves stress and boosts your im-mune system. It also low-ers blood pressure and it releases endorphins, natu-ral pain killers and seroto-nin. In plain English, smil-ing taps into our brains’ natural drug cabinet and makes us happier.

There’s more. Surveys show that bosses are more likely to promote people who smile a lot. Waitresses who smile re-ceive substantially higher tips than waitresses who do not. Smiling encour-ages collaboration and productivity in work. If more smiles are seen in a meeting, that meeting is likely to achieve its aims more quickly and with fewer difficulties.

It has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Customers are more like-ly to buy from a person who smiles than from a person who does not not. In fact, it is proven that customers prefer visit-ing “that place with the friendly sales rep” even if that store is slightly more expensive.

The benefits of smiling are undeniable. If smil-ing does not come natu-ral to you, you can prac-tice your smile. You’re born with a smile - have you ever experienced a baby smiling at you - and could you resist smiling back? So it’s just a ques-tion of finding your smile again. Smiles are conta-gious and you can literally make yourself happy by smiling!

Happy reading

Inside

Fittings issue 4 · Distributed May 2012 · Fittings is the employee magazine for Wolseley CE staff in Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. Publication by Wolseley CE. Circulation: 2,300. Available languages: English, German, Dutch, Italian and French. Editorial responsibility: Wolseley CE/Charlotte Gullach Büttrich. Journalistic production and project management: Radical Communications/Patrick May. Design and layout: Appetizer.dk/Simon Johnsen. Photography: Martijn vd Griendt, Günter Wohlschlager, Peter Lous, Claudio Bruni and Jacqueline Made. Print: CoolGray. Editorial committee: DT Group/Charlotte Gullach Büttrich, [email protected]; Wasco/Sacha Büchele, [email protected]; Julia Rees, [email protected]; Tobler/Jacqueline Made, [email protected]; CFM and Wolseley CE/Tobias Roser, [email protected]

Take your smile to the bank

Charlotte Gullach BüttrichChief Editor for Fittings

[email protected]

Tobler +41 44 735 50 00CFM +352 4995-1Wasco +31 88 099 5000

OÄG +43 50406 0DT Group +45 39559700Wolseley +44 118 929 8700

USEFUL NUMBERS

24

You can write to Charlotte at [email protected] Feel free to share your ideas and comments – both positive and critical.

Ask Ole

We have a social responsibility

Sales and margin boosterWasco introduces a new basic inventory

Knowledge we act uponCustomer surveys provide important insights

Ideas@workGetting new customers up and running

New level in toiletsToilet hygiene takes on a new dimension

If you can’t find it in Wels ...Rearranging the Austrian logistics puzzle

Fittings Quiz

Built to lastPeople are Tobler’s recipe for success

81012

14

16

18

20

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22Me and my shopHow do we differ? Where are we alike?

AT ONE of the most busy roads Wasco the 1st of March opened a magnificent showroom: 1,200 square meters with a very industrial look and feel - only bro-ken by three enormous wooden arches divid-ing the place. “What makes this showroom unique”, says a proud Hans van Leijsen, the showroom manager, “is the fact that the place is designed with the end consumer in mind. We have 22 bathroom exhibitions all with matching tiles, fixtures and even accessories like towels and soap. Visitors are able to ex-

Theshowroomin Den Boschsets a newstandardThe historic city of Den Bosch is located in the south of the Netherlands and has lots of small, exciting restaurants, pubs and other hideaways that match the burgundian life style. The city is now en-riched with Wasco’s brand new sanitary showroom, which without a doubt, will appeal to the city’s stylish citizens.

HAPPY custom-ers are good for profit and happy employees generate happy customers. Wolseley Central Europe has initiated an Employee En-gagement Survey to get feedback from every employee. In April you will have received a ques-tionnaire asking you about everything that influences your working environ-ment. For example, questions will cover whether you have clear defined tasks and objectives, the quality of support from your manag-er, your confidence in the business unit and whether you read Fittings. The results will be used as input to identify opportunities to im-prove the working environment. In the next Fittings we will report on the re-sults and improve-ment projects.

How are you doing?

News

perience the look and feel of what could be their new bathroom. It’s a lot of work and if we choose to change the exhibitions it costs money but we believe that because the show-room bathrooms are 100% styled, this helps people to decide what they they want.”

The Den Bosch showroom replac-es Wasco’s old facil-ity in Tilburg, 40 km up north. The experi-ence here is second to none. Even project de-velopers agree. They know that when they send the end custom-er to Den Bosch, not a lot can go wrong. “Our expectations are sky high,” says Hans van Leijsen. “The reactions from project developers have been very posi-tive. We strongly be-lieve that we can get a lot of business from them. But what is most important is the over-whelming enthusiasm we get from end cus-tomers who visit us. At the end of the day, they decide where they spend their money.”

3Fittings 4 · 2012

BuiltIt all started in 1957, when Kurt Tobler made heating appliances in his parents’ house and sold them to local in-stallers.

His products quickly gained popularity and two years later he invited his brother Max Tobler to join the business. A third brother, Peter Tobler, also joined the company and the three brothers laid the foundation for Tobler’s success — still flourishing

55 years later.

While the or-ganisation has

changed be-yond rec-ognition,

the legacy of the Tobler brothers is still present everywhere.

People are Tobler’s recipe for success

to last

4 Fittings 4 · 2012

Spotlight

“I HAVE HAD the pleasure of personally meeting Kurt Tobler and his two brothers,” says Beat Gsteiger. “Peter To-bler was my boss in the branch in Wil (St. Gallen) when I started in 1972. Before I started to work for Tobler, I worked as an installer. Health issues forced me to stop. Fortu-nately for me, Tobler had an opening. I called the manager in Wil, dropped by for an informal inter-view and voilà, the job was mine. Back then, things were not that com-plicated. My first job in Wil was to serve custom-ers visiting our branch. Later I moved to the warehouse, after which I accepted an office sales job and today I am the logistics team leader in Däniken.”

“Tobler is excellent at retaining staff. I have been here for 40 years now. I am not the on-ly one. In fact, I know many colleagues who have been working here for that long. The at-mosphere is splendid, the working environment motivating and you get plenty of opportunities to develop inside the or-ganisation. I think we owe this to the Tobler brothers. It is their herit-age, their spirit that is the foundation. They were al-ways good at visiting the branches and talking in-formally with everybody.

They didn’t care whether you were a manager or a lorry driver. Everybody was contributing to the success of Tobler. They understood how to make you feel appreciated.”

Caring is part of our DNAToday Tobler has 41 Mar-chés, 720 employees, an assortment of 60,000 sku’s and a market share of approximately 30%. Wolseley, now owns To-bler. The organisation has greatly expanded since the start in 1957. “A lot has changed,” says Beat Gsteiger. “But a lot has

stayed the same as well. The atmosphere for ex-ample, is still fantas-tic. Employees are treat-ed with respect. Nobody puts pressure on you, in-stead you get help. Peo-ple care for each other in Tobler. If you take care of your job, you get a lot of freedom to do it the way you want to do it.”

“I’ve been tempted to leave Tobler once,” Beat Gsteiger says. “I was in-vited by a competitor to meet and talk job oppor-tunities. They ended up offering me a job. I got a bad conscious and I de-cided to tell Peter Tobler,

Max and Kurt Tobler Stramax Training 1974

1957 1974 2000 2001 2003 2010

Kurt Tobler establishes Tobler

Tobler

becomes a

family AGTobler acquires Sixmadun

Tobler expands to 20 branches

Wolseley buys Tobler

Däniken becomes the central distri-bution centre

More on next page

5Fittings 4 · 2012

I have a huge heart for Tobler. It is a big part of my life.

41 marchés720 employees30% marketshareApprox 6,000 customersTrucks: 55

Toblerin numbers

who was my boss at that time. Peter was totally cool about it. He told me how much he appreciat-ed me, how much Tobler needed me and he con-vinced me to stay. I never regretted that decision. I am planning to stay here until my pension. Which is in three years. Until then, there’s still a lot to do. I have been working in logistics for the past 25 years. It is my respon-sibility to make sure cus-tomers get their deliver-

ies on time.”“I have a huge heart

for Tobler. It represents a big part of my life. It is with great pride that I can say the same goes for our drivers. Most of them have been with Tobler for many years. People love working here. It’s conta-gious. I am sure that cus-tomers feel it too when they deal with us. We have satisfied custom-ers who have been with us for many years. Some of the companies that are customers here are now in their third generation but they are still loyal to Tobler. I like that.”

We understand how to have fun togetherTobler’s 55th anniversary called for a celebration. The organisation planned nine events on different geographic locations so that the 3,500 invited customers never had to drive far to join in the cel-ebrations with Tobler. The man who was responsi-ble for the organisation of the festivities is just like Beat Gsteiger, he has To-bler blood in his veins. His name is Ivan Wid-mer, he’s Toblers’ market-ing director and has been working for Tobler for 12 years. Incidentally, not al-ways in marketing.

“I started in Urdorf, as a forwarder, answering phones, registering or-ders,” Ivan Widmer says. “After the management buy out in 2000 the or-ganisation changed dra-matically. A lot of func-tions were relocated. My function was one of

them. It moved to Win-terthur. That’s two hours commuting from where I live. Fortunately it didn’t come to that. There was an opening in Oberent-felden, which I took. Fi-nally in 2005, I was giv-en the opportunity to take a marketing position in Urdorf. Tobler trusted me with the function and pro-vided the training and ed-ucation needed for me to grow into the function.”

That in a nutshell is what makes Tobler a great place to work. “We’re like a huge but close family,” says Ivan Widmer. “We act like a team. During the chang-es around the manage-ment buyout in 2000, a lot went wrong and this frustrated our custom-ers. Some of the discus-sions with customers were tough but we stayed friendly and focused on giving them the best pos-sible service. People here are dedicated to the com-pany and the organisa-tion. That is a result of the atmosphere here. The organisation is flat. We all talk together and have fun together. I honest-ly believe that this is the legacy of the founding brothers. I haven’t met them personally but the

Continued

Football fun tournament

Max Tobler

Former boar mem-ber on a client trip (1997)


I recommend Tobler

to friends and family.

That says it all.

people who have - they pass on the values to the younger generation. Our values are strongly inte-grated in our culture. Eve-rybody feels them and lives them.”

Tobler really believes in peopleTom Gerber is Team Leader ERP systems. He and his team support ‘everything SAP’ inter-nally. Tom Gerber started nearly 10 years ago as a Marché employee. “I liked working in the Marché. The contact with the cus-tomers was dear to me.

I could easily have con-tinued here and probably today would have been a Marché manager. But I became a key user of our SAP system and found out that I really liked it. I had a natural affinity for this stuff. Next thing I ap-plied for a function in the support team. Last year, I became the leader of that team.”

“What I like about To-bler is the opportunity you get to develop per-sonally. There are so many possibilities in this organisation. You never

see that in most other or-ganisations. The support I get is amazing. Tobler paid for a SAP education for me. This is an interna-tionally recognised edu-cation and it means I can basically work anywhere I want to. Yet Tobler decid-ed that I should have this education and were confi-dent that I would put it to good use at Tobler. Which I did. Not because I had to, but because I want-ed to.”

“Help is never very far away. When I entered To-bler, the Tobler brothers were no longer working in the company. But their spirit lives on. Everybody gets along with every-body. If you have a prob-lem or an idea - you’re taken seriously. Problems are solved fast. Ideas are carefully assessed and if they are good, imple-mented. Fast, because

the distance to the top in Tobler, is small. I love working here. I recom-mend Tobler as a work-ing place to friends and family as well. That says it all.”

Length: 256 metresDepth: 105 metresSurface: Approx. 20,000 square metresFloors: 3Ramps: 35

Materials handling:3 heavy duty elevators2 pallet elevatorsConveyor beltStorage locations: Approx. 45,000

Dänikenin numbers

(central distribution centre)

Ivan Widmer

Tom Gerber

Beat Gsteiger

7Fittings 4 · 2012

would you like to ask Ole?What

CONSIDERING the tough market condi-tions we are experienc-ing, I think we’re doing fine. Each Business Unit is fighting to the best of its ability. Tobler is go-ing strong - even though the Swiss franc is put-ting our prices under pressure. ÖAG has had a rough start to 2012

- as the market has slowed down. However, it seems as if the situa-tion in Austria is chang-ing for the better. We have increased the sales-force and are making some necessary adjust-ments in the back office now because we need a better mix between front and back office to gain

efficiency. The Nether-lands is a tough market in terms of competition - customers naturally ex-ploit this by putting pres-sure on our prices but we are on top of things and stay efficient and have success with our new ini-tiatives; the huge growth rate in sanitary ware be-ing the most prominent

example. CFM did not perform well in the past many months but I am confident we’re getting the company back on the right track. We’ve re-placed the management team here and we ex-pect that 100% custom-er focus will improve re-sults drastically.

THE MARKET in Luxembourg is no worse than other mar-kets. We have been challenged by a lack of focus and high costs. Fortunately, these are internal factors which we can improve. We have taken measures to get back on track. For example, we have re-duced the size of our DC, which leads to a significant reduction of costs. We also built a new management team. Both custom-ers and suppliers tell us we are a valuable com-pany with a good posi-tion in the market but that we have lost cus-

tomer focus. Our deliv-eries have been slower and with less accuracy compared to our com-petitors - even the ones from abroad. Therefore we moved deliveries to earlier in the morning. We are also investing in new trucks. The old ones broke down all of the time and this made on-time delivery impos-sible. In the short term we have one objec-tive only: to regain trust from our customers by providing a better ser-vice! These measures will provide immediate improvements and will ensure that CFM has a bright future.

What does the future for CFM in Luxembourg look like?1

2

AskOle

In an organisation with more than 2,000 people, the top management

can seem very distant.

With Ask Ole, you get close to top management, because we put you

in contact with CE’s most senior manager, Ole Mikael. Ask Ole the

question that’s been on your mind. Don’t let this chance pass you by.

... Anything you like3

4It’s been more than two years since you started. Do the business units live up to your expectations?


Send your questions to [email protected], and we will make sure your questions are answered. Don’t mince your words as you will remain totally anonymous.

I HAVE been posi-tively surprised by the engagement and pas-sion of staff who, right across the geopgraphi-cal spread of the or-ganisation and through every layer of the or-ganisation, want to make this company a huge success. In fact I find the commitment of everyone in the or-ganisation a very big and unique asset. But if I am to flag an ar-ea of potential, then

it would be that we’re lacking the last bit of self confidence. It is as if we sometimes do not really believe that we actually are able to add value to both our customers and suppli-ers. If we truly want to see change for the better, we have to start thinking and act-ing differently. If we do the same as eve-rybody else in the in-dustry, we limit our potential. In most ar-

WE’RE already well on our way with ini-tiatives here. Except for the Management Team, currently col-leagues from IT, HR, Finance and Sourcing & Logistics meet on a regular basis. I think when it is beneficiary to our learning curve

we should definitely do it. It would make sense also for Sales and Marketing to meet - in fact this will happen soon. Or for the people involved in our showrooms. If you feel a need, define the need and take the

initiative. I am proud of the development of the last couple of years; getting more common ideas and ini-tiatives moving around - support for common

initiatives have increased rapidly. Two good exam-ples right now are the common employee en-gagement survey setup and a new sales initiative called Sweet 16.

3

4

What has surprised you the most working with Wolseley CE so far? What are the devel-opment plans?

Are there any initiatives planned for similar functions across the CE organisation to meet and exchange experiences and best practice?

eas, we are beating the competition, so our real benchmark should be the best companies out-side our industry. We have to be willing to take calculated risks. Try new things. That’s why I am a strong advocate of getting fresh minds and eyes into all lay-ers of our organisation. Preferably with a differ-ent background as well - to challenge what we do. As to development, I want to be more of an enabler than an initiator. I want ideas for how to develop the companies to come from the organ-isation. The best way of achieving this is a better mix of internal industry experience and external experience. In fact both of these are needed!

9Fittings 4 · 2012

TOBLER cooperates with a foundation called Solvita. The foundation supports approximate-ly 600 people with dis-abilities who both live and work here. Compa-nies typically contact the foundation with assign-ments varying from ad-ministrative work, small productions, gardening and bakery. Assignments are taken care of at the Solvita premises with professional care. The foundation has a branch in Urdorf, with 150 peo-ple - close to Toblers‘ headquarters. “They live down the road from us,” says Ivan Widmer, Mar-

keting Director and re-sponsible for the contact with Solvita.

“We’ve been working together with them for at least fifteen years,” Ivan says. “Both part-ners are fully satisfied I should say. We typically use Solvita for jobs that

we lack resources for. For example, to update our technical documen-tation for heat genera-tion - a very time con-suming and precise job. These technical docu-ments we distribute to customers and it’s para-mount that there’s no mistakes in the texts. Leaving this job up to people with disabilities made me a bit nervous in the beginning. But I had absolutely no reason to doubt the quality at all. The people working here are truly happy for their jobs and their com-mitment is enormous.

They want to do a per-fect job every time.”

Ivan estimates that on average, Tobler uses the foundation’s services four times a year. “They also produce small ele-ments like the footings to be used for our exhi-bition material and take care of the administra-tive handling of some of our mailings. Solvita is neither more expen-sive nor cheaper than if we would outsource this kind of work to regular companies. By outsourc-ing it to Solvita we sup-port the fantastic work this foundation does.”

We have a

Also when there’s a recession

Responsibility

social

The commitment they put into their work is impressive


Lifestyle

In our never ending battle for market share, customer loy-alty, increasing margins and improving our financial per-formance, we should not forget our social responsibilities in the local communities where we are active. That’s why both Tobler and Wasco have long-term agreements with organisations helping people with physical and/or mental disabilities to have a more or less normal working life.

WASCO works togeth-er with the Zozijn foun-dation in Twello. Wasco employs eight people with mental disabilities and a care taker - full time. “They have their own protected space in our distribution centre,” says Nico Kerk, Wasco’s Logistic Manager and responsible for the con-tact with Zozijn. “They wrap and label spare parts for us. Typically smaller parts. Of course they help Wasco but the ambition level and ex-pectations are adapted to the circumstances. For us it is really about giving these people a relevant and meaningful job. They are fully inte-grated and are consid-ered Wasco staff.”

The Zozijn team lives at the premises of Zozi-jn. Every morning they arrive in a bus, and are picked up again in the afternoon. “We have been working togeth-

er with Zozijn now for more than seven years. Every month we get an invoice from the or-ganisation for the ser-vice. On top of that, we give all team members a small weekly allow-ance, €5. The allowance they get every Friday is cash in hand. €5 is a lot of money for these peo-ple and it makes them feel appreciated.” “Our experiences with Zozi-jn are very good. It’s the

same group of people that comes here eve-ry day, for seven years now. That’s pretty im-pressive.”

“Working here is great,” says Frits Tren-telman (48), a well-re-spected member of the Zozijn crew. “I get to work quite independent with the departments sealing machine. It’s not that hard, at least not most of the time. The bags with the parts go

in here and are automati-cally sealed. Sometimes I need to change the size of the bags. Then I get some help from Cengiz, whom I also discuss the working schedule with. I have good relations with my colleagues, not only the Zozijn crew but also the other Wasco people working here. The best thing about my work? The machine. I really like working with the ma-chine.”

The Zozijn crew is a part of the Wasco family

11Fittings 4 · 2012

26 Wasco branches are getting a comprehensive makeover.

The result will be a substantial new look. That however is not the main motivation for the makeo-ver.

Wasco is determined to increase their sales and margin by im-proving the product mix in the branches. The new branch design supports that ambition.

Booster

Sales and margin

Wasco introduces a new basic inventory


Sales

THE ROLL OUT plan for the makeover has the character of a military op-eration: well prepared, well documented and ex-ecuted with immense precision. “Our team has visited all of the branches to get a good idea of how to handle the makeover,” says Robin Waarsenburg, Business Unit Manag-er Branches. “Everything is described in detail so Wasco Branches, no mat-ter where you visit them in the Netherlands, have a uniform look and feel. What is more important - they have the same in-ventory.”

Wasco has identified a ‘basic inventory’ of ap-proximately 5,000 sku’s that will be available in every branch at all times.

products we would like to sell more of. For exam-ple, sanitary. Or our pri-vate label brands. The latter provides us with a better margin. We believe that we can stimulate de-mand for certain products by increasing their visibil-ity. Of course it also helps that staff are trained to promote these products. Whenever a customer wants a product without specifying a brand, we have an opportunity to

be completed by July 2012. According to Robin Waarsenburgs’ calcula-tions, a makeover takes three weeks. “Ambitious for sure. It’s a lot of work and it needs to be done while the branch is open for business. But with the proper preparation and planning, it is possible. We demand a lot from the 115 colleagues in the branches but the result, I can assure you, is worth the effort. Both staff and customers in the two branches that have been madeover are enthusi-ast about the result. The look is crisp and modern. Better product placement already has an effect. It’s too early to present reli-able sales numbers but staff reports that it sup-ports the dialogue with customers entering the branch.”

The basic inventory includes three main cat-

egories: parts, sanitary and heating. “We fin-ished identifying the as-sortment for parts already before the start of the winter last year,” Robin Waarsenburg says. “We took a bold decision not to wait for the other cat-egories but equip the branches with the new in-ventory right away. Sales exceeded our expecta-tions and at some point staff found themselves selling the products be-fore they had the chance to unpack and display them.”

“This operation took a lot of preparation and re-quires a lot of work. Our expectations are high. We have divided the 26 branches into three cat-egories - depending on size. We will benchmark the results of the branch-es by category. I can hardly wait to get the first reliable results in.”

“There’s a revolutionary thought behind our inven-tory,” Robin Waarsenburg explains. “Of course, we considered our blockbust-ers. But we also added

sell one of our high mar-gin products.”

Makeover takes three weeksThe operation should

Robin Waarsenburg

The look is crisp and modern.

Better product placement

already has an effect.


“WE USE the surveys to benchmark,” says Geof-frey Barranco, responsi-ble for customer surveys in CE. “We compare the companies with each oth-er. We believe that the companies that are un-derperforming can learn from the companies that are doing well. Of course we also compare the re-sults through time - to see whether the develop-ment is positive or nega-

CFM and Tobler do it twice a year, ÖAG and Wasco four times. We’re talking about

customer surveys of course. The results of the surveys are the perfect barometer for assessing

how the business is doing. There’s an undeni-able link between customers perceptions and

business results.

Customer surveys provide important insights

Take a peek into the machinery of your organi-sation and get a better under-standing of why and how things happen. Fittings has a backstage pass, and we’re happy to share the backstage pass with you.

Backstage

PASS

Knowledgeacton

we

Karl Kaura


Backstage

tive. Last but not least, we compare the results with companies out-side of CE. Basically, you can benchmark yourself against any company in the world.”

A lot of effort is spent on customer surveys. For good reasons. It is no se-

IN 2010, the managing director of this company (for privacy reasons we have chosen to not men-tion the name of the cus-tomer) participated in an extensive series of inter-views about their percep-tion of ÖAG. “In that in-terview the CEO revealed that ÖAG’s attention did not live up to their ex-pectations. The personal contact with ÖAG, which had been excellent un-til then, in their percep-tion melted like ice in the sun. Their motivation to do business with us dis-appeared too. I saw the video in the office togeth-er with our MD, Helmut-

cret that the margin in CE has to grow. But to be able to do so, our cus-tomers have to be will-ing to pay higher prices for our products and ser-vices. “Something they are willing to do if they feel we add value to their business,” says Geoffrey

Dieter Kus Seeing that video hurt. Ouch.” “The next thing I did was that I hopped in my car and drove out to the cus-tomer. I told them I had seen the video. I told them that we would do everything in our power to make it up. We send a Christmas present - nothing extravagant but a strong symbolic ges-ture. We started picking up the personal contact again, visited them again. The account manager has been able to grow the business to a level of €100,000 in 2011. It will even get better this year. In the first two months of

Barranco. “Based on the lat-

est results, there’s still a substantial potential for development. CFM has slightly improved their re-sults. But they also came from far behind and they still need to improve a lot to get anywhere near the

other three business units. ÖAG has also improved slightly, Tobler is more or less the same on a high level and Wasco’s result is slightly less then last year. But we’re talking a mar-ginal change here - noth-ing to worry about. That said, naturally we would prefer seeing continuous improvement. This re-quires a strong focus on everything that customers perceive to add value.”

this year, they bought for €100,000 with us.” “This episode told us a clear lesson: you have to give your customers at-tention all of the time. It takes years to build up a good relationship and you can ruin it with just a few actions. We have used this case, and still do, when our team discuss customer service. It’s not about prices, it’s about attitude. It’s about how you treat your customers. You have to act in a good, fair and honest way. That is the key to sustainable customer service.”

If you have a customer buying for €300,000 one year, and see the busi-ness with them drop to €35,000 the next year — it pays to act. It might be an indication that something went terribly wrong. “Something did indeed go wrong,” says Karl Kaura, Business Area Manager, Haustechnik. “We have a customer, a medium-sized company with 55 employees. A loyal customer. They bought for €290,000 in 2007 but only for €35,000 in 2008.”

Wrong attituderuins business

Product availability

Sales staff knowledge and helpfulness

Next day delivery

Wide product range

Top

what customers want to pay extra for:

Basically, you can benchmark yourself against any company in the world

41

2

3

4


“THE JUNIOR sales reps are a good supple-ment to the existing sales reps,” says Gert van den Brink, Sales Manager Regional Accounts. “Our sales reps can’t possibly squeeze in more custom-ers. The junior sales reps work in the same regions but pick those customers that are not being man-aged by our regular sales reps.”

“We started experi-menting with the concept in August last year,” says Gert van den Brink. “Our junior sales people con-tact new customers, vis-it them with a welcome package and they identify the customers’ needs and wishes. On that basis,

they make an offer and try to get the customer to commit to Wasco. We have three juniors up and running and in the first seven months they have accumulated significant additional turnover. This in a tough market and in tough times.”

“The beauty of the ini-tiative is that we wouldn’t have had this business without them. It’s ad-ditional business. We would, in consultation with management, like to hire additional junior sales reps. It’s hard to say when since it requires that we have the time to train and support them prop-erly. But the ambition is asap”

Getting new customers

Ideas@work

Fittings’ non-exclusive whiteboard where we share ideas

from all of the divisions - including the Nordic divisions.

The quality of the idea does not depend on whether your

office is the boardroom or the cabin of a truck. The idea

doesn’t have to be rocket science either. On the

contrary, we love practical, applicable ideas that

can easily be copied by others.

Wasco has 26 branches where customers can order, buy and pick up their supplies. On average, the company gets 70 new customers a month that would like to extend their re-lationship with Wasco.

To get them up and running, they needed to be contacted and vis-ited. Wasco was unable to do this because of a lack of resources - missing out on potential busi-ness. Junior sales reps were hired to turn the tide and were success-ful.

Up and Running


Ideas@work

“THAT DIDN’T scare me,” Stefan Vis-cer says. “I’d wanted to be a sales rep for a long time and I got the chance. I got two and a half weeks of train-ing. To get a better un-derstanding of our cus-tomers’ potential, I also visited different depart-ments. That was all it took to get up and run-ning.”

“Wasco has got a lot of customers registered that we do not active-ly manage,” says Ste-fan Viscer. “I am free to choose which custom-ers I think have po-tential. I call them, set up meetings and develop an of-

fer that fits their specific needs

and wish-

es. I love it. The back up I get from the or-ganisation is tremen-dous. We’re a large company with more than 350 colleagues. But in spite of our size, in situations where we need to go the extra mile for a customer, we work together as a team.”

Recognising buying signals“I work more than in my previous position. This is not a regular nine to five job. You have to go where the customers are. That means you spend quite some time on the road. Of course you try to ar-range your schedule as effectively as possible. I typically visit four to five customers a day.

Depending on where my first visit is, I start at 7:30 and drive home at 16:30. In the car I often talk on the phone with my colleagues in relation to what I dis-

cussed with customers. When I get home, I still have some administra-tive work to do. Make and send offers, an-swer emails, etc.”

“In the beginning, I had a hard time rec-ognising buying sig-nals from customers,” says Stefan Viscer.

in Wasco, I worked as an installer. I know who my customers meet when they visit their customers. I know how they work and how they think. This helps the di-alogue. They have con-fidence in the solutions I offer.”

“Here I learned a lot from our regular sales reps and my fellow jun-ior colleagues. We dis-cuss what went well and what could be im-proved on. The learning curve is still steep. Be-fore I started working

Stefan Viscer, 27, is one of the new junior sales reps. Stefan Viscer, un-like his two colleagues, has a past in Wasco (five years). When he got the chance to try hard-core sales, he didn’t hesitate for a second. Even though the organisation warned him that he had to perform and make his targets and that if he failed, he shouldn’t automatically assume that his old job would be available.

I love it. The back up I get from the organization is tremendous.

NoThe point of

Return

Stefan Viscer, 27, is one of the new jun-ior sales reps.


YET THIS is exactly what happened before the flush toilet made its way into peoples’ homes. Fortunately the days of the chamber pot are long

gone, when highly con-tagious diseases killed thousands of people. In the old days, to keep epi-demics under control, cit-ies and villages weren’t

New level in toilets Toilets might not be a sexy invention but with-out them, cities wouldn’t exist as we know them. Hard to comprehend, but true nevertheless. Imagine what a city like Vienna or Amsterdam would be like if everyone went about their “business” wherever they pleased!

allowed to grow beyond a certain population.

The flush toilet not only saved lives, it also played an important role in urban development as it allowed cities to grow bigger.

In 1848, England was the first country to pass the national Public Health Act, which would be-come a model plumbing code for the rest of the world to follow. It man-dated some kind of sani-tary arrangement in every house, whether a flush-ing toilet, or a privy, or an ash pit.

“People invest more money on their bath-rooms than ever,” says Clemens Rapp, MD for Geberit in Austria. “They


The story of

want quality. They want wellness. And you want a toilet that fits into that line of thinking. Geberit has exactly that product: the AquaClean.” A lot of Europeans are some-what shocked by this toi-let when they first see it. It has a built in bidet - a shower nozzle that cleans you after you are done with your business. Ac-cording to the experts, the only hygienic way to clean yourself here. It’s comfortable too and saves tons and tons of toilet paper (we use 12.4 billion rolls of toilet paper a year).

The AquaClean comes in different models and prices. The Rolls Royce among the series, the AquaClean 8000+, has an automatic shower noz-zle cleaner, it dries your

behind with hot air and it removes all odours - close to the source. There’s a lot of adjustable features on the 8000+ and a special memory function remem-bers your individual prefer-ences. This model comes with a price tag of approx-imately €4,000.

Fresh feeling from behindCheaper models can be acquired from €600. “That’s a relatively small cost compared to the en-tire investment to reno-vate a bathroom,” says Clemens Rapp. “People love the toilet. We’ve had double digit growth for

three years in a row. We put a lot of resources in marketing the product in Austria. The best product promotion we get is from people who have/had an AquaClean. 98% of cus-tomers who had one, buy one again when they move.”

Sightseeing in your

favorite city but the

sudden urge to pee

makes you feel uncom-

fortable? With the toilet

finder app you can

find the nearest public

toilet - wherever you

are in the world. Visit

iTunes to download

the app.

CAN’T FIND A PUBLIC TOILET?

Ask your phone!

In Fittings no. 2 we said that the toilet hasn’t been through any big revolutionary changes. Well, that is not entirely true. Producers have presented us with radical updates — one of them Geberit.

A new dimesion in toilet hygiene DID YOU

KNOW...

The AquaClean has a crisp and

contemporary design

This nozzle brings toilet

hygiene to a new level

On average, we visit the toilet six to eight times a day

On average, we uses ap-prox. 57 sheets of toilet paper every day

On average, we spend three years of our lives on the toilet

The most expensive toilet ever cost 19 million USD. It was commis-sioned by NASA and that it had a filter that could turn urine into drinking water

The toilet uses more water than any other appliance in the house (on average 50 liters per person per day)

71% of people read while using the toilet

47% of teens and 22% of adults use or answer their smartphones while using the toilet

2.6 billion people still live without toilets


THE responsibility to transform ÖAG’s logis-tic network has fallen on Alexander von Weinzi-erl. A name Tobler read-ers will easily recognise since he is also the main architect of Däniken, To-blers’ centralised distri-bution centre. “The dif-ference is that Austria is more than twice the size of Switzerland. Yet we

work with the same cus-tomer promise: Ordered before 18:00, delivered next day. The size of the country adds an additional challenge to the maths in our planning.”

ÖAG has split the mar-ket into five regions: East (Vienna, Niederösterre-ich and Burgenland), Cen-tral (Oberösterreich and Salzburg), South (Kärn-

If you can’t find it in

Wels ...

An important piece of the ÖAG’s logistics puzzle is centralised distribu-tion — a strategy that was successfully implemented in Tobler in 2010. The result is an impressive 50,000 square metres inbound hub in Wels, in Up-per Austria. It’s the largest distribution centre of its kind in Austria to date.

Rearranging

the Austrian

logistics

puzzle


Logistics

ten), Southwest (Steier-mark) and West (Tirol and Vorarlberg). All of them operate with their own sales offices and distribu-tion centres. “Forty per-cent of the Austrian pop-ulation live in the Eastern region,” Alexander von Weinzierl explains. “But customers on the other side of the country should be able to rely on our de-livery promise as well. Therefore Wells was the obvious choice as it is pretty much in the mid-dle of the country - and ‘only’ 220 km west from Vienna.”

Dazzling numbers“Currently we use Wels both as a regional cen-tre to distribute directly to customers in Oberös-terreich and Salzburg,” the logistic specialist explains. “We also use it as a central distribu-tion hub to replenish the other regional centres. We keep an inventory of 22,000 sku’s here (com-pared to 10,000 in Vi-enna and 5,000 in Graz and Kematen). We have more than 30 docks from which our trucks and shuttles leave to cater di-rectly to customers and our regional distribution centres. The size of the centre in Wels is impres-sive: an area of 50,000 square meters. The big-gest in Austria. Larger than Däniken - with ‘only’ 30,000 square meters. Gradually distribution will be more centralised and the operation in Wels will grow.”

ÖAG will reap some major benefits from the centralisation. “We have a single point of contact for major suppliers - which makes managing deliv-

eries from suppliers a lot more efficient,” Alexan-der von Weinzierl says. “When we decide to add new products to our as-sortment, we don’t need to keep an inventory in all five distribution centres but can settle with one inventory in Wels. This will enable us to try new products and still manage the investment in our in-

ventory. We’ll be able to forecast better because distribution is less com-plex. In everything we do, we’re looking for efficien-cy and savings. However, there’s one thing we will not touch. We will use our own ÖAG drivers to cater for customers. They are an important link in our customer service.”

If a shuttle leaves Wels at 19:00 in the evening — drives an average of 70 km an hour — what time is the lorry at its destination in Inns-bruck? And how long

would it take for the lorry to deliver to

the westernmost

branch in Bregenz /Lake Constance?

You probably rec-ognise the maths from your glory days in the school. For the planners in Wels the geography is a mathematical factor that needs to be taken into calculation. Austria has a population of 8

million — comparable to Switzerland. But Austria has an area of 84,000 sqr km; twice as big as Switzerland. And twice as big as Holland as well, which incidentally, has a population twice the size of Austria. Luxembourg with an area of 2,600 sqr km and 500,000 people is in a league of its own.

How many countries does Austria border?

Eight countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland.

MathsChallenging

Trivia


SAMEDAN is a small, charming village in the heart of the Upper Enga-din in the Alps. The vil-lage has 3,800 inhab-itants and since 2008 it has a Tobler Marché. The manager, Gian Reto Rodigari, established the shop. He worked alone in

the first year. Two years ago he got a colleague, Daniel Dorta. “We have peak times here in the shop when it is busy. Mainly early in the morn-ing, when installers and plumbers pick up their supplies on their way to their job and then again

Me and my

in the early afternoon when they have finished their meal and go back to work again. Later in the afternoon the phone starts ringing and cus-tomers phone or fax in their orders for the next morning. Our marché has an inventory of 5,000 sku’s. What we don’t have on stock, we can deliver the next morning at around 08:00.”

The success of the marché is easily de-scribed. “We hardly have

any competition. Besides, I know most of the pri-vate customers that come here. Samedan is a small village and people know each other. That’s a big advantage because you can talk to them in a more direct way. We’re close to the Italian border here. 80% of the people that come here, speak Italian.”

“For me a good day is when the weather is nice, there’s activity in the shop and I am healthy.”

I know (almost) everyone here

Village: SamedanEstablished in: 2008Size: 500 square metersStaff: 2Opening hours: Weekdays from 07:30 - 12:00 and from 13:00 - 17:30Best selling item last week: Fittings

ShopTwo colleagues, two different shops from two different divisions.

Name:

Tobler:

This shop:

Gian Reto Rodigari

Working at Tobler since 2008

Working in this shop since 2008

The

in numbers

Shop

Gian Reto

Rodigari right, Orlan-

do Destefani

left


Name:

ÖAG:

This shop:

Johann Feichtinger

Working at ÖAG since 1989

Working in this shop since 1989

ResumeTwo different stories ... or? How do we differ? Where are we alike?

GRAZ is the second largest city in Austria (af-ter Vienna) in the region of Steiermark. It has al-most 300,000 inhabit-ants. Johann Feichtinger works in ÖAG’s show-room in Graz. The show-room is split up into sani-tary (500 square meters) and heating (200 square meters). “Heating has be-come popular. Especially energy-saving solutions. One of our colleagues is

a technical consultant, who can explain all the ins and outs. I mainly fo-cus on sanitary. We have maybe ten customers a day. Typically, we spend between an hour to four hours together with a customer. Purchasing a bathroom is a large deci-sion and people typically come in more than once before they have made a decision. Especially older

people, who have a little bit more money to spend. They want quality and they want to know exact-ly what they can get for their money.”

“Quality has a different value now than it did 20 years ago. The products we sell now are more so-phisticated. But at the same time, they are less sustainable than they used to be. They have a expiration date of be-tween ten and 20 years. Which of course is great for us because it means that people have to re-place their bathrooms more often. Another val-ue that has changed sig-nificantly is customer loyalty. Competition has become more intensive and price has become a de-cisive factor for people to choose where

they buy their bathroom. A good day for me is a day where a customer returns to me after many years be-cause he or she has been so satisfied with the bath-room I helped them pur-chase years ago.”

“We sell the Geberit AquaClean. It is the Rolls Royce of toilets. Two in one - both toilet and bi-det. I have one at home. I am so happy with the toilet that it’s easy for me to rec-ommend the AquaClean to customers. We also have two toilets installed in our showroom in the visitor bathroom, so people can try the toilet out.”

Loyalty is not a given

City: GrazEstablished in: 1982Size: 700 square metersStaff: 4Opening hours: Weekdays from 09:00 - 18:00 Saturday from 09:00 - 12:00Best selling item last week: Bathtubs

The

in numbers

Shop

Julia Novak (left), Johann Feichtinger


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How well are you informed about what is going on in CE?

Answer thequestions below and win the ...

Name:

Address:

Zip and City:

Country:

Phone:

E-mail:

Employed at:

1:2:3:4:5:

Send this coupon to:

DT GroupAtt.: Charlotte Gullach BüttrichGladsaxe Møllevej 5DK-2860 Søborg Denmark

1 How old is Tobler?

A 35 years

B 45 years

C 55 years

2 Why did ÖAG choose to place their central distribution centre in Wels?

A A good price on the building in Wels

B Wels is in the middle of the country

C There’s a huge concentration of suppliers around Wels

3 How many times does the average person visit the toilet in a day?

A 4-5 times

B 6-8 times

C 8-10 times

4 How many new custom-ers does Wasco get a month?

A 30

B 70

C 120

5 Where is Gian Reto Rodigari’s shop?

A Samedan

B Poschiavo

C Martigny

The winners of the Samsung Galaxy from the last quiz are Alois Weiskopf (picture) and Hermann Reisinger from ÖAG in Austria. Congratulations.

Submit your answers before 1 July 2012 Use the coupon below or send your answers by e-mail to: [email protected]

The winner will be announced in the next issue of Fittings.

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