Dear fellow Supporters and friends,
We wish to thank every single one whom supported us! You do not need to purchase to support us, by understanding us, LIKEing us on Facebook, or updating yourself with our progress through our blog, all these meant the world to us.
We are blessed with friends and supporters that give us maximum support.
We were shocked to realized that people actually accept us for whom we are.
We appreciate it 100% sincerely.
We were overwhelmed by the great support our fellow friends and supporters gave us.
We learn, we had new lessons, we now know where are our weaknesses, and in 2014 these are some of the things that I feel I should state out to be fair for everyone.
We did screw up in several ways.
*****
LOGISTICS TERROR
You see, some of our advantage is actually a dual edge sword.
We hire our own logistics, to keep our transport lower.
But our traditional management approach was not good enough to accept changes.
When clients make changes with the dates, we often mis-communicate.
That is why we often reemphasize 5days advance. So we have ample time to make changes.
We also end up we over worked them, and end up very difficult to arrange for deliveries.
We often got mis-communicated and somehow rather miss out or didn't deliver on time.
Year end, our lorries are constantly at 100% (we share the lorry with my dad's co)
We reckon that the stated are the minorities, but we still take it seriously.
Some of our clients have no mattress to sleep for a few days :( our bad.
Some families waited for long hours for their mattresses.
But these are all part and parcel of year end crazy traffic flow.
Possible Solutions
Do not change the delivery date perhaps :P Or put it earlier and then change it to a later date, so the goods is in my storage and as and when you are ready, we can deliver.
Maybe put some "chilli and garlic in the gardens so will not rain, as told by PM Lee"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka6bxFw4pSY
Rain is scary for traffic, this will definitely delay deliveries. :(
*****
FREE BEDFRAME PROMOTION
Our main concerns are actually those that faced problems with the bedframes.
Well, I being a typical Singaporean...
Kiasu and all...
People advertising free bedframes, and etc...
I push my suppliers hard to also give me a good package so I can offer limited sets of free bedframes too.
The reality is, people are quoting 3k , 3.5k , 5k
then free bedframe...
We had free bedframe from $799 onwards... So sick, but true...
We tried to bring the same privilege to our supporters and felt some repercussions.
The frames that some of my clients received for free, have noises after months of usage.
Again, we still have to react accordingly to solve problems with our clients as the item given "was from" Tilam King.
Sad but true...
We have decided in the years to come, no more free bedframe.
These things haunt us :/
Lessons Learnt
Our Frames are already cheaper then ANYwhere with high level of customization.
kiang tio ho, mai gei kiang. Stop pressurizing ourselves to be even more competitive.
Our product speaks for itself, our clients can see it and understand it themselves.
Pressured decisions sometimes is a poor decision. And true enough, heading towards to bandwagon of giving free bedframe was a really compromised item. This will do damage to only ourselves.
Some clients even if they know they are getting a good deal, just constantly want more.
Have to know where the line is.
*****
We have to learn how to turn down special request.
Being a small company, we are often taken advantage of. Trust me, we have been in this industry for so long, we know how other company works and how they handle things.
We are 100% sure that no one can replicate us in terms of going the extra mile.
There was this scenario that we felt we were silly to agree on.
Scenario:
The delivery date is confirmed.
No calls to make changes or what so ever.
Delivery was made.
House flooring wasn't ready, and was asked to put it on the first floor first, as the rooms flooring wasn't ready.
Remember all these are happening during our peak periods, where time is really crucial to us. Our delivery guys constantly worked overtime till 10pm.
The client plead us to come next week again to do installation and move up to the 2nd floor into the rooms.
We agreed to do so, but as a company, we will not charge our client, but we request for the client to tip $50 to our hardworking delivery team of 3 people.
Probably our delivery team attitude maybe not so good as they install and move the items into the rooms. (Probably because my guys been to this client house for 3 times already)
The situation turned sour and we got blamed that our guys aren't pleasant and client refuse to tip, hence these turned even more sour.
My guys ultimately got tipped and left the client's place.
Lessons learnt
1. We are not a mover service. The above situation by right, is out of reach to us. We can say no to the request. We should let our supplier handle and not our own delivery guys. My guys were just too nice to help out the client.
2. We only provide free delivery for our products to one location. Another will only be a good will. We also have the rights to refuse to deliver multiple locations.
3. When it is peak period, cannot accept special request, must learn to turn down. Because of our work load, it is hard to slot in a time frame to do such small requests, there are many many other deliveries waiting to be delivered.
4. We have to understand delivery team people are typically uneducated and a little rough, because of so, they are capable and have great strength to carry items of such weight like a mattress and frames. If they are educated and not rough, I, Tony Tan, will bet my life and my company, no one will sign up for the job.
PERIOD.
*****
We hope you guys can understand us further with this honest post.
The reason why I do this is because I believe our kind and awesome supporters have over-hyped us tremendously.
We are starting to feel the pressure and the level of expectation is set too high for us.
We wish to reemphasize, our most expensive mattress we are able to charge is $1.8k for a king size TK Luxury Series.
PLEASE DO NOT COMPARE THE LEVEL OF SERVICE STANDARDS TO A $5,000 MATTRESS COMPANY.
FOCUS MORE ON THE COMPARISON OF QUALITY OF THE $5,000 MATTRESS :P
hehehehe...
ALSO Please note that we do not own or make any bedframes, they are supplied by suppliers.
We do some frames but they are more expensive as compared to the ones supplied by suppliers.
Hence we do not sell them often.
But please do note of our level of expectations of quality.
And...
Please do understand our lack of service standards... reason is because we everything also rely on limited man power.
We promise to increase our manpower so long as we find the right person to fill in the job.
We cannot and will not anyhow fill in anyone just because we need help.
We will fill in one that is also passionate about mattresses.
Because we care and respect the most in the Mattress Industry.
We believe we are the only company to disclose our faults publicly and yes, we are not perfect.
Being genuine requires strength!
Show some graciousness and appreciation by supporting us!
In the mean time, have a great 2014 ahead and have a wonderful coming Lunar New Year!
The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing
- Tilam King
