Where service leads, growth follows It is self-evident that a business is nothing without customers. Keeping customers happy with the service they are receiving is paramount in building a successful business with long-term prospects.

It is self-evident that a business is nothing without customers. Therefore, keeping new and existing customers happy with the service they are receiving is paramount in building a successful business with long-term prospects.

At tooling supplier WNT service to customers is central to continuing growth. This can be measured in many ways, and here it starts even before the enquiry has been received; WNT aims to respond to 99.5% of customer calls within 'two rings'.

A sophisticated call management and monitoring system enables the sales office to see in real time how they are performing against this aspiration - and prompts follow-up of any lost calls.Annual turnover has risen from £1 million in 2001 to the current £8.4 million, a figure expected to double by 2010.

'From the outset the infrastructure has been focused on customer service,' says Tony Pennington, WNT (UK) managing director.'Every aspect of the business is targeted at providing the highest level of customer service and support.

Even internally we treat each department as a customer of the next in order to instil this culture.'Service, he says, is a more significant business driver than cutting tools or engineering, so the emphasis - including support from the headquarters in Kempten - is on supporting customer-facing people.

'We set out to challenge accepted standards - to provide high quality tooling along with next day delivery and a level of customer support that differentiates WNT from being "just another general tooling supplier". Some of what we do may seem excessive, but by ensuring that we answer every call from a customer within two rings and that we maintain 98% availability, we are of clearing 99.5% of orders the same day and delivering 98.5% of all orders the next working day.

'Investment in stock is critical in delivering this service, and this stands in stark contrast to the more familiar 'accountant's approach' to business principles. The small subcontractor, desperate for the tooling, can't wait - but he also can't hold the tooling stock himself because he can't predict what he's going to need.

Such companies rely on WNT.Maintaining ex-stock availability on a product range that extends to 41,000 standard items could be seen as an unnecessary burden on the business but WNT views it as an asset.

The bulk of its customers in the UK are SMEs many are subcontractors without long-term contracts with customers. Investing in stocks of inserts that may not be required is undesirable.

Guaranteed next day, before noon, delivery from WNT eradicates the need for these smaller customers to maintain stocks. Of course, larger WNT customers can take full advantage of the Tool Service vending system, which delivers its own cashflow benefits and simplifies stock control.

'We don't let customers down' says Pennington; 'irrespective of customer size we offer the same levels of service, whether it be next-day, free of charge, deliveries, or the availability of our team of technical sales engineers or our internal technical support team.'It's one thing to put systems in place, another to quantify them.

While sales at WNT (UK) have grown by 600% since 2000, the financial results tell only part of the story. This is why the company places great emphasis on its annual Customer Satisfaction Survey.

What this survey provides is the perceived difference between WNT and its main competitors. 'While the ultimate is to get 10 out of 10 for every aspect of the business, the absolute score is not the most important element.

The key result is the differential between WNT and the competition.It is this that ensures that customers continue to buy from us and do not transfer their loyalty.

It is reassuring that in every aspect of our business we are consistently viewed as being ahead of the competition.'Key survey criteria include office-based and field-based technical support.

On the former - identified as an element of the service in need of improvement - WNT reports that its differential advantage over its main competitors increased from 7% to 24%; on field-based support however it had reduced from 22% to 13%.The survey prompted comments about not seeing a sales engineer.

WNT's response? To recruit five extra sales engineers.Putting the customer first should be central to every company's business plan.

Some are better at implementing it than others and WNT (UK) continues to grow faster than its competitors, thanks to 'customer-first' thinking.However, this service has to be backed up by products that deliver the productivity that a modern manufacturing environment demands.

Continual product development is the lifeblood of any forward thinking business.With the introduction of its latest catalogue WNT has added more than 1900 products that either supersede existing products or are genuine innovations.Says Tony Pennington: 'By continuing to invest in our core principle of not letting the customer down we will maintain our promises of high levels of customer support and service, while continuing to supply some of the best cutting tools and associated equipment available.'