Stone People: Expanding With Quality
However, as with its clientele, Stone Creations’ materials skew to the higher end, and Kieckhafer says while she stocks Uba Tuba and Santa Cecelia, the biggest percentage of her sales are unique and exotic colors.
“We do our own importing from Brazil, Italy and Canada,” she says. “I also hand-select most of my stock that I buy from importers in the Midwest. Often, I’ll buy materials in Milwaukee or Chicago, but if I’m working on a large project, I’ll fly to California or Florida and select materials there.”
Click photo to enlargeWith its design clients, Stone Creations offers a complete turnkey service that includes not only everything from design and templating to fabrication and installation, but also structural design and restoration. The company will also retexture slabs for other fabricators, a skill necessary for its yacht clients.
Its service area includes not just all of Wisconsin, but the upper peninsula of Michigan, northeast Iowa and northern Illinois.
“We’ve also done turnkey homes in Cozumel, Mexico, as well as restaurants and full condo buildings there,” Kieckhafer says. “It depends on what somebody asks of us. We’re game for anything, and if the client has a sense of comfort they don’t care where you are.”
Still, for all that capacity to do specialized projects, she adds that the ancillary product that has probably gotten the best response for the company is its addition of tile. She says designers appreciate the opportunity to pick out their tile and their stone at one location.
KEY COMPONENTS
Not surprisingly, Trish Kieckhafer and referrals are key components of Stone Creations’ sales effort.
“Until 2009, all of our growth was word-of-mouth, but that’s very, very hard to control,” says the company’s only salesperson. “When we decided to open up to retail, we launched a TV ad campaign that was a branding campaign only.”
Kieckhafer adds that the TV ads, which have appeared on cable channels throughout northeastern Wisconsin, have proven to be a good investment. The company also does home shows, and is in the midst of a revamp of its website.
Click photo to enlargeThe move to doing retail sales has brought with it new challenges, not the least of which is the need for more room. After launching in 1999, the company moved into a new building in 2000 – and has added to it seven times since then. As it is, the current 22,000 ft² footprint is bursting at the seams.
“We really don’t have much of a showroom here,” says Kieckhafer. “We went from having vignettes that show people things to as many color samples and product samples as we could get. We feel it helps people to see an abundance of stone, and that’s why we’re planning a 20,000 ft² separate building that will be our sales and showroom building.”
The new building will give Kieckhafer space to do some seminars – she’s a Marble Institute of America-accredited speaker – and it will also open space in the existing building for more equipment, although what the next addition there might be is still under discussion.
However, Kieckhafer says it’s people, and not equipment, that sets Stone Creations apart from its competitors.
“We’re always amazed when we hear from people who come here and say, ‘I can’t believe you took two-and-a-half or three hours with us today; I can’t believe you’re not selling the sink, the faucet and the paint, but you took the time to help us figure this all out,’” she relates. “We do that because we care and ultimately it reflects on us. If the project went easier and if we made their lives easier, they tell everyone.”
