Slippery Rock Gazette

Pyramid Marble & Granite, in Effingham Illinois, saw large increases in revenue and profitability once they started using ActionFlow software to manage their countertop business. 

Barry Brandt said, “It was a difficult task selecting new software for our business. After researching all of the options, ActionFlow was the best choice for us.”

Previously, Pyramid used Counter Intelligence (no longer available or supported) for countertop quotes. This was an old system, cumbersome to maintain, and made it difficult to accurately price quotes. 

Using ActionFlow they are able to know that every job is profitable while still creating the most value for the customer.  In competitive bidding situations, even a small overestimating of the cost could be enough to prevent them from earning the job. “We now estimate instead of guesstimate,” said Barry.

To create a quote, they simply draw out the countertops using the graphical drawing module (see screenshot below). This module enables them to quickly add finished edges, backsplash and many other features to their countertop quotes.  

In just a few minutes, they can diagram very detailed features of their quotes.  Once the diagram is completed, they simply click ‘Calculate’ and ActionFlow produces a detailed quote of the countertops with the drawing attached. By providing the customer with the drawing they were also able to show seam location and other features. This makes it possible for the customer to get a true “apple to apples” comparison.

“In the first full month of using ActionFlow, we saw an increase of revenue of 11%.” said Ryan Brandt, one of the owners of Pyramid.   “The second month, the increase was 14%.   We were able to bid lower on some jobs because we had a clear understanding of exactly what our costs would be.  Those lower bids resulted in more jobs.”

To set up the quoting feature, they first defined the cost for every line item that they might include in a quote, such as cutouts, edge profiles, sinks and material.  ActionFlow includes the ability to quote the material cost either by the square footage of the tops, or by the cost of the slabs themselves.  Once those cost definitions were defined, every quote would be estimated consistently and accurately.  

Not only are the quotes more accurate, but the user interface of ActionFlow also makes it quicker and easier to create those quotes.  Now, creating more accurate quotes actually takes less time than it did before.

Pyramid also takes advantage of the slab layout feature of ActionFlow.  Pyramid has been doing slab layouts and nesting for a long time as part of the fabrication process, but ActionFlow enables users to do layouts in the same module where they create the quotes.  Screenshot 2 shows the countertops from the first diagram laid out on the slabs chosen for the job.

In addition to having more accurate quotes and being able to nest his tops on the slabs, Ryan wanted to be able to provide countertop quotes to his customers right from the slab yard.  That way, they could know exactly what the cost would be as they chose the material for their job.

To do that, Ryan took two additional steps.  First, he purchased Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablets for his employees.  Then, he installed wireless internet routers that covered his slab yard.  Now, his employees can simply carry their Surface tablets out in the yard with them and show the customers the immediate cost impact of choosing various colors.  This capability provides a valuable service to his customers, but also gives them confidence that they are dealing with a highly professional countertop fabricator.

“Our customers have been very impressed with our new quoting capabilities and they love the fact that they can see the impact of their decisions immediately,” says Ryan.

For more information on the Actionflow system, please visit www.actionflow.net.