Codiak San Herrell

Solid Surface Designs

A slab “bone yard” can be an ugly – and dangerous – area, and not a place you’d want to customers to see. With a little work to clean, organize and make it safe for visitors, you can offer smaller remnants at discounted prices that will create a win-win situation for you. Organize by color and type to make browsing easier for your customers.

A slab “bone yard” can be an ugly – and dangerous – area, and not a place you’d want to customers to see. With a little work to clean, organize and make it safe for visitors, you can offer smaller remnants at discounted prices that will create a win-win situation for you. Organize by color and type to make browsing easier for your customers.

Customer service is almost an art form. As soon as a company understands the importance of customer service, and employees establish a customer service mindset, the sooner a company will build success within the walls of its establishment. Satisfied customers will improve the overall image of the business, encouraging return customers as well as increasing word-of-moa

On the flip side, bad customer service gives customers a feeling of being low priority. Arguably, this is the main reason for a change in customer shopping patterns. So here at Solid Surface Designs, we understand the importance of customer service by documenting customer comments. We discuss the ones that need to be discussed, and celebrate happy customer’s comments in our weekly meetings. 

We recently established a new line of promotional material, and a new and improved warehouse layout. We have our select promotional material set on A-frames, right outside of our clean customer showroom.  We eliminated unnecessary material handling (especially around customers) and just improved the overall look.  The material is also set up from top to bottom tier in pricing, as you walk through the warehouse. Our well-organized remnant yard is set up in our backyard, where the pieces are all labeled, scanned, turned away from the sun, and placed in rows, by color schemes. The pieces under 30 square feet are sold at a discount price. This gives the remnant area a yard sale vibe, where customers needing a vanity top feel like they are getting a good deal. And if you do not have an appointment, we have a walk-in style, retail project manager on hand during business hours.  

The weekend is primetime shopping time for many homeowners looking to make a major purchase. So, we decided to set slabs outside over weekends, paperwork and pen attached, for customers who cannot make it in during weekday business hours. We highly encourage customers to visit and physically view their chosen material. We also provide a “nesting” option for customers who want to use certain areas of the slabs for certain places in their kitchen, and demo pre-existing countertops, for an additional charge. We guarantee that if you find a chip in your new countertops within 30 days of installation, we will fix it for free. Our customers can expect to receive a “Thank You” letter and a customer care and maintenance form, as part of our after-sale customer care policy.

Above, left: A neat customer/builder consultation area with plenty of samples shows that customer service is a priority for your company. Above, right: Solid Surface Designs has a retail project manager available during business hours. The ability to handle “walk-ins” is an important key to achieving high customer satisfaction.

Above, left: A neat customer/builder consultation area with plenty of samples shows that customer service is a priority for your company.

Above, right: Solid Surface Designs has a retail project manager available during business hours. The ability to handle “walk-ins” is an important key to achieving high customer satisfaction.

Unfortunately, all the customer service tactics in the world do not guarantee success. But without a solid customer care plan, it is guaranteed – you won’t succeed. 

Just like the 3-in-1 cleaner/polish protectant we apply to new countertops post install, you want to leave your newly installed top, and your business, in the best possible condition. 


Codiak San Herrell is a native of Aurora, Missouri. He is Warehouse Supervisor with Solid Surface Designs, where he serves on their safety and LEAN committee. Codiak is CPR / AED certified and currently working on other certifications.