Service levels attract more customers to WNT (UK)

"Our existing customers were already well aware of the level of service that WNT (UK) provides. However, now that times are more challenging we are seeing an increasing number of new customers coming to us in the knowledge that we will deliver on our promises and ensure that they can deliver on theirs," said managing director Tony Pennington. Already providing a rapid service, in February it improved on this. The company now guarantees that any order placed before 6:30 pm, Monday to Friday will be subject to a guaranteed delivery before 10:30 am the next working day for all catalogue items. And it also promises delivery before 9:00 am on Saturday for Friday orders, and 9:00 am Monday for all orders placed before 12:30 pm on Saturday for stock held in WNT (UK)'s Sheffield warehouse. If it fails, a £10.00 credit is offered. "At times like this it is a natural reaction for customers to de-stock in order to pull more cash back into the business," he says. "This situation plays to our strengths as we already had in place one of the industry's leading reputations for customer service. By monitoring the early trends, and listening to comments from our customers we were in a position to further enhance these levels of service. The result of this investment has resulted in WNT (UK) being in a much stronger position in the current economic climate." In addition to its rapid service, Mr Pennington added: "Due to the systems WNT has in place we are in the position to be able to hold, and in some cases reduce, prices until the middle of 2010." The core of WNT (UK)'s business remains with small to medium sized sub-contractors, a segment of the market that is extremely price conscious and relies heavily on the support of its suppliers. "Since the company was formed in 2000 we have benefitted from a high level of loyalty from our customers, for which we are extremely grateful," said the managing director. "Now, at a time when some of those customers are facing difficult and uncertain times we are doing all we can to repay some of that loyalty. By making these decisions both WNT (UK) and its customers are benefiting. Businesses are continuing to receive an exceptional mix of customer support, competitive pricing and high quality cutting tools, while WNT (UK) is seeing its customer base grow at a time when the opposite may be the expected outcome."