When SPIR STAR Ltd. began its journey in 1995, the founders set out to provide outstanding quality and customer service that would exceed industry standards.
Over the years, the company has invested primarily in people and procedures to continuously make those goals a reality. Jerry Carter, vice president and chief commercial officer, put it this way, “Since starting our company and still today, we fully realize the importance of listening to our customers, determining their needs and most importantly, acting on those needs.” When the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect people, product and supply chains, the SPIR STAR mission statement was sorely tested. Here is how this company made it work for the customer, who has always been and will remain the primary focus of SPIR STAR.
SPIR STAR provides niche high-pressure fluid control products across the waterblast, oil and gas, hydraulic tooling, and automotive industries. SPIR STAR AG, the partner company in Germany, provides the engineering, R&D and manufactures the hose at its facilities. The Houston facility relies on a steady flow of new hose product from Germany, as well as material from other suppliers for the manufacturing of complementary products in the U.S. such as valves, adapters and fittings. Along with ongoing pandemic issues that had people out of work, slowed manufacturing, lowered production numbers and made raw materials hard to come by, the cost to get product from “here to there” just about quadrupled in many instances. Regardless of your focus, it was hard to get through 2021 without hearing about the supply chain issues. Those issues are still lingering well into 2022.
SPIR STAR has emerged as a company in a much stronger position than many others coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the work began to slow and prices increased across the board, SPIR STAR was able to leverage that time, keep all of its employees and set new goals for the new reality. Financially, the company was in a good place after consistent years of growth and took the opportunity during the slowest months to focus on employee retention, hiring and increased pay. In late 2020, SPIR STAR forecast six to nine months into the future and identified high-volume use products. Unsure of when business would pick up again, the company was able to purchase and receive a large amount of inventory that would go to those high movers. For the next nine months, while manufacturing and supply chains faltered, the company kept employees working by building stock hose assemblies, rebuilding equipment and cross-training personnel. Purchasing the needed materials before the initial price increases allowed the company to absorb some costs, hold current pricing for customers as long as possible and enabled quick turnaround times. The primary mentality throughout these challenging times has been to invest in the belief that business would recover and make sure the customer would be serviced effectively until it does.
The decisions made during the worst of the pandemic were really the guiding principles SPIR STAR has always used: Put the customer first, and create a low-effort buying experience by understanding, first and foremost, the values that are most important to customers and how they have been changed by world events and the marketplace. No matter how much technology is used in the buying process, people are still at the heart of SPIR STAR and its success.
Customers’ experiences and values have changed through the pandemic. Failing to accommodate the messy business of customers’ difficulties and values can be the difference between whether or not your customers help your business succeed in uncertain times and beyond. According to Globis Insights, “Brands that have excellent customer service generate 5.7-times more revenue than competitors. Maintaining best practices with customer service insights in mind can help future-proof business development strategies in a post-pandemic world.” By choosing to strategically invest in customers and employees, SPIR STAR has emerged as a company in a much stronger position than many others coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information, visit www.spirstar.com or www.spirstarvalves.com, email sales@spirstar.com, or call (800) 890-7827 or (281) 664-7800.
