For some time we have been telling you what we have been getting up to at Norseal. We’ve introduced Self Serve, our online trade account system. Bespoke drop seal cutting, our recently released Fire Stopping range and our soon to come fire door inspection app, Inspect…..all phenomenal ideas in my opinion. And that’s the problem, it’s my opinion!

Naturally, these developments were introduced in conjunction with customers, but not with all of our customer base so it is now time we spoke to you.

Dropping through our customers mailbox or filling up their inbox will be our new customer survey. Now I’m sure you’ve had such surveys before. You know the ones, that seem to offer you change and provide limited tailored questions to seek confirmation that you are already satisfied. Well this is not that type of survey. For starters it’s not a ‘Satisfaction Survey’. This is an opportunity to tell us what you want from a supplier. Obviously if you want to give us a kicking there will be room for that and if you want to give us praise, well…..that’s up to you. But ideally this will be a genuine opportunity for you to say what you want to buy, how you want to buy it, how you want it shipped, how you want to deal with us etc. No subject will be off topic. From stockholding to finance!

Now I know what you are thinking. ’has he gone mad’? Well I probably have. I’ve been known to go a bit David Icke around Halloween, but this year has been so tough and with Brexit round the corner looks set to be tougher. We are all wondering what the next move is to make and well, I think we should be planning the next move together.

We are fortunate, we are flexible and agile and can change our business model to suit the requirements of our industry, we just need our industry to speak out about the genuine concerns and issues of their seal supply.

So, once I decided on giving our customers free range with their opinions I thought why stop there and decided let’s find out what our supply chain think. Are we a model customer? Are we a pain in the arse? Do you struggle to get to see us etc? It is important to us if we are to seek guidance from our customers how we should do business then we should ask our suppliers what they think.

As the recipient of many surveys, I know how this can turn out. I know that many will be deleted without read, I know some will be returned with ridiculous answers and comments that cannot be taken seriously, hopefully some will be funny but for those that want to give it some thought and want to engage with us this could be the start of something beautiful. I look forward to it.

Michael