Huge expansion for YES as company moves towards milestone occasion

As YES looks to celebrate its 20^th year in 2015, the directors and staff have just finalised an expansion program adding extra showroom space, a new design and development section and increased customer service and support.

Your Embroidery Services (YES) will be marking a milestone 20^th birthday next year and something that has been a staple of the company for each of those 20 years is its commitment to customer service. The company was founded on the basis that supplying a quality product alone was not good enough. The service and support had to match the product ensuring that the customer had the best experience possible even when problems occurred. As they approach another milestone in the company’s history the directors decided that the time was right to augment the already first-class service and take it to another level maintaining its No.1 position in the market.

The expansion program was aimed in three clear directions – technical service and support, showroom and demonstration facilities, including new stock room facilities, and design and development.

On the technical front the company has added a dedicated waiting area and expanded the team by a further two technicians plus a dedicated stores person all aimed at streamlining the technical operation.

Gareth Evans, technical director, said: “We were quite proud of our reaction times when customers experienced problems but we also knew that there was room for improvement. By adding personnel and expanding the facilities we have put ourselves in a position where we know that our reaction time will be faster.

“We know that when a customer has a problem time is of the essence. They need to be producing again as soon as possible and that is what drove these changes. We now have one of the biggest dedicated in-house teams of technicians in the industry.”

Improving the technical support side is important for current customers but it was also clear that prospective clients also needed to be considered especially with the increased number of product lines in the YES catalogue. People want to see and touch before they buy so, even in these days of the internet, a showroom is very important. Where others may be reducing the size of such a facility YES took the opposite view giving clients the ability to see all the products on offer.

John-Paul Burton, sales director, said: “The showroom has always been an important consideration but it was getting difficult to fit everything in. By making structural alterations to the internal shell of the building we have been able to create a lot more space allowing customers to view more products in increased comfort. As has always been the case we operate an open house policy so you can come and look at the machine you want any day, Monday to Friday, between nine and five.”

Although an integral part of the overall customer experience, the showroom is also a valuable sales asset for the company and it is hoped that it will encourage visitors to come and examine the machines in which they have an interest. Fewer suppliers than ever have this type of facility now. With a growing reliance on descriptions on websites and factory visits it looked like expansive showrooms could be a thing of the past. Thankfully YES took a different view giving clients the ability to view all of their products in one location.

Although not common knowledge YES is also involved in design and development and this is another area that has seen investment. A brand new CAD (computer aided design) department has been established to keep as much of this work as possible in-house. With expensive computer hardware and software a major part of the investment, the company is unique in the industry in having this type of facility as part of the internal structure of the company. Although there are obvious benefits to YES, it also benefits their customers as it adds to the resources and expertise available for problem solving as well as the development of new products and techniques.