The Importance of Offering a Warranty

All customers are familiar with the idea of a warranty. A warranty allows the customer to make a purchase that he may otherwise be unsure of because it lets him try out the product with very few risks. Businesses may offer warranties to convince sure unsure customers that it’s worth it to try out their products. However, a warranty is more than just a way of enticing potential buyers to become your customers. A warranty is also a promise that the business makes to its customers. A warranty is something that a good business offers in order to establish trust.

The purpose of a warranty is to let the customer know exactly what to expect from the product that he or she is buying. It is a promise to the customer that he’ll get what it is that he wants from the product. It’s a guarantee that if he doesn’t get what he wants then he’s going to be able to get his money back or to get the product repaired in a way that will make the product more to his satisfaction. When businesses offer warranties, they are telling the customer, “I promise to be honest in my dealings with you” and they detail how they’re going to do that.

Maverick Hammers believes in the value of the warranty. We believe that we offer great products that customers are going to be happy to have. We believe in this so much that we promise our customers that they’ll get what they were told they’ll get or they’ll have a warranty in place to protect them. Offering a product warranty is one of the ways that we try to build trust with our customers. Honoring our warranties helps us to maintain that trust.

One example of a transaction with a customer that occurred recently was the purchase of 8 Maverick Hammers by Arturo Barranco Maquinaria of Mexico for the company's rental fleet. This company purchased a variety of our hammers ranging from 1,000 ft lbs to 6,000 ft lbs. They chose Maverick Hammer models 1500HSP, 4750HSP, 5250HSP and 8250HSP to expand the fleet. Their purchase comes along with a three year warranty. This is our promise to the company that they’ll get what they ordered and that they’ll be able to use it as intended for at least three years. It is our promise that we will do our best to make sure that our customers are happy. That’s what a warranty is really all about.

Each Business is Part of a Bigger Picture

As a customer, you may often forget about the big chain of events that takes place before you purchase a product. As a business owner, you are never able to forget about that chain of events. That’s because if you forget about it, your customers are going to suffer. Then the customer will be left thinking about a chain of events that they really don’t want to be bothered with.

Imagine for a moment that you are a residential customer who is interested in redesigning the landscape of your yard using decorative stones and gravel. You want to be able to find a business that supplies what you need at a fair price. You want to be able to place your order and to receive your decorative rocks in a timely manner. You certainly don’t want to have to be bothered with thinking about how the rocks are going to get from the business to you or how they got to the place of business to begin with. As a customer, you shouldn’t have to worry about those things.

As a business owner, however, you would be concerned about making sure that every step in the chain happens properly so that you can deliver the stones to your customer as she desires. This means that you would want to work with delivery trucks and product suppliers that hold up their part of the supply chain by providing high-quality products and services. If they don’t do so then you’re in trouble with your customers. Let’s say that the company that makes the hydraulic hammers to mine the stones makes a faulty product so the stones aren’t mined in a timely manner and therefore you are delayed in getting them to your customer. Your customer isn’t going to care about the break in the chain; she’s only going to care about the fact that you didn’t get your part of the job done by delivering her stones to her.

This isn’t just an imaginary scenario. Our customers rely on us to make sure that we hold up our part of the supply chain so that their customers are also satisfied. One real-life example of such a customer is Baer Aggregates. This Phillipsburg, New Jersey company provides crushed stones and decorative gravel to customers who want these products. They purchased a Maverick Hammer model 9250 HSP for their CAT 345BL excavator. The high quality of this hydraulic hammer combined with the service that we have provided to Baer Aggregates have insured that this company has had no down time for six months. This translates to six months of satisfied customers.

One of the things that we always keep in mind is that we aren’t just a business that works in a vacuum. We work with other businesses and everyone has to do their part to keep things running smoothly. That’s why we do our best to provide quality products and service to our customers. And it’s why we in turn get our services from businesses that can hold up their part of the bargain. Without any weak links in it, our chain of supply is strong enough to keep all customers happy – even our customers’ customers.

Building a Competitive Enterprise - Moving Manufacturing Back To The United States

Thousands of Americans have lost their jobs since manufacturing has been moved out of the United States and into developing nations. Maverick Hammers is playing a key role in bringing manufacturing jobs back into the United States. Our President and CEO, Sean Raimbeault, believes that it is possible for U.S. manufacturers to compete with global companies. This simply requires a strategic approach to creating a business that provides high-quality products at a fair price which Maverick Hammers is committed to doing.

What we’ve learned so far is that effectively competing with global manufacturers requires the following:

• An understanding of per unit labor costs. Many employers believe that keeping costs low is best done by offering the lowest hourly wage possible to employees which is part of the reason that outsourcing to other countries has become so common. However, this isn’t always the case. Per unit labor costs are actually calculated by considering both the hourly rate of the labor and the amount of time required to make each unit. If you offer a fair wage to a laborer who works very quickly then you’ll have a better per unit labor cost than if you offer a low wage to someone who works slowly. Maverick Hammers believes that U.S. workers can be among the most productive workers in the world when motivated by a fair wage and positive working conditions. This keeps productivity high which allows for per unit labor costs that can compete with the global manufacturing marketplace even though the straightforward labor costs may appear high.

• Development of strong partnerships with good suppliers. Per unit labor costs are only one factor involved in keeping manufacturing costs down. Another important thing that a U.S. company must do is to make sure that they are working with good product suppliers who can meet their needs at a competitive price. Maverick Hammers works with suppliers who can meet the diverse product needs that our customers have. We also regularly evalutate any supply chain link stresses and make sure to minimize problems there to keep our own costs down. We nurture the relationships with our suppliers in order to get the best deal possible.

• A commitment to offering high-quality products at a competitive price. We aren’t competitive with global manufacturers just because we keep our own costs low. We make sure to pass those savings on to you. And yet, we do this without compromising the quality of the products that we sell. We know that a good piece of equipment that lasts a long time is a much better investment than a low-cost piece of machinery that breaks quickly. We offer quality at a fair price.

• Continuous evaluation of manufacturing processes. Finally, we make sure that nothing we’re doing here at Maverick Hammers is set in stone. We continuously evaluate our manufacturing processes to identify areas that could be improved. We are flexible enough to keep improving our work so that we can continue to compete in the global manufacturing industry.

Okay, so these are the things that we believe are required for a U.S. manufacturer to effectively compete with global companies. But is it working? A look at our recent sales shows that is. For example, a company in Venezuela called Inversora Venezuela recently replaced their entire hydraulic hammer fleet with over three dozen Maverick Hammers. When asked what caused them to make the purchase from our U.S. company, their Equipment Director, Victor Beltran, responded:

“The rock here is very hard. Nothing we have run hits as hard or breaks as fast as the Maverick Hammers do. Plus the service that we have received is outstanding.”

In other words, we offer a product that can get the job done along with great customer service and we offer at a price that is affordable to companies both inside and outside of the United States.