Prepare yourself for the brutally honest truth...
Once you have read our About Elite Crete Systems page, you have probably already started to realize that we are a different kind of decorative concrete manufacturing company. In order to completely understand how vastly different we really are, you must first have an insiders view of how this industry works, where it started and the various ways other companies operate.
There are various claims to who actually started the decorative concrete resurfacing and coatings aspect of this industry. We will admit that it wasn't Elite Crete Systems. However, from the beginning, companies started offering their products and systems as business opportunities, requiring interested persons to purchase ridiculous start up dealership type packages for $5,000 to $90,000. These fees weren't for franchises and were typically all backed by a product purchase but from the beginning we laughed at this concept.
New "dealerships" were sold monthly with promises to buyers that their purchase would secure a small geographical area or maintain a certain price level. On paper with professionally printed brochures depicting certain success, these dealership/business opportunity packages looked too good to pass up to the retiree or entrepreneur with a savings to invest.
So what was the problem? Contractors that bought these type of business packages say the following:
"Once the product was delivered, the customer and technical support disappeared."
"Business development was non-existent because all they cared about was getting my money up front."
"How was I expected to make a profit when I got no help at all."
"As I later learned, the product was priced literally 2 to 3 times that of any other product."
We cant make this up but we repeatedly heard the same issues over and over and still do to this day. We refer to these type of business opportunity companies selling dealerships as "Crete of the Week" companies. Perhaps their products were okay (until you read our Product Benefits page) but these companies run more and more entrepreneurs though their classes each month like cattle and provide horrible support on the back end because they already have the money.
Another type of company started to emerge after it was proven by the "Crete of the Week" companies that regardless of the lack of support and assistance, there really is a need for decorative concrete resurfacing products. These companies took a completely opposite approach to their product offerings, placing their materials on the shelves of local supply type stores. This strategy offered two immediate benefits to installers; A. They didnt have to purchase a large dealership type package. Instead they could just purchase what they needed. B. They didnt have to wait 10 days or more for their products to arrive.
Although these type of companies hoped to be able to provide better product technical support through the sales person standing behind the counter at the supply store, installers quickly realized they knew more than the sales person. Installers also started to understand that there were additional problems that these companies just didnt seem to have a solution to:
- Supply stores sell to just about anyone. Installers would go out and bid a project using a manufacturers brochure and the property owner could back door them, find the local supplier, purchase products and do the job them self. Sure, it takes skill to install these type of finishes so the job never turned out good anyways but that just gave the industry a black eye.
- Salesmen at supply stores not only dont know the product as well as they should but they often suggest that installers mix and match products from other manufacturers that might or might not be compatible.
- And as with the "Crete of the Week" companies, business development assistance was non-existent.
If you are in the decorative concrete industry, you know that you are purchasing from one of these type companies and certainly agree with everything we have said up until this point.
Where are we different? Just about in every aspect and you wont even believe it until you work with us.
Like we said earlier, we have laughed for years about the approach that companies take to promote their products. We knew from the beginning that we needed to be different, better but different. We first had to understand the problems that all installers have in this business and find an answer to why the attrition rate was so high. Through our research we learned the follow:
- The actual square foot cost of materials was simply to expensive for installers to make a good living. Sure they could make okay money but not enough. It was amazing to us to learn how many installers only looked at packaged product cost rather than actual square foot cost.
- Installers need to be able to get technical assistance immediately. If they are working on a project and something is just not going right, they need to be able to speak with someone who knows the answers to get them out of trouble. Unfortunately a returned call several days later is too late.
- Installers need training and advice from people that have been out in the field, not someone reading instructions out a product manual.
- Learning how to use and apply products is the easy part but who will help installers actually operate their business? This was perhaps the biggest reason for the high attrition rate. After all, how many installers have a business degree?
And our solutions...
First of all, we knew we needed to have a superior product line or all the other business operations and assistance wouldnt mean a thing. We needed to engineer a better product that was permanently durable, simple to use and apply and it had to be so cost competitive that the installers who used it would make the highest possible profit for their efforts.
Once we assembled our product line we started approaching a select group of very successful installers with years in the field and offered up distribution rights to various geographical areas. Although these new distributors were not sold franchises and owned their own business, they had to run the business the way we instructed them to do so.
These distributors had to hold comprehensive monthly training seminars, stock material for local installers, be available for technical support and business support all the time. We did and still to this day continue to monitor our distributors to ensure they are providing the support we require.
In addition, our distributors can only carry our product line. This eliminated the chance of mixing other products with ours. They cannot sell to people that have not been properly trained in our products and since they do not sell to do it yourselfers, they are constantly protecting the installers that use our products.
As of 2009, no other company has half the number of actual, non-supply store, exclusive distributors as we have and you wont find another company like ours anywhere. For now, take this all with a grain of salt, and see for yourself that there is a difference. Once you do, you will understand why more contractors switch to Elite Crete Systems over any other product line.