Hello everyone,
I don't post here much at all, I tend to write all my thoughts out which end up being long posts(warning here comes one).
I met with Peter and John from All American at the ISS in Long Beach the Friday it opened. I believe it was early Monday I called with my deposit. Ready to enter the Neo "Family". I put family in quotes just because in any family(well mine at least) there seems to be the difficult one, or at least the one you think was the mink man's offspring
. I was not able to find the milk man's kid at All American. I did come upon a company full of people who genuinely loved their job, and to take it one step farther- they ACTUALLY had TRUE customer service. That is not found anymore, anywhere. Argue all you will, but it does not exist the way it used to. A hand shake and a guarantee used to be as good as a legally prepared document. Because those people cared(I will get off my soap box soon, I am going somewhere with this). These days the word guarantee is as common and as impressive as the term lol. The ISS show- and this industry in general is full of salesmen that must of migrated over from used car salesmen. "Sell the equipment fast, cross our fingers it works well, and the customer leaves us alone until of course they want to buy or pay for something again". I have equipment from companies(which will remain nameless) that was three times the price of a NeoFlex. The other equpment I truly regret buying. The equipment will run fine, but if you need to get a hold of the manufacturer, you better title your email or leave a message of "looking to buy", they will get right back to you then.
There is more, but I will try to keep the rest a bit more brief.
When you buy a NeoFlex, you head out to a interesting neighborhood in Philly for training on how to keep your machine producing the best product. This I do not know, but does any other company care enough to train you like this? You go to a very cool large old building that I was told used to be an old Hines 57 building, the cool chiseled stone "57" piece only adds to the experience. Inside you are greeted with a sign welcoming you, by name. There are some offices, a few people running around in the warehouse filling orders I assume. You head on upstairs in to the meeting room to start your training. John explained to me on the ride in(yes my sales rep picked me up and drove me in because I was dumb and figured I didn't need to rent a car) so John tells me there will only be two other customers in the training. They like to keep it that way, so everyone gets a real hands on experience(this was a far cry from my public school days of 35 to a class). You learn EVERYTHING about your new machine.
Later on it the day, you have an option to go on a bit of a tour to see how things are done. This was a bit of a surprise to me, because I figured the machine was made somewhere else, outside of the US. That did not bother me so much(it would of been nice if it was made in the US, don't get me wrong), it just seems everything is imported these days. WELL, I was WRONG! Turns out from my understanding(correct me if I am wrong) the only thing not made in the US on the NeoFlex is the actual Epson printer, which we find out latter is basically stripped of half it original hardware. The place was amazing. We would enter a room to see what went on in there, everyone working would pause, and say "Hi" and explain anything they were doing if you had questions. A few rooms latter you basically see the printer go from a wide format office printer to a NeoFlex. This was cool stuff.
I'll wrap this up soon here.
As our first day warped up, after some delicious authentic Philly cheese steaks for lunch, John, my sales rep was actually going to bring one of the other customers to the airport(Peter, I hope he gets gas money). Again, I was blown away with the level of service here. I headed on down to the office to drop off a check for my printer. Around this time, someone at All American realized I would not have a ride back now. While I was googeling a taxi number and or the bus/train schedule, I was told Sue would bring me home. Sue? I wondered, another sales person? Nope, Sue worked in the office and knew where I was staying and offered to bring me there because she lived close by. Wow! First of all, I have been responsible for getting my self around since 14, but Sue figured it would be easier for me. I was told the only catch was I had to wait about 30min until the day was done. I eagerly agreed, 30 more minutes to take in this working atmosphere here and try to learn anything I could from how they service their customers, I was in. I met Justin, full of energy, and very personable. He understood there was a minor glitch with my order, and walked in with me while I was going to settle my bill. With out me asking, Justin, again did what seems to be the All American way- offered me "a deal I couldn't refuse". This was not necessary, but he wanted me to know All American was sorry, and wanted to make it up to me. WOW again.
I waited for Sue to give me a ride to my hotel. Still trying to wrap my head around WHY a nice young lady that had no particular reason to help me out, was going the extra mile to give a big guy from the Midwest a ride to his hotel. As 6pm rolled around, and UPS had picked up for the day, I began noticing the techs, warehouse people, Justin, and a few others had changed into shorts and sneakers. What was going on? Does everyone stay late and clean? Nope, the unseasonably warm weather had left us with a 70 degree evening, and everyone headed out back for a All American employee game of basketball. WOW again, and again. Sue brought me back to my hotel, and asked if I needed suggestions for a place to eat. I explained earlier in the day where everyone told me to go. I was going to drop my stuff off upstairs, and grab a cab. Sue suggested I leave my stuff in her car, she will bring it in for me the next day so I have it. Sue was now going to take me and drop me off in the neighborhood where the restaurants were. Is this really happening? 6 Minutes latter I thanked Sue as I got out of her car and had 4 or five places to steer clear of, Sue explained they were overpriced and I could get something just as good at some other places she listed off. I thanked Sue and got a bite to eat. All that night and the next day I was so motivated by the pride and excitement from the people at All American I could hardly wait to get back home and TRY to implement some of that at my company.
If you are still reading, thank you. I am almost done.
Just so there is a full disclosure, the minor glitch with my order was; the completion date was pushed back a little over two weeks. While this did bother me at first(we already had jobs lined up) someone finally let the cat out of the bag as to why. Turns out the base/cabinet that the printer sits on is also made in the US. There was a glitch with new parts coming in and that was holding up the show. When I heard that I said "why don't you give me one that is used or laying around here? The stand is just that , right? A stand? I have already planned on using a counter we have to put the unit on. I'll just take whatever is laying around." I explained. While this did solve the problem from my side, I understand it didn't sit well at first with All American. They didn't want something going out that was not perfect. Even though this was not a critical part of the printing unit, it was still something All American was selling and putting their name behind. Class, again, at this point a level of class I understood was important to All American.
In summary,
JOB WELL DONE ALL AMERICAN. The morale and pride your employees expressed impressed me beyond expectations. I get the impression that Peter is very ambitious and promises the stars. It is clear he has surrounded himself with talented people that can help him deliver.
Good Job guys- and gals(thanks Sue).
I don't post here much at all, I tend to write all my thoughts out which end up being long posts(warning here comes one).
I met with Peter and John from All American at the ISS in Long Beach the Friday it opened. I believe it was early Monday I called with my deposit. Ready to enter the Neo "Family". I put family in quotes just because in any family(well mine at least) there seems to be the difficult one, or at least the one you think was the mink man's offspring
. I was not able to find the milk man's kid at All American. I did come upon a company full of people who genuinely loved their job, and to take it one step farther- they ACTUALLY had TRUE customer service. That is not found anymore, anywhere. Argue all you will, but it does not exist the way it used to. A hand shake and a guarantee used to be as good as a legally prepared document. Because those people cared(I will get off my soap box soon, I am going somewhere with this). These days the word guarantee is as common and as impressive as the term lol. The ISS show- and this industry in general is full of salesmen that must of migrated over from used car salesmen. "Sell the equipment fast, cross our fingers it works well, and the customer leaves us alone until of course they want to buy or pay for something again". I have equipment from companies(which will remain nameless) that was three times the price of a NeoFlex. The other equpment I truly regret buying. The equipment will run fine, but if you need to get a hold of the manufacturer, you better title your email or leave a message of "looking to buy", they will get right back to you then.There is more, but I will try to keep the rest a bit more brief.
When you buy a NeoFlex, you head out to a interesting neighborhood in Philly for training on how to keep your machine producing the best product. This I do not know, but does any other company care enough to train you like this? You go to a very cool large old building that I was told used to be an old Hines 57 building, the cool chiseled stone "57" piece only adds to the experience. Inside you are greeted with a sign welcoming you, by name. There are some offices, a few people running around in the warehouse filling orders I assume. You head on upstairs in to the meeting room to start your training. John explained to me on the ride in(yes my sales rep picked me up and drove me in because I was dumb and figured I didn't need to rent a car) so John tells me there will only be two other customers in the training. They like to keep it that way, so everyone gets a real hands on experience(this was a far cry from my public school days of 35 to a class). You learn EVERYTHING about your new machine.
Later on it the day, you have an option to go on a bit of a tour to see how things are done. This was a bit of a surprise to me, because I figured the machine was made somewhere else, outside of the US. That did not bother me so much(it would of been nice if it was made in the US, don't get me wrong), it just seems everything is imported these days. WELL, I was WRONG! Turns out from my understanding(correct me if I am wrong) the only thing not made in the US on the NeoFlex is the actual Epson printer, which we find out latter is basically stripped of half it original hardware. The place was amazing. We would enter a room to see what went on in there, everyone working would pause, and say "Hi" and explain anything they were doing if you had questions. A few rooms latter you basically see the printer go from a wide format office printer to a NeoFlex. This was cool stuff.
I'll wrap this up soon here.
As our first day warped up, after some delicious authentic Philly cheese steaks for lunch, John, my sales rep was actually going to bring one of the other customers to the airport(Peter, I hope he gets gas money
). Again, I was blown away with the level of service here. I headed on down to the office to drop off a check for my printer. Around this time, someone at All American realized I would not have a ride back now. While I was googeling a taxi number and or the bus/train schedule, I was told Sue would bring me home. Sue? I wondered, another sales person? Nope, Sue worked in the office and knew where I was staying and offered to bring me there because she lived close by. Wow! First of all, I have been responsible for getting my self around since 14, but Sue figured it would be easier for me. I was told the only catch was I had to wait about 30min until the day was done. I eagerly agreed, 30 more minutes to take in this working atmosphere here and try to learn anything I could from how they service their customers, I was in. I met Justin, full of energy, and very personable. He understood there was a minor glitch with my order, and walked in with me while I was going to settle my bill. With out me asking, Justin, again did what seems to be the All American way- offered me "a deal I couldn't refuse". This was not necessary, but he wanted me to know All American was sorry, and wanted to make it up to me. WOW again. I waited for Sue to give me a ride to my hotel. Still trying to wrap my head around WHY a nice young lady that had no particular reason to help me out, was going the extra mile to give a big guy from the Midwest a ride to his hotel. As 6pm rolled around, and UPS had picked up for the day, I began noticing the techs, warehouse people, Justin, and a few others had changed into shorts and sneakers. What was going on? Does everyone stay late and clean? Nope, the unseasonably warm weather had left us with a 70 degree evening, and everyone headed out back for a All American employee game of basketball. WOW again, and again. Sue brought me back to my hotel, and asked if I needed suggestions for a place to eat. I explained earlier in the day where everyone told me to go. I was going to drop my stuff off upstairs, and grab a cab. Sue suggested I leave my stuff in her car, she will bring it in for me the next day so I have it. Sue was now going to take me and drop me off in the neighborhood where the restaurants were. Is this really happening? 6 Minutes latter I thanked Sue as I got out of her car and had 4 or five places to steer clear of, Sue explained they were overpriced and I could get something just as good at some other places she listed off. I thanked Sue and got a bite to eat. All that night and the next day I was so motivated by the pride and excitement from the people at All American I could hardly wait to get back home and TRY to implement some of that at my company.
If you are still reading, thank you. I am almost done
. Just so there is a full disclosure, the minor glitch with my order was; the completion date was pushed back a little over two weeks. While this did bother me at first(we already had jobs lined up) someone finally let the cat out of the bag as to why. Turns out the base/cabinet that the printer sits on is also made in the US. There was a glitch with new parts coming in and that was holding up the show. When I heard that I said "why don't you give me one that is used or laying around here? The stand is just that , right? A stand? I have already planned on using a counter we have to put the unit on. I'll just take whatever is laying around." I explained. While this did solve the problem from my side, I understand it didn't sit well at first with All American. They didn't want something going out that was not perfect. Even though this was not a critical part of the printing unit, it was still something All American was selling and putting their name behind. Class, again, at this point a level of class I understood was important to All American.
In summary,
JOB WELL DONE ALL AMERICAN. The morale and pride your employees expressed impressed me beyond expectations. I get the impression that Peter is very ambitious and promises the stars. It is clear he has surrounded himself with talented people that can help him deliver.
Good Job guys- and gals(thanks Sue).
