tennessee s fabricators better known as msw for work at their homes. annette is building a new house and wanted an original railing for a staircase. i just came here because i wanted options. i didn t want a or b. while needs may have been different the customer experience they got was the exact same. they wanted input from us, of course, we re welcoming of it. roberta and mark, msw s owners pride themselves on making their business more personal than others like it. it is something that we ve always offered to people. have you customers that want to take a very active part. you want them to be involved and happy in the decisions they re making. reporter: it goes beyond just answering phone calls or suggesting designs for residential and commercial clients. i have had customers that have sat down and they actually go with me through the building process and it gives them a sense of ownership. they own that design.
a mock yum sample and showing paint samples. they have no problems spending hours or even days getting those designs right because it helps manage work later. part of msw s quality control includes customer oversight of production. people like annette can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down before work continues. much easier for them to change something on their table out there to cut something out, to rebin something, reweld something, much easier to change it at that point. so why go to all this trouble? the truth is, that having customers input every step of the way saves msw money. if i was putting a moneta monetarying number on it, it might save anywhere from 10% to 30%. while the figures vary, the difference is significant enough that roberta and mark would like more clients to follow suit. the customer involvement model has not only made the business more efficient, it s also helped
that may mean buying a new piece of equipment. but that s not always the case. one tennessee company is turning to its customers to make their process more efficient. they were there from the beginning. it was a fabulous experience. roberta said to me we can create something beautiful. rita, lauri and annette are the definition of satisfied customers. i had confidence that they knew exactly what to do. they each turned to memphis, tennessee s metal fabricators better known as msw for work at their homes. they built a covering for our porch. they did the front gates with the entire perimeter fenced. they did the balconies and my favorite the iron gates in the
model has not only made the business more efficient but helped msw get more business through referrals. so much to be said for customers being involved with you that you build trust and that they love the product. and that s why mark and roberta say other small business owners should do the same because customer involvement can have such a positive impact on your bottom line. i truly believe that it is the reason that we re still in business. the pledges found out firsthand customer involvement though it can take a lot of time cab real advantage to your small business. can it work for your company? let s turn to this week s board of directors. alfred is the senior vice president multimedia at black enterprise.com and angela is the co-founder of savor this success. and also an entrepreneur
because it s good for business. i think it s very important to listen and be in tune with your customer. the involvement of msw s customers is key to its cash flow. i want reduces the chances of making a product that a customer doesn t want. you will have the person come in and it will be hours and then they will decide on something, and they come back and they say you know, i changed my mind. we re back to square one. we ll do it all over again. but it s fun. and that resulted in the company s overall efficiency. as i tell my customers there s no money in not what you want. let s do it right the first time. once something like a cut is made there s no cost effective way to undo what s been done. you look in some cases half the labor cost that you have to put back into the project that s