Using Package.ai, the only AI platform custom-built for big and bulky retailers and service providers, Armina Stone undertook a digital transformation to eliminate its previously manual operations, resulting in radical improvements in engagement with customers, operational efficiencies and a dramatic increase in customer reviews.
The Leading Choice for Local Developers, Designers and Homeowners
Established in 2015, Armina Stone is dedicated to the design, fabrication and installation of natural stone and quartz for residential and commercial projects. It has three locations and one distribution center in the Greater Pittsburgh area, and has emerged as the leading choice among Pittsburgh developers, architects, interior designers and homeowners seeking the finest in natural stone and quartz products. Armina Stone’s delivery fleet is made up of 25 vehicles which make over 200 deliveries every working day.
Improvements Achieved Since Implementing Package.ai:
- 95% Delivery Success Rate
- 32% Post Delivery Feedback Rate
- 4.5/5 Average Customer Reviews
- 6-minute Average Customer Agent Response Time
- 78% Same-Day Resolution (17% Next-Day Resolution)
- 75% Reduction in Manual Labor Hours
- One instead of seven employees is needed to manage logistics now
“We are trying to be customer obsessive. In order to be that you have to be focused on your customers all the time. Package.ai allows us to do this and has had a tremendous impact on our business and customer experience. It also allows us to understand how our employees are performing and enables us to also be employee obsessive to reward them and help them if they need improvements.”
Michael Reynolds, Vice President, Armina Stone
Why Armina Stone Made the Move to Package.ai
Armina Stone had started as a small company and, as such, relied on manual processes to interact with customers and arrange deliveries and installations. Its salespeople in partnership with its scheduling team (approximately 7 people in total) would make calls for four hours every day to confirm the time slots with customers. But while this worked in the company’s early years, as it grew to become a far larger operation, it had problems in scaling this manual approach.
Customers were becoming frustrated at the lack of updates they received and had no way to track the status of the delivery and installation team. During the fulfillment process, if customers needed to make changes they would have to call directly into customer service. As Armina Stone continued to grow the result was an increasing number of failed deliveries where the customer was not at home and could not be contacted by phone.
Armina Stone knew that to scale effectively as its operations grew it needed to implement a state-of-the-art technology solution to radically improve its ability to communicate with customers and add efficiencies to its logistics operations. To make this happen, it decided to switch from its super cumbersome manual operations to undertake a complete digital transformation by implementing Package.ai.
Pain-Free Implementation
The team from Package.ai worked closely with Armina Stone to match the solution to the needs of the company. It also ensured the seamless integration with Stone Profit, Armina Stone’s ERP software used to manage inventory, purchasing, quotations, etc.
Managers and team leaders were trained to use Package.ai via webinars and Q&As. Using a train-the-trainer methodology, once they were up to speed, they in turn trained their teams on how to use Package.ai to complete their daily tasks.
“The team at Package.ai was really great and very responsive during the implementation process. There were no problems whatsoever and they took the time to ensure we had everything set up the way it needed to be. It came together quickly with a lot of new processes and a lot of new ways of being able to do things to become more efficient.”
Michael Reynolds, Vice President, Armina Stone
Radically Improved Customer Experience
The implementation of Jenny, Package.ai virtual customer engagement agent transformed Armina Stone’s ability to communicate with customers. Jenny sends updates to customers throughout the fulfillment process and automatically replies to messages from customers and can assign the query to an agent if a human touch is needed. The ability for customers to send messages and communicate directly with Armina Stone, and have an answer right away, has led to a much improved customer experience.
“Our biggest problem was communication with customers. Almost overnight we went from being one of the worst companies when it came to communicating with our customers to now being one of the best.”
Michael Reynolds, Vice President, Armina Stone
Armina Stone works with a lot of subcontractors that now also utilize Jenny, which means there has been a consistent impact on the business and the customer experience. It’s just as easy as an employee using it. They simply download it onto their phone, and their truck and user profile are set up in the system. This means to customers, they are simply members of the Armina Stone team.
Constantly Connected Customer Communications
The ability to continuously communicate with customers means the mindset within Armina Stone has changed. They have moved beyond thinking about simply delivering packages and doing installations, to seeing each engagement with a customer as an opportunity to build deeper relationships.
Each interaction with customers instantly flows into Package.ai’s powerful dashboard, making them visible to all teams at Armina Stone. This means any customer issues can be quickly dealt with thanks to the complete documentation of each engagement with customers.
This has also had a huge impact on the amount of reviews Armina Stone receives on Google. With Jenny prompting customers to leave a review on Google they have seen the number of reviews soar. They also run competitions among its installation teams to see who can get the most reviews.
“When a customer calls up or messages in, we’re able to see if they have previous orders. We can pull up all their information just from the number. So as you’re having the conversation, you can see, for example, that they spoke to us a week ago and they got three orders with us. This gives the sales team the opportunity to have all information already in hand when dealing with a customer.”
Michael Reynolds, Vice President, Armina Stone
Freeing Up Staff From Performing Manual Tasks
Staff are also able to focus on giving a better customer experience as they no longer have to spend time making phone calls to schedule and arrange deliveries. Sales staff are free now to focus on sales as the number of people needed to manage logistics has decreased from seven to just one member of staff, with another providing backup when needed. This means staff are now far more efficient, with a reduction in hours spent arranging deliveries from 4 hours to just 1, and can focus on more rewarding and higher level tasks.
Reduced Failed Deliveries and Installation Attempts
Improved customer communications, thanks to Jenny, has also had a big impact on failed deliveries and installation attempts. Before Package.ai delivery windows were large and it was common for customers to be told the Armina Stone team would arrive between 8 am and 12 noon, for example. Now this time window has been dramatically narrowed to two hours, while customers are able to track the delivery and communicate directly with the Armina Stone team.
“Package.ai makes it easier for us to schedule. It’s super efficient, and gives us a lot of data on what’s happening every day out in the field, and at the same time keeps our customers updated. So, it gives them a much better customer experience.”
Michael Reynolds, Vice President, Armina Stone
Deeper Data to Improve Staff Performance
With everything documented and available via Package.ai, it also enables Armina Stone to gain deeper insights into its business and how its teams and employees are performing. This means management is able to understand which team members are excelling at their roles and who’s having more issues. It allows Armina Stone to reward high performers and schedule training for employees who need to improve. These reports and the insights they give were not available before Package.ai.
“Package.ai lets us know which team members are doing what we’re asking them to. It lets us know who’s getting the best ratings, who’s getting the most reviews and who’s having the most issues. We couldn’t answer that question before. With Package.ai you get more insight into your business. It’s like getting an X-ray of what’s happening.”
Michael Reynolds, Vice President, Armina Stone