The things we can and cannot control…

We go through a rather laborious process with ordering seed for the following year. We use sales history to forecast how much seed we need to order for our customers. Many of our suppliers will sell completely out of many varieties they produce in any given year. This situation creates a rather undesirable process where we have to wait for the new seed to be harvested, conditioned and packaged in the fall. Many times new seed does not arrive at our company until well into January and February. Not only is this an inconvenience for our customers, it creates costly back orders for our company. One year our back order shipping expenses cost us nearly $200,000, and we do not charge customers for back order shipments. We do everything we possibly can to prevent this, but more often than not, it is out of our control.

The things we can control are such things as ensuring our customers always receive courteous and friendly service in the call centers, top quality products, a customer friendly web site, and expedient packaging and shipping. We also guarantee that when our customers speak with our product specialists, they will receive helpful and useful information.

We work very hard at this to ensure that every customer’s shopping experience with our company is a good one!

Earning a reputation…

Earning a good reputation is always a long and hard fought battle…earning a bad one is very easy. I can relate to one of the big box stores in our area. Their level of understanding for good customer service is almost non-existent. It is truly hard to imagine in today’s business environment that any company just does not get it. On the flip side of this argument is the Wegman’s Food Markets, based here in Rochester. They have been cited for being the very best grocery chain in America, and for good reason. They have a complete understanding of high quality products and exemplary customer service. No one does it better in their marketplace.

You know friends, it is a mind set, and a company cannot waver. The Harris Seeds Company began in 1879 with these sets of principles, and they evolved over the next century. The company has always strived to put the very best products in the Harris Seeds catalogs through stringent product testing programs. But product alone will not cut it today. The customer cannot ever be taken for granted. It is the customer that makes everything good happen for our company. For me, it is pretty simple…take care of our customers and they will take care of us.

By example, Ken Ralph, a long retired salesman in New England for Harris Seeds, was reported to have had a 90% market share with New England growers. This is a phenomenally high number, but it did not happen by chance. Ken earned the respect of his customers by providing the very best products for their farms and coupled it with friendly and dependable service. That’s really all it takes.

In closing folks, here is our company motto:

We will strive with pride
to provide our customers with
the finest products available, coupled with
friendly and reliable service.

Dick Chamberlin - President