In this week’s post, we’re gonna start telling you how an all in one tool might be exactly what you need to unlock your business.
In our last month’s posts, we talked a lot about the massive, booming countertop market. We know it’s a competitive world, with thousands of businesses all fighting for attention.
We’ve also explored how a great quote and clear shop drawings can be your secret weapon to stand out and win more jobs. You can check it out by clicking here.
But what if the very tools you use to run your business are secretly holding you back?
Many stone fabricators still rely on what we’ll call “old school software” and manual processes. This might be a mix of spreadsheets, handwritten notes, and separate programs for different jobs—one for quoting, another for accounting, and maybe a whiteboard for scheduling.
While it might seem like you’re saving money by not buying a new system, the truth is, these old ways come with hidden costs that are silently eating away at your profit and slowing down your business.
“But I ain’t need no technology, my pen and paper works just fine…”
Imagine Sarah, the sales manager at a stone shop. Her boss, a fan of “old school” methods, has her team using a combination of different software for each part of the job. A customer calls with a question about an order. To answer it, Sarah has to:
- Check the quote in one program.
- Look up the customer’s contact info on a list.
- Call the templater to ask if the measurements are done.
- Check the shop schedule on a shared whiteboard.
- Then, finally, call the customer back.
By the time she has an answer, a full hour has passed.
All that time was spent jumping between different places, not helping the customer or making a new sale.
According to this report from Sana Commerce, over 40% of workers spend at least a quarter of their workweek on repetitive, manual tasks that could be automated.
That’s a huge amount of time—and money—lost for your business.
Still, according to that report from Sana Commerce, nearly 60% of workers estimate they could save over six hours a week if the repetitive aspects of their job could be automated.
Six hours.
That is almost a full day’s work!
‼️Think about it: a full day every week just spent on copying and pasting, re-entering data, and tracking down information that should be in one place!
The cost of not knowing: poor quality data is even more costly when you don’t know they’re poor quality
Poor data quality destroys business value. Recent Gartner research has found that organizations believe poor data quality to be responsible for an average of $15 million per year in losses.
This is likely to worsen as information environments become increasingly complex — a challenge faced by organizations of all sizes.
💡 And for stone businesses, that is not different at all!
Imagine Sarah, from our example above, losing her sale as she is looking for information, and the customer is buying somewhere else, who gives him faster and accurate answers.
Does it sound familiar?
To explore a bit more of the poor-quality data and uncommunicative systems, let’s dive into another real-life situation.
Consider Joe, a countertop fabricator who runs his business the old way. A customer calls for a quote on a new kitchen.
Joe takes notes on a notepad, then later opens a spreadsheet to start his calculations. He finds the right prices for granite, but he forgets to add the cost for a tricky edge profile that the customer asked for. Because he’s so busy, he rushes to email the quote. The customer gets the price, but it’s too low.
A few days later, Joe realizes his mistake, but by then, the customer has already gone with a competitor who gave a clear and correct quote right away.
This is a real problem.
Research shows that simple manual data entry errors can cost a business a huge amount of money. A single mistake, like the one Joe made, can lead to lost revenue.
‼️If you’re a mid-sized business, mistakes from inaccurate data can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
The chaos of using different spreadsheets and notepads also means you can’t easily see all your jobs in one place.
Your sales team might not know what the templating crew is doing, and the templating crew might not have the right notes from the initial call.
This leads to miscommunication, rework, and wasted time.
In fact, some studies like this one from Data Cose show that companies lose up to 30% of their revenue due to these kinds of hidden inefficiencies.
‼️You might be losing up to 30% of your revenue due to a lack of automation and systems that don’t converse!
This article from MIT Sloan Management Review speaks about how General Electric was investing heavily in software integration even 10 years ago! The company is putting sensors on gas turbines, jet engines, and other machines; connecting them to the cloud; and analyzing the resulting flow of data. The goal: identify ways to improve machine productivity and reliability.
💡 You know the things work when the big players from different markets are investing in the same area – nowadays, AI is a good example!
“Alright, I know lack of automation costs me money, and lack of integration won’t let me grow. What now?”
Time to start organizing your house!
Let’s get to it!
Sales and Quoting: Whether you are creating a quote for a new kitchen, a large-scale international shipment, or a wholesale order, leveraging technology can significantly reduce the time and effort required. By creating a standardized and trackable sales pipeline, you can more easily onboard new team members and refine your methods for closing deals.
SlabWare offers Distributors and Exporters a CRM specially designed for the stone industry. Control your opportunities and the tasks you do for each customer, and stop losing customers for not answering them or not attending to their expectations.
Customer Communication: Centralizing all project information in one place is key to effective communication. This ensures that everyone, from sales to logistics, has access to the most up-to-date information, preventing miscommunication and enabling timely, accurate responses to customer inquiries.
Send e-mails directly from the system. If you’re a countertop fabricator, you can customize the forms you send to include your quote and add your drawings to it. That way, you get a quote ready in minutes and send it to your customer, where he gets to sign it directly through the system.
Logistics and Project Management: Using a centralized system for scheduling and managing projects allows you to track data and make smarter business decisions. This can help you optimize everything from raw material orders and production schedules to shipping routes and delivery times.
💡Do you know that about 80% of your sales depend only on nearly 20% of your materials?
If you’re following our blog, you already know how important it is to know which materials sell more, and how to never run out of them. If you’re new here, check out this post to learn the best tricks to maximize the profit of your inventory.
SlabWare allows you to see a dashboard of your most sold materials. Know who buys more, what is selling more, and never run out of stock.
SlabWare integrates not only all departments of your stone business, but also all the supply chain!
And how? Here we have some practical examples of an all in one tool applied to business:
Exporter: The Kick-off
Imagine an exporter in India with a new container of exquisite Taj Mahal marble, Bundle #4321.
In the old days, they’d photograph the bundle with a regular camera, manually update a spreadsheet, and email low-resolution pictures to distributors.
This process was prone to errors, like selling a slab that was already on hold or sending out an outdated inventory list.
Using SlabWare, the exporter’s team now uses the mobile app to photograph and tag each slab with a QR code as soon as it’s unloaded.
All the slab details—dimensions, quality, and origin—are instantly uploaded and linked to the bundle’s profile. The entire inventory is available 24/7 on a personalized, professional website that distributors can access in real-time.
The software then automatically generates all the necessary paperwork, from invoices to packing lists, ensuring a flawless handover.
The Exporter gains real-time inventory control and reduces administrative errors. They can share a visually appealing, up-to-date inventory with global partners, making the selling process faster and more professional.
Distributor: The mediator
A distributor in the U.S. needs to replenish their stock of Taj Mahal marble.
Instead of calling or emailing the exporter for a catalog, their sales manager simply logs into SlabWare’s platform. They immediately see that Bundle #4321 has just arrived at the port.
They can view high-quality photos of each slab, confirm dimensions, and even reserve slabs for a customer before they’ve physically arrived at their warehouse.
When the bundle arrives at the distributor’s yard, a worker can use the SlabWare app to scan the QR codes on the slabs.
This action instantly confirms receipt and moves the slabs into the distributor’s own digital inventory. All the information, including the photos and the bundle’s history, is automatically transferred.
The Distributor gains full visibility into their supply chain and improves sales efficiency. They can sell and manage their inventory with perfect accuracy, eliminating the risk of double-selling a slab.
Fabricator and Homeowner: The Finish Line
A homeowner, Jane, is redesigning her kitchen and dreams of a beautiful Taj Mahal marble countertop. She visits her local fabricator’s shop.
Before SlabWare: The fabricator would have to drive to the distributor’s yard with Jane, hoping a suitable slab was available. He would then go back to his office, manually measure the space, and spend hours on a separate spreadsheet to create a quote. Jane would have to wait, sometimes for days, and hope the numbers were accurate. She would have no idea what the finished product would look like with her specific slab.
Now, with SlabWare: The fabricator invites Jane to sit down with him and opens his tablet.
With a few clicks, they can browse the distributor’s live inventory, finding the perfect slab in Bundle #4321. Jane is thrilled to see the high-resolution photo and confirms it’s exactly what she wants.
The fabricator then opens up his system, which has the material already registered.
Then, he uses the software’s integrated drawing and quoting tools to design the kitchen layout on the digital image of the selected slab, showing Jane exactly how the veining will run across her countertops.
The software instantly generates an accurate quote, including the precise material cost and labor. Jane sees a professional, detailed proposal, complete with pictures and a price she can trust.
She approves the quote on the spot, and the Fabricator automatically generates a PO for the materials he will need to produce Jane’s countertops.
The Fabricator optimizes his entire workflow, from quoting to production, eliminating wasted time and material. The improved customer experience leads to faster decisions and more sales.
And Jane receives a clear, accurate quote in minutes, not days.
She has the confidence of knowing what her final countertop will look like and feels assured that she’s working with a professional who uses the most advanced tools to guarantee a perfect job.
Schedule a DEMO with our team now
💡SlabWare is what you need to get out of the Stone Age!!
Schedule a demo with our team right now by clicking here.
If you prefer, you can test the entire system for free by clicking here!
