Fabricator Profile: Stone Services/Premier Surfaces

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(The following Fabricator Profile is only meant to highlight Tony Allen’s achievements with Stone Services. Mr. Allen is in no way affiliated with Premier Surfaces.)

In 2002, Tony Allen founded Stone Services, a full-service countertop fabrication shop, in Chattanooga, Tenn. In no time at all, Stone Services rose through the ranks of local fabricators to become one of the most popular and successful in the area. Allen believed that his ability to “respond in a way that satisfies” his customers made all the difference and kept the business from failing.

Allen’s initial goal was to put all of his effort into making countertop shopping a pleasurable experience for his customers. He accomplished this by meticulously designing his showroom and keeping it exceptionally clean and inviting. In addition, he trained his staff to be knowledgeable about all of the products they sold and the countertop industry in general. These practices are credited to a high closing rate after getting a prospect to visit the showroom.

One difficulty Allen faced was that people were beginning to embrace the digital age, and they were not as willing to get into the showroom as they were in years past. His solution was to create a video and make it available on the home page of the company’s website in which he explained the company’s core values to potential customers.

By 2007, Stone Services had outgrown its headquarters and moved into a 32,000-sq.-ft. facility in downtown Chattanooga, and shortly afterward, Allen invested heavily in software upgrades, including AutoCAD, digital templating and bar coding to streamline the 20 to 25 jobs the company was tackling every week. In addition, he began using the CounterGo and JobTracker software systems from Moraware.

In 2013, Stone Services gained the attention of a bigger fish in the sea: Premier Surfaces based in Atlanta. Allen accepted the larger company’s offer and, later, fully divested himself from the business. Today, the former Stone Services is known as Premier Surfaces Chattanooga, one of four locations with the others in Alpharetta, Ga., and Huntsville and Pelham in Alabama.

Read more of this Fabricator Profile here: Stone Services