THE GUILD OF MASTER CRAFTSMEN

IKD were invited to join The Guild of Master Craftsmen in 2007, following the recommendations from a number of our satisfied customers, but that proved to be only the beginning!  Little did we realise at the time, all that was to be involved.

Once we agreed to apply for membership, we had several meetings with The Guild's area representative who wanted in depth knowledge about our history, our trading practices, our mission statement, the ethos driving our customer relations, products sale and service, our financial stability and our long term plans for the future.  Although we had been recommended to The Guild, and had subsequently applied for membership, membership was in no way automatic, and so a number of flaming hoops had to be jumped to prove our merit and worthiness.

The Guild's agent then contacted a number of our previous and existing customers, entirely at random and without divulging their identities to us, enquiring upon their individual experiences with IKD, i.e.: were they happy with our products, service, price, reliability, honesty and after sales care etc.  This process took in excess of one month and, once the responses were collated and evaluated, IKD were finally accepted as a member to The Guild of Master Craftsman. 

Our membership now however has to be constantly tested and merited.  The high level of sales and service we supply must never be less than exceptional, or we risk expulsion from The Guild.  Our performance is monitored and evaluated by every customer we complete work for, and who wishes to take part, via The Guild's evaluation questionnaire, and we are required to submit a minimum number of evaluations every year - or forfeit our membership.

Membership to The Guild is not a trinket you can buy and branish, it is something you can only achieve through hard work, constant effort and consistantly high levels of service and after care.  IKD are proud (and exhausted) members of The Guild of Master Craftsmen, and we hope the flaming hoops we continue to jump through provides reassurance to the future and potential customers, who may be weary of bogus tradesmen in these uncertain times.  You may verify our membership by clicking on this link: http://www.findacraftsman.com/

IF YOU'RE GONNA DO IT, DO IT WELL

[Karan]: I've never been one of life's "toe-dippers" - those who flirt endlessly with an idea before (a) talking themselves out of it altogether or (b) wafting half-heartedly through the process. I tend to think things through and then - if I like the idea - hurl myself headlong into the project, leaving dirty great Karan-shaped holes everywhere. My philosophy has always been: if you're going to do something, you may as well do it well.

Oprah Winfrey once said: by doing your very best in this moment, you set yourself up to be in the best possible position for the next moment. In my experience at least, rushing through and offering a slapdash job is a false economy, because you either have to repeat the work again (and again) or - if you're in business - you're quite likely to lose a customer and gain a bad reputation.

Customer services is in a poor state of repair in this country at present and it positively boils my blood. I was that insane looking woman with steam gushing from her ears and a temperature gauge exploding above her head when I was served under-cooked food in a restaurant for the second time, in one evening! Oh yes, this actually happened to me and I'm stunned the establishment in question continues to trade. Why do people seem to take so little pride in their work? Why don't people care about the products and service they provide? By serving two under-cooked meals, the restaurant lost not only the food on my plate, but the sales and profit value of my entire meal - not to mention my eventual custom. How many times might I have returned, had the food been edible? How many of my friends have avoided the restaurant based on my experiences?

There's an old adage I learnt many years ago when Ian and I started trading as IKD: a satisfied customer will tell five friends about you, but a dissatisfied customer will tell 15! There is simply no point being in business - any business - unless you endeavour to do your best, all the time, every time.