The Marble Institute of America, Inc. (MIA) recently released its second Management Tool Kit for the natural stone industry. This edition of MIA's Management Tool Kit series offers a collection of forms and other documents assembled to assist stone companies in making their sales and customer service efforts more efficient. These forms cover five major areas: Pre-Sale Documents, Contracts/Terms of Business/Proposals, Pre-installation & Installation Documents, Post Installation Correspondence and Problem Resolution.

“We're proud to help MIA members enhance their customer relations with 55 of the most useful customer and sales forms in paper and electronic formats,” stated Garis F. Distelhorst, MIA Executive Vice President. “This new resource is an excellent example of just one of new resources being development by the MIA to help stone companies succeed in their business.”

Packaged in a three-ring binder, the forms in this tool kit are designed to be photocopied, or the electronic version can be modified to meet each company's specific needs - where users can add the company name, logo or other information, or change any aspect of the form's content or style. The electronic versions are formatted using Microsoft Word 6.0 and Microsoft Excel (PC format). This edition of the Tool Kit is modeled in a similar fashion to the HR Forms Tool Kit, which features 72 human resource forms, and is also available from the MIA Bookstore.

Many stone companies contributed their best forms for this project. “Documenting every aspect of the customer experience is a critical component to every order we take, and minimizes surprises down the road,” stated Bob Stasswender, Southwest Marble & Granite Works. Stasswender, who proposed that the MIA develop this new resource, worked closely with MIA's Education Committee on this project.

“The educational resources being developed by the MIA raise the bar for MIA Members and all natural stone companies,” stated Richard Booms of Booms Stone Co., MIA Education Committee Chair. “This tool kit is just one of the many new and exciting programs being developed to strengthen our great industry.”

Circle No. 287