Not only has Mid-Cape Home Centers been in business for over a hundred years, but an emphasis on excellent customer service has made them an industry leader for generations.
Mid-Cape was founded in 1895 by former sea captain Oscar C. Nickerson, who used schooners to ship salvaged lumber from shipwrecks. Later, his grandson revolutionized the business by opening its first "cash and carry" location in 1962. Today, Mid-Cape has six locations in the heart of Cape Cod to serve a heavily contractor orientated base, with a strong emphasis on millwork and custom cabinet sales.
Mid-Cape's commitment to delivering to their customers quickly has made them a leader in their industry; they are currently ranked #134 in the PRO Dealer Top 350 listing. So when Mid-Cape needed a fully integrated information system to assist them in increasing their productivity while continuing to provide excellent service, their choice was Activant Falcon™.
Reducing time and errors through integration
Running on a high-speed network, Falcon made it possible for Mid-Cape to save time and improve accuracy by integrating PC products into their workflow. "It was taking salespeople two to three hours to do an Anderson takeoff, including the time it took them to re-enter the order into our billing system. It was easy to make pricing errors as each line had to be hand entered and priced in two systems," says John Howell, IT Director for Mid-Cape. "Falcon has reduced that to 20 minutes for an average order."
Increasing productivity through technology
Falcon functionality has also streamlined many other processes at Mid-Cape. "Credit card processing is the single biggest time-saver we have at point-of sale," remarks Howell. "Today, we simply swipe the customer's card to automatically dial the credit card processor. While we wait for authorization we bag the customer's merchandise and, once approved, all of the credit card details and authorization information are automatically linked to the order. We easily save at least two minutes on each individual credit card transaction."
The Falcon document imaging tools also earn Mid-Cape's high marks for time and labor savings. "We used to have two full-time people sorting and compiling invoices every day, and it took three days to complete the end-of-month process," Howell said. "Today, with Activant's document imaging, we simply print the statements and invoices together, on the laser printer. There is no more daily compiling, and the end-of-month process has been reduced to less than a day."
Choosing a software partner for the long-term
"Mid-Cape has always been a leader in the lumber and building materials industry," says Doug Bohannon, Vice President/General Manager, Mid-Cape. "Our current owner, Jan Nickerson, was the first lumber dealer in the country to install the ‘drive-through lumber yard.' The purpose was to provide better customer service to our customers.
"When it came time to select a new computer system, we used those same principles in selecting a business partner. We wanted a system that was going to be flexible, easy-to-use, and one that supported our efforts to provide better customer service than our competitors. With its fourth generation language (4GL) Falcon was the only system that offered us the complete package. You don't make a system change very often, so we wanted a company and a product committed to the multi-location lumber PRO dealer. We've been very pleased with Activant and Falcon, and we would certainly recommend it to other dealers."
