March 13/20, 2017: Volume 31, Issue 20
The Moxley family has been managing the daily affairs of Tingle Flooring since the 1970s when Bill Tingle passed the torch to Bud Moxley, who joined the company two years after its founding. Bud managed the business until 1996, when Chip Moxley, Bud’s son, succeeded his father. Today, Chip and his daughter, Lauren Johnson, assist in managing the business alongside a seasoned executive team.
Tingle Flooring’s enduring legacy is built on customer service, and it takes great pride in offering same-day or next-day service to customers in Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis via local inventories as well as its central distribution center. Tingle trucks travel nearly 2 million miles a year and make over 15,000 local deliveries to independent retail and commercial flooring businesses located throughout America’s heartland.
In recent years, Tingle established a cadre of highly trained customer service personnel, a.k.a., the “Expeditors,” to satisfy those occasional orders that require a high level of handling. Any order that is flagged as an “expedited order” is followed, tracked, traced and accounted for by a dedicated individual assigned to the order. “The process requires a little bit of technology and a whole lot of diligence,” Chip Moxley explained. “The payback is better service to our customers.”
In an age of Internet sellers and brokers that can determine the lowest price for any given product with a single key stroke, Tingle’s ability to forge long-term and sustainable customer relationships has kept it a mainstay wholesaler in the Midwest.
Going above and beyond
Through quick action Tingle literally saved a customer’s business from flooding damage during a natural disaster. Tingle personnel, aided by trucks and trailers, moved a customer’s showroom and warehouse before devastating floods arrived. While not a daily occurrence, Moxley said this example illustrates the commitment to customer service that defines Tingle.
Nuts & bolts
Geographic coverage: Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, southern Illinois and a small part of Kentucky—an area approximately 1,100 miles wide and 440 miles long with warehouses along Interstate I-70.
Brands: Armstrong, Bruce, Flexco, Shawmark, Bella Cera, Durock, Mer-Krete, Healthier Choice, Leggett & Platt, DriTac, Floormuffler, US Rubber. Tingle’s affiliated company, Summit Flooring Supply, provides flooring installation products as well as unfinished hardwood and pre-finished wood floors.