Dream Houses
Even a dream house can become a nightmare if the lights don’t light, the air conditioning doesn’t cool, or the electrical wire spawns an electrical fire. For all these reasons, don’t let your builder lay the first stone until you have a knowledgeable and experienced electrical supplier on board. That definition precisely fits Southern Electrical of St Georges, and its Grenada-born general manager, Emmanual Duncan. In fact, the company’s expertise goes back to another Emmanual Duncan, father of the present manager. The elder Duncan served for years in the industry, eventually rising to be manager of an electrical products factory. When that enterprise was closed down in 1996, he opened Southern Electrical, which immediately became successful, in part due to a heavy emphasis on customer service. “My dad was a people person,” says the younger Duncan. “When you were in a really tight spot, it was only ‘Mr. D’ who could help you. His special knowledge of the business and excellent people skills made the customer feel like he was the number one person in the world.” That tradition continues today, Duncan says. Since its opening, Southern has had two major changes in its business operation. The first was a transition from a “for trade warehouse” to its current retail operation. Duncan attributes that change to his background, which includes a stint as a regional marketing vice president for the communications firm, Cable & Wireless. “Coming from a marketing background, I realized that we needed to offer our goods not only to the trade customers but to the homeowner,” he says. “Homeowners are the ones who make decisions on what kind of sockets and lighting and so on they want on their property.”
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The second big change for the company is recent. In 2009, Southern Electrical opened Grenada’s first dedicated lighting showroom, featuring an extensive collection of fixtures at multiple price levels. “We have a fantastic array of lighting, great value, and world renowned brand names,” Duncan says. He hastens to add that all the construction work on the showroom was done by local labor. “My dad was always a fan of using the small man,” he explains. One thing that surprises Duncan about his sales of lighting fixtures is that high end products perform better than expected. He originally forecast that higher priced items would make up about 10 percent of sales, but they’ve doubled that result. “We never imagined that so many clients are willing to pay $2,000 for a light,” he says. “We totally underestimated how many people are willing to pay for quality.” Customer orders can usually be quickly filled, he adds. Items from U.S. suppliers, for example, generally are on the island within nine days. Duncan expects and usually gets a three month turnover of his merchandise. When items remain unsold after that, he has a solution. “Fire sale it!” Across all lines of his business, Duncan tries to keep to the family tradition of solid customer service. “From the moment a customer walks through the door, someone greets them and asks if they need help,” he says. “Dad always said, ‘without the customer, you really don’t have a business.’” Apparently, Southern has both, says one of its customers. After awarding the firm a 5 out of 5 “Palm Tree” rating on a Caribbean consumer review website, one customer describes Southern Electrical as “excellent --well organized --well stocked—and [offering] truly helpful and knowledgeable service.”
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