When one of your local Parksville retailers wins a Better Business Bureau Vancouver Island Torch Award, up against merchants from around Victoria, it’s a clear sign they’re doing many things right. From approximately 1,300 BBB accredited businesses on the Island, about 40 finalists are chosen and just 13 take first-place honours.
M&N Mattress Shop’s Mark Nagra was surprised when he and wife Neelam’s company won their third straight Torch Award and fourth overall, this time in the Lifestyle and Leisure category. Earlier this year, M&N also won the 2019 Vancouver Island BE Business Award in the retail category.
“It was a similar feeling to the first time we won in 2015,” Mark says, adding that the Torch Award is a product of dedication and commitment seen throughout the M&N Mattress team. “From our entire sales, admin and delivery team, to our customers and our great suppliers this is a total team effort.”
Awards reflect many business qualities
The BBB Torch Awards are based on customer input and reflect a merchant’s performance in four areas: community engagement, ethical decision making, trustworthiness and perhaps most importantly, customer service excellence. “I think if you provide excellence in customer service – we deal with suppliers who provide great service too – at the end of the day everything else will fall into place,” Mark says.
Your reviews make a difference
As soon as they won, Mark shared the news with his entire team. He says it’s important to all of them that as a customer you feel taken care of and treated with respect, start to finish.
“Our delivery guys Troy and Eric are mentioned in pretty much all of our reviews,” he says of the BBB award comments. “They’re the last part of our team that you’ll see. From the time we welcome customers into the store or on the phone, to the moment our delivery staff say ‘thank you very much, I hope you enjoy your mattress or cabinet bed,’ and the follow-up later, everything counts. It’s not easy to build a great team, but we are lucky to have that.”
Broad-based service excellence
Mark and Neelam opened M&N Mattress at 1-291 East Island Highway in Parksville 19 years ago, and their approach to business continues to resonate with customers. They’ve built an A+ rating with the BBB rating and have a superb 4.9-star rating on Google (one of the best in the furniture/mattress industry in Canada). Their second store, WR Mattress Gallery in White Rock, equals those ratings and won the 2017 BBB People’s Pick Award on the Lower Mainland. “We have a formula that we stick to, and it’s called striving for excellence in customer service,” Mark says. “Location, location, location helps, but service , service, service matters most.”
Charities, staff benefit from win
The Nagras promised to donate $1,000 to a local charity if they won, as a good luck or blessing. They’re adding $500 to that amount. “We’ll split the total between the Society of Organized Services and the Salvation Army, to thank the community that has always supported us,” Mark says. They also plan to treat their staff to a dinner and refreshments to celebrate together as a team.
Mark and Neelam welcome you to stop by the store to say hi and check out what’s new. You can also find out what’s new at parksvillemattress.com or mnsofa.ca, by calling 250-248-7133 or visiting M&N’s Facebook page.