Saving Vacations Is Their Mission Northwest River Supplies Prides Itself On Customer Satisfaction

The rafters called Northwest River Supplies’ 800 number from a pay phone in the Grand Canyon.

Their cataraft, recently purchased from the Moscow company, was losing air. They were beginning an 18-day trip and weren’t sure whether they could continue.

That kind of call mobilizes employees at Northwest River Supplies. General Manager Brad Andersen faxed the rafters directions for repair. Then, worried about the craft’s ability to withstand the whitewater ahead, he shipped a new part.

The package reached the rafters within 36 hours, after a frantic journey by air, truck, mule and boat. At one point, Andersen had to convince the National Park Service to lend the company a mule normally reserved for medical emergencies.

“The customer doesn’t know the effort that goes into getting it to them,” said Gator Crump, NRS’s wholesale manager. “We’d rather keep them in the dark.”

Customer service has helped transform the “little paddle shop on the Palouse” into a worldwide supplier of whitewater equipment. The company, started by a University of Idaho professor, had sales of nearly $10 million last year.

Customers and dealers gush about the company’s ability to “save vacations” through timely delivery of forgotten or broken equipment.

“It’s amazing what customers forget on trips they’ve planned for months,” said Brian Massey of Mountain Gear in Spokane.

The praise comes from NRS’s peers as well. The company recently won an Idaho Quality Award for high levels of customer satisfaction. The award was founded by Idaho businesses in 1994.

Employees say the philosophy trickles down from founder Bill Parks - a boss who lends employees his personal vehicle without asking questions and constantly queries workers about what they’ve done to exceed customer expectations.

“I wanted it to be the kind of company I would want to buy from and I would want to work for,” said Parks, 65.

Parks started Northwest River Supplies in his basement in 1972 with a $2,000 investment. It was an experiment of sorts for the finance instructor, who wondered whether he could meet a payroll.

NRS employs 60 people in Moscow during peak seasons. Another 40 work at the company’s factory in Mexico, which produces inflatable rafts and kayaks.

From the company’s overflowing Moscow warehouse, NRS supplies outfitters from North Idaho to Patagonia. It recently filled a government order for life vests from Sri Lanka.

“I was just plain lucky,” Parks said. “I got started in an industry that became very popular.”

Whitewater sports were just emerging in the early 1970s. With few other equipment suppliers on the market, NRS had a grace period to make mistakes, Parks said. “Before there was any competition, we were already doing a million in sales.”

Competition, when it came, kept NRS from growing smug. By the early 1980s, company sales were flat.

NRS bounced back by expanding from catalog sales to selling equipment through dealers. Working with a middleman took away part of the company’s profits, but increased gross sales.

“People will not buy a $3,000 package as easily from a catalog as they will from a local store,” Parks said.

NRS also sought to build customer loyalty through service.

“When we make a mistake, we will do anything reasonable to make it right for the customer,” Parks said.

“They don’t nit-pick,” said Mark Shekell, who owns AAA Inflatable Equipment and Repair in Denver. One of his customers ordered a yellow, custom-colored boat through NRS. When NRS forgot to run it on the production line, the company loaned the customer a boat for the season.

The Grand Canyon rescue story is told during employee training. So is the story about a rafter who broke his oar stem on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Managers tracked down a recent customer in Meridian, Idaho. He agreed to give up his oar stem so the rafter could continue his trip. NRS later sent him a replacement.

The extra calls kept the rafter from forfeiting a coveted Salmon River permit, Crump said. “It’s a big deal, because it’s a big part of our customers’ vacation time.”

Cultivating a good work atmosphere is essential to good service, Parks said.

He’s established a profit-sharing plan for workers, and he preaches the golden rule: “Treat customers and each other as you would like to be treated.”

Employees from all departments pitch in to help warehouse workers during peak seasons. They also plan whitewater trips together.

Parks sets the example for the company, said Laura Robinson, retail sales manager.“He’s the best boss,” she said. “He will come down on a Saturday if we’re swamped.”

Parks is semi-retired, though he still puts in six- to eight-hour days. He kept his “day job” teaching at the university until 1994.

Running NRS drove home the points he emphasized in his small-business course: Focus on a market niche. Provide excellent service.

They’re simple ideas, but “it’s very difficult to deliver on them,” Parks said.