Tiffen CEO Offers Customer-Centric Business Advice

Business owners flocked to a Hauppauge manufacturer seeking advice on how to build for success in the Hauppauge Industrial Association’s first CEO Roundtable.

Steve Tiffen, president and CEO of photography manufacturer The Tiffen Company, spoke candidly with business executives at the Hauppauge Industrial Association of Long Island’s first CEO Roundtable. The event aimed at letting businessmen hear business stories and lessons directly from the winner of the HIA-LI’s Large Business Award in 2010.

  “[Our customers] have the vision of what they want and our business is to give it to them,” Tiffen said. “If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.” This is the core principle that lies at the center of what he calls a “customer-centric” company.

Founded in 1938, Tiffen is the second-generation operating a business started out of his grandfather’s dry cleaning shop that now has four worldwide location offering more than 10,000 lenses and a variety of accessories. One of the acronyms Steve Tiffen said explains the company’s ability to innovative, adapt and prosper over the years is “D.I.E” –Deliver, Innovate and Educate.

Delivering a product customers want in a timely fashion is important to keep customers satisfied and company back, according to the CEO. He explained how when he started working his way through the ranks at The Tiffen Company, it was backordered by 18 months. It was important to him to cut that time down by increasing production smoothing the delivery process so that customer orders are now deliverable in three to five days.

The Tiffen Company’s power of innovation goes back to its founder, starting with desire to machine a lens barrel for a camera to improving its camera filter production. The president gave an example of when looking to expand the business, Tiff moved from making lens barrels to filter rings for cameras, a part the require metal – a business machinist knew well.

The company was still receiving word from customers the glass purchased to insert the filters varied in thickness, resulting in an inconsistent product. So Tiffen researched the process, patenting its own manufacturing technique for glass to produce the entire filer itself.  This revolutionized Tiffen’s business model, making it the lens company it is today.

“You can’t sit in the office. You have to go out and be where your customers are and be with them, hear what they have to say,” Steven Tiffen said.

The company relied on this principle after The Tiffen Company had made its name in  Hollywood film productions to find its commercial customer sales lagging. Steve Tiffen said the company reached out to camera clubs, attended meetings to educate consumers on their products, fulfilling the educational part of D.I.E.  It generated a new customer base. 

“One of your most valuable assets are your clients and those who use your product,” he said.

The Tiffen Company continues to reach out to videographers and filmmakers who use its products, asking to speak about their relationship with the company for its series Imagemakers. The series is online to educate consumers and used for a soft marketing sell. 

This method helped make 2010 a record-breaking year for The Tiffen Company, according to its CEO, which he hopes will continue into the future. The HIA-LI’s next CEO Roundtable breakfast will be held in April.