When support is more than just window dressing

Mark Richmond, Sales Director at Selecta Systems explodes some of the myths surrounding support on offer to fabricators facing a highly competitive market.

New brochure? Got one thanks. Website? Check. Showroom revamp? Did that last year. There’s not much new in the way of support these days, or so it would seem. So what exactly is left that systems companies can provide their customers which can actually bring them new sales without breaking the bank?

Years ago, life was simple. Sales literature was all the rage and, if you were really lucky, your systems company would overprint it for you. They would produce in bulk, hold flat and call off a quantity for finishing when the logo was sent through (often posted as a transparency!). Now, householders are more aware of brands and can see through a simple overprint of the same base brochure, often resulting in a discount-lead price war amongst installers.

Digital printing technology has largely rendered this method redundant and now we can pretty much print however many of whatever we want. Now it’s all about the design. Landscape, portrait, A4, A3, gate fold or inserts can all help disguise a common product theme. Then again, why print at all when web-savvy homeowners can Google, find your website and look at an on-line, page-turning file or download a pdf print out using their own paper?

This is where the problem lies. The sheer variety of options just on literature means that it is impossible to cover off all the bases. What one customer finds will work for them will leave another completely unmoved. Web or paper, showroom or sales presenter, the list is endless. The comfort of volume discount has disappeared and has been replaced by the segment of one.

At Selecta, we take a broader, more practical view. Of course we offer marketing support, but in these days where margins are being squeezed right through the supply chain, every overhead has to be fully justified. Anything that doesn’t add value to your customers simply isn’t worth the paper it’s usually printed on. That’s why we have focused on turning our core strengths of future-proof design, quality manufacturing, first rate logistics and excellent customer service into positive sales benefits that our customers can turn to their advantage.

Advance 70, our frontline window range is a full five chambered suite for all main profiles including outer frames, sashes and transom/mullions. This ensures excellent thermal performance with an “A” band WER option perfectly achievable without resorting to exotic sealed unit specifications. It is also lead-free, well ahead of the Vinyl 2010 voluntary commitment schedule. Whilst householders may be starting to get the message about WERs, they are almost certainly not yet aware of the meaning behind lead-free.

This is why we have placed great emphasis on explaining to our customers how this physical property can help installers make their pitch to homeowners. If they present lead free in the context of recyclability and sustainability, these will be terms that environmentally conscious homeowners will relate to. They will feel comfortable that they are doing the right thing and may even be willing to pay a premium for their feeling of righteous wellbeing.

How often do you hear the phrase “right first time”? It’s the staple diet of operations and manufacturing managers everywhere. The Selecta production team has made the most of our strategy of investment in capital equipment (new mixing plant) products (new composite door line) and a new fleet of delivery trucks, all purchased outright. We’ve also grown our team by bringing in experienced new personnel to strengthen our customer service and technical departments, which ensures the support and back up that customers need is right there, ready to solve any issues immediately.

There’s no better way of emphasising the features and benefits of our Advance 70 range than taking the products out to the market. The Selecta demonstration vehicle is well known to our customers as we take the latest innovations out on the road to them. Talking face to face, often with their customers involved as well, helps to clarify the sales message at the front end and is well worth the £90k investment. It has now been joined by a similar vehicle dedicated to our Composite door range.

These practical benefits, clearly presented through our fabricating customers to homeowners will help to create an added value proposition that will, in turn, result in a sensible price at the front end. As long as these returns filter up through the supply chain, we can continue to invest in targeted marketing support for our customers that reflects what they actually need, instead of acting like window dressing on the high street which panders to the latest fashion whims.