It’s tempting to drop your price when you need the sale, says Freefoam Commercial Director Colin St. John, but it’s safer to sell quality and benefits.
Sell premium quality into the growth market
These are challenging times. Worrying reports about the economy make people uncertain about their own future.
In home improvements the uncertainty is centred on the mass-middle market which has been shrinking and getting more competitive. Politicians call this ‘squeezed middle’ - the JAMs, because they are only ‘Just About Managing’. In contrast, the premium sector is growing well thanks mainly to the growing number of older homeowners, particularly the over-55s, who have benefitted greatly from house price increases over the past 20 years. This largely mortgage-free group owns much of the housing wealth and savings in the UK. They can afford to spend what they want to improve their homes.
Who you sell to has a big influence on your growth, and on how much money you make. If your customers are only just managing, they’ll watch every penny. While, installers and their suppliers who sell quality to the upper ends of the market find it easier to grow and make money.
Changing styles promote new areas of growth
The consumer passion for interior design is moving outside, and today’s customers want the exterior of their homes to reflect their taste and personality too. Bored with white PVC, they want a change. They want to transform their home with colour on windows, doors, fascia, soffits, rainwater – and cladding - matched or coordinated with stylish colours like Anthracite Grey or Chartwell Green.
Colour accounts for nearly a third of window and door volumes, but those who sell to the premium end of the market frequently sell half or more in colour. Colour is important for roofline, rainwater and cladding too. “There has been massive sales growth in cladding for peoples’ homes, as it is very fashionable,” says Alex Ottoway, Manager of Penryn Plastics, a Freefoam stockist: “The variety of colours available are popular, especially greys, blues, greens, and white.”
With a wide range, it’s helpful to show what people can have. “Freefoam’s roofline and cladding box samples are very useful for showing customers colours and ranges,” explains Jayme Wisker, Director of Trade Fit 4 U. There is no substitute for homeowners being able to see and touch the product.
Quality counts
Quality is vital when selling at the top end of the market. Homeowners paying more want them to perform perfectly, and last for years.
If you’ve chosen colour, you want it to last; you don’t want it to fade or discolour. That’s why Freefoam’s patented Colormax® technology incorporates a unique combination of stabilisers and pigments that combat colour fade. The technology underpins our 10-year colour guarantee.
White PVC absorbs heat and expands, but colours absorb more heat, particularly darker colours like Anthracite Grey which absorb more and expand more. As standard PVC gutters expand and contract they create gaps at the joints where water leaks. Freefoam co-extrudes white on the inside of coloured gutters so the gutter absorbs less heat than other rainwater products and has fewer leaks. “The quality of Freefoam products is good,” says Catherine Bressington, Director at Mac Home Improvements. “We offer our customers a 10-year guarantee, so we need to be confident that the product is reliable.”
Installers can use guarantees to reassure customers and help them to commit. Freefoam’s innovative production techniques are the foundations of its market-leading 50-year Lifetime Extended Guarantee on white, with 10-years on colour. “The guarantees are a great sales tool and not all companies offer this, so it gives us the edge over our competitors,” says Jason Large, Owner of Simply Roofline.
Choose the right partners
In tough markets, it pays to work with suppliers who want to help customers grow. Freefoam does this, because if our customers grow, we grow. Our service and support goes beyond product to marketing packages and generating quality leads through our consumer facing sites: www.myrooflinematters.co.uk and www.mycladding.co.uk.
“We choose Freefoam because they have a relationship with us, and are not just our supplier,” says Catherine Bressington. “They offer great service and products and are interested in us. They understand the domestic market very well.”