One thing I have noticed over the past few years in my role of sales is the increasingly large amount time customer’s don’t want to spend on details like the number of locks, what type of threshold is used, the A rating etc. You can see their faces just turn off when you start talking about PAS 24. But when I start talking to them about things like colour, custom door designs, wood grain effects and funky hardware upgrades, that’s when attentions turn back on, and that’s where the future of sales lie.
Inspiring with design
There was a time when things like locks and thresholds held some level of importance with customers, probably because design didn’t play that much of a role in earlier years. There wasn’t the range of choice back then as there is now. So the only things to get excited about where things like locks and how many kitemarks the products had to their name.
We’ve come a long way since those dowdy and boring days. PVCu has been transformed. Timber is having a resurgence and aluminium is making it’s own mark again as well. The aesthetics of all products ranges has improved massively over the last few years and is now at a point where homeowners can get more excited about how their new windows and doors are going to look, and less about how many hook bolts their door will have.
The future of sales
For those who sell windows and doors to inspire customers, this is where the future of sales is going to come from. I think there is a general acceptance from homeowners that modern day windows and doors are all energy efficient, secure and strong. And to a point that is true. So trying to sell windows and doors on security and energy efficiency isn’t going to exactly get people’s juices flowing.
Showing them installations like the ones on Design for example will though. Getting people excited about their new windows and doors is the best way to win orders. There are so many other companies who won’t focus on design and aesthetics and will want to sell the easiest thing they can, rather than spend the time concentrating on the minute details which makes a good installation amazing. If you do, I can say with almost certainty that the effort will win you more orders. As well as provide you a chance to take some awesome photos for your portfolio.
The future of sales in this industry is with design. We have too many amazing product portfolios for it not to be. Long gone are the days of boring shiny white windows and tacky looking doors. And customers are becoming more discerning too. They know a better range of products are out there now, and they don’t have to settle for average. I would say that over the next few years the quality of our industry’s installations are only going to get better.
I totally agree that the future of sales is in design. I work with building design and 3d modelling for clients and I can’t tell you the amount of times we’ve fully sold people using our 3d CGI representations of what their project will look like down the line.
Also, from a personal view, there’s nothing better than selling someone on a design and then seeing that design become a reality later down the line. The sense of pride is unreal.