Annual Predictions
DEALERS LEARN EXCITING PLANS FOR 2017
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PATIOMASTER ’ S FRANCHISED dealers met for the company ’ s Annual Dealer Conference recently to discuss and agree products , strategy and goals for 2017 : and the conclusion was that it ’ s set to be a bumper year !
Reflecting on 2016 dealers agreed that they continued to make impressive progress with PatioMaster with sales continuing the upward progress of previous years . Of particular note was the growth of sliding patio doors despite the recent popularity of competing products , with this predicted to continue and actually strengthen .
Dealers met the new PatioMaster team that that will provide support to the Dealer Network through product development , marketing and sales lead generation : Carmen
Velilla heads up the team as Brand Manager , with Fern Rossano as Business Development Manager with sole responsibility for PatioMaster . Emma Cank leads up the key activity of Lead Generation with Callum Watkins committed to the brand as Digital Marketing Executive .
Dealers learned the marketing plans for 2017 with the welcome news that budgets will once again be increased . Dealers were especially excited to hear about the new products PatioMaster is introducing throughout 2017 , further strengthening the brand ’ s offer .
“ We are excited to reward the commitment by our dealers with an increase in the marketing budget and therefore the support that we can give them and especially the new product programme that will further strengthen the PatioMaster brand ,” said Carmen Velilla . “ PatioMaster is unique in its structure and operation and goes from strength ,” she added . “ Our plans for 2017 are based upon significant growth in sales , ahead of forecasts for the market generally .”
GETTING A HANDLE ON BREXIT
With much lamentation over the effect of Brexit on British business , door and window hardware supplier Winlock Security Limited explain how they ’ ve handled the fallout from this year ’ s biggest industry shockwave .
»»“ WE DIDN ’ T EXPECT A LEAVE vote ,” said MD Alan Parker “ but sensibly we weren ’ t prepared to take a risk on currency ”. In March 2016 Winlock announced that they would not fix their prices for 2016 / 17 until they knew the result of the referendum and also outlined their surcharge parameters in the event of a decision for Brexit . “ We prepared our customers for the possibility of resultant price increases as best we could , but it didn ’ t make them any more palatable ,” continued Alan .
The impact of Brexit certainly had negative short-term implications for the Telfordbased business as negotiating and managing the significant price hike on their imported ranges has been time consuming and at times fractious . However , Winlock report that their sales volumes have been strong since the June vote . Said Alan “ We have not seen much evidence of customers shopping around in order to beat the price increases – I think all customers are aware that prices have to go up no matter who they buy from .”
In the longer term , as the UK ’ s only volume producer of window handles , the prospect of weaker sterling should however be positive . “ In general our customers are more concerned about cost than provenance . We have some UK made product ranges where the price differential with Asian product is small at current exchange rates , and we are actively promoting these ranges to increase customer awareness . If we can supply a UK made product at close to Asian prices we believe many customers would take up this offer – not least because of the much shorter lead times involved and our ability to do short run ‘ specials ’,” explained Alan .
“ We have high hopes for 2017 ,” commented Alan . “ Our business is driven not by market growth , but rather by our product and service initiatives . The products and services we have launched in 2016 we hope will bring us a full year ’ s benefit .”
www . winlock . co . uk
28 » JAN 2017 » CLEARVIEW-UK . COM