Clearview National October 2014 - Issue 155 | Page 48

Doors&windows

Liniar fabricator gains leads
through social media channels
»»Nottingham-based
home improvement specialist
Glazedale is bringing a muchneeded fresh approach to an
industry that’s been fighting
against the ‘persistent doubleglazing salesman’ stigma for far
too long…
Husband and wife team
Darren and Claudia Shelbourn
are the brains behind the
operation, which focuses
mainly on bespoke, high-end
installations for homeowners.
Darren Shelbourn, Glazedale’s
owner and MD explains:
“We originally brought in our
windows when we started back in
1991, making the bespoke frames
in-house and as the company
grew we found the business
sided more towards bespoke
installations.

“We decided on the Liniar
profile because of its energy
efficiency performance and the
fabricator-friendly design, we
have never regretted our decision.
We find many homeowners and
self-builders want something
a bit different to the norm
and we are able to supply that
with everything fully matching
and a systems company that
is constantly designing new
products.”
Glazedale is one of the few
window fabricators that as
embraced social media as a
marketing channel. Darren
started ‘Twitter’ 4 years ago and
is using it to build relationships
with local contacts and generate
business.
“When I first started ‘Twitting’
it felt like I was constantly using

it,” says Darren, “But I knew I
needed to spend time building
up my followers, so I started
following lots of people and
tweeting interesting stuff, which
gradually started to pay off.
“We now have over 3,500
followers and I don’t need to
spend as much time tweeting,
although I still try to post at least
three times most days, using it
to engage with people and show
the human side of the business;
helping them by answering
queries.
“We also use Facebook , which
now has almost 800 ‘fans’ – we
find that’s a great way to showcase
our installation images and
demonstrate the quality of our
work.
“As well as raising the profile of
Glazedale in the local area, social

media has actually generated
orders, with add-on work
where we’ve subsequently been
recommended to neighbours
and also gone back for repeat
business.” \