HOME+GARDEN
HAVE YOU BEEN absolutely
shuttered YET?
SHUTTERS AS A WINDOW DRESSING HAVE RISEN IN POPULARITY OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS
FOR A GOOD REASON. THEY ARE STYLISH, THEY PROVIDE GOOD LIGHT COVER, THEY CAN
BE COLOURFUL, THEY PROVIDE PRIVACY AND THEY DO AWAY WITH THE NEED TO HAVE
DULL NETS OR HEAVY OUTER CURTAINS.
There are lots of companies offering shutters with
what seem compelling reasons to buy from them.
So why should anyone even think of buying from
Absolutely Shuttered? In a nutshell, it is their USP
(Unique Selling Point) that sets them apart from
most of their competitors.
So what is Absolutely Shuttered’s USP?
Having asked one of the co-founders, Lewis
Blake, he says, “I think it is safe to say, having
worked in the industry for over 10 years, that
there are many. Firstly, we are a small company
and we care. We care that our clients choose
the best design for them and their home. We
care about the quality of the shutters we provide.
We care about the quality of fitting. We care
about our clients’ homes. And of course we care
about providing a very competitive cost to our
clients.”
Tell us a bit more about Absolutely Shuttered.
Absolutely Shuttered started in 2012 and is a
collaboration between two good friends Joe
Gearing and Lewis Blake. Joe’s vast background
in sales has taught him to go full circle back to
basics: Treat a client as you would like to be
treated yourself. Lewis has the same philosophy,
but adds to this his experience of working over
a decade in the shutter industry, firstly as a fitter
and then in a sales and designer role. Having
identified a lack of customer care both before,
during and after an installation has taken place,
by some of the bigger shutter companies, both
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Joe and Lewis know that they can, and as
importantly, want to provide this. So Absolutely
Shuttered was born.
So over to Absolutely Shuttered – tell us why
we should buy from you.
Although some may view such a young company
as not having enough of a track record to be a
serious contender in the shutter world, in fact it
is the opposite. We have grown quicker than
even we expected, with 80% of our business
coming from referrals. This we put down to our
attention to detail, although we are perhaps a
little younger than you would expect to find in a
shutter company. Most people looking for shutters
tend to have become a bit of an “expert” and
sometimes take our youthful appearance as lack
of experience, but this is quickly overcome once
they see that we know exactly what we are talking
about.
What do you see as the biggest mistake in
choosing shutters?
There could be lots if there is no personal care
taken. We think design is very important and so
we take a lot of time discussing what the client
wants from their shutters and work closely with
them to bring our expertise to fulfil that.
Sometimes clients have very fixed or restricted
ideas about how shutters will work and if we feel
that we can offer an alternative vision we will have
no hesitation in putting it forward as an alternative.
Our clients are delighted with the results, hence
our high referral rates.
How can you guarantee the quality of the
shutters you provide?
As we know the shutter industry, we know the
main manufacturers and have chosen to work
with a company that fulfils all our high quality
criteria. We have also negotiated the best prices
and as we don’t have all the high overheads the
bigger shutter companies have we can be very
competitive.
What about the fitting of the Shutters?
You can have the best shutters and design but
if they are fitted badly they will fall short of both
the clients’ and our expectations. That is why we
employ the best fitters that work to our clear
customer focused USPs. We also like to keep
our hand in so that we remain current, and
regularly take a turn in all areas of the business,
so we are often seen helping out with the fitting.
We also feel it is very important to respect a
client’s home and whilst we can’t promise to
leave it cleaner than when we arrived we will
leave it as we found it so that the client is free to
enjoy their shutters.
So how do we find out more?
You can visit our website
www.absolutelyshuttered.com, email us on
[email protected] or telephone
us on 08444 17 27 57 to arrange a FREE
consultation.