Pro Installer November 2013 - Issue 08 | Page 42

42 NOVEMBER 2013 PRO INSTALLER PRO PRODUCTS www.proinstaller.co.uk Window installers: are you missing out on a chance to sell more to the same customers? When you run a window company, you’re well aware that finding new customers is important. Some companies, especially in the business-to-business sector, can happily exist for years selling to the same small core of clients. But in the window trade, when your customers are homeowners, there’s a limit to how many times you can go back and keep selling to the same people. Once they’ve bought all the windows and doors they can afford, it’s going to be a while before you can sell that homeowner anything else isn’t it? As any business adviser or management consultant worth their fee will tell you, it’s very important that you don’t neglect your existing or recent customers, the people you already have a relationship with. If they’re pleased with your service, then you have a much stronger chance of being able to sell them something else and you don’t have to start from scratch with ‘warming them up’. Quite often, staying in touch can mean sending an email or leaflet with the latest ‘special offer’, a price discount or some seasonal promotion. But what if you could let them know about something a bit different from the usual marketing noise window companies make? Something that’s interesting and of real value to them? There is a wide range of components that can be retro-fitted to existing windows in order to enhance their functionality or security. Turn restrictors and brake stays can often provide additional convenience and prevent damage, preventing a sash opening too far and the handle hitting the wall, for example. Child safety is a very important area. Roto makes Tilt&Turn handles that can easily be retro-fitted and which prevent children from being able to move a window into the turn mode. This avoids a situation in which a child could potentially fall out from an upper floor. Anti-jemmy devices help improve resistance to break-ins, and can be added to virtually any existing PVC window or door, as well as many timber frames. If you were to provide choices and make customers aware of benefits that other Packing a punch Designed and created through collaboration with professional tradesmen, the C.K Plasterboard Punch also lends itself to wall scribing/marking and drill hole marking, and judging by the positive feedback from focus groups, is guaranteed to become a toolbox hero. Excellent durability comes as standard thanks to the Plasterboard Punch’s stepped alloy steel shank, along with a steel capped shatterproof acetate screwdriver handle that withstands hammer blows. Graham Godfrey, Brand manager, C.K tools, commented: “We work hard to establish what is important to professional tradesmen in their daily tasks and develop products accordingly. There is no other comparable product to the C.K Plasterboard Punch currently on the market, and by creating such bespoke products we hope to demonstrate our continued commitment to tradesmen, offering them industry-leading, high quality tools. There isn’t a skilled tradesman on the planet who won’t appreciate having this in his tool bag.” As with all of C.K tools’ extensive tool innovation, new products are not thrown together but are created as a direct result of the company’s long-standing partnership with end users - before, during and after tool development. This close collaboration leads to the constant product innovation, which C.K tools is renowned for. Roto publishes a weekly blog at http:// www.roto-webshop.com/blog/. Do you have something you need to get off your chest? Constantly at the forefront of design and innovation, C.K tools, the leading supplier of quality tools to professional trades, has done it once again and created a world first with the essential C.K tools Plasterboard Punch. The C.K Plasterboard Punch is an essential tool to form perfect holes in plasterboard for the three most commonly used wall plug sizes – 5, 6, and 7mm. Drilling holes can be time consuming, often requiring drill to screwdriver bit interchanges as well as a clean-up of dust residue. The plasterboard punch with its punch action is not only quick in use; it also creates no dust whatsoever. window companies are not bothering to talk about, could that not help give you an advantage? Send your real-life work-based stories, industry questions and business annoyances to [email protected] For further information please visitwww.ck-tools.com or call 01758 704704. New Edgebander Helps Reduce U-Values Even Further Vista Panels, creators of arguably the highest specification composite door on the market today, has invested £220k in new machinery to improve quality and expand its product range. Vista recently purchased an edgebander, beam saw and paint spray booth, all of which are now fully ‘Improve quality and expand its product range’ operational at the company’s 50,000 sq ft factory in Merseyside. The edgebander applies a uPVC strip around the edge of Vista’s composite door, significantly improving the products thermal performance. The edgeband is available in three colours – White, Woodgrain and Light Oak – and enables some doors styles to achieve a U-Value as low as 0.8 W/m²K, an improvement of 0.2W/m²K. The £20k colour coating facility meanwhile enables Vista to offer composite doors in Duck Egg Blue, Chartwell Green, Cream, An- thracite Grey, Slate Grey and Moondust Grey alongside their existing colour range. Managing director, Keith Sadler, explains: “Energy efficiency, aesthetics and security are the key drivers in the composite door market and we wanted to make sure we were offering cutting e FvR&?GV7G0?F?6???r??F?W6R&??W2?vP??&VG???Vf7GW&R??R?`??F?R??7B6V7W&R6???6?FP?F??'2??F?R?&?WBF?F???6?vR?FRF?W6R??fW7F?V?G2F???&?fRF?W&???W&f?&??6R?BW?FV?B?W ?6???W"6???6R?( ??6??Sc?C#2?"f?6?@?wwr?f?7F?V?2?6??V????V?F?6F?W"????v??rF?&V7F?"?`?f?7F?V?0??