As Everest approaches its 50th year at the forefront of the home improvement industry, the company is not interested in celebrating nostalgic victories from their past. Instead, they are rather keen on scaling new heights and indeed looked no further than their own doorstep when highlighting a solution to improve their customers’ experiences in the future.

“In 2012 we decided to step away from the ‘hard sell’ in favour of setting values,” proclaimed Everest’s CEO, Roy Saunders, at the recent launch of the Everest Training Academy, believing that by providing genuine experts to consult the public, the company would only ever move in a positive direction.

The significance of 2012 is that the company were acquired by Better Capital, who made immediate fundamental changes. Everest’s product ranges were expanded upon, offering a wider variety of choices to the customers. New products warranted glossy new brochures that complemented both the look and feel of the original designs.

More significant changes were implemented in Everest’s recruitment and training process, which was shaken up with the direct intention of improving the standards of the Everest sales force.

The personnel changed within the company’s Head Office and more emphasis was put on clearer messaging. Suddenly, the products became more easily identifiable and customers were able to browse windows, doors, conservatories and any other products they desired with more clarity.

Why did Saunders wish to join? Because he believed in the brand. He was impressed with Everest’s track record of leading the market since its conception five decades ago and believed that if he could steer the company to focus more on the image and perception of what Everest stood for then there was room for a revolution, and who wouldn’t be excited by that?

After only 18-months of taking the company in this new direction, an impressive 33% of Everest’s business is now made up of repeat custom. What can we glean from this? That Everest’s existing customers are happy with the changes being made… and so they should be.

More than ever, Everest are studying customer habits and attempting to cater for the styles and designs that modern buyers are looking for. It’s not that Everest have never considered the customers’ needs before. In fact, they have always considered the needs of the home when pioneering their products, but by offering the public more choice it allows the customers to keep their personality whilst ensuring their homes are as secure as possible. All of this, and Everest are still finding the time to make their products more environmentally friendly.

Everest led the way by releasing Triple Glazing this year as a result of a 12-month survey where they took note of what the public wanted. As Triple Glazing has proven so popular in Nordic countries, it became clear there was a growing demand in the UK.

There is also a push on the home security front, with the public’s growing concerns around recent break-in statistics. Ensuring the well-being of our valuables and our families is understandably of high importance and so again, Everest have responded by spending a great deal of time and investment on their alarm and security systems.

So with a market leading company such as Everest developing more of a social conscience and being prepared to back it up with a renewed focus on customer satisfaction, it seems a solid bet that they will be the company people talk about for the next 50 years of home improvement, as well.