We live in a modern world people! If you don’t move forward with the future, you’re going to get left behind. Simple. This rule applies to our industry as well as everything else.

The days of oversized sample windows in carry cases are dead. Ringing “your manager” to ask for discounts are dead. Hell, even the pen and paper looks like it’s days are numbered! Before I carry on, I better add some context. My brother has recently bought the latest Asus tablet computer and is running the Jelly Bean operating system on there. Yes, not an iPad, it’s better…but that’s another argument. Since getting the tablet, he has totally changed the way he sells to a customer, and it has worked wonders!

All his images of the work we have done are now on there in organised folders. All the demo folders we have are on there. Offline version of our website is on there. Rather than drawing down each item, he takes pictures of each existing window and door and uses the annotation feature on the tablet to draw on notes and the new window style. His paper usage has dropped dramatically and the speed in which he gets his quotes out and the neatness has jumped enormously. I’m ashamed to say I am only doing half what he is, and I’m usually the one banging the drum round here about things needing to be modernised!

The best thing he finds is being able to hand over the tablet to the customer so that they are able to flick through big, high definition images of work we have done previously. They said it is much better to view products this way than look at a sample window that isn’t in it’s fitted environment. To most customers, they can visualise a product when they see it fitted, rather a single item on its own. Tablet computers make this possible very easily.

Customers make their first impression of you within the first few minutes of your visit. If you can show them that you work for a company that is modern, forward thinking, innovative and professional, then those first few minutes are going to go very well. Even to the most senior generations, technology is still something that impresses.