I haven’t sold a window in weeks! In fact I may have forgotten how to sell windows!

The industry is now moving into it’s quiet phase as the buying public gears down from home improvement work and gears up towards Christmas shopping and everything that entails. Obviously there will be those that leave it to the very last minute and demand that their windows and doors be fitted before Christmas.

All the sales at the moment though seem to be for doors. Seriously, it’s been weeks since I sold a window! Everything I’ve sold these past two or three weeks has been doors. A healthy mix between engineered PVC and composite. Not a single full panel door in sight might I add! I think it’s fair to say that the desire for people to rip holes in their house for new windows at this time of year has well and truly died now.

Doors are manageable for most people as it’s a morning’s work, relatively clean and very little disruption to the daily life. They’re also nice to sell. Both the company and myself make decent margins out of doors. Our fitters prefer fitting them, probably because there’s more money in doors, but they also find them easier! It’s quick and (hopefully) simple work. Sell a few and fit a few and the numbers soon start to stack up.

We did have a period like this last year, but it lasted for most of 2011. Doors seemed to be very popular that year. This spurt of door activity does reinforce the need to sell a high quality door. The cheap and cheerful £500 doors has never been something we have ever looked at. Too many companies do it. The build quality, the workmanship and the styles are just terrible. We have always aimed for the very high end of the PVC market, and especially now with the new range of engineered entrance doors emerging. Our average door is sold for around £1200. We have an immense locking system, security cylinder, very high quality wood grain and colour finishes. Everything is steel reinforced, as are the door panels. The energy that is put in to making our product a quality one means we’re not the cheapest company in the world. But demonstrate that quality to a customer, which we always do, they know that they are getting a lot for £1200 and that the door is going to last a very long time with little or no problems and that it will serve them well.

Let me know if any of you guys have found a sudden increase in the sale of doors, or if it’s just us and we’re selling amazing entrance doors!