Whilst the problem of the cowboy image is probably down to us, this is not what I am talking about. I am on about the perception of the industry as a cheesy, smarmy, slimy profession that only attracts particular types of people.

This was a comment left by Peter from Bristol Bifolds on my OFT post: We could start by rebranding away from “double glazing”. Lots of more suitable names. We will all be selling TG by end of the decade so it will go away by then anyway. Personally as an aluminium man I have never sold double glazing but windows and doors and I am in the Fenestration industry. This could be something that the GGF should be at the forefront of.

MD of John Fredericks also had this to say, on my Little Added Touches post:

Hi DGB, I take issue with the fact you are calling the salesmen a “rep” and I am sure he would also think the same!!! You are right, we should learn something from his experience and you should be called “sales consultants” because that what you do!!!!
Finally, JFP have a customer whom has modelled his showroom on an Audi dealership, it is stunning !!!!! If you ask nicely perhaps I could take you there, to share the experiance……

Happy Xmas
Steve

You see the emerging pattern here? We really have to stop calling ourselves the things that give us this unsavory image. The term ‘double-glazing’ has now been ruined by smarmy, untrustworthy sales men and women. The term ‘sales rep’ has also been tarnished. To be fair, I am guilty of still using this term.

For all the hard work we do physically day in and day out, trying to shake off the cowboy image, it what we call ourselves in front of the public that will help matters a lot. We need to start dropping in phrases like ‘sales consultant’, we need to stop using ‘double-glazing’ and start using windows and doors. That’s what we sell, as Peter points out above. You can’t really smear the image of a window or door, so we need to start using it more.

Fitters need to be called installers. Work mates need to be called colleagues. Receptionists need to be called administrators. And so on. We’re all professional companies aren’t we? We all try and do the best for our business and the industry as a whole? If so, then it’s time to start portraying the professional image to the public and to ourselves that we think we need and deserve!