Not too long ago I wrote a post in which an absurd experience with a home owner left me in despair, wondering whether I wanted to carry on working in the installations part of UK fenestration. You can read that here if you haven’t done so already.

Admittedly, I wrote that in the heat of my frustrations. Still, I stand by what I said in that post. There is a small percentage of home owners out there who in my opinion seek conflict to create problems for their own gain. They’re a nightmare.

But, this is generally a small percentage of the population. Earlier today I experienced the complete opposite of that, and it reminded me that there are plenty of good moments in the world of retail sales in this industry.

Genuine excitement

I met a lovely elderly couple at the back end of the day today. I met them first on my initial visit to see what work they wanted me to quote for and to do my usual relaxed sales approach. I was back today to drop their quote off and to give them a brochure on the integral blinds by Morley Glass that they had asked me to price as an optional upgrade.

I guided them through the quote, explained what work was included in the quote, and of course the prices. This particular job wasn’t the biggest, a pair of French doors and side lights, fabricated by John Fredericks, and they did go for Morley Glass’s integral blinds as the upgrade. There was some additional building and joinery work to do as part of the contract too.

It wasn’t them signing up that gave me that buzz though. Rather, the excitement on their faces as it dawned on them that they had got the ball rolling on purchasing products they were genuinely looking forward to having installed. They were particularly excited about the blinds and the fact they wouldn’t have to clean them. This was an elderly couple, still loving working on their home, who told me they had enjoyed dealing with me during the process without pressure or hassle.

As people themselves they were both genuinely nice people. Happy to engage in general conversation, joking about how young I looked but happy to give me the time of day to let me do my job. It culminated in me getting the sale, but more importantly me leaving them excited in the knowledge they were going to get their new French doors with awesome blinds.

It is this part of the job that makes it worthwhile. Why can’t all people be as nice as this couple was?

DGB Brexit

A focus on the buying experience

I am lucky to have always had the security of my family business in installation, so I don’t know what the sales cultures are like at other installers, but we do try and make a fuss with the home owner when it comes to our products.

This is something all installers should make an effort around. At the end of the day home owners are often forking out significant sums of their hard earned money to spend on what they hope to be high quality windows, doors, glazed extensions or other home improvement products. As with any high end purchase, the sales experience should leave them feeling excited in anticipation of the work being done.

For my lovely couple earlier on today, the price, although an important factor, became irrelevant by the end of the discussion as they were already looking forward to getting the work done. That for me is when a buying experience is really doing it’s job. Where a home owner places excitement of the product and installation over the price.

As our industry moves towards a more premium, high end model, it is the buying experience that is really going to be a key factor in a home owner choosing their installer. Those who ignore the finer details, don’t demonstrate a willing to spend the time with the home owner, fail to show genuine interest in their project, will lose out to an installer who ticks all those boxes. At our place we are methodical, invested in the home owner and attempt to highlight as much detail as possible during the sales process. It is this that I attribute to us landing some pretty amazing projects last year.

So in comparison to my rant around two weeks ago, it is people and meetings like this which remind me that there are good times in this job.

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