Interest in pivot doors continues to grow as the niche product expands slowly into a more recognised position within the entrance door sector. For those of you who follow me on social media, you’ll have seen that I have documented my own journey in selling pivot doors from Spitfire Doors.

As a result, I often get asked a variety of questions about the doors, and how to actually get into selling them. So I thought I would share some of the details of the process of how I came to sell my first pivot door, and some of the work that went into it.

Knowing your pivot door clients

One of the very first things to know is that almost exclusively these doors are only going to be sold to a certain type of client. These aren’t going to become your bread-and-butter business or replace the core of what you sell.

The type of people who buy pivot doors is the wealthy demographic. Generally speaking business owners, footballers, self-builders etc. Basically anyone with money. And even then there is another mitigating factor in that even if a client is rich, they need the physical space in their entranceway to be able to have one of these doors. So they might be a millionaire with a huge house and land, but if their hallway doesn’t have the space for a pivot door to swing open, then it’s not going to happen for them.

Clients who have wealth also are more demanding and expect the highest level of service. Also, some degree of hand-holding. Those who operate in the higher end of our market, you’ll know this already. Wealthier clients tend to change their minds and expect constant communication and much more attention to detail in every part of the process from start to finish. You become more of a project manager than a salesperson. But, that effort is worth it to be able to work on prestigious properties and earn better money.

If you know who you’re dealing with and know who you want to attract to this particular product, you can then adjust your marketing accordingly.

Marketing for pivot doors is different

A prestige product requires prestige marketing. We have put some real effort into our images, product descriptions and website pages to be able to present a pivot door in as special a way as possible.

Your marketing is key to building up that desire and excitement. Basic marketing and minimal effort are not going to cut it with this type of product. You have to be prepared to put extra effort into creating social media and website content that genuinely stands out from the crowd and captures the attention of anyone who is looking at it.

We have used video clips of pivot doors opening and closing, closeups of product detail, created a dedicated section just to Spitfire doors and are in the process of writing several news articles and blog posts to help reinforce the message we’re trying to push with our pivot doors. Remember, throughout your marketing, you need to remember the type of client you are trying to attract. It needs to be slick, polished and as premium as possible. A few words in a tweet aren’t even worth bothering with. And always back everything up with imagery and video where you can.

Change your language

Pivot doors are going to be sold for five figures every single time. The first one we sold was bought at £16,000. That’s probably cheap if you’re in London. That’s not so cheap further north where we operate.

As part of the sales process to secure the sale, I changed my language. Not that we don’t always try and get the client excited about their purchase, but there is a more refined and focused approach to how I communicate the product and process with a client who is looking to purchase a pivot door. You’re going to be asking a lot of money for a single product. Therefore how you speak and what you say matters.

You need to fully understand your product and know it inside and out. That kind of experience comes with time, but if you’re just starting out make the effort to know as much as you can before you dive in. Then it’s a case of building up the excitement and anticipation with the client. Explore all the options and finishes and how each one can enhance their home and create a statement. The more you get them invested in the process and excited about the final product, the price point becomes less of a barrier.

It does need to be a polished approach. When I sold my first one I made sure that how I was communicating our company and the product was as premium and professional as it could be, whether that was on the phone or via email.

It’s not complicated

If you expected a ten-point plan and a complicated thread on how to sell pivot doors, I’m sorry to disappoint. The truth of the matter is that it’s fairly straightforward, at least in my experience.

The product is so impressive that it does a lot of the selling itself. You are there to simply amplify the USPs of the product, build up the desire and expectation and follow through with a professional delivery throughout the sales and fitting process.

What I would say is that you have to set yourself up internally as a business and as a person for that premium market. You can’t approach it in a sloppy or half-hearted fashion. If you do, the client will be able to tell and you won’t get very far. We decided to fully commit to aluminium windows and doors, including pivot doors, and have changed our approach accordingly. As a result, we are now winning orders not only for pivot doors but for larger contracts that we were not winning before.

Personally, I believe there is a lot of room for the pivot door market to grow. They are only now gaining traction and thanks to social media and YouTube tours of mansions, people are becoming more familiar with them. They are definitely a product worth investing in and selling, and in a period where the economy is stalling and inflation is hurting spending, now is a very good time to explore new revenue streams with wealthier demographics.

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