Door Industry Journal - Summer 2018

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk Domestic Garage Doors 36 THE door industry journal summer 2018 Are SMEs utilising the latest Online Technology to maximise Sales and Marketing? Lee Moon, Director of Fort doors looks at a changing marketing landscape and how small and mid-sized installation companies can take advantage. Since starting in the garage door industry over twenty years ago I have seen modest advances in the use of technology within our industry, but massive changes in the way we can obtain our customers. However, it seems that whilst some companies have embraced the technological changes, some still use the same methods in obtaining new customers as when I first started out. By this I mean, directory or paper advertising, followed by visiting customers and selling from the van with brochures and sound advice. So, it seems for some during this time not a lot has changed, but the installers who work from a van are the backbone of our industry and may be missing a chance to obtain the maximum number of sales available with the greatest profit margin? Here, I take a look at some of the opportunities available. Advances in technology: No matter how hard you try, you can’t escape the advances in technology, just look at the garage door operators we all retail, they are safer, more reliable and generally, with the press of a few buttons, you have a perfectly working automated door that can be opened with a smart phone. Most installers have abandoned the fax machine; landline for mobiles and postal system for email; paper cheques for Bacs payments and even home-based computers and software, for cloud- based accounts accessible from phones and tablets. All this is great and time saving but how does it relate to the one thing we all rely on, good quality sales? The simple answer is it doesn’t. Maybe we can get a quote over to the customer faster, but this is almost demanded, because our customers are used to slick operations such as Amazon delivering the latest must-have item overnight. So, is there any hope for the garage door industry? The simple answer is yes, below I have shared the key areas, that I consider, all good installers should concentrate on for the future.