Renegade Conservatory Guy

A few weeks ago I posted the story about Nigel Gray the builder who pulled down a conservatory in Shoreham because a ‘rogue customer’ would not pay for the work he had completed.

Nigel contacted me on this website and we spoke on the phone, and he told me about all the publicity he had received, including being headline news in New Zealand!  I’m sure Nigel was not expecting the level of national and international recognition he has received when he picked up his lump hammer!

He also told me that he had been contacted by a chap called Kevin who was also experiencing a similar problem with an awkward customer, and they had set up a new website called roguetrader.com.

The website is designed to continue the campaign to change the law, and put in safeguards for companies who are unlucky enough to do business with rogue customers.  There’s a petition to sign and a blog, and all the latest news about how the campaign is doing.

For more information visit http://roguecustomer.com/  - Sign the Petition!!!

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I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately…

And the question that is occupying my mind at the moment is…. would a ‘How to run a Double Glazing Company’ website be useful?

I’m quite sure that I’m the only person in the world currently thinking of this, which could mean that there is no need for such a website.  If this is the case please try talk me out of it!

My thought process is thus:

It can be very lonely running a conservatory or double glazing business, especially for sole traders.  In my capacity as the MD of a national conservatory manufacturer, I regularly spend my time talking to and advising customers on how to run their businesses.  But I share bits of information with one business owner, and then not necessarily the same with the next business owner.

So, what I’m thinking is that I create a membership website for owners of double glazing companies (and their staff) and share all the knowledge I have gained over the years about how to build a succesful installation or manufacturing business.  The knowledge I could share would be:

• How to purchase products at the right prices (eg sealed units, silicone, conservatory roofs, advertising etc).
• How to price up conservatories and double glazing correctly to ensure profitability.
• How to advertise effectively using mediums such as TV, radio, internet, newspapers and so on.
• Reviews and podcasts about software products such as Window Designer, Vector or Adminbase.
• How to motivate sales teams, and how to improve conversion rates.
• How to manage installations effectively.
• The list goes on and on….

Crucially, I would make the site a ‘community resource’ so that there would be a discussion forum for members to talk to each other and share ideas.  And, the software would allow members to communicate with each other privately - imagine a Facebook for double glaziers!!

I would use Membergate to build the site as it is designed for exactly this type of website, and I am already familiar with the basics of how to use it, as we have built our ConservatoryTV.com website using Membergate.

We’re in a period of turbulence for business owners and their staff in the double glazing industry, and my thoughts are that if people work together to encourage best practices then individual businesses will prosper, and the industry as a whole.

However, my concern is that it may never take off for two main reasons:

• Most people in this industry are too apathetic and suspicious to get involved.
• Most business owners in this sector never go online anyway.

If you have a view on this, please let me know by posting a comment.

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Climbing the Google rankings for ‘conservatories’

I’m feeling quite chuffed with things today, as a lot of the hard work we have put into SEO for our Conservatory Outlet website is gradually taking effect.  We’re gradually getting more visitors each month to the site, and crucially the number of conservatory leads we are getting has been steadily rising.

Traditionally, we have always been strong with terms such as ‘conservatories yorkshire’, ‘conservatory company leeds’ or ‘upvc conservatories huddersfield’.  This is our core trading area, so it is important that we appear high on search engines for such terms.

I’ve always felt that a potential customer in huddersfield is likely to begin searching for:

• ‘Conservatories‘
• Then ‘conservatories yorkshire’
• Then ‘conservatories huddersfield yorkshire’
• Or even maybe ‘uPVC conservatories huddersfield yorkshire’

You get the picture, and there’s millions of these ‘long tail’ search terms we need to concentrate upon in our industry.

But more recently we have turned our attention on the main Conservatory Outlet site (and some of our other sites) to more competitive terms such as ‘conservatories’, ‘upvc windows’ and ‘double glazing’.

And it’s gradually improving if you see the position we are now getting for ‘conservatories‘:

A couple of months ago we’ve improved our position from page 5 on Google to page 1 - and now position 5 on the first page.  When you consider that the companies down the right hand side are paying around £3 per click then this is clearly a good place to be.  We’re also doing reasonably well for other terms such as ‘conservatory company’, ‘conservatory suppliers’ and so on.

I wrote a post about the best conservatory website in the world a few weeks ago, referring to the position of the ConservatoryLand website on Google, and you will see that they are still in P1.  Our challenge is to make sure our website dislodges ConservatoryLand as clearly that position makes a big difference.

So, how are we going to be top of Google?

Well, there’s no quick fix, but here’s just a few of the ways we’re going to push for higher rankings for ‘conservatories‘ and other key search terms, such as ‘double glazing’.

New website

The existing website is not as good as it could be.  It’s not very good to navigate, and I don’t feel that the user experience is good enough.  There’s probably too much technical information, and possibly not enough consumer friendly content.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re getting plenty of enquiries, but we could convert a better proportion of visitors to good enquiries.

So, we’ll have a newly rebuilt site within the next few weeks.  The site will have plenty of content that contains the important key search terms we are aiming for, especially within the titles of the web pages.

SEO

We have a search engine optimisation company advising on the rebuild of the site to ensure all the H1 tags, source code, and general terminology that I don’t fully understand, is correct and Google friendly.

The company, Blue Claw, are also building links to the main URL (and deep links to other pages) by submitting our site on relevant directories, and by submitting articles we have written on article websites, creating plenty of good links to our site from pages with specific related content.  Google looks at links as being votes for a website, the more good links you have to your site, the more Google likes your site and ranks it higher.

Blogs

We already post comments on existing relevant blogs, but as there are not many double glazing blogs out there we are creating our own blogs, which effectively act as micro sites.

They’re not great sites and the content is crap, but the key thing is that we are building links to our main site, and dealer sites.  Some examples are:

• uPVC double glazing blog
• uPVC windows blog
• Conservatory blog

Let’s face it, one of the main reasons for having the RCG website is to push links to our sites (you may have noticed!!)

Conservatory TV website

We have a website called ConservatoryTV which includes more general advice and information about conservatories.  We generate quite a few leads from this site, but crucially, there are plenty of links to the Conservatory Outlet site, and other dealers.  There’s a lot of video on this site which is all hosted on YouTube (with more links from there!)

Forums

We occasionally post on home improvement forums but this can be hard work.

PR

We have a PR guy, Iain McInnes, and he ensures that any news items and general press releases are submitted to the two main double glazing news resources - the Glazine and Fenestration News.  The press releases always carry a link to our website.

Buzz Marketing

This is the next stage of developing links and visitors to our double glazing websites.  I’ll tell you more about this as and when I know where we are going with this.

Conclusion

I’m just scratching at the surface of what is required for effective online marketing.  I probably shouldn’t be sharing this with other people from the double glazing industry, but I enjoy writing about this - so why not!  I’ll no doubt be keen to tell the world if, and when, we ever get to Number 1.

In the meantime, if you need any further advice on SEO and link building, please get in touch.

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Help me choose a new logo.

I’ve decided it’s time I invested in my Renegade Conservatory Guy website and get a new logo sorted out.

And I need your help!

I submitted a contest on the 99designs.com website - a great resource where designers from around the world compete to design logos, websites, in fact any type of design work.  The problem is that I’m struggling to make my mind up as there’s 3 or 4 designs that I really like.

So please click on this link and view the options.

Then, I’d really appreciate your vote by posting a comment below.  As I’m undecided then I’ll go for the design that gets the most votes.

Also, I could do with a catchphrase.  One of the designers came up with ‘Breaking Down Doors in the Double Glazing Industry’ which is quite good, but could it be improved upon?

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April has been a good month for the Renegade Conservatory Guy website.  I seem to be getting regular visitors to the site, and I’m delighted to say that during the month of April I have made a few friends and lots of enemies!

The following image shows the number of visitors I’ve been getting since I started the blog in September last year:

So basically I’ve doubled the amount of visitors in April compared to March.   My hope is to double the visitors in May to more than 5,000.

The moving average stats have done OK too if you look at the next graph:

OK, I’m still not competing with Facebook, Google or Youtube, but things are on the up.

More importantly, I’m getting some top people commenting on my posts including:

• Nigel Gray - the builder that pulled down a conservatory and ended up appearing on the TV and radio.
• Andy Jones - Edgetech
• Barry Dunlop - internet genius who set up the www.conservatoriesonline.com website.
• Dave Broxton - the guy behind Glassex
• Nick Dutton - Synseal
• David White - Fux UK
• Alan Burgess - Masterframe
• And many more….

I’ve had a couple of big hits in april, especially my post about Anglian appearing on Watchdog.  If you type in ‘Anglian Watchdog’ into Google then this site is position 1 (above the BBC’s own website).  At the time of writing there’s been 29 comments and the debate has been quite lively to say the least.

The following page shows the stats for the main page views:

So, apart from the home page, the main page that has been visited is the Anglian story, followed by news about the Abbott Group Employee Helpline.

So what’s the future for the Renegade Conservatory Guy?

Well, I don’t really have a master plan.  I quite enjoy blogging, and I only really know about this industry, so I don’t really have anything else to talk about.

I intend to smarten up the look of the site during May and have instructed numerous designers from across the world to compete to create a new design at http://99designs.com/contests/7040.

I’m also intending adding a subscription bit, so if you add your email address, then every time I add a post you’ll get an email update.

I’m also interested in hearing your opinion as to how I should develop this site in the long run.  If you have any views, suggestions, ideas or criticisms, please let me know by commenting below.

Thanks

RCG

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Everest has been fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £15,963.25 costs after its workers were found to be repeatedly exposed to the risk of falling from height during roofline installations.

Everest had previously pleaded guilty to breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, after an HSE inspector twice spotted Everest workers performing roofline refurbishments on mobile tower scaffolds without any protection to prevent falls in 2006.

The inspector took enforcement action and stopped work on both sites.

Everest was also recently fined £4,000 when a roofline installer fell from a platform he was working on.

HSE inspector Norman Macritchie said: “The level of fatal and serious injuries in refurbishment projects remains unacceptable. Each death is a tragedy for those involved and there is no room for any complacency.”

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In the first of a series of interviews with key individuals from the double glazing industry, below is an exclusive with Nick Dutton, the face of Synseal and the guy responsible for the rapid growth of the company over the last decade.

 • There have been a number of high profile casualties in the industry over the last few months.  How do you see the rest of this year panning out for the double glazing industry?

There has undoubtedly been a lot of turbulence. And I’m not sure we are out of it yet. Albeit that is not necessarily a bad thing, the over supply in this market needs a correction and it is happening. Supply and demand will always find its natural equilibrium.

• With increases in fuel and raw material costs, and a reduction in demand from consumers, which part of the supply chain is being squeezed the most?

Costs are increasing in every aspect of life and business, and aren’t letting up. I don’t think that you can be quite as general to say that one part of the market particularly is being squeezed. I am concerned for companies at all levels that show a reluctance to pass on the cost increases.

• What do you see as the medium to long term outlook for Synseal, and the industry as a whole?

The market is polarising on a daily basis. Synseal is arguably in the strongest position of all the profile suppliers. Firstly, we are profitable. Secondly, we solely supply to the UK so we can’t decide to ‘close the UK operation down and go back to where the money is easier’. And thirdly we concentrate purely on one industry, so we can’t decide to ‘go back to core’! Couple these points with our independent status and the ability to move quickly as the market moves, the medium to long term outlook for Synseal looks great – especially with the polarisation.

• Have you found that Ultraframe has become a stronger competitor for Synseal under new ownership?

There doesn’t appear to be much change.

• Do you think there will ever be 5% VAT on Energy Efficient Windows?

I believe so. The shift to green is so dramatic it has become cool! Synseal will continue with its 5 per cent VAT campaign. We believe the government will have to act upon the grounds of equality. How can the government allow a situation to continue where they allow the benefit to almost every other aspect of the property if it is thermally efficient, but not windows?

• Why have you chosen to establish a separate company for the manufacture of composite doors?

Composite doors have enormous potential in our industry.  Setting up Door-Stop allows those who work there to be 100 per cent dedicated to its customers. It also releases Synseal to concentrate purely upon its customers needs without the distraction of trying to intertwine new products with different customers.

• Do you think there are too many extruders in the UK?

Competition is healthy, we exist as a result of it. Competition creates innovation and nurtures initiative. If there are too many extruders supply and demand will ultimately remove the weak.

• And finally, do you think Nottingham Forest will be playing Huddersfield Town again next year?

How are Huddersfield going to get promoted from 12th and 1 game to go?

For more information about Synseal please visit www.synseal.co.uk.

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If you would like to put your name forward for an interview with the Renegade Conservatory Guy, please get in touch with me by commenting below.  I have a couple more top people lined up for interrogation, so please keep your eye on my blog.

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The latest Plimsoll report is available and the press release reads as follows: 

Early Warning Signs for the UK Windows & Doors Market

At a time when even the most ambivalent are starting accept that a recession will hit the UK economy in 2008. A new study by industry analysts Plimsoll Publishing has looked at how the UK slow down is already impacting on Windows & Doors market.

The analysis, to be published on the 1st of May, has drawn on the very latest figures for each of the UK’s Top 1000 companies in the windows & doors market. The headline findings offer stark reading.

• Over a third of companies are already showing signs of recessionary behaviour, reporting declining sales. This is immediate evidence that the market is slowing down.
• Over half of companies have seen their margins fall. Of most concern, a third of these are currently running at a loss. The pressure on sales has forced an immediate squeeze on profitability. These companies are struggling against rising costs and declining sales.
• Over a quarter have seen an increase in their need for short term finance, a sign that costs are running ahead of cash flow. This is doubly dangerous at a time when Banks and financiers are looking hard at their loan books and therefore places these companies in an even more vulnerable position. 

As a result, as many as 1 in 6 Windows & Doors companies could disappear completely if this trend continues or deepens.

Explaining these results, David Pattison, senior analyst at Plimsoll, reports:

“We are reading every day how the credit market and the world of finance is been hit, but nonetheless I was still surprised to see just how much the Windows & Doors Market is feeling the pressure.  I hope this report is recognised as an early warning sign and managers read this and use the findings to steer a course though these tricky times.”

The analysis, is not entirely without some good news, some evidence that certain areas, particularly the small companies, with their concentration on local and domestic markets are less exposed to the slow down in the market.

I’ve got two main thoughts on this:

• Firstly, I think Plimsoll are around 6 months late with this analysis.
• Secondly, how are these statistics ‘early warning signs’.  Surely, we’re already deep within a window and door industry recession.

With bad news in the media every day about a housing price slump, credit crisis, and housebuilders struggling, then I’m afraid the sentiment of Plimsoll’s findings are correct. 

We’re all going to have to tighten our belts over the coming months.

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I was listening to Radio 2 this afternoon, and my ears pricked up when I heard the story of a builder who received permission from his local council to remove a conservatory from a house where the customer hadn’t paid up.

In this particular case, the property was a council house, hence the perturbed builder was able to approach the council and leverage their support.  The customer was not unhappy with her conservatory, she just didn’t want to pay the £15,000 for it!  And, she used numerous lies and tactics, such as stating her husband had recently died, in order to avoid payment.

I’m sure all owners of window and conservatory companies have come across ‘rogue customers’.  We hear so much about rogue traders and cowboy builders, it’s about time we hear stories about awkward, cheating customers who try all sorts of tactics to avoid payment, or delay payment.

The stress these ‘rogue customers’ can cause to owners and employees of conservatory and window companies cannot be underestimated.  Many companies just give in to avoid further hassle.  It is no coincidence that on Adminbase (software for window companies) there is a ‘bastard’ button, which flags up very bad customers so the company knows never to deal with them again.

From listening to the callers to this Radio 2 show, there was a lot of support for the extreme actions of this builder.

In my experience 99% of customers are fair, and have every intention of paying on time when the job is finished satisfactorily.  But for the 1% of rogue customers, I believe that companies should stand their corner as the law and the public are on their side.

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My Funeral

As I’ve been upsetting a few people in the double glazing industry recently, I’ve decided that it will be sensible for me to start thinking about my death, and, in particular, my funeral.

So, I have decided to put in writing my wishes, and instructions for those concerned as follows:

Venue

(Instructions for Alison, my wife)

Ali – as you know I’m not overly religious, so can you see if you can book the Galpharm Stadium (Huddersfield Town’s football ground)?  It holds 24,000 people (honestly!), which should be sufficient, but if my funeral is oversubscribed could you see if they are happy for people to stand on the pitch also.

Coffin

(Instructions for Mick, Head of Production, Conservatory Outlet)

Hi Mick – I think it’s only right that my coffin should be made out of uPVC.

Can you have a word with Steve at GAP and see if he can do a deal on some Rosewood flat board (not that cheap hollow soffit stuff).  Ask him if he can do any other colours – I’d really like a walnut colour, but I doubt they do that.

Will you get Biddy to make the coffin?  I realise he normally works on patio doors and bi-folding doors, but he’s quite technical, and I want the coffin to look as good as possible. 

Make sure he uses some steel reinforcing to hold it all together.  I’m not bothered about a hearse so the coffin (and me) need strapping to one of the fitters van roof racks – so it needs to be sturdy.  Also, can you have a word with Fab n’ Fix and see if they’ll do some nice chrome butt hinges and chrome handles to finish it off.

Cremation

(Instructions for Mick again)

I’d like cremating, so will you have a word with the crematorium, and see if the steel from the coffin will be left over.  If so you could re use it in the factory or get it weighed in.

Guest list

(Instructions for Iain the PR guy)

Iain – as soon as you hear about my death, will you get a press release out to the Glazine and Fenestration News, with news about the service at the Galpharm.  Don’t bother sending the press release to the trade magazines, as I’ll be a distant memory by the time they go to print.

Could you also have a word with Andrew Scott at Insight Data, and see if he’ll do you a deal on his email database of window fabricators and installers in the UK.  See if he’ll supply it FOC due to the circumstances.  Then just email everyone in the industry, even those I don’t like (you know the ones).

The Service

(Instructions for Andrew, MD of West Yorkshire Windows, and my brother)

Andrew – with so many industry people at my funeral, it’ll be a real opportunity to push some of our product range.  See if you can get the following people to do readings:

Andy Jones from Edgetech – see if he’ll do a piece about why everyone needs to switch to Super Spacer, if not everyone will be dead soon.  Save the Polar Bears by using Super Spacer etc and get him to play that video!

Paul Glover (my Dad), NHG Guarantees – can you ask Dad to do a speech about insurance backed guarantees explaining that consumers are still covered should the owners of window companies die prematurely.  He might want to mention that I’m his son also, but the focus has got to be on sales even when I’m not around any more.

And finally, Andrew can you do a reading about our new range of uPVC coffins, available in white, mahogany, light oak and rosewood.  I think we could make a killing on these (pardon the pun).

My Ashes

(Instructions for Andrew, MD of West Yorkshire Windows, and my brother)

Can you stick me on the window sill in the office, so I can sit and listen to all the meetings?

If you’re not keen on that, then can you take me with you to Glassex next year, and take me around the stands for one final time.  And then at the end of the day, can you find somewhere at the NEC to scatter my ashes…

That’s about it.

As I’m still very much alive at the moment, if anyone has any other ideas for my funeral preparations then please post a comment below:

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