Renegade Conservatory Guy

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.

————————————————————————- 

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.

No comments »

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.

No comments »

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.

9 Comments »

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:

7 Comments »

I’ve been keeping my eye on the Abbott Group Employee Helpline blog over the last few days, and it doesn’t look good!

Abbott Group Employee Helpline blog

If you read the posts, you will really feel for the employees of the Abbott Group as they have been kept in the dark, since the company ceased trading with the collapse of parent company Plastmo.

From what I can understand, Style Group (Safestyle UK etc) quickly purchased the remnants of Plastmo in order to maintain supply of product (under the guise of a company called Sprint 1234).

It seems like a tangled web, but from reading the posts that the employees of the Abbott Group it is clear that they have been left dangling without pay and information for far too long!  The hope was that the Style Group was likely to sell the company to Tamar Group, but this deal seems to have collapsed today, and it looks like the company has gone into liquidation.

According to the website:

If the company does go into liquidation, the Tamar Group have expressed an interest in buying everything up & starting again. But there will be no continuation of employment, no obligation for past wages & everyone will need to reapply for a job.

If you haven’t already started looking for another job, now is definitely a good time.

7 Comments »

Have you any idea which is the best conservatory website in the world?

You might think it would be the website of one of the following companies:

Anglian Home Improvements
Everest
Ultraframe
Synseal

But, no despite being some of the biggest names in the conservatory industry, none of these companies have the best conservatory website in the world.

The best conservatory website belongs to:

ConservatoryLand in Mansfield woodhouse, Nottinghamshire

And their website is www.conservatoryland.com.

They have the best conservatory website for one simple reason. 

They have been at position 1 on google for a long time for the term ‘conservatories’ and ‘conservatory’.

Companies, including my own, pay big money with Google Adwords to get on the front page of Google for the term ‘conservatories’ - as much as £3-£4 per click!

Conservatoryland manage to get to the first natural position on Google for no cost per click.  With millions of searches per year for this term, this puts Conservatoryland in a very powerful position.

They also appear very highly for other important ‘long tail’ conservatory keywords:

diy conservatory - position 6
diy conservatories - position 5
self build conservatories - position 8
conservatory prices - positions 5 and 6
conservatory suppliers - position 6

This is the beauty of the internet, as smaller companies can compete and beat the major suppliers for key search terms.

So how can ConservatoryLand beat the likes of Anglian and Everest to this top spot?

Well, the site is well built for search engines to begin with.  I must admit I don’t like the look of the site and find the pages slow to load, but this site has been built to be search engine friendly.  When you’re number one on Google, you’re going to get lots of visitors, and ultimately LOTS OF CUSTOMERS!!

And the site has lots of websites linking to it in comparison to other websites out there:

                                          Google Links                Yahoo Links
Conservatoryland               91                                2,481
Ultraframe                            8                                  355
Synseal                                  8                                 260
Anglian                                 131                             3,460
Everest                                  42                               823

The Screenshot below shows the Google link stats:

Anglian clearly has a strong SEO plan and link building campaign, with more links than Conservatoryland, but crucially ConservatoryLand has specialised on ‘conservatories’, whereas Anglian have also concentrated on other home improvements such as double glazing, kitchens etc.

And the way Google is changing, the more natural links you have to your website for terms such as conservatories the better your site will perform.  Did you notice in that sentence, I created a sneaky natural link to my own site - I’m working on beating ConservatoryLand to the top!

The picture is completely different for ‘double glazing’, though.

If you type in ‘double glazing’ on Google, you’ll find the big boys have put real effort into SEO, taking 6 out of the top 10 positions.  At the time of writing the top 10 is as follows:

1. Zenith Windows - national installer
2. Everest - national company
3. Anglian - national company
4. Planet PVC - no longer trading
5. Safestyle - national company
6. Double Glazing On the Web - small company from Dorset
7. Weatherseal - national installer
8. DoubleGlazing.com - an eBuilders portal site
9. DoubleGlazing4Web - A website that feeds to Safestyle’s main website
10. All Double Glazing - information website.

So, if you’re a smaller double glazing company, you’re going to find it far tougher to compete on the term ‘double glazing’ and the pay per click rates are far higher.

To conclude

The internet is going to become far more important for the conservatory and double glazing companies in the future, so you need to start working on building links to your website now, for terms such as double glazing (see, I did it again!)

And, now matter how small or large your double glazing firm is, the internet is a fair playing field (well, sort of), and you’ll not get traffic to your site without putting in the effort.

4 Comments »

At the moment, I seem to be hearing that virtually every profile company, glass company, window company, door company, or hardware company is struggling, and about to shut down.

Is this true?

Of course not - it’s bo**ocks!

So, please let me know about the companies you know that are doing very well.

Please submit your answers in the comments section.

1 Comment »

I was watching the TV last night, and was surprised to see Anglian Windows with a major feature on the show. They say that any publicity is good publicity, but I’m not sure about that in this instance.

The show highlighted a series of failures by the company to provide good customer service, and a good product. In fact, much of the workmanship shown on the TV programme was shoddy. I won’t go into detail, and you can read the detail on the BBC website here.

What surprised me was that about a month ago, I wrote a post about Anglian closing their Rochdale factory, and was delighted that Martin Troughton, the Marketing Director from Anglian visited my website and stated the following:

As the marketing director of Anglian Home Improvements I think you will find that rumours of our demise are very premature.

Also your comment on us cutting prices is also wrong we will however remain competitive so you better watch out when pitching against us - a keen price, a great product and a strong brand make for stiff competition.

Well, Martin I challenge you to come back to this website, and answer the following questions:

37 Comments »

I visited Glassex for two days this year, having decided against having a stand this year. We had a stand last year, but it wasn’t overly successful, mainly because we didn’t show products, in my opinion.

Anyway, what did I think of Glassex 2008?

Well, there was quite a lot of negative talk going around. A few people suggested to me that they could have ‘done Glassex’ in half an hour.

For me, however, I felt i didn’t see everything I wanted within the two days. I have a tendency of talking a lot, and Glassex is a perfect excuse to catch up with old friends, colleagues, customers and suppliers.

The main purpose of our visit was to sort our trading terms with our main supplier for the next 12 months - this was a struggle with rising energy prices and raw material prices. However, we are satisfied that our conservatories company are in a strong position to compete in a tough market in the near future.

There were a few things that caught my eye:

But, for me, the highlight of Glassex 2008, was seeing Bob Parsons from Synseal wandering around. He’s been through major health issues over the last 12 months, so to see him back at Glassex was a real bonus for me. I’m looking forward to touching base with him, when he returns to work in June/July.

I feel that people should stop knocking Glassex. It’s a great showcase, and even though it is smaller that 10 years ago, there’s still a lot to see, and good business to be done. In a difficult marketplace, we cannot allow our industry exhibition to disappear.

4 Comments »

I’m back from LA now, and still recovering from Jet Lag - or is it a hangover, not sure?

I learnt quite a bit about internet marketing - from how to manage a Google Adwords account, setting up a niche subscription website, creating an effective podcasting channel, through to buzz marketing.

I was particularly impressed by one of the speakers - Andrew Locke. I think he is known as the Renegade Auction Seller due to his exploits on eBay. He showed the delegates a number of impressive online resources, such as 99Designs.com a site where designers from around the world will compete to produce you the best designs for the fee you set. Definitely worth checking out!

I’m now back to business in the UK now - and looking forward to Glassex.

I’ve heard rumours that this could be the penultimate event, which will be a real shame. I feel that, although, the show has decreased in size every year for the last 10 years or so, there is still good business being done. And our industry needs a flagship event where all the great and good can display their new products, and more importantly - socialise!

Finally, you probably think I’ve gone a bit loopy, but I’ve set up a new website called My Inbox Crap - it’s a safe place for me to put all the very best and worse joke emails. If you have any really crap emails, then please send them on to me at matthew@myinboxcrap.com.

1 Comment »