There’s no doubt that 2009 has been another tough year for those involved in the uPVC window, door and conservatory market. There’s been various reports suggesting the market has contracted by around one third over the last couple of years, with the conservatory market being particularly badly affected. I believe that the industry has effectively been in recession for six years, and even a major depression over the last couple of years.
Not surprisingly companies have found trading conditions particularly tough, with many ceasing trading, and many cutting back on staff. You just need to look at the decline of Glassex as proof of the decline of an industry.
So, how was your 2009? What do you expect for the year ahead? In fact, what do you expect for the next decade?
These are my thoughts:
Well, I think 2009 has been my best ever year in business.
As the recession started to take hold in the early Autumn of 2008, we took a number of difficult decisions at West Yorkshire Windows and Conservatory Outlet. The main decision we took was that we realised we were no good at making sealed units and couldn’t see a profitable future for our glass division – so we shut it down. We made a few cutbacks with staff in other areas (some of the decisions we took were very tough) and we looked at our whole overhead structure in detail. I suppose you could call it a ‘restructuring’ and with hindsight it was what was needed.
We began 2009 far leaner and more efficient than previous years and as a result we have traded very profitably at both companies, despite the recession. West Yorkshire Windows has achieved a 20% increase in sales on the year before with a good split of windows, doors and conservatory business. The sales team have been particularly strong this year with a conversion success rate of 57% of all appointments sat. This was achieved mainly through better conversion rates of windows and doors than previous years.
Conservatory Outlet has also seen consistent growth of around 20%, which has mainly been achieved from existing dealers growing their businesses, rather than taking on new dealers. I’m particularly pleased by the fact that a couple of companies that joined our network at the back end of last year, have had 50% and 80% growth respectively themselves. Every one of my top 8 dealers achieved growth in 2009.
I didn’t really mention it on this blog, but Andrew and I separated the two businesses during this year. I now own entirely Conservatory Outlet Ltd and Andrew is fully in charge of West Yorkshire Windows. We’ve worked together successfully for 16 years now, and are looking forward to continuing to do so in the future. But we feel by focussing on our own businesses 100%, we will make both businesses more successful, and the early signs are that we took the right decision. Despite spending most of my business life on the domestic side, I find that I’m far more comfortable dealing with trade customers, rather than retail customers. To be honest, they’re far more reaonable on the whole.
I’m pleased with the way this blog has performed this year also. There’s been a number of times I’ve questioned whether I should keep writing all this stuff, culminating with my cry for help with this post. I’m now fully committed to keep going with the website, and as you can see from the viewing figures, people clearly keep coming back.
At the time of writing there are 363 people who have chosen to receive my regular spam emails in their inboxes.
I hope to develop RCG over the next twelve months and try to improve on the quality and relevance of the content.
This year has also been interesting as a result of my involvement with the GlassTalk event. During the year I’ve met and become friends with two of this industry’s real gentlemen – Paul Godwin and Jon Twigge. Along with my brother Andrew, we’re an unlikely quartet, but we seem to have pulled off a unique industry networking event on two occassions, and more events are planned. Watch this space.
I’ve also enjoyed my time working with the charity Heal. I ventured to India for two weeks in the summer with some other volunteers to see the good work, and help plan for Cycle India.
As the Head of Fundraising I’ve been keeping my eye on the Heal website, and the decision to get Motionlab to rebuild the site has paid off with far more people coming forward to sponsor children and support the charity in various ways. Many thanks to Steve Ormand for working on the Heal website free of charge all year – it’s been a real help! I’m looking forward to going back to India on New Years Day to take part in Cycle India. Many thanks to all the people who have sponsored me for the bike ride on my Just Giving page. More donations are very welcome!
I’m frustrated that I don’t spend more of my time working on Heal projects and hope that over the coming years I can get even more involved as its such a worthy cause.
So what about 2010?
Once I’ve got Cycle India out of the way, then I’ll be able to put my full attention back into business.
The factory has been pretty much at full capacity this year, but over the last couple of months we’ve invested in new machinery, including an extra Rapid cutting and prepping centre. We’ve now got the luxury of a bit more room for growth, so I’m hoping to grow in 2010 at a similar rate to 2009. We’ve been averaging around 800-850 frames per week this year, and I’d like to think we can be doing more like 1000 frames per week during next year.
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve started manufacturing composite doors. This has been a market I’ve pretty much ignored until now, with all my dealers buying composite doors from other suppliers. The intension is to get natural growth from existing customers with this value added product.
I’ve been a bit quiet in the trade press since September 2008, but you’re likely to see a lot more of Conservatory Outlet in 2010 with a series of press releases planned, showing the progress of Conservatory Outlet and its dealers.
We’re hoping to take on two or three good Conservatory Outlet dealers in areas we don’t currently have coverage. It’s not easy identifying the right calibre of installation company as we have reasonably strict criteria. A dealer has to have a nice showroom, be well established, financially sound, work to high standards, and purchase a good amount of frames. And I’m looking for commitment from a dealer as we invest thousands in a new website for them, point of sale literature, and more importantly lots of time. It will also be a challenge as the Conservatory Outlet brand is strong in the North of England and Wales, but we’re less well known in our target areas in the South and the Midlands.
I genuinely believe that no other trade fabricator does as much for their installers as Conservatory Outlet.
We’ve had a good year for generating leads from the internet and TV advertising, so the focus will be on developing these advertising mediums further. We’ll be targeting 20,000 internet leads in 2010 with these leads distributed throughout the network. The concept is simple: if the dealers have plenty of sales leads then our factory will be busy.
Christmas
I may have given the impression that I’m not too keen on Christmas. Well, I do feel that we over hype the occasion and it is simply very bad for business. However, I do feel ready for a break and am looking forward to spending time with my family, and away from work. And then there’s Cycle India rapidly approaching, so I’ll be off work for 18 days.
I intend this to be the last post of this year (although, I reserve the right to add more posts if I get bored over the festive period). By the way, Dave Bingham from Conservatoryland has kindly agreed to run my website while I’m in India. As always, I’m keen to hear from anyone interested in supplying guest posts in the New Year.
I’m keen that this blog is not just about me. It has regularly been suggested that it is not what I write that is interesting, but it is the banter between readers that makes this site worth coming back to. Please do not be frightened to share your views in 2010.
Finally, I would like to wish you the very best Christmas, and a happy New Year, and I’ll see you in the next decade.
