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How to up-sell with Confidence
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ASA MCGILLIAN , MANAGING Director of door manufacturer Apeer and the man behind the highly successful Lumi window and door system , shares his experiences about homeowners ’ willingness to up their budgets .
Northern Ireland – based Apeer has been through a dramatic transformation during the past three years . Driven by the perpetually smiling Asa McGillian , the Ballymena firm has morphed from a highly competent if conventional manufacturer of a rather nice range of composite residential doors , to becoming something of a mould breaker in the field of windows and doors per se .
The transition has come about following the launch of the widely heralded Lumi range of windows and doors , which the judges hailed as ‘ a product that truly reinvents the window ’ when they bestowed the G Awards Product of the Year award on the system . Since then the company has pursued a marketing strategy that has seen Apeer take Lumi to homeowners and installers via a tortuous 25 consumer homes and trade shows during the past two years , one that has brought the company and its staff into close contact with its potential customers . And the results have offered , says Asa , quite a learning curve : “ We pursued what has been an exhausting exhibition programme because we understood early on that the aesthetics of our new ‘ frameless ’ window and door system - Lumi - could not be fully communicated through photographs . And this proved the case – when people see the products they are swept away ; very few people have said they don ’ t like the appearance even if they are not what they are looking for .
“ The response we received actually caused us to change our marketing strategy for Lumi …. because whilst we launched Lumi as a window system , with complementary sliding , bi-fold and residential doors , such has been the demand that we now include the doors as part of our broader door offer , alongside the composite doors – and that is where we have learned about homeowners ’ willingness to tear up their original budgets when they see something that really catches their imagination . In other words , offer something extraordinary and they will find the money for it !”
Asa says that this experience has been reinforced through the company ’ s website and a growing band of installer customers that have latched on to Apeer ’ s offer of full customisation of its range of composite doors . “ We have a number of installers who are going to their homeowner customers and offering colours , glass , hardware in an almost limitless number of permutations that most of their competitors are unable – or choose not – to
offer . And despite the increase in cost that is often way above the customer ’ s presumed budget , when they see what is available to them they find the money , up their budget , simply because they can get something that is unique to them , that they had no idea about previously .
“ We have found the secret is to offer something that is unique and special to the buyer , which happens increasingly with our customising options ; or alternatively to fire
44 » MAR 2018 » CLEARVIEW-UK . COM