Sales

Use Winter Downtime to Develop Your Business Pipeline

The winter lull is a good time to make sure you have a solid pipeline for 2023 window and door projects. Consider these four tips that can help boost your business in the coming year.

Text to Improve Customer Service

Texting is an excellent way for window and door installers to communicate with homeowners. It improves the customer experience and, therefore, makes it easier to close sales.

Get a Head Start on 2022 Sales

January is the right time for contractors to pay attention to developing their 2022 pipeline for new window and door projects. Here are some reasons why it’s time to start generating leads, and what steps to take now.

3 Tools to Measure and Improve Window Sales

The following three foundational practices measure marketing performance data that will make sense for any contractor, whether you are optimizing within one channel or allocating investments across multiple lead generation strategies and channels.

The Increased Risk of  Installed Sales

Recognize and prepare for the liability that can come with product sales and accompanying installation services.

Customer Communication Through the Sales Process and Beyond

Communicating with customers before, during and after the sales process can reduce callbacks, expensive replacements and dissatisfied customers.

How Offering Payment Options Can Increase Your Leads, Close Rates and Project Sizes

Companies that offer payment options to their customers can increase leads by 50 percent, nearly double their close rate (assuming a 25 percent baseline), and increase project sizes by as much as 44 percent.

Virtual Sales Are Here to Stay

The virtual tools companies adopted to maintain business continuity during the coronavirus are here to stay.

Explain Energy Efficiency to Close More Sales

The National Fenestration Rating Council is providing window, door and skylight retailers and salespeople with tools to help their customers understand the energy performance of the products they are buying.    

What B2B e-Commerce Is, and Why it Matters to You

The way we do things has shifted and with those shifts have come consistent improvements in convenience and efficiency. And let me tell you, the shift to B2B eCommerce probably delivers more benefits than any of those prior developments – and what’s more, it’s within reach of your business right…

Supply Chain Complications

Building materials retailers and suppliers take stock of supply chain disruptions, potential recovery.

Helping is the New Selling

How to leverage Instagram and LinkedIn for sales and marketing.

How to Leverage Instagram and LinkedIn for Sales and Marketing

Marketers are tasked with finding new ways to get in front of potential customers and communicating messages that resonate. And, with people remaining home under coronavirus-induced shelter-in-place orders, organic reach is incredible right now. More people than ever are online and the time is ripe…

3 Lead Generation Channels

3 Tips to Capture Better Leads

Two weeks ago, I attended Professional Remodeler magazine’s Extreme Lead Generation conference. The Window & Door Dealers Alliance was proud to be a partner of this industry event focused on lead generation tools and tactics for home builders and professional remodelers.

The Ongoing Importance of Certified Products

If you think back to the formative years of vinyl windows in the U.S., we had our share of performance challenges to overcome. Particularly in hot climates like Florida or Arizona, weathering and yellowing due to high temperatures and UV exposure were major issues that caused some significant…

Fishing for Customers

Not long ago, I was on a call with a potential client who was lamenting the fact that he didn’t have enough leads in his business. “Once I get in front of them, we can close the sale,” he told me. “But getting in front of them—that is the issue.” Some variation on that theme is one of the three…

Create Warmer Leads Faster

Do you know where any particular client enters into your sales funnel? Are they at the bottom, moments away from a buying decision? Or are they further up the funnel, where they are gathering data and information in order to make a go/no go decision for their project? Understanding where your…

Sales and Marketing Success

Once a homeowner upgrades their windows or doors, chances are they won’t need more for a long time, if ever. Since most home improvement projects are a one-time deal, success for window and door contractors depends on having a steady stream of new customers.  Hiring good salespeople is necessary…

Key Changes in Buyer Habits

Buyer habits are changing more quickly than ever. There are some shifts beginning to take shape over the course of this year that will play an even bigger role in how successful your marketing is in 2020. Here, we’ll break down these changes to shed light on how customer expectations are changing…

Treat Customers Like the Individuals They Are

Walker, a trend-setting customer experience consulting firm, recently did a study that asked professionals: Which changing customer expectation will have the greatest impact on your business in the future? While “speed” would seem to be the biggest customer pleaser in today’s “get it now or else”…

Prep for Show Season

When we take time to plan for the future, we set ourselves up to get a leg up on our competition. There are a few places in the home retail sales business where future planning can save big bucks. Home shows are one of them. Home shows can be a great source of leads, can help increase local brand…

Fishing for the Ideal Customer

Not long ago, I was on a call with a potential client who was lamenting the fact that he didn’t have enough leads in his business. “Once I get in front of them, we can close the sale,” he told me. “But getting in front of them—that is the issue.” Some variation of that theme is one of the three…

Improving Leads Management

Many business owners and managers seek my help to create more sales leads. While lead generation, marketing messages and advertising can all be super tough nuts to crack, the problem may not always be on the generation side of the subject. Before spending a ton of time, money and effort fixing a…

A Competitive Edge

In-home sales consultations can be an intimidating practice—for both the sales rep and the homeowner. Sending a total stranger out to a consumer’s home and crossing our fingers that the homeowner likes them and feels comfortable inviting them in is the first gamble we take in our sales process.…

Exit Planning and Succession III - The External Sale

A business owner looking to sell their company has two options: an external sale, in which an outside buyer purchases the business; or an internal sale, in which management or family purchase the business. Most contracting companies pursue an internal sale through management buyout or gifting to…

Five Keys to a Great Showroom

For window and door dealers, the showroom—its location, layout, design and usefulness—is key to every sale. And, central to any great showroom is its appeal to the customer. During the Window & Door Dealer Days Keynote Panel Discussion, Oct. 19-20, held during GlassBuild America 2016, four…

Windows as an Element of Building Design

It is better to understand the business you are in by recognizing the business you are not in. This premise will be helpful as we look at how to avoid claims based upon product selection. Such claims include allegations of unsuitability for site conditions, deviation from project specifications…