Virtuoso Doors
Address: Unit 8, Station Lane Industrial Estate, Birtley, Chester Le Street, County Durham, DH3 1DQ
Tel: 0191 410 9333 – Email: sales@virtuoso-doors.co.uk – Website: https://www.virtuoso-doors.co.uk
Key Contracts:
Tony Craggs – Managing Director
Gaining a competitive edge in composites
If installers really want to capture today’s composite door buyer, they need more from their supplier, says Tony Craggs, Managing Director of
Virtuoso Doors.
Composite doors and the way we buy them has evolved. So, how can installers engage with a new breed of customer? They need a competitive differential and it starts with choosing the right partner. More than 90% of PVC-U installers now offer a composite door but, in today’s crowded marketplace that’s flooded with choice, you need to give homeowners a good reason to choose you. With more than 200 new customers coming on board in the last year, Virtuoso Doors is a solid supplier that offers innovative products, unrivalled levels of service and support, managed stockholding and a wealth of selling tools to help installers win profitable business.
At Virtuoso, we’ve always been ahead of the curve and kept a close eye on consumer trends. Take our Virtu-AL aluminium textured, non-woodgrain finish composite door for instance – it’s now a flagship product that’s loved by UK homeowners for its sleek, architectural style. Whilst product design and quality are obviously crucial, it’s just one element of the package and any installer would agree that getting fresh leads and enquiries through the door is vital. This is where IT innovation can really power sales.
Installers want to make the process of generating leads, creating orders and selling more doors as easy as possible and our Gateway door designer software is an invaluable resource that enables installers to design, quote and order composite doors 24 hours a day. It’s easy to integrate onto installer websites and it can be personalised with their branding too.
Gateway is also a powerful lead generation tool that creates a seamless online experience for homeowners. They can visit the Virtuoso Doors website – www.virtuoso-doors.co.uk – to browse the style, frame, colour, glass and hardware options and even request a quote for their final door design. These leads are passed onto local installers. 80% of our customers already use Gateway and we’re aiming for 90% of customers to be on board with this online package by the end of the year.
Technology is invaluable, but installers don’t need to be a techie to achieve results. Our marketing team can help drive traffic to installer websites through SEO and Google Adwords and our user-friendly lead/quote management and conversion app sends and tracks quotes and helps to convert them into leads. We’ve also created a highly effective marketing package, which includes personalised sales brochures, advertising, digital marketing support, direct mail, retail leaflets and showroom display graphics, to help installers create the right image.
Leading the industry with advances like these is an important focus for us but we couldn’t achieve sustainable growth without two crucial elements – investment into our future capabilities and the crafted precision that goes into making every Virtuoso door. We grew by more than 35% last year and we’ll build on that incredible success this year with more double-digit growth. Whilst we anticipate more growth, we won’t compromise on quality and service, which is why we have recently invested in more new machinery and introduced a second shift to give us extra capacity. These investments are fundamental for sustained growth but they also are able to prepare us for seasonal spikes when many other manufacturers can’t cope with an influx of orders.
In our factory, we blend precision engineering with craftsmanship to make our composite doors. The machinery manufactures doors with incredible accuracy whilst our time-served craftsmen bring an attention to detail that only a human eye can give. A number of suppliers are still struggling to maintain their service levels and we work incredibly hard to sustain our OTIF (on time in full) record of 98%. We also hold at least four weeks of stock to maintain a continuous supply. Our five-day lead time may not be the fastest in the industry, but it takes a little longer to achieve the quality and level of craftsmanship we insist upon. Quality is built into our manufacturing and every door goes through a rigorous 48-point QC inspection check, which covers each step of the manufacturing process, before leaving the factory. The composite door market is still growing, and we intend to lead by offering the best product range, support and package to help customers take a slice of the growth.
