One of the UK’s leading and longstanding PVCu window and door systems companies, Selecta Systems, head to FIT Show 2023 with a fabricator and installer support package that is being touted as a real game changer, whilst they also show off how they have modernised the ever-popular patio door! Sales Director, Andy Green and Marketing Manager, Mark Walker, give you an insight in to what you can expect from the independent and family-owned PVCu systems company at FIT Show 2023!
Andy comments, “We have always been proud of our ability to provide a flexible and personal service and support package and we see the FIT Show as the perfect platform to show off our latest innovations. The recent update to our Connect customer portal aims to take our marketing and sales support package to the next level, with a suite of support mechanisms designed to help fabricators and installers win new business”.
“The Connect customer support portal was originally launched in May 2018, where it focused around a resource centre of marketing and technical downloads, information and guides to help fabricators and installers 24/7, 365 days a year. Our intentions were to always grow the platform in to the ‘go to hub’ for all areas of technical, marketing and sales support, of which we are now able to fully demonstrate its new capabilities and features, as Mark will explain.
Mark continues, “The whole project has been in progress for almost two years with our Connect portal now boasting a host of new marketing, sales and technical support features. A new trade website has been built that will host the upgraded Connect portal, whilst a brand new homeowner website will intrinsically link enquiries and sales leads between Connect and the customer”.
“The homeowner website has two fantastic features. The first being a ‘Find a Fabricator / Installer’ feature, where all of our approved fabricators and installers are available within a simplistic search engine. The second is the option for visitors to the site to design their own windows and doors with our fantastic Window and Door Designer! The designer has all of the Selecta range of products, from casement, flush sash and tilt and turn windows through to residential, French, patio and EASi-FOLD doors. We’ve also added in a range of composite doors, so that the homeowner has a good range of products, styles and configurations to choose from and improve their home”.
“We have kept the design and enquiry process simple. The homeowner can select a number of window and door configurations and styles, the internal and external colour, hardware colour and other glazing options like Georgian bar or leaded glass. The real beauty of this is that they can also take a photo of their property and drop the windows and doors on to their home to visualise how they would look! They can then submit their design as a professional PDF enquiry for quoting, of which we send direct to their local fabricators and/or installers admin area of their Connect portal for access and follow up”.
“As a fabricator or installer, we are also able to offer you a branded version of the window and door designer for the you to have embedded upon your own website! As a fabricator and/or installer you are then able to generate your own sales leads and have them land within your own admin area of your own version of Connect. You can have your own logo and contact details contained within the package and also emblazoned on all the relevant paperwork. What’s also being added, is the ability to add prices and provide a professional quote and order system. It really is a fantastic marketing and sales management platform!”, says Mark.
The upgraded Connect portal also provides a number of other features to support fabricators and installers, as Mark describes.
“Within Connect we also provide customers with the facility to have a brand new themed and branded website. This takes away the headache of a website build, whilst also incorporating the ability to have our amazing window and door designer embedded in to the site. This provides our customers with a professional website and excellent sales lead generation and presentation tool, whether it’s for trade or retail”.
“An excellent Web2Print brochure and marketing material creator and designer is also featured within Connect. This is where you can take our brochures, guides and flyers, add your own installation imagery and brand them with your own logo and contact details. You can then add them to your basket and have your own branded marketing materials delivered direct to your door! A shop will also provide you with the option to have your own branded point of sale items, banners, stationery, mugs, workwear etc.”
“Connect will also have a brand-new resource centre full of all the latest marketing and technical information and downloads. This includes brochures, guides, manuals, certificates, test reports and a comprehensive range of product and sales related materials and documents. A news section will also keep you up-to-date with the latest news from Selecta. We see this as a game changer for fabricators and installers and the whole suite of features certainly sets us apart from our competitors, delivering a marketing support package that will help our customers win new business”.
With the Connect portal featuring heavily on the stand, Selecta have also used the opportunity to relaunch the modernised and improved MASTERslide patio door as Andy reveals.
“Over the last few years the patio door has had some kind of renaissance and they now seem to be the cost effective solution to creating a wall of glass. So, what we have done at Selecta is bring the MASTERslide patio door bang up-to-date and a more attractive proposition for the homeowner, whilst also being more fabricator and fitter friendly”.
“We designed a brand-new two-part interlock, which not only serves as an added security measure for PAS 24, but also provides both the fabricator and installer with a far more simpler solution. It improves the fabrication and installation time, whilst also allowing greater flexibility for adjustments when on site”.
“An aluminium low threshold has also been added to the patio door for Document M compliance. The new low threshold has a height of just 20mm compared to a full PVCu frame and cill at 80mm, thus providing easy access and egress. Aesthetically, it also improves the look and enhances the appeal of the patio door”.
“Another desirable upgrade comes in the form of the locking system. The addition of a 12 point shootbolt lock adds to the overall security passing the requirements of PAS 24 with relative ease. An attractive infill bar between the keeps provides a clean finish to the locking mechanism”.
Andy concludes, “Alongside the MASTERslide patio door, we will also have our industry leading window and door system, ADVANCE 70, on our stand with a few new product prototypes on display for feedback. With these new products and the fantastic Connect portal suite of features, we are really looking forward to this year’s 10 year anniversary show. As an ever-present exhibitor it demonstrates our continued commitment to the industry”.
