Don’t take the products you sell every day for granted and lose out on margins. Choose the right stock, and they will continue to be good revenue earners, says Andy Douglas, Managing Director at Timeguard.
The big brands continue to invest in these products, keeping designs and features fresh and ensuring they are compliant with the latest regulations. Their branded quality, design and specification means you can give away less discount, and installer customers get the reliability that keeps them coming back for more. Work with suppliers who are committed to supplying the trade only and exclusively through the wholesale channel, and you have the added assurance of never being undercut by a DIY outlet.
Managing Director, Andy Douglas, is well-known in the industry for his vocal advocacy of continuing to invest in branded quality – and for putting his firm’s money where its mouth is. Every season brings one or more new Timeguard ranges that refresh the market for the products installers need every day. There is, he says, no excuse for old-spec or low spec in our industry.
He explains that the best products are the ones that offer the lowest total cost of ownership while they are in your hands. What does this mean? “Well, for wholesalers, it’s not just the cost of the product. You also need to take into account a product’s real quality, performance and reputation: will installers be in to buy it or will it languish on you shelves locking up your money?
“Look carefully at returns rates, and how good the manufacturer or importer is at honouring its guarantee and providing back up. Is there a tech helpdesk for installers? Do you trust the brand to keep your customers happy? ” he says.
Lighting up the future
Think you can’t go wrong with an LED floodlight? Surely they are commodities now? Not so! Experience has taught installers that there’s no room for compromise on quality and reliability. They know it’s the ultimate false economy, and premium features and branded quality continue to sell well, despite attempts to undercut with cheap goods.
Recent Timeguard innovations to keep this market fresh here include rust-resistant models, with all metal component replaced by high grade stainless steel to avoid tell-tale stains that can appear remarkably quickly on rendered or painted walls – a benefit most homeowners are happy to invest a little extra in once it’s explained to them. These units are perfect for consistently damp and corrosive environments, or for installing near the ground to provide uplighting effects.
Wide angle lighting is another Timeguard innovation. Providing it with LEDs called for manufacturer investment in smart lens and reflector plate designs to deliver a more even light spread and quality.
Continued attention to good looks pays dividends too. Prismatic lenses and tough, rust-proof polycarbonate reflector plates do away with the need for ugly front ‘windows’ that cloud and crack over time. The unusual all-white models in the Timeguard range, with white casing and matching white reflector plates will hardly be seen when mounted on a white soffit board or pale wall.
The LEDPRO range, a runaway success, introduced the idea of modular systems with a choice of mix-and-match black or white slim-line LED floodlights from 10W right up to 100W plus a mix of plug-in PIR’s, photocell’s or RF remote control PIR options. Now you can cater for every combination while minimising stock levels.
Having extra terminals needed for looping out to build master/slave combinations as standard means it’s easy for installers to create a connected lighting scene – that means more sales for you, more profitable jobs for them.
Ceiling lights: designed for real users
How do you improve on such a basic item as a ceiling light and command better margins? With Timeguard it goes beyond the cosmetics – good as they are! The latest back-to-basics redesign means that only the latest electronic components are used throughout. Equally important, the design matches the requirements of the people who are commissioning this style of lighting, typically being major builders and social housing associations. So they feature of 20mm centre-hole installation, IP44 ingress protection and conduit box installation – everything an installer needs to go a good but quick job to install an ultra-slim light that occupiers will appreciate.
PIRfect control
The Timeguard range of PIRs has also had a new makeover, with sleeker designs, smaller mini-PIR models, more sensitive presence detection options, and plug and play master-slave combinations… be sure to check them out too.
As Andy Douglas says: “An angry installer today is one less sale tomorrow. No-one wants to lose a customer over a product that doesn’t even give you a decent margin. Especially when there are quality alternatives on the market.”
For more information on Timguard, click here.
