ISSUE NO.12Summer 2004

Conservatory roof fabricators consideringswitching to Synseal are invited to tour themassive Synseal site in Sutton-in-Ashfield.Although all prospective Synseal fabricatorsgo away impressed by what they’ve seen,many want their installer customers to beinvolved in the process and co-own thedecision to change.

Synseal has invested £200,000 in a solution – itsnew mobile presentation vehicle (EV). The EV is aspecially designed vehicle that will be used topresent Synseal’s global conservatory roof system inthe field, wherever you are. The presentation areainside the vehicle is an astonishing 30 square metreswith two additional pods that increase the floor areaby a third. The floor space is split into two areas –the showroom and the presentation and meetingarea.

"We wanted to match the level of presentation weoffer at the Synseal site, on the road," explains KevinH a rv e y, Director of Sales at Synseal. "So the

s h o w room area displays two roofs – one fullyassembled and the other partially assembled toallow customers to get a feel for the ease ofinstallation. It will also feature demonstrations onspecific areas of the roof, like the box gutter, jackrafter sections and a choice of gutter systems. Tocomplete the showroom, we’ve added aninteractive touch screen with trade and consumerpresentations. The presentation and meeting areahas a drop screen overhead projector presentation,as well as meeting table and catering facilities.

"I’m confident prospects will be blown away by theEV," continues Kevin, "and I think our existingcustomers will see it as vindication of their decisionto purchase a superb product backed by anunrivalled sales and marketing package. It willpresent prospects with the ability to ‘involve’ theircustomers in the decision to change roof systems.Their customers’ approval of the product at theirpremises will galvanise their belief in Synseal and itsproducts."

The EV will be on the road from September.

SYNSEAL

For more details see page 7. For online coverage of the BBA tests,

visit www.globalroof.co.uk

global takes tothe roadSee back page for full story

over 1000 roofs per week

shield andglobal get BBA

making life easierfor customers

newsletterfacelift

Regular readers of The Synseal Times shouldnotice a few changes to this edition.The quarterly newsletter from Synseal is now overthree years and 11 issues old, so we thought it wasabout time to give the publication a face lift. Phil Else,Marketing Manager of Synseal talks us through thechanges. "We wanted to give the newsletter a freshlook and a new feel and bring it up to date in itsdesign, to fit in with the rest of our marketing whichhas evolved in recent years.

"The newsletter also needed to maintain its appealacross a broader readership. With so much to say, wealso recognised the need to extend it to eight pages,rather than six. Each edition will still include the latestcompany and product news, introductions to newcustomers and interesting projects or events that aregoing on. We hope you enjoy the new look newsletterand look forward to your feedback."

S Y N S E A L EXTRUSIONS LIMITED, COMMON ROAD, HUTHWAITE, NOTTS. NG17 6AD

TEL: (01623) 443200 FAX: (01623) 550243e m a i l : sales@synseal.com www. s y n s e a l . c o m

If you would like extra copies of The Synseal Times

for your sales teams, showrooms etc.Call Phil Else on 01623 443 200

new salessupport

departmentSynseal is growing at such a rate –it now produces in excess of 1000conservatory roofs a week, everyweek – that the systems companyhas decided its sales team needssome help.

"We’ve expanded our staff in linewith our growth," explains KevinH a rv e y, Director of Sales atSynseal, "and this is the latestd e p a rtment to expand. Wedecided to create a sales supportdepartment to maintain the highlevel of service our customers areused to. The sales support team isfour strong, each member hasteamed up with one of our FieldSales Managers to produce acohesive team support approachfor all our customers.

It consists of (from left to right)Suky Begana, Jacqui Hodges,Colleen Stocks and AlisonMatthews. Their role is to lookafter existing customers, as well askeep their designated Field SalesManagers’ diary. Each member ofthe new team has been welltrained, so they can re s p o n defficiently to every incoming call."

BS7950/7413KM 41324

A relative newcomer to the conservatory roofmarket, Synseal has demonstrated the powerof product innovation to shake up a market.Growth has been rapid from its entry to theconservatory market in 2002, and Synseal isbeing seen as a future market leader. Synseal’s

Shield and global roofing systems are nowbeing used in over 1000 conservatories aweek. "And these figures aren’t just for onegood week," confirms Nick Dutton. "We’reproducing 1000 roofs a week, every week. Infact good weeks are now far beyond 1000.

second year on trackFor the second year in succession Synsealappeared in the prestigious fifth annualProfit Track 100 league published in theSunday Times on the 4th April.Profit Track 100 ranks Britain’s fastest growingunquoted companies by profit growth over thelast three years. Synseal is among only 23companies in the UK who made it to the Top 100list for the second year in a row. Only nine of the23 have improved their ranking since last year.Synseal improved most out of those nine, climbing 33places from 61st last year to 28th in this year’s rankings.Synseal boosted its profits 71% a year from £2.4 million in2000 to £11.8 million in 2003.

Nick Dutton comments: "We’re obviously delighted with theresults which show that we’re supplying the market withwhat it wants. Much of the credit is due to our customerswho are growing fast and profitably, winning share from

their competitors. Synseal is focused oncontinuous improvement in our operations andproduct development. We’re constantly strivingfor innovations that add value and remove timeand cost for our customers so that everyonealong the supply chain gets the margins theydeserve. Much of our growth is down to ourcustomers’ growth. Global customers, forexample, are doing spectacularly well, winningshare from the competition, or winning backshare they had lost using other conservatory

roofs. Global hasn’t been around long enough to comparesales with the previous year, but we can do it for Shield. Ona like-for-like basis we looked at nearly 250 Shieldconservatory customers who were buying in the last threemonths of 2003, and found that they had sold 33.6% moreconservatories compared with the same three months of2002. That’s more than twice as fast as the growth of theconservatory market."

Nick Dutton. Sales & Marketing Director

The shortest, simplest approachto anything is usually a straightline between two points.Why make life complicated, more prone to

error and more expensive by going from A to B

to C and then on to D, if you can go straight

from A to D in one simple step? Business is

difficult and expensive enough for most of us

without adding to the burden. Long supply

chains are bad news. With our new injection

moulding plant now in place, I believe we are

the only systems company to manufacture an

entire conservatory system, including all the

components, ourselves.

E v e ryone benefits from this simplification

because by taking control of the entire process,

we have more time and freedom to develop

new products and the support that backs them

up, which makes it easier for our fabricators to

do well in their markets. The better we are at

this, the more our customers grow. You can see

just how busy we’ve been in this edition of the

Synseal Times. We’ve created a new look for the

newsletter, developed a network of websites,

started work on our new mobile presentation

vehicle, and new customers continue to join us

to improve their sales.

is the latest addition to the network of websites,established exclusively to keep customers up to datewith all the latest developments. Synseal’s researchand development programme is acknowledged asinnovative and pro-active. A stream of new productsand new developments to existing products arelaunched on a regular basis, and it can be difficultfor customers to keep track of so much informationfrom so many different sources. Synseal’s innovativeanswer is this new, dedicated website."We don’t rest on our laurels when it comes toi m p roving products and service," explains NickDutton, Sales and Marketing Director. "We are always enhancing products, modifying the conservatorysystem bar lengths to improve optimisation for example, developing new software, introducing newmanufacturing techniques and producing new marketing support materials. But we recognise thatdifferent people need different information, so we have tailored our sites to make it easier and quickerfor them to find what they need. Factory managers, installation managers or specifiers want moredetailed technical information and they need the latest updates. Now they can find it on syntek.co.uk.As far as we know this is an industry first."

Synseal has introduced a new T-Ridge cover moulding to itsShield and global conservatory roofs. Nick Dutton explains thereasoning behind this latest improvement.

"We wanted our customers to benefit from additional sealing over 90º ridge joints,

because we appreciate that however accurate the mitre cut on the capping the base

or frame work only has to be marginally out of square to leave an open butt joint.

This open joint then requires silicon – sometimes excessive amounts – to seal the gap

and make it look acceptable. Synseal’s research and development team is constantly

looking for ways to reduce silicon sealing, and improve on what is already a

professional, complete conservatory finish."

A cut down version can also be used to achieve the same results on a P-shapeconservatory, where the ridge meets the wallplate. Further details on this and allother new developments to Synseal’s conservatory roofs and Shield profile can beviewed by Synseal customers at www.syntek.co.uk.

new ridgejoint cover

Long supply chains are bad newsfor any end user. The morehands a product has to passt h rough, the more costly andcumbersome the route tomarket.

All supply chains are not the same, some arevery long so the product costs more – everysupplier adds its margin – and the longer thesupply chain the greater the possibility fordisruption. By eliminating these steps in thechain and middlemen’s margins that go with

them, both margins and service can improve.This is something Synseal aims to do. Theshorter the route to market, the better for ourcustomers. Now our new injection mouldingplant has cut the final supplier out of the chain.So everything you see on the conservatory roofis manufactured by Synseal.

"Synseal implements tight quality contro lp ro c e d u res throughout every part of theo rganisation," explains Carl Wi l k i n s o n ,Injection Moulding Manager. "Thisis particularly important at thep roduction stage. Bringing theinjection moulding in-house, allows

even more control over the process, rather thanhaving to rely on external suppliers. Bringing itin house also means Synseal customers benefitfrom more consistency, because it eliminates theneed to outsource to several different plantsacross the country. And now that we’re selfsufficient in this area as well, we can developnew products from the initial idea to stock,even quicker."

new injection mouldingfactory completes thecomplete conservatory

"With so much to say we decided to review Synseal’s website tomake it quicker for visitors to find what they need,"explains Phil Else, Marketing Manager. "We believe in using IT whenit’s needed, not just for the sake of it. In this case we can makeinformation quickly and easily accessible to our customers. As aresult we now have a network of four websites;

is a relatively new addition dedicated to global. It details everything that’s different about the globalroof, which is more than people might realise, from the product developments themselves to thepackaging the products are wrapped in. The site features the latest Global news with information onthe BBA testing procedures the roof has passed – you can even download a real time video of the testsbeing carried out. There’s a pricing section too, so anyone can see how much they get for their moneywith global.

is the main site, containing company information, anoverview of the product range, the latest news,frequently asked questions and contact information.

is a complete archive of all our newsletters. It providesa quick reference point for customers and prospectswho may not keep hard copies of all past issues. It isalso another way of providing easy access to all thenews and product updates over the last three years.

www.synseal.com

www.globalroof.co.uk

The total online market inBritain last year grew 36% to£4.9 billion, ten times fasterthan that for total retail spend,a c c o rding to Ve rdict RetailConsultants. Much of thisgrowth is down to the fact that,when used pro p e r l y, theinternet is an effective, easy touse, powerful business tool.M o re and more people areusing the Internet as aninformation resource.

"While we feel we’ve done a goodjob on our websites and havecreated a comprehensive networkof information for our customers,"comments Nick, "we do welcomefeedback and suggestions. That’swhy we have a customersuggestion facility on the Synteksite. And we don’t ask forsuggestions just for the sake ofasking – we listen and act uponany feedback we get."

Mark Powell, Managing Director ofNew View Trade Frames recentlyd i s c o v e red what happens whenyou make a suggestion via theSyntek website.

"We’ve been using Synseal’s globalroof for just over six months andhave been very impressed withSynseal as a supplier. I’m reallypleased they’ve spent so muchtime developing their websites,you can simply download andprint off what you need, when youneed it. One thing I needed thatw a s n ’t on the site was adownloadable bar length ord e rform. I completed the on-line formnot really expecting a response, alot of companies now havewebsites with a feedback facility,but aren’t quite organised enoughto reply and act upon thesuggestions they get. Within aweek of submission the order formwas available on line and emailedto all global customers! I’m veryimpressed Synseal responded soquickly and I was even morei m p ressed action was taken soquickly."

www.synsealtimes.co.uk

www.syntek.co.uk

c u s t o m e rs u g g e s t i o n s

tradelink goesall global

Tradelink, a well known nameamong UK trade fabricators,has been buying in a leadingbrand of conservatory roofsfor a number of years .

But recently the companydecided to manufacture roofs.Before Tradelink took the finaldecision, it looked at all theroof systems available to see ifany could offer the range andversatility it was looking for.

Synseal Extrusions’ global wasthe only roof that fulfilled thecriteria. "Since taking on theglobal roof, customer responsehas been exceptional," saysBruce Morley, Sales Director ofTradelink.

"I’m excited by the prospects.The components are thickerand stronger than on otherroofs. You can see the strengthin the PVC-U capping whichcombined with the thickness ofthe box gutter results in a greatlooking, strong roof. There arealso fewer unnecessary parts,which mean it’s less confusingand easier and quicker to puttogether. The overall package,the quality and a competitiveprice, means our customerscan sell it on at a better marginso everyone’s happy."

When Versatile, a company with its owntechnically advanced conservatory roof, choseanother roof system to sell alongside it youknow that roof has to be something special.

David Burles, Group Managing Director of The BurlesGroup, which includes Versatile Ltd, Modplan Ltd,Modplan (Wales) Ltd and Connect2 National Plastics,explains: "We are not replacing Versatile which, withits unique pultruded GRP peripheral ring-beamgutter, will continue to serve a special niche market.global, which will be sold through the fast growing,

seventeen branch Connect2 National Plasticsnetwork, gives us the product to attack the massmarket. From what I’ve seen there is nothing to beat it."

"We chose global," said Kevin Barnard ManagingDirector of Versatile, "because the product is easy tomanufacture, and the software is so good it reallydoes not need to be pre-assembled before putting onthe wagons. It has a minimum number of parts and isvery easy for installers to put together. It looks goodand the marketing tools are excellent with displaycases, brochure packs, technical information andprice lists – everything you could want to make thesale is provided. It practically sells itself. It’s a superjob. We took 26 of our Area Sales Managers, FieldSales Managers and product people to Synseal forinduction and training and we were very impressed.The Connect2 National Plastics network is growingfast and global is also growing very fast. We areexpecting big things from the combination."

Since taking the helm of Glasgow basedTrade Frames Direct in March last year ,Gary Fieldman and Michael Bishop havenot only increased window and doorp roduction by 50% to 500 frames perweek, they have also now been presentedwith British Board of Agrément approval.

The award was presented on Synseal’s stand atGlassex. Gary Fieldman, Joint Managing Director ofTrade Frames Direct explains why they applied forBBA approval, "It’s critical for our plannedexpansion with 40% of our customers in the newbuild sector – a sector that demands highs t a n d a rds. While we know we provide theseconsistent high standards, it’s important to provethis to others with 3rd party independent bodyapproval. Throughout the whole process, Synsealhas been and continues to be behind us all the way,which is a massive help to a new company in theindustry who wants to go places."

customer accreditations Expressions has been awarded the BS 7412certificate for its frames and BSEN 1279certificate for its glass units.

"We wanted these standards so we are not restrictedin who we sell to in any way," explains Paul Fenty,owner of Expressions. "Operating in the new buildmarket requires a high degree of professionalismand although we always knew we could deliver, ithelps to have an independent body endorsing ourproducts. We fabricate our frames from Synseal’sShield profile so we were confident they would passthe rigorous welding, security, thermal efficiencyand wind tests, and they did. We didn’t have tochange the way we worked to achieve the standardsbut we are more aware of procedures and how toprevent problems before they happen."

Kevin Harvey demonstrates some of the many benefits of the global system

Versatile’s Induction seminar at Synseal

Nick Dutton, Sales and Marketing Director of Synseal Extrusions Ltd, looks atbrand loyalty, the glue that keeps customers and suppliers together.

NICK’S IN THE CHAIR

Nick Dutton, Synseal’s Salesand MarketingDirector

glass age/2004

Brands are everywhere, and nearlyeverything we can think of isbranded. In an ever more complexand fast moving world, where timeis at a premium, brands do auseful job as vital signposts. Theycreate expectations or remind usof what can be hoped for from aproduct, service or company. Theysave us having to think every timewe make a purchase. Thoseexpectations are what the brandpromise is about, and whatpurchase decisions are based on.

Do your customersfeel respected? The brand includes a great dealmore than the hard stuff – theproduct, quality, deliveries andback up. That’s the stuff you cangenerally measure. The brandincludes soft stuff too, intangiblessuch as management effectivenessand integrity, relationships andtrust which are harder to measure.The soft stuff, the emotionaldimension, is all about customerengagement. Do customers enjoythe experience, do they like thebrand and the company they buyfrom? Do they appreciate howthey are treated? Do they feelrespected and valued? Would theybuy if there were credible,convenient alternatives? Is it awarm or cold relationship, close ordistant, high or low energy?

Feelings matterThis might seem like emotionalfluff, but these things areimportant. It is virtually impossibleto take a decision without theinvolvement of our emotionalbrain. No one decides to buy aBMW purely on the fineness of itsengineering, however impressive itis. Nor do fabricators chooseprofile purely on price, quality orreliability of deliveries however wepretend otherwise. Research showsthat businesses lose customerswhen relationships break down. Ifcustomers feel suppliers truly careand are fighting hard to keep

them happy customers willstick by them throughthick and thin no matterwhat the problems. If theyfeel unloved, despised orpatronised they won’thang around. Don’t getme wrong. If your productis like a pie with no fillingthen there is no hope. Ifyour products fail toprovide the benefitscustomers need tocompete effectively intoday’s market you are alost cause. Customers will give you timeto update your products and sort outoperational and technical problems. Butif you treat them badly, abuse therelationship, treat them without respector affection, or you don’t stick by themin their hour of need then you are onthe downward slope. Those complaintsand that trickle of defections will turn into a flood you cannot control.

Customers that walk awayHard boiled, pragmatic managementmeasures what it can measure andoverlooks what it cannot. It looks at thenumbers and focuses on the easilymeasurable which generally turns out tobe the hard stuff. And when it doesmeasure customer relationships itassumes that a satisfied customer is aloyal customer. It takes it for grantedthat ‘quite satisfied’ customers, whodon’t complain are happy and not atrisk. But nothing could be further fromthe truth. Research conducted fouryears ago by the Institute of CustomerService confirmed that old cliché thatpeople tend not to complain - theysimply walk away. They might notswitch immediately, but when theydecide that no one is listening, thattheir supplier doesn’t care and nothingis going to change, they’ll start to lookaround. Only extremely satisfied ordelighted customers are loyal. Repeatbuyers may say they are satisfied with

your products, service, prices andthe relationship. But that is noguarantee that they are not alreadylooking at alternatives, or that theycannot be seduced by one of yourrivals.

When you lose customers, analysisoften reveals problems with people,systems or product that you canquickly put right. Some problemstake longer to fix, particularly if youhave postponed investment inproducts, plant or people. A fewmay be nigh impossible to solve.Solutions that involve restructuringthe business, a change in directorsor the culture of the company aredifficult to face.

Why do companies ignore warningsigns? They may not perceive themas warnings. They may be in denialand refuse to acknowledge theproblems. Big profitable companiesare prone to complacency, andrespond to customer defections orthe success of rivals with: problems,what problems? Good riddance,they were never really our sort ofcustomer. We didn’t want themanyway. Why change a winningformula. If it isn’t broke, why fix it?And so on.

Mirror, mirror onthe wallLoss of customers is the surest signof a business with serious problems.If you are suffering from customerdefections look further than yourproduct, your competitors orcustomers. Look beyond profits too,they are the result of past actionand no sure guide to futureperformance. Look in the mirror.Look hard at the soft stuff and yourbusiness behaviour. You and yourcompany’s culture might be theproblem. Have you kept your brandpromises? Do your customers likeyou?

Loss of customers is the surest sign of a business with serious problems. If you are suffering fromcustomer defections look further than your product, your competitors or customers.

T h r o u g h T H I C K a n d T H I N

Whether you’ve been a Synseal customer for a while, or have just joined us, if you’d like to be included in the next newsletter,please give Helen Ahern at our PR Agency Michael Rigby Associates a call on 01453 521621.

It was another fantastic Glassex show forSynseal, with our stand dedicated to the roof forall systems, global.

"It was the busiest, most frenetic and exciting showwe’ve ever had," says Nick Dutton. "We knew there wasa lot of interest in global, but we were delighted with justhow many people visited our stand. We had well over300 leads over the four days. We started the show onSunday with nine people manning the stand, but soonhad to call for reinforcements, which meant there were

14 of us on hand to cope with the demand. Particularlypopular was our new gutter system which visitors werequeuing up to see, closely followed by the revelation thatglobal can be assembled in just 43 minutes, half the timeof any other roof system prior to Glassex. There was alsoa really positive reaction to global Blue from the sector ofthe market that requires this solution. The numbers speakfor themselves, but visitors were impressed with ourdisplay of products and the space to walk around thestand and talk to the team to see what we have to offer."

Both Synseal’s Shield andglobal roofs were awar d e dthe British Board of Agrémentc e rtification at Glassex.

Bob Priest, Quality Standard s

Manager of Synseal explains why

they applied for the BBA. "We

know our roofs can stand the test

of time because of the lack of

p roblems our customers

experience, but we wanted to give

them another selling point too.

Having BBA approval on our roofs

makes a big diff e rence to our

installers. It allows them to

provide even more reassurance to

the homeowner. It can make all

the difference at the point of sale.

As recent headlines have shown,

we haven’t had any pro b l e m s

getting customers without the BBA

approval, but having it does give

us another important advantage.

The roofs were tested for water

penetration, wind re s i s t a n c e ,

t h e rmal exposure and static

loading over a period of three

days. And the results? Our roofs

can withstand the equivalent of

113 inches of rain in 24 hours (the

total annual rainfall in 2003 was

34 inches!), wind speeds of up to

85 miles per hour and an applied

load of 120 kilograms per square

metre, that’s four feet of snow to

you and me."

For online coverage of the BBAtests, visit www.globalroof.co.uk

new shield specification guideSynseal has in the region of 450 trade fabricators.But some customers have now started to work in thecommercial sector. "Although our key focus has beenon developing relationships with trade fabricatorsand helping to grow their business, Synseal isdedicated to supporting all of its customers,"explains Nick Dutton.

"If that means designing new support material for customers

working in different sectors, that’s what we’ll do. We’ve also found

that many of our products already meet or surpass the relevant

re q u i rements for commercial work. This has attracted new

customers who are already involved in the commercial market –

hence the specification guide."

The guide has an introduction to Synseal, a list and explanation of

all its accreditations, frequently asked questions relating to technical

aspects, quality assurance and installation, schematics of Shield

windows and doors and technical data relating to various aspects of

Shield windows and doors, including the u-values you can achieve

with Shield.

This latest addition to Synseal’s marketing support package is

stylish, fully illustrated and easy to use. All of our profile customers

can look forward to receiving a copy through the post.

Synseal’s Mark Carter (right) receiving the BBA certificate at Glassex

Graham Holmes Astraseal, one of theearliest PVC-U fabricators in the UK is al a r ge fabricator with big plans forc o n s e r vatories. " We’ve been makingUltraframe roofs in volume for 7 years," saysManaging Director Andrew McKeown, "andthings have gone well for us. Ultraframe isvery big and popular, but we want to exploitthe potential of the market. We’re aiming to

sell many more roofs a week in 2004 so wefelt we needed something a bit special.global is a first class system at a competitiveprice. It’s easy to put together on site andvery installer friendly. We did our marketresearch and customers were most impressedwith the product, prices, sample cases andmarketing support. The training we had fromSynseal on global was excellent too.

"It’s also got extra benefits: the thermalefficiency of the double skinned box gutterand the clip in gutter," continues Andrew."With the three glazing bar options you canmix and match making it a very flexiblesystem. The rainwater is unhanded toowhich is a big help. The First Degree softwareis also compatible with our window softwareso it’s much easier all round."

"Quality Roofing Systems is a BBAA c c redited conser v a t o r y ro o ffabricator at the quality end of themarket" explains QRS CompanyDirector Dave Butter y. "We initiallyfabricated the Quantal Roof andthe K2 Roofing System both to BBAAccredited fabricator status. A fewmonths ago the decision to replaceK2 with global was taken.

"I must say we are impressed by theglobal Roof and by Synseal, it is afantastic system, it’s extremely fabricatorand fitter friendly, Synseal are a veryfocused and passionate company whoconstantly listen to customers, look forimprovements and get the job done.

"Working in conjunction with Synseal,QRS have put considerable investment

into our new "Allure" Aluminium PowderCoated Roofing System which waslaunched at Glassex 2004, with afantastic response. The aluminium finial,c resting, radius end cover andpolycarbonate end closure are unique toQRS.

"It was definitely the right move forQRS, as increased orders show that both"Allure" and "global" are favoured byfitters for ease of assembly, reducedinstallation time and minimumdisruption for the end customer.

"Things are going very well, we haveh i red Henry Inglis as Sales Dire c t o r,Henry is well known in the industry andhas recruited two extra sales executivesto support our momentum throughoutthe UK."

SHOWROOM SHOWCASEThings have come a long way for John Robinson,Managing Director of UPVC Warehouse based inWolverhampton, since he applied for a windowfitter’s job 21 years ago and bor rowed £500from his grandad to buy a van .

He started fitting but soon realised that he couldmake more money working for himself.Fabricating at night and fitting during the day,John’s original business, operating from a shedwith a hole in the roof, has now developed into asuccessful £2million turnover company.

Always on the look out for products with greatpotential – John was among the first to take theShield Roof - he decided eight years ago thatconservatories were the next big thing. Johncomments, "Our showroom is now 5000 sq feet,located on a busy bus route and right next to

traffic lights. We’ve hung flags outside to attractattention too. The latest addition to theshowroom is 14 full sized conservatories, showingoff different styles and finishes. The conservatoriesare furnished so that customers can see the endresult. You wouldn’t buy a car without a test drive,and buying a conservatory is not really thatdifferent. Our customers can see what they aregetting right down to the flooring. They can sitdown and have a cup of coffee and feel at home.We don’t have to sell anything. Our customersbuy from us."

UPVC Warehouse has been with Synseal for 8years. John says, "Synseal has such an edge oncompetitors because everything in the system isdesigned to fit together. Synseal is so easy to dealwith. One phone call, one invoice and onedelivery. And then there’s the amazing marketingsupport. Long may it continue."