The biggest downside to selling DIY conservatories is the price that they are often sold at by your competitors.
Typically, DIY conservatories are sold at around 20% less than what is needed to sustain a profitable business model, particularly when sold to retail consumers.
The main problem here is marketing costs. Basically, there are two types of customer, trade and retail. Once you’ve marketed for, and obtained a trade customer, that’s the job done. With trade customers you receive repeat business as they will order DIY conservatories for each of their customers, therefore the marketing cost for that trade customer provides more business, albeit at a lower margin than the marketing cost for a retail customer which normally provides a one-off order. This means that with retail, you don’t only have the marketing cost of obtaining each customer, but the marketing cost of obtaining each and every conservatory order.
There is one golden rule. You cannot sell DIY conservatories to retail customers at trade prices and sustain a long term profitable business. It just doesn’t work.
The problem here is that many DIY conservatory suppliers do just that. Sure they don’t last but no sooner do they go under, another supplier pops up doing exactly the same thing. Therefore you have this never ending problem to face with suppliers quoting trade prices to the retail and forcing you to either try to compete with those prices or justify the reasons why your product is worth more.
Internet marketing is great for getting targeted and quality enquiries but it’s not without its downside. For example, consumers searching for the term DIY conservatories are presented with relevant results from many different suppliers and typically obtain quotations from three or four of them.
If you are quoting sensible prices, the chances are, your quote won’t be the lowest, in fact you will probable be several hundred pounds more expensive than some of your competitors.
The good news is that not everyone buys on price, in fact only a small minority do. The best solution is to manufacture and supply a superior product and provide a better service than your competitors. Invest in a good quality control system, provide professional sales advice and after sales service. This will give your customers the confidence they need to buy from you at a reasonable price.
Always remember, people don’t buy on price, they buy on confidence. This applies to any product you are selling, not just to DIY conservatories.
