6 minute read
Selling the Package with Häfele
SELLING THE PACKAGE
As demand for home improvements continues, Natalie Davenport, Head of Marketing at Häfele UK looks at how installers can secure more work by selling a vision to their customer and delivering on every aspect.
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Natalie Davenport, Head of Marketing, Häfele UK When a customer is choosing their kitchen, bedroom or bathroom, you can bet they’ve got a picture of their perfect design in mind. As a tradesperson, it’s easy to overlook that dream, instead focusing on, quite literally, the nuts and bolts of a job. But helping your client bring this vision to life, can equal more work and a happier customer.
Increasingly, homeowners want ideas and suggestions from tradespeople and while some may have that natural interior design flair or reams of experience that they can call upon, manufacturers appreciate it’s a skill set that not everyone has. That’s why suppliers can support with a wealth of tools to help installers with on-trend ideas and product combinations that will win over clients, as well as generate new income streams.
█ A new aspect
Rather than thinking about each product individually, installers should consider how things work together to create a look or feel for their client’s home. As part of our newest product range, Aspekt, Häfele is doing just that. Aspekt is a collection of UK manufactured cabinet doors that completes our kitchen fit-out offer. In the range, there are four different door styles in standard slab, pressed shaker, integrated J-pull and a premium slab.
To make it easy for installers to provide a style their client will love, there are various finishes in seven different colour options. These vary from neutral tones, including cashmere and grey, to a select number of on-trend, bolder colour palettes that homeowners are increasingly wanting, including midnight and aqua blue. Customers can also mix and match between styles if they just want a splash of colour in their cabinetry, perhaps to highlight a feature unit or island for example.
Helping installers think about the bigger picture and achieve the latest in kitchen fit-out designs and trends, each door within the Aspekt range has been paired with a selection of perfectly suited handles.
The smooth classic Skye door, for example, can be matched with a rail handle in a brushed black finish for an industrial look, or customers can mix a matt door finish with a metallic handle for a contemporary design. The traditional shaker styling of the York door can also be dialled up or down by pairing different handle combinations. Use a cup handle in polished nickel for an old-world finish or a more contemporary, angular look with a geometric bar design.
With endless combinations available, installers can point their customers to Häfele’s Ideas for Living website and Kitchen Planner tool where different door and handle combinations can be explored in 3D and different design schemes tested in line with their ideas.
█ Get the look
To help installers think like interior designers, Häfele has also created a comprehensive brochure for the Aspekt range that includes simple and effective ways to style different cabinetry and accessories for a range of looks. Ultragloss doors, for example, can be placed alongside retro colour splashbacks for a mid-century finish or paired with muted natural tones for a calming vibe. And in great news for installers, these rich, block colour splashbacks are easy to install and do not require specialist skills or tools to fit. While traditionally, splashbacks might require a tiler or carpenter, aluminiumbased splashbacks provide another option. Available exclusively through Häfele in the UK, AluSplash is a practical, hassle-free alternative to glass, acrylic and tiled splashbacks. Simple and straightforward, AluSplash can be installed with readily available tools and without specialist experience. This makes it a great, value-added offer to the customer and an easy extra profit stream for trades.
AluSplash is available in three pre-cut sizes, including up to 3050mm lengths. Innovatively designed, it allows fitters to v-groove and fold around corners without joints and cut holes for sockets with ease. Häfele also offers an installation kit that includes everything needed alongside a standard fitter's toolkit and a series of YouTube videos that give step-by-step instructions from preparation to finish.
As well as being easy to fit, the product is constructed from a flame-resistant aluminium surface with a fire-resistant mineral core, meaning AluSplash can be used behind all cooktops, including gas burners.
█ Sparking ideas
Within the Häfele Aspekt brochure, installers will also find hints and tips on how to incorporate lighting into kitchen design to make it an attractive and workable space. Although lighting might not be the first thing that springs to your or your customer’s mind when planning a kitchen, when we asked consumers about what they’d do differently if designing their kitchen again, 88% said lighting would be up there.
Well-thought-out lighting can calm, motivate, inspire and even enliven our mood, as well as really enhance a design.
While lighting alone illuminates a space, combining different lighting techniques – in a practice called layering – can help installers achieve more for customers. Accent lighting highlights specific features within a room for example, while spotlights focus the eyes on a specific area, highlighting interesting objects or acting as pathfinders. Task lighting – often in strip form – is ideal for food preparation areas or if a kitchen is used as a home office, for work areas too. Meanwhile, ambient lighting helps achieve a specific mood and can make a space feel bigger or cosier.
It's also important to think about different cabinetry styles and lighting combinations. Polished chrome pendant lighting can make a traditional style kitchen feel elegant and understated. Or placed above an island, it creates drama and a focal point of a space. Meanwhile, subtle ribbon lighting on plinths really sets off a streamlined linear kitchen and creates a slick, hi-tech feel.
Adding to this futuristic aesthetic, concealed switches can be installed into wood, glass or stone so they are totally hidden from view for a minimalist finish. Additionally, lighting systems can combine with sound systems or include charging points for a fully integrated approach.
Smart LED lighting systems can also be controlled via apps or wireless switches giving the user full command over all aspects of their lighting. They also allow customers to set their own colours and brightness of the lighting in their room for a truly personalised experience that’s activated at the touch of a button. █ Supporting lighting design
While lighting may feel like a specialist area that’s out of the typical installer’s remit, thanks to that latest plugand-play lighting technology, it isn’t actually the case.
For example, Loox by Häfele is a modular plug and play LED lighting system that doesn’t need an expert electrician to fit. Easy to integrate into a wide range of furniture designs, it can be used anywhere from under cabinets and worktops, to within drawers and cupboard interiors.
Designed for simplicity, Loox can be combined with the Häfele Lighting Design Service, giving direct support from a lighting expert, and products can be supplied cut to size, assembled, tested and packaged to the installer’s needs through Häfele to Order. Combined, these services make Loox one of the easiest and quickest lighting systems to fit in the market, and a straightforward way to add a new string to the installer’s bow.
By maximising the product and service range available from manufacturers and suppliers, installers can take their offer to the next level, with additional services and new ways to add value to their client’s projects. While a fitter doesn’t have to be the next Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, with the right tools and resources, it’s easy to help create and bring a vision to life.
www.hafele.co.uk
