Going national in 2018

Listers new CEO Roy Frost and marketing manager Daniel Shaw discuss their marketing plans to expand Listers’ reach.

Stoke-on-Trent-based Listers Central has been a popular regional fabricator for more than four decades, which attracted new owner Roy Frost to the business; fresh from his acquisition of south-east fabricator GJB, Roy bought the Stoke-based firm and began scaling up the business at the end of 2017.

“Listers is clearly a fantastic business, well-known in the area and across the UK for helping its customers overcome both local and national competition to win new business,” Roy said.

“Listers has incredible potential for future growth through great partnerships with Veka/Halo, The Residence Collection, Ultraframe and Solidor, as well as marketing support with Elitis. Not to mention the Big Trade Counter, which provides installers, DIYers and local builders with a full range of ancillaries and consumables. With more 70 years combined experience added to the mix, the Big Trade Counter is the perfect addition to our group offering.

“We want to build on this; maintaining that customer-focused, local approach Listers has become famous for, but to take the business to a national audience.

As part of the takeover, we have the fundamentals in place and a clear investment strategy for the year ahead to provide installers across the UK with absolutely everything they need to drive their businesses forward.”

Following the acquisition, Listers Central is now part of GJB Holdings, a £22 million group that also contains GJB Window Systems – one of the UK’s largest Eurocell fabricators. The new partnership allows Listers to reach new businesses through sister company GJB, while new and existing GJB customers can explore new routes to market.

“The formation of the GJB Group puts GJB and Listers in a really strong position both logistically and financially – and it’s great for our customers too,” Roy said. “The new strategic partnership between the two heavyweights allows customers across the UK to access Listers’ product range through GJB, opening up new opportunities in aluminium and the thriving timber alternative market. There’s a great synergy between the two brands which improves our overall service and presents an exciting and valuable opportunity for installers.”

The new partnership means Listers’ national customers can take advantage of its marketing support – Elitis – which provides customers with tools and support.

“With Elitis, our aim has always been to create a powerful brand that consumers connect with and that empowers our customers, providing a more professional approach with the homeowner that ultimately helps to win new business,” Daniel Shaw, marketing manager at Listers, said.

“Elitis has become so recognised with consumers that they are actively searching for Elitis-approved installers to complete their home improvement. Our literature and our brand packs have become symbols of quality and our consumer-facing website attracts an incredible volume of leads, which we pass straight on to our trade customers.

“In-line with Listers’ national growth, we have plans to further develop the Elitis brand and provide further support to our trade customers. Especially in challenging times, we know not all installers can afford to do their own marketing, which is why we put so much effort into creating an accessible yet powerful marketing support package.”

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