The greatest showman – and showroom!
Retail installer, Radley Aylesbury, gave up traditional advertising to literally get out and about in the local community.
Nathan Ing obviously enjoys being on the spotlight. The former semi pro DJ and owner of Aylesbury-based window, door and conservatory retailer, Radley, has two custom-built mobile stages that he offers free of charge to worthy causes and local fairs at as many as 50 gigs a year – with his services as MC included if required.
The result is immersion into the communities around the Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire catchment that his firm serves, reaching an estimated 10,000 people throughout 2024.
All of this is in addition to a superbly equipped 20,000 ft2 showroom on the town’s main industrial area where further promotions include a ‘Safe Trick & Treating’ event that most recently drew more than 750 kids through its doors – including of course their parents.
Radley Aylesbury also links closely to local station Bucks Radio to promote the dozens of school and community events that the firm is involved with. The mobile stages provide bold branding for the firm that event organisers find an acceptable trade for the superb facilities provided by the mobile stages, that include sound systems and lighting as part of the package. Nathan and his team have won awards for their community work.
Nathan is clearly a natural entertainer, but ultimately of course, Radley is a serious business vying for home improvement sales in a most competitive environment. The showroom is one of the best this writer has even seen, beautifully appointed and with a wide range of window brands and conservatories.
But it is the exceptional spread of door styles from some of the UK’s biggest brands that dominate, providing local homeowners with the opportunity to see, touch and try a huge range of options and colours, finishes and fittings
So, when Keith Arm, national sales manager for door brand Gerda called, he was politely dismissed, says Nathan: “He was very professional, persuasive without being pushy, but I showed him our range of brands and products, which is pretty comprehensive. But he went away and returned and persuaded me to visit the Gerda showroom at the Pioneer head office near Chelmsford.
“There I met Danny [Williams, Pioneer and Gerda UK’s managing director] who was so passionate and knowledgeable and after looking more closely at the Gerda door range, I decided to create a display for Gerda in our showroom.”
That in itself was a difficult task, said Nathan: “We have a large showroom but it is full and we had to make some changes to find an ideal location to create a Gerda display. It has been very worthwhile as Gerda takes us into a new market, one that offers high-end resi door performance and build quality, with styling that is also upmarket.
“But whilst the doors themselves offer a leap above the other door brands we stock in terms of quality the price is not such a step up, which means that visitors to our showroom are prepared to spend more to upgrade when they have compared the doors for themselves. It’s like a BMW compared to a Ford.”
Radley Aylesbury’s community-focused marketing was extended through the Christmas period with sponsorship of the festive pantomime Peter Pan at the local Waterside Theatre which includes the firm being written into the script.
At the time of the interview, Nathan was particularly excited this: “We are quite literally part of the communities that we service,” he said. “But as well as it being a means to an end, we genuinely are rooted in the area, we enjoy what we do. We are seen as part of the community and as such we have to make sure that what we do is always above reproach. It’s a very good – and enjoyable actually – discipline to have.”
