Chiltern Doors & Windows’ owner, Lui Field, is using the methods learned as a branch manager for one of the UK’s leading sofa retailers to build a door and window retail franchise network.

Surely one of the most unusual routes into the replacement door and window industry must be that taken by Lui Field, owner of Luton-based retail installer Chiltern Doors & Windows.

Whilst working as a branch manager for sofa brand DFS and needing extra cash to support his burgeoning young family, an acquaintance persuaded Lui to sell garden fences.

“I knew this guy who was selling garden fences direct to homeowners who was pretty persuasive, and he convinced me to work some leads, which I did after I’d finished at the sofa store, and on my way home. I was good at it and started to make some decent money doing it. Unfortunately, the company went bust so that came to an end.”

The foray into doors came when the owner of the fencing company decided to apply the same methods to selling residential doors, and he contacted Lui again: “As I mentioned, this chap was very persuasive so I joined him once more, now selling resi doors. I did well at this but the owner went bad again. However, it gave me the taste for selling residential entrance doors and I decided to form my own company and source and fit my own products,” explained Lui.

Still part time and with his day job providing financial security, Lui pumped his earnings back into what was to become Chiltern Doors & Windows, taking the leap to focus fully on the firm five years ago.

Using a clever mix of social media, conventional advertising and promotion including an earworm-inducing radio ad that uses a significantly more upbeat, reggae version of the single ‘Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven’s [Chiltern’s] Door’, Lui has successfully created a business that is more substantial than its relatively humble, but low cost, showroom base on a small Luton industrial estate, would suggest. In fact, its location is part of the plan.

“My overheads are very low where we are located, which is a very ordinary industrial estate in Luton,” says Lui. “But we have worked hard to create a very nice showroom environment once visitors step through the door, something that I learned about when I worked as a manager for DFS, who have developed the showroom experience to a fine art.

“Our website is our shop window, and through that we attract potential buyers to the showroom. Although our showroom is located on an industrial estate, once they step through the door, they are greeted well, kids are welcome and catered for, refreshments are offered. And, just as would happen when people are buying sofas, we discuss their requirements and advise, steering them towards their ideal products rather than hustling them,” he continues.

“Our showroom therefore stocks a much larger range of doors and windows than most showrooms in the area. We also offer flexible finance options including interest free credit.”

The product experience is crucial of course, says Lui: “Whilst my initial experience was with entrance doors, I quickly realised that most customers are looking for windows too. We continuously look to improve our product range to offer something a little different, that separates us from the mass market.

“I want to get away from the standard composite door for example. There are so many mediocre products out there and it just becomes a choice based upon price….we have to get away from that.”

Whereas Chiltern initially self-branded everything the firm sold, the company’s new website, about to be launched when Glass Times visited, now makes much of key brands, utilising the powerful marketing that each has placed behind its products: “Each of the brands that we sell, has invested heavily in its own marketing and we now take advantage of that in our own marketing.

“We sell better products in each category and are constantly looking for something that adds value, that is either immediately different or for which we can demonstrate to our customers, is a better choice for them.”

One such product is Gerda Doors, which Lui learned about by chance: “A rep from another firm visited and spotted a specialist, decorative high security door set that we install in upmarket homes for customers that need greater protection. ‘That’s a Gerda door’ he insisted on telling me, which of course it wasn’t. But I checked and after talking to them and looking at the products, we do now sell Gerda.”

Lui believes that Gerda exemplifies his philosophy at Chiltern and plays perfectly within his showroom concept: “We attract visitors with the promise of something different, that we will advise and help them to decide upon products that are perfect for their needs and their home, and the whole experience will be a pleasure, rather than stressful.

“Gerda is an excellent product to be sold in a showroom as its qualities – the differences – become immediately obvious when tried against other doors.

“The manufactured quality is actually as good as the top luxury door that we sell, but at a price point that allows us to upsell for just a few hundred pounds more than a relatively conventional composite door,” continued Lui.

“The colours and designs stand out visually, but the sheer quality of the door becomes obvious when customers try it. They always comment on this as it happens. After that, the upsell is simple because the difference in quality is very clear.”

Lui’s approach to the enhanced showroom experience is already being repeated through Chiltern satellites in Birmingham and Fulham in West London, steps that have been taken towards the creation of a 20-branch franchise network to be achieved within five years: “The Birmingham and Fulham operations are owned and run by close friends of mine, who I trust of course and who are helping me to prove my concept,” he explains.

“Intensive, multi-channel social, digital and conventional marketing that allows premises with low overheads but with showrooms that allow customers to relax whilst they are making their choices.

“Trust is crucial and at the heart of what we do. And that includes our supplier relationships,” added Lui. “These are crucial for us to then provide superb service to our customers. It’s all part of our plan.”