16 | Advertisement Promotion: Decking Calculator
A UNIVERSAL DECKING CALCULATOR THAT HELPS TIMBER AND BUILDERS MERCHANT STAFF SAVE TIME AND INCREASE SALES ONLINE EASILY Stewart highlights the benefits brought by the decking calculator to timber merchants
For over 40 years Stewart, the managing director of Decking E-Commerce Ltd, has been working in timber merchants and online decking websites, dealing with every problem that happens on a day-to-day basis. Seeing this decking calculator brought him out of retirement.
When you sell behind a counter in a timber or builders’ merchant there is one question that you dread. “Can you price this deck for me please?” It sounds so simple. But it is not. Usually, the queue is outside the door when you get asked that question and your heart sinks. You have two answers. “No. Get your joiner to do it”, which usually results in the customer walking out and your company losing the sale. Or “yes”. And it takes 15 to 20 minutes, while the queue moans and groans. Then after you give him the price the next question you dread is, “How much would that be in WPC?” Ahh! Start again. Then there is selling decking online. It sounds simple as well. But it is not. You spend a fortune getting the customer to your website. They find the decking product they want. If they know the quantity required, they put it in that basket. They then find the clips and screws but have no idea how many. That’s even before the thought of joists enters their head and all the other parts they need to build their deck. The problem is all these products are in five or six different product categories online. They give up. But it does not need to be like that anymore. In store our universal decking calculator can calculate that question on the counter in two minutes to get the sale. I have seen counter staff first hand change the “No” answer to being known as the “Decking King” in store because customers know they will get everything they require, including the drawings to put it together.
Then there is the effect online. Within 15 seconds you must hook them. But now you have a huge lure, a decking calculator to play with. Change the shape, change the decking, see how much with this product, how much with that. A quick browse for decking ends up with them interacting with the calculator. They quickly work out what is available and a price for the full job, then they can choose
TTJ | July/August 2024 |
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to get a quote, or add all the goods to basket with one click or fill in details to complete the sale in store for you to get payment or add to their account.
I have seen first hand the effect on online sales multiply so many times because of the decking calculator to the point that transport is asking for more trucks and warehouse managers asking for more pickers.
HOW DOES IT WORK FOR THE COUNTER STAFF AND THE WEB CUSTOMER? They are diverted to the calculator from your website, which is calculated using your depot stock. They follow the prompts and answer the questions in the calculator. Size of deck, how far off ground, grass or slabs or roof, type of deck etc etc. Then at the end they get a list of products required. If it ends up in a sale the customer is then furnished with the full plans and instructions.
HOW DOES IT WORK FOR THE MERCHANT ? You get your IT guy to put a link on your website to our calculator. We supply you with a username and password to your own personal library of goods that are required to build a deck. We have already filled this library from the check list that you have completed as part of registration, joists, posts, post mix and, of course, the decking products that you sell. The type of WPC and timber sections. This library is where you fix your prices and your product code and the lengths you stock. You can also switch on and off products that may be out of stock for some time or lengths that you do not want to use or just use decking lengths in the calculator that you have too many of.
ADVANTAGE 1: INCREASE SALES EASILY
• No more “No” answers in store • Upsell easily by quickly changing price from timber to WPC decking
• Website bounce rate reduced
• Upsell by changing the structure from timber to aluminium.
ADVANTAGE 2: SELL NEW PRODUCTS Sales staff can now offer other structural
products like aluminium joists and pedestals. The calculator works out everything required, and the plans include all the fitting instructions.
ADVANTAGE 3: TIME SAVING Counter staff can fly through the enquiries without dread over the phone or counter.
ADVANTAGE 4: CORRECT FRAMES Stop later problems by supplying the correct structural layouts and component parts at the correct joist centres for the job. This has been identified by most decking associations as a major problem undermining decking products.
ADVANTAGE 5: STOCK ISSUES Switch off joist or decking lengths that are going to be out of stock for some time, the calculator simply uses the lengths that you select as available in your library.
ADVANTAGE 6: WIN NEW CUSTOMERS AND KEEP OLD ONES BY LINKING TO CAMTOPLAN Your customers can use an iPhone to measure the deck using the App CamToPlan and then upload it to your calculator in your website. Pricing decking jobs from start to finish in under 10 minutes for the contractor. No more hours pricing the job at home or emailing your lists to price.
ADVANTAGE 7: FULL PLANS AND FITTING INSTRUCTIONS SUPPLIED With every calculation a full set of plans and cutting lists are supplied to show where everything goes and how it should be put together correctly. If this sounds like it will make your job easier and increase your decking sales, try our test calculator on our website at decking-
calculator.co.uk. There you will find out how cost effective it is, and many more questions will be answered.
If you are not a merchant and are a manufacturer of decking or decking structures, please contact us for our route to expand your sales. ■
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