S
sparc
We've all been there ...
The customer has found a £47 consumer unit on the web, and is querying your £120 price under materials. When I told the customer I preferred to use well-established brands that I was familiar with fitting I was sent a link - "There!" the customer said "... it's Wylex and it's ONLY £38!" Er, yeah, but where are the circuit breakers? "Do we really needs those as well - look - it's got TWO RCDs - the things you were telling me I needed!"
"Oh, and by the way, will you be able to fit this shower head at the same time? It's got LEDs that change colour with the water temperature - really cool!"
And the price of the LED-lit showerhead? £195 - and she's balking at £50 for a consumer unit.
The problem we have here is 'branding' - What the hell's is a 'consumer unit' when it's at home. I mean, with a fuse board you basically get a sense of what it is doing. But who invented the term 'consumer unit'? The very term tells the consumer: "Yeah you need one of these, but make it as cheap as possible."
If we're going win the argument with customers - and increase business from improving the safety of domestic electrical installations - we need a new term - something sexy that will scare the pants off a customer, making them say: "Oh Yes! I DO need that, make it the best, put two of the suckers in to be on the safe side!"
Better yet, get the manufacturers to start adding a few winking LEDs - red and green - cost pennies but will make that beige box look like it's actually DOING something.
I'll generously offer a Liked to any of the best suggestions for a new term - and will forward the to IEE and ESC. Can't say fairer than that!
The customer has found a £47 consumer unit on the web, and is querying your £120 price under materials. When I told the customer I preferred to use well-established brands that I was familiar with fitting I was sent a link - "There!" the customer said "... it's Wylex and it's ONLY £38!" Er, yeah, but where are the circuit breakers? "Do we really needs those as well - look - it's got TWO RCDs - the things you were telling me I needed!"
"Oh, and by the way, will you be able to fit this shower head at the same time? It's got LEDs that change colour with the water temperature - really cool!"
And the price of the LED-lit showerhead? £195 - and she's balking at £50 for a consumer unit.
The problem we have here is 'branding' - What the hell's is a 'consumer unit' when it's at home. I mean, with a fuse board you basically get a sense of what it is doing. But who invented the term 'consumer unit'? The very term tells the consumer: "Yeah you need one of these, but make it as cheap as possible."
If we're going win the argument with customers - and increase business from improving the safety of domestic electrical installations - we need a new term - something sexy that will scare the pants off a customer, making them say: "Oh Yes! I DO need that, make it the best, put two of the suckers in to be on the safe side!"
Better yet, get the manufacturers to start adding a few winking LEDs - red and green - cost pennies but will make that beige box look like it's actually DOING something.
I'll generously offer a Liked to any of the best suggestions for a new term - and will forward the to IEE and ESC. Can't say fairer than that!
