Category Archives: Sales Support

New standout POS helps Lakes Partners sell

We have introduced a new suite of point of sale material to help Lakes Partners create stand-out showrooms and displays. The new range, presented in a striking brochure, makes it easy for customers to browse and order what they like. There are bespoke options for Lakes Platinum Partners.

Since 2018 we have been on a journey to introduce new ideas and solutions to help customers make the most of an exciting market. Our strong commitment to showrooms and showroom support has influenced the development of the new-look POS portfolio.

The revamped brochure showcases a wide range of eye-catching material including banner boards, posters, backboards, stickers and more. Sales & Marketing Director Mike Tattam explains: “Showrooms are a pivotal part of the decision-making process for a new bathroom or shower design. In today’s Covid world where showrooms visits are by appointment only, homeowners only visit with serious intentions. So it’s vital, when competing for their business, that merchants and stockists invest in their displays and create an inviting buying space for customers to look around and learn.

“We’ve revamped, updated and added to our POS suite as part of our ongoing commitment to building longstanding and mutually beneficial partnerships with our customers,” continues Mike. “Markets have changed, and they’ve changed more this year than any of the last ten. We aim to constantly look for ways we can help customers sell and help their customers buy in today’s changed new normal.”

The new POS brochure can be downloaded here. If you’d like hard copies, call our team on 01684 853 870 or speak to your Area Sales Manager.

Lakes’ virtual showroom ushers in a new era for sales, says Fayers

Fayers is the first independent merchant to launch Lakes innovative online showroom platform to its trade customers, and the first retailer to present the new shopping experience to consumers through the Just Add Water website.

We launched our virtual showroom concept in July as a pioneering selling tool for merchant and retail stockists and their installer and homeowner customers.

The online platform allows Lakes products to be viewed and favourited, helping merchant sales and showroom staff turn leads into orders, and upsell complementary products such as taps, showers, grab rails and shower seats. Accessed through the stockist’s own website, visitors to the Lakes showroom can also download joint-branded brochures and ask questions directly to the stockists’ staff via chat and email.

Fayers, a member of the Fortis buying group, was keen to include the Lakes virtual showroom platform on both its trade and Just Add Water consumer websites. Managing Director, and Fortis Category Director, Ken Beney says: “As a merchant and retailer, we often feature links to our trade partners and suppliers on our website, but these usually direct customers off our site and they don’t always come back to us to make a purchase. With the Lakes virtual showroom, we can offer our customers more product and technical information while keeping them within our site and hopefully securing the sale.

“As well as keeping traffic within our website and driving sales, the Lakes online showroom makes life easier for our staff as they can access it from our website – there’s no need to waste time logging in and out of websites. It’s a really exciting concept.”

After two years in development, the Lakes virtual showroom has been launched at just the right time, as online shopping has surged while access to physical showrooms has been restricted.

Lakes Sales & Marketing Director, Mike Tattam, adds: “With the current physical restrictions on visits to showrooms, stockists are keen to capitalise on the growing online trend – and that’s where our online showroom platform can help our customers grow their business. By offering an enriched virtual shop window, that integrates with stockists’ existing facilities and staff and doesn’t substitute them, our stockists can engage with more potential buyers and help their sales and showroom staff turn interest into orders.”

The online showroom platform was developed by MRA Marketing. Managing Director Lucia Di Stazio says: “We created this showroom platform to enable merchants and manufacturers to offer a personalised online experience to their trade customers, and for end user customers. Lakes has raised the bar on what manufacturers can do to help their trade partners sell. Our virtual showroom delivers an engaging, interactive online shop window to attract more visitors while providing the selling tools required to convert online traffic into orders.”

Lakes Online Showroom is at www.fayers.co.uk/products and www.justaddwater.co.uk/products. To find out how your business can benefit, call Lakes on 01684 853 870.

Lakes and BMA campaign to get bathroom installers back to work safely

Lakes has produced two free ‘Safe Working in the Home’ guides – one for bathroom installers and one for homeowners. Lakes produced the two guides to get the bathroom industry working fully again by helping installers and homeowners navigate safely the challenges of fitting bathroom products in the ‘new normal’.

Endorsed by the Bathroom Manufacturers Association (BMA), the two new guides bring together all the latest Government and industry advice in two concise and easy to read leaflets, available as hard copies or downloadable PDFs.

“Many home improvement projects were put on hold during lockdown, but with restrictions now easing, homeowners and installers are keen to pick up where they left off while minimising any potential risks”, says Mike Tattam, Lakes Sales & Marketing Director. “We’ve created these simple guides to help everyone get back to ‘normal’ as safely as possible.”

The installer ‘Safe Working in the Home’ guide provides advice on how to prepare for a new project, best practice guidelines for working in a customer’s home and what to do after the job is completed to ensure the showering space is left spotlessly clean and hygienic as well as giving the customer a wow factor.

The homeowner ‘Safe Working in the Home’ guide provides simple tips and friendly advice to reassure customers that steps are being taken to protect their health and wellbeing, and to explain how they can play their part in protecting the installation team and themselves from exposure to the virus.

The guides are part of an industry campaign with a ‘Safe Selling, Safe Working’ logo, created for stockists and installers to display, to show that they are helping their customers get back to work safely. The logo can be used on websites, social media, and branch signage, vehicle livery and POS and other promotional material to show they are following best practice guidelines and to encourage installers to work confidently and safely in the home.

Mike Tattam added: “Staying safe is everyone’s responsibility and that includes suppliers. It’s in all our interests to get the industry back to work selling bathroom products and installing with confidence in a safe way.”

Tom Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer for the Bathroom Manufacturers Association said: “Over the last few months, during the Covid-19 lockdown, people have spent a lot of time looking at their homes and thinking how they could be improved. Now homeowners are finally able to put their plans and ideas into practice, it is important they have full confidence that the work can be carried out safely. BMA is supporting all efforts by our members and partners to provide consumers with that confidence. These guides admirably provide practical advice for stockists, installers and homeowners. I recommend them wholeheartedly to you.”

The ‘Safe Working in the Home’ guides are available now from the Lakes here and at bathroom-association.org. Hard copies will be distributed to Lakes’ customers.

Further reading about safe working practices is available from the CLC and Government endorsed Trustmark’s Work Safe, Safe Work campaign at www.worksafesafework.info. For more information, call Lakes on 01684 853 870.

Showroom success for Lakes with Jewson

National builders’ merchant Jewson has recently updated its showroom in Flitwick to include Lakes’ new Bay Series and premium stone resin trays, Lakes Stone. The branch has five Lakes’ displays, which now include the Bay Slider and Lakes Stone in Cotswold Grey.

Lakes is a preferred supplier for showering spaces to Jewson. Its Flitwick branch in Bedfordshire has been supplying Lakes’ products for approximately six years and displaying its Island, Coastline and Classic Collections since the branch revamped its showroom three years ago.

Showroom Manager Paul Roccotiello comments: “Lakes stands out from their competitors as they offer a high-end product at a good price. They also have great selling features such as PureVueHD low iron glass, range of glass thickness, and good roller mechanisms. The products arrive undamaged and with no missing parts and the service is excellent. Our ASM Simon always responds quickly if we have any queries.

“The Lakes Stone shower tray is brilliant too,” adds Paul. “It’s solid and the colour is on-trend. It doesn’t flex and can be built into the ground so it’s ideal for wet rooms. It’s early days but feedback so far has been positive so we are confident it will sell well.”

Bay Series and Lakes Stone were introduced last summer to help merchants and stockists stand out and sell more. Bay, part of Lakes’ Coastline Collection, balances best-in-class functionality and great looks. The distinguished features of this series include softly closing doors, refined hardware, unique interlocking cover caps, concealed covers and a sleek aluminium finish.

The contemporary stone resin trays are available in a choice of three stylish colours and four sizes, designed to suit rectangular showering spaces across all of Lakes’ Collections. The 30mm low profile trays are also anti-slip and anti-bacterial.

Lakes Sales & Marketing Director Mike Tattam says: “Building strong partnerships with our customers, like we have with Jewson, is very important to us. Showrooms are integral to the showering space market so our focus is on product developments that help our customers create stunning displays and achieve the utmost impact.

“It’s easy to focus on just one or two elements of a showering space,” continues Mike, “but the ultimate showering experience comes from a combination of glass, hardware, frame and the floor. So our priority is on delivering high-quality solutions in all these areas so our customers can maximise their sales opportunities.”

For more information on Jewson visit www.jewson.co.uk.

Lakes hosts FORTIS buying group at HQ

Lakes recently hosted FORTIS merchant buying group at its HQ in Tewkesbury for its annual board meeting. The visit included a tour of Lakes’ newly refurbished showroom, which now displays Lakes’ new Bay series and Lakes Stone shower trays launched earlier this year. The revamped showroom also reflects Lakes’ new branding, look and messaging for a sharp and contemporary finish.

Lakes’ internal sales team demonstrated the new products to the FORTIS board in the spacious area, answered questions and held a discussion.

Sales & Marketing Director Mike Tattam comments: “It was a pleasure to host FORTIS at our HQ. We have a strong relationship with its members and the board. It was a good opportunity to introduce them to more of our team and demonstrate our range and innovations in a relaxed environment. Our office includes spacious meeting and showroom facilities, which are open to our merchant and stockist customers by prior arrangement.”

If customers would like to visit Lakes’ new showroom or find out more about booking our board room for group meetings, call our sales team on 01684 853870 or speak to your Area Sales Manager.. For more information on our range visit here.

Meet the Lakes Sales Team

Our team of 7 Area Sales Managers led by Sales & Marketing Director Mike Tattam, is the public face of Lakes. The vital link between our supplier network and the rest of the workforce back here at our Headquarters in Tewkesbury.

Say hello to the Lakes sales team…

Mike Tattam – Sales & Marketing Director

Mike leads a team of 16 (sales managers and internal sales administrators), with responsibility for revenue from UK and Ireland.     

Mike ‘the bits you won’t find on his work profile’

If you need to contact Mike, you can call him on 07725240912, email or alternatively, connect on LinkedIn.

Paul Harris – Sales Manager (North West England)

Paul ‘the bits you won’t find on his work profile’

  • Paul enjoys watching Rugby League and follows Liverpool FC
  • His movie favourites are always Horrors
  • And, if you’re asking, he’ll always have a cuppa ☕

If you need to contact Paul, you can call him on 07740 800663, email or alternatively, connect on LinkedIn.

Barry Clark – Sales Manager (South West)

Barry ‘the bits you won’t find on his work profile’

  • Would rather be in the Maldives
  • Loves a musical (and isn’t ashamed to say so) 🎭
  • Would choose to read minds if he could choose a superpower (but would soon figure out we’re all thinking ‘he really does look like Kenneth Branagh’)

If you need to contact Barry, you can call him on 07921759673, email or alternatively, connect on LinkedIn.

Tom Williams – Sales Manager (West London & Counties)

Tom ‘the bits you won’t find on his work profile’

  • Favourite Lakes products are Cannes and Levanzo
  • Looks like Joe Pasquale
  • Enjoys a spot of yoga
  • Supports Fulham FC and his tipple of choice would be beer 🍺
  • Would choose teleportation if he could choose a superpower (if only he could teleport Fulham FC up a league 🤣)

If you need to contact Tom, you can call him on 07977 473842, email or alternatively, connect on LinkedIn.

Leon Varrier – Sales Manager (North East England)

Leon ‘the bits you won’t find on his work profile’

  • He was the only one that chose a ‘rich friend’ when asked if he’d prefer a rich friend or a loyal friend 😳
  • Enjoys countryside walks and spending time with his family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
  • Loves an action/adventure movie
  • Drink of choice is always a cider
  • Would choose flying as a superpower

If you need to contact Leon, you can call him on 07740 800662, email or alternatively, connect on LinkedIn.

Alita Gregg – Sales Manager (Scotland)

Alita ‘the bits you won’t find on her work profile’

  • Outside work most of her time is taken up with family life, be that going along to swimming or football lessons
  • Alita’s four children are all competitive Irish dancers!

If you need to contact Alita, you can call her on 07725 240421, email or alternatively, connect on LinkedIn. 

Steve Spencer – Sales Manager (South East England)

Steve ‘the bits you won’t find on his work profile’

  • Steve and his wife are keen supporters of their son Andy who is pursuing a career in Motorsport.
  • Enjoys long walks with his wife and Lewis the mad Springer spaniel
  • Favourite Lakes products are Cannes and Levanzo
  • Out of whiskey or vodka he’d always choose beer
  • Enjoys films and music as long as it includes The Beatles

If you need to contact Steve, you can call him on 07725 240423, or alternatively email him.

Simon Bailey – Sales Manager (East Anglia)

Simon ‘the bits you won’t find on his work profile’

  • Photography and golf are a great interests for Simon, declaring himself a big sports fan
  • A real passion for Simon is travelling and has backpacked around the world twice!
  • During time living overseas, including in Australia for a year, Simon worked in a bathroom showroom

If you need to contact Simon, you can call him on 07785 461232, or alternatively email him.

If you’re not sure who your area’s Sales Manager is, you can look-up your Sales Manager here.

Real Lakes Bathrooms: A picture is worth a thousand words

Sometimes words aren’t enough, we talk to our customers every day, but we know seeing is believing. Pinterest is an incredible tool for just this reason – allowing people to share ideas and gain inspiration; but, in a space where any person or brand can Pin any picture without sourcing its origin, we felt it’d be useful to have a board dedicated to real Lakes Bathrooms Products installed in real bathrooms. This way you can see how an installation really looks, not in a showroom or studio, but in bathrooms of all shapes, sizes, styles and budgets.

Share your Lakes Bathroom installations on Twitter or Facebook and mention us in your post, alternatively email them to reallakes@lakesbathrooms.co.uk. We’ll then transform your photos in to a ‘pin’ and share it with our friends and followers across all our networks, giving credit where it is due – either in the form of a mention or a link back to your website.

 

Shower enclosure options: A guide to choosing between a Wetroom, Walk-in or Traditional Shower Enclosure.

When considering a new bathroom or the rejuvenation of an existing bathroom, we now have more choice than ever before. To save you from the anxiety that comes with choice paralysis, here’s our very brief summary of shower enclosure options, along with a few helpful pros and cons to help the decision.

Traditional Shower Enclosure

Fully enclosed shower tray with a door to allow access.

a collage showing traditional shower enclosures

Pros

  • The modern range of ‘traditional’ enclosures is so varied in shape, style and functionality that they have changed the notion that ‘traditional’ means passé.
  • With a wide range of choices from tray, trim, glass and door mechanisms, you’d be hard pressed to find a space that couldn’t be adapted to fit a traditional shower enclosure.

Cons

  • Even though the choice and range has grown massively, there will always be limitations in size due to the range of footprints commercially available.
  • Without a glass treatment like the AllClear stay-clean coating that comes as standard on Lakes enclosures, a traditional enclosure will need continuous cleaning to maintain that showroom shine.

Click here for a few perfect examples of Traditional Enclosures with AllClear as standard.

Wetroom

An entirely clad and waterproofed room, generally equipped with a shower that relies on inbuilt water drainage without the need for a shower tray.

a collage showing a selection of wet rooms

Pros

  • Provides that minimalist aesthetic.
  • A wetroom as a second bathroom can be a key selling point, in some cases adding value to a property.
  • Spacious with little to no obstruction.
  • The accessibility makes a wetroom ideal for many disabilities.
  • The unobstructed light provides the illusion of greater space.

Cons

  • Requires more money and time to install than more conventional enclosures.
  • Is often still necessary to have a shower screen to prevent other bathroom furniture and accessories getting wet.
  • Isn’t appropriate for all spaces.
  • Although it requires less strenuous cleaning on a daily basis, the sheer coverage of tiles requires greater care when it comes to protecting grout from mould and mildew.
  • If drainage and sealing is not proficiently done it can result in standing water and damage that is far costlier to access and correct.

Click here for the perfect shower screen to accompany your wetroom.

Walk-in Shower

Has many of the desired attributes of both Traditional Enclosures and Wetrooms. A Walk-in utilises the shower trays associated with more conventional enclosures but without being fully enclosed.

collage of walk-in shower enclosures

Pros

  • More easily accessible than traditional enclosures.
  • Provides an unobtrusive, luxurious aesthetic.
  • Great alternative in a space where a wetroom isn’t appropriate.
  • Great for larger spaces.
  • Provides the less constrained experience without having to tile and protect a whole room.

Cons

  • Typically a more expensive option than traditional enclosures.
  • Like traditional enclosures – unless treated with something like an AllClear stay-clean coating – it will still require continual glass cleaning.

Click here for examples of that perfect, luxurious walk-in.

Bucking Brexit: Lakes Bathrooms announces price drop on shower trays

As a positive start to 2017, we are pleased to announce a price drop of up to 30 per cent on a large selection of our lightweight, low profile shower trays. This price cut includes 59 products, in five shapes, all at 45mm in height, with prices from £102 plus VAT.

Explaining the economy-defying decision, managing director of Lakes Bathrooms, Bev Brown, said, “With rising costs and unfavourable exchange rates, the year dawns with challenging conditions, so we think it’s a welcome time to share cost savings on our range of lightweight ABS trays. Lakes Bathrooms has always led the market in offering best value, so that is what has prompted our decision. In combination with our enclosures in PureVueHD glass, we believe that our high-quality trays offer superb value.”

Our trays are a high-quality, acrylic cap with stone resin composite construction, making them robust yet lightweight. They weigh in at between 15 and 30kg, and are packaged for easy handling on site. As with all trays from Lakes Bathrooms, the reduced-price sizes and styles come with a 10-year guarantee for manufacturing and materials.

“We know that market conditions are tightening for many retailers and installers,” commented Bev Brown, “So this price cut should be a helpful advantage to many. This isn’t a short-term offer; this is our standard pricing for the foreseeable future, so it can be counted upon.”

The five styles included in the discounted pricing are all the most popular shapes and include square, rectangular and quadrant. Take a look at our full range of shower trays here.

How to choose the right shower tray

We are living in a time where options are no longer an option, they are an expectation. The modern day consumer DEMANDS choice, we couldn’t have moved farther away from Henry Ford’s old adage of “You can have any colour as long as it’s black”. This is no truer than in the shower industry. Although the basic concept of a shower enclosure is still recognisable from the earliest iterations, the design, form and material options have changed and expanded drastically.

This idea of options in enclosure design has forced the provision of options in shower trays to cater for these changing shapes and styles. So when you’re specifying your next enclosure there are certain decisions you’ll have to make, some dictated by function, and some simply a matter of taste.

Things you’ll need to consider:

  • Style of tray – heavy or lightweight?
  • Shape of tray – bow front/square/rectangular/pentagon/quadrant/corner?
  • Materials – stone or acrylic?
  • Finish – smooth or textured (gloss or matt)?
  • Which style will be the easiest to clean?
  • Waste position?
  • Ease of installation?
  • Floor surface – is the tray compatible with an ‘easy plum kit’ to level the floor?

The battle of the shower trays: Contemporary VS Traditional

Contemporary Lightweight Tray

Traditional Stone Resin Tray
40mm low profile 45mm profile or standard height 80mm
25kg weight for largest size 62.25kgs weight largest size
Come with integrated anti-bacterial agent as standard Can come with a tiling upstand
Lightweight with steel reinforcement Stone resin with acrylic cap
Tray shapes – Quadrant, offset quadrant, rectangular, square, pentagon, bow front (special order) curved corner (special order) Tray shapes – Quadrant, offset quadrant, rectangular, square
Can have easy plumb kit for ease of installation Can have easy plumb kit for ease of installation
10 year guarantee 10 year guarantee

As you can hopefully see there are perfectly good reasons for arguing either a contemporary or traditional option. The only way to ensure you make the right decision when it comes to a shower tray is to prepare yourself with the questions we have provided, with this strong foundation you should find it pretty hard to go wrong.

To find out more, request a brochure or click compare and contrast a wide array of trays for all needs

People: the key to showroom success

A huge amount is spent each year by retailers, manufacturers and merchants in designing and building impressive showroom spaces. These beautiful retail environments not only cost a huge amount of capital, but also have significant operating costs, so how do you make the most of your most expensive showroom asset; your people? In this article, Robin Craddock, managing director at Lakes Bathrooms offers insight into what other leading retailers are doing to make the most of their employees and, in turn, to offer unforgettable service. It sounds simple to deliver a consistently great experience to consumers, but it takes process, effort and rigor, as Robin explains.

In the bathroom business we pay careful attention to how we display our products and how we convince consumers about their lifestyle choices. Point of sale, quality of merchandising, layout and lighting are all essential factors to consider and will undoubtedly influence the showroom visitor’s experience. However, there’s one thing in the showroom that will make the ultimate decider between a sale and a lost opportunity – the staff it in.

 

Key to showroom success - happy staff = happy customers

This sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how often it’s ignored. Recruit for attitude so that you have people who enjoy interacting, who are positive and purposeful. Once you’ve got the right team, invest your effort in leading them well and recognise and reward their effort. Observe carefully and give them specific feedback, both positive and constructive – and do that in addition to regular praise and thanks. If you keep your team motivated and enthusiastic they will radiate this to your customers and we buy from people we like.

There’s a great concept called ‘FISH Philosophy’ (you can find online) which advocates four key behaviours: ‘Choose Your Attitude’, ‘Be There’, ‘Make Their Day’, ‘Play’. It’s worth considering how this could be used to lift the energy and atmosphere in the showroom. We all know how it feels to be in an interesting and engaging environment, it makes us want to stay and to be part of things, so this can be used to stimulate and retain great staff, who, in turn, will build the customer relationships your business needs for success.

 

Key to showroom success - Map the journey

Every showroom owner or manager has a sense of the journey that they want the visitor to go on. From initial enquiry to placing an order or buying a product, there are known steps. Make sure you define this process and share your expectations about each step of the story with your staff. The ‘customer journey’ is regularly talked about by the giants in high street retail and you don’t have to look far to see behavioural descriptors that safeguard the experience. These should chart each step from ‘warm welcome’ to ‘friendly farewell’ and be clear about what staff need to do to reach the standard required for every component to work and flow, ultimately building to a complete and memorable experience.

 

Key to showroom success - Knowledge is power

Plan how your staff will build their product knowledge, their design expertise and inter-personal skills. Beyond formal training programmes, ensure that you keep this development alive in the showroom with daily team meets to start the day, where you share updates and energise. Product knowledge quizzes can encourage people to learn and retain information, plus it’s a playful way to bring some healthy competition in. Your suppliers should be only too glad to come in and run demonstrations and training, so capitalise on this support. You might also select product champions for certain areas of the showroom or product range that can support their colleagues with additional expertise.

 

Key to showroom success - Process

When it comes to the so-called ‘soft skills’ in the showroom (actually they’re the hard things to get right), it really helps to have a customer-focused process. Consider how easy it is for a customer to do business with you and how easy it is for a member of showroom staff to help that customer. Walk the process through and look for any ways that you can improve it. Usually the experts will be the showroom staff and listening to their suggestions for process improvement will validate their value and use front-line understanding to make your systems work for the customer.

A critical part of your process should be when and how you capture customer data. This unlocks the potential beyond the current sale and will allow you to keep in contact with them in order that you maintain the relationship and enjoy loyal custom in the future. Make this as effortless as possible, but be consistent on capture.

 

Key to showroom success -Upsell

The best way to sell to any customer is to find out as much as you can about them and what they want. Then it’s a simple job of matching what you have to what they want, whilst looking for opportunities to upsell if there’s something that they hadn’t considered, but fits their needs. The classic example is “Do you want fries with that”, or in our industry “Do you want a shower tray with your enclosure?” Complimentary products, such as a mirror or cabinet, can add value to a sale, so help the customer think of everything they will need to make their bathroom product a success. Plus you might be able to cross-sell into other areas, so whilst they’re equipping their new en-suite, would they also like to upgrade their family bathroom? To get this to work, discuss with your showroom team what questions they would ask to help customers get everything they need from you.

 

Key to showroom success - Closure

One of the rarest skills in the retail environment is the ability to close without overwhelming the customer. This demands careful observation of buying signals, such as when the customer’s language shifts towards commitment; eg, “What’s the delivery time on this?” Something as simple as asking for a price, enquiry about a warranty, checking sizing or availability can all be indicators of intent and that’s the signal to listen for. This is when to gently work towards the close and test how ready the customer is. An example might be “How would this work in your bathroom?” or “Where would you want this to sit in your design?” The answers to this sort of trial close question will give a clue on how close the customer is to ordering or buying. Once they’re ready then the confidence is required to close the deal; “So if I can supply this in 48 hours, you’d like to order?” Whilst customers need time to think and make decisions within the buying process, they also need help to move on and finalise.