The champagne was flowing recently at Insight Data as we celebrated our one year anniversary at our purpose designed offices. A staff night out, slice of cake and glass of bubbly was on the cards for all employees to celebrate this landmark.

From the time of moving premises a year ago Insight Data has seen phenomenal growth and David Lewis, Insight’s data analyst and one of the company’s longest standing employee’s comments on the milestone:

“Moving offices was the starting point of our rapid expansion plans and now, one year on, we have seen our staff numbers rise from 12 to 19, our in-house direct mail production facilities increase capacity to over one million mail-outs per year and have heavily invested in the latest technology for our state-of-the-art call centre.”

It seems like only yesterday, but it has been Insight Data’s best 12 months yet and the team are looking forward to what the rest of the year has to bring.

For more information call Insight Data on 01934 808293 or visit www.insightdata.co.uk  

Insight Data has breathed new life into the commercial market following the successful launch of our architects and specifiers database.

Containing the contact details of over 14,000 architects operating in the building industry, the database allows suppliers to contact key influencers early in the design process – giving them a better chance of securing those lucrative construction contracts.

David Lewis, Insight’s Data Analyst explains: “Targeting architects early on in the specification process can give your company a major advantage over competitors. The Insight architects database allows you to instantly pinpoint architects specialising in key sectors such as housing, education, health, retail, leisure or commercial and, if necessary, drill down further into sub-sectors such as social housing or schools. So instead of sitting back and waiting for projects to come out of planning – along with all your competitors – you can now get your products in front of architects at an early stage and written into the design.”

The database has already been adopted by a number of major suppliers – including leading window and door systems company WHS Halo – and is ideal for any building products supplier who wants to stay ahead of competitors and win more business in the construction industry.

For more information on the Insight Architects and Specifiers database call  on 01934 808293 or visit  http://www.insightdata.co.uk/Database_Architects.htm

For those that aren’t familiar with Insight Data and what we do let us take a moment to introduce ourselves. Insight is the leading supplier of prospect data and direct marketing services for the window, conservatory and building industry.

Headed by a team of marketing professionals with over 20 years industry experience, Insight Data was established as a result of frustration with the poor quality of information available from existing data providers. The business has grown from 3 people to a 20-strong team in the past four years.

 Because we specialise in the building industry, we are able to develop niche databases that provide clients with in-depth market intelligence not available elsewhere. And our dedicated, state-of-the-art research centre, with a highly experienced telephone research team, ensure clients benefit from the most relevant and accurate information.

Currently Insight holds the details of potentially 60,000 new prospects for your business, including;

• 15,011 fabricators and installers in the UK and Ireland (now with over 10,000 email contacts)
• 800 fabricators and installers in the Republic of Ireland
• 27,414 Local builders and contractors
• 15,052 Architects & Specifiers
• 5,022 Roofline installers
• 1,142 IGU manufacturers

To find out more about Insight Data and our range of UK and Irish databases call Sonia Punter on 01934 808 293 or visit www.insightdata.co.uk

Like many other sectors, the window industry has seen a barrage of new regulations, tighter controls and new standards to maintain in recent years. While some perceive this as political correctness gone mad, many forwardthinking companies are implementing “Best Practice” policies to embrace these standards and improve their business in an increasingly competitive market place.

Until now, Marketing Best Practice has been widely overlooked in the window industry but this is set to change. Insight Data is the first and only data supplier in the industry to be awarded membership of the Direct Marketing Association – the UK’s leading authority for direct marketing. Only 900 of the UK’s 10,000 marketing service companies are members of the DMA. Membership involved a rigorous application process over several months; and we feel it clearly demonstrates our commitment to the highest quality data, regulatory compliance and Best Practice which we believe is vitally important to our customers and the industry as a whole.

After all, you wouldn’t consider using an accountant without any qualifications, so why carry out marketing using data from non-accredited suppliers? Insight can advise customers on every aspect of direct marketing and how to use the Insight database to maximise results, whilst complying with the latest regulations.

For more information visit www.insightdata.co.uk or contact Insight Data on 01934 808293

2010 proved a volatile year for the window and conservatory industry. Difficult economic conditions, low consumer confidence and continued decline in volume all had an impact.

Fabricators

There was significant movement in fabricator activity during 2010. The number of window/door fabricators declined slightly to 4,552 and 34% changed their details during the year. PVC-u fabricators declined slightly to 1,844 companies while the number of aluminium fabricators increased. The number of PVC-u fabricators who dual-source systems rose by 53% while 649 fabricators now manufacture more than one material – PVC-u, aluminium or timber.

Conservatory roof fabricators had a difficult year with a 20% drop in the number of PVC-u/aluminium fabricators to 449 companies.

Installers

The number of window and door installers actually rose slightly to 12,548 although volume per installer dropped. Installers have diversified and now supply a wider range of home improvement products. 55% of installers changed their details during 2010.

The East Midlands region has the highest number of installers at 1,595 followed closely by the North West, while Northern Ireland had the least at 194.

It must be noted that the number of builders and contractors now actively involved in window, door and conservatory installations has increased substantially, however these have not been included in this report. Insight has a separate database of local builders and contractors for those that wish to target this sector.

Find out more about the Insight window and conservatory fabricator and installer database. Visit www.insightdata.co.uk or call 01934 808293

According to latest reports, social media has become a key part of many marketing strategies, yet few companies believe they are fully embracing the medium. In fact, just a fraction of companies in the window industry are using social media as a marketing tool, despite Facebook having over 500 million users and Twitter approaching 100 million Tweets per day.

Traditional ways of doing business is changing, and companies need to adapt. Insight Data are fully embracing social media and are already avid Tweeters and Bloggers, with plans to move into video blogging in the coming months.

Check out our Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/insightdata