Quarter 1

2015

News and views for Worcester Accredited Installers across the UK

WAI’s CHOICE

In this issue:• Increasing your sales leads

• Meet the BSM – Oliver Reynolds

• 7 year guarantee

• New guarantee registration app Accredited Installer

WAI’s CHOICEWAI’s CHOICE

It’s Worcester Guaranteed!Our extended guarantee is now permanent!

We know our Accredited Installers follow best practice when it comes to water treatment in heating systems. However there are still many installers who do not use the correct products or power flush.

By not treating the system correctly, parts within the boiler

can become damaged and corroded. Historically we have

always supported the homeowner with these boilers,

and in many cases will not charge; despite it not being a

boiler fault.

This year we are trialling a new system that is designed to

help the homeowner become more aware of the effects of

dirty system water and suggest some practical solutions.

When called out to a breakdown where dirty water is

suspected our Service Engineers will now conduct an

onsite test using a turbidity tube. The engineer will not only

go over this with the homeowner but they will also leave a

water treatment leaflet behind along with the letter.

The letter informs

the homeowner

that their system

needs treating

and that they

should contact

their original

installer or a

Worcester Accredited Installer. Failure to do this may result

in the homeowner being charged a call-out fee, even if the

boiler is within the guarantee period.

We hope that you’ll agree that this is the right thing to

do. We feel those Installers not following best installation

practices and their customers need to be aware of the

issues created when not treating heating systems.

We are keen to improve understanding of this issue

to encourage best installations practices ensuring our

products continue to offer the highest levels of efficiency

and performance throughout their lifetime.

Do you always know how to deal with employment issues? Could you do with a helping hand from a professional HR support service?

With The HR Dept you will get local and personal advice at

a fraction of the cost of an in-house HR team. Whether you

need support with disciplinary and grievance procedures,

tackling difficult sickness absence issues or embarking on

redundancies or recruitment then The HR Dept can be your

HR Dept.

We’re giving our WAI’s discounted offers with the HR Dept

that will be most useful to your business. Their services

include Employment Contracts, Handbooks and Policies, a

locally-run Telephone Advice Line with Tribunal Indemnity

Insurance, a Support Package for Micro-Businesses, On-site

Support, Recruitment or Redundancies and Health and

Safety. All this can be provided by your nearest

HR Dept office.

Special WAI offer:

1. FREE review of any existing contracts and HR procedures

2. 10% discount on any HR service for three months

(apart from advice line)

3. 10% discount on our Flying Start Package for micro

businesses for the first six months

4. 10% discount on Health & Safety services for three

months (apart from advice line)

Flushing out the cowboys

Discounted HR Services

Visit www.hrdept.co.uk/WAI for more information or

call now on 0800 610 1166

Meet the BSM - Oliver Reynolds

Central Region

10%

DISCOUNT

Postcodes Covered: B, CB, CM, CO, CV, GL, HP, IP, LE, LU, MK, NN, NR, OX, PE (exc 9-12, 20-25), SG, WR

Oliver Reynolds – Central Region – 07767432570

In the last addition of WAI’s Choice we introduced you to our new Business Support Managers. We thought it would be a great idea for you to get to know each of them. Meet Oliver Reynolds, who looks after the central region.

What was your previous job?

I’ve actually been working for Worcester for five years

since 2010. My previous role was a Technical Sales

Manager for the East Anglia region, so some of you will

already know me.

Why did you want to become a Business Support Manager?

The main reason I became a Business Support Manager

was because I wanted a specialist role where I would

be given the opportunity to become more involved with

installers.

What do you see as the best benefit of the WAI scheme?

In my opinion (without trying to blow my own trumpet) the

best benefit of the WAI scheme is the uniqueness of having

support from a dedicated team. No other manufacturer

offers a service like the Business Support Managers, which

is representative of how Worcester wants to support and

help grow their members business.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I spend a lot of time with my family. I also enjoy a spot of

shooting during my free time too. When I’m not with my

family or shooting you can find me in the kitchen – my

speciality is Thai food!

Sales Leads

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2 3

Welcome to WAI’s CHOICE

Feature Article

For more info, please contact:

e: accredited.installer@uk.bosch.com t: 0330 1230 167

Last year was a great year for digital improvements within the WAI scheme, particularly in the generation of sales leads. We saw an increase of over 50% of leads generated in 2014 compared to 2013.

Sales leads are generated from a variety of sources. The most common way for a lead to be generated is by homeowners visiting the Find an Installer pages of the Worcester website. Once a homeowner finds a WAI they would like to contact they can then generate a lead by completing a simple online form.

Leads are also generated through the events and exhibitions we hold and through enquiries coming into our technical department. All our leads are passed on to you but sometimes homeowners do ask that we don’t pass on their details. In these instances we’ll always let you know that we’ve passed your contact details to the homeowner instead.

How do I get leads?

The easiest way to get leads is to make sure you have a Find an Installer profile. If you haven’t already submitted the information needed to appear on the main Worcester website, just visit the WAI website where you can fill in a simple form.

If you already have a Find an Installer profile, then please make sure it’s up to date. It’s your responsibility to make sure that all the information is accurate and relevant to the homeowner. Having a logo and a picture of your van, the team or your showroom really helps to attract homeowners.

Who’s looking at your profile?

It wasn’t just sales leads that significantly increased in 2014. Your web profiles also did extremely well. There were over 172,246 click-throughs to Find an Installer web profiles, 53,833 homeowners read your telephone numbers and 1,296 clicked onto your website links.

Homeowners really rely on our Accredited Installers having websites. If you have one, please make sure you display this on your Find an Installer profile page.

Jan 2014 June 2014 Dec 2014

SAL

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Kerry SoperBusiness Development Manager - WAI

Welcome to the first edition of WAI’s Choice for 2015.

We start the year with a full team of Business Support Mangers and we’ll be introducing you to the new members over the next few editions of WAI’s Choice. They are there to help support and develop your business so please get in touch with them.

We have some significant changes to our product range lined up for 2015 which will further strengthen our Greenstar range and enhance the Worcester offer for your customers. We’ll be keeping you updated through your monthly emails, so please look out for them.

Some fantastic news to welcome in the New Year – as you may be aware, our extended guarantee offer is now permanent! We’ve included our new guide to the Worcester Guarantee in with this newsletter, and the easy to understand guide is also available to order from the WAI website.

Finally, look out for our latest consumer campaign starting at the end of this month. We’ll be sponsoring the new Bear Grylls programme on ITV1, which will air on a Friday evening and feature our new Wave control.

AVAILABLE

NOW!

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54

Now Available! Product Registration on the go!

7 YEAR GUARANTEE AS STANDARD*

We’re pleased to announce that our extended guarantee offering is now permanent. This means you can now offer a free-of-charge seven year guarantee for every single Greenstar gas-fired boiler you install.*

You can also offer an additional one-year top up for every

Greenstar gas-fired boiler installed with a Worcester System

Filter, meaning your customers could receive up to eight

years’ peace of mind!

The extended guarantee for all Greenstar oil-fired boilers

has also been extended until 31st December 2015.

We’ve included a new guide to the Worcester Guarantee in

with this edition of WAI’s Choice. This simple and easy to

use guide is great for explaining to customers what level of

guarantee they’ll receive. You can order additional copies

from the WAI website.

For any more information, please contact:0330 1230 167

*Ter

ms

and

con

dit

ions

ap

ply

Cylinder promotion now extended

We’re pleased to confirm that our £100 Cylinder cash back has now been extended until 30th June 2015.

It couldn’t be easier to receive your £100. Simply install

any Greenstore Cylinder within the qualifying period and

submit a claim form with a copy of your merchant invoice.

We’ll then credit your bank with the funds.

We’ve also extended our triple promotional support

points on all Greenstore Cylinders until 30th June 2015.

This means you could receive £130* for every Greenstore

Cylinder installed and registered before the 30th June.

Every valid claim form received in each month of the

promotion will also qualify for entry into a fantastic

Silverstone Challenge Day free prize draw. *£10

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and

£30

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Our brand new Greenstar Comfort range provides a selection of intelligent and simple to use controls which are quick, easy to install and even easier to use.

The all new Comfort range includes a series of plug-in

options for a quick installation. We have designed and

manufactured each of the controls specifically for our

extensive Greenstar boiler range, which means you

and your customers can benefit from full compatibility,

reliability, efficiency and peace of mind. The intuitive

menu navigation allows for a straightforward handover

with the homeowner. The Comfort range also uses the

latest control technologies to provide a host of advanced

features, including reliable wireless communication

and energy-saving load

compensation.

Controls that everyone will be comfortable with

Join our Members’ Panel

Feedback from our members is invaluable and we love hearing your views and thoughts about the WAI scheme. To make it even easier for you to let us know how we’re doing, we’re introducing a Members’ Panel.

The Members’ Panel will feature five or six companies

from each membership level covering various locations

across the country.

We’ll invite members down to Worcester to discuss

new developments within the scheme and to gain your

feedback.

If you’re interested in getting involved, please drop us

a line at accredited.installer@uk.bosch.com with your

company name and the name of the representative you

wish to put forward. We want the Members’ Panel to be

the voice of all our WAI’s, so please note that if you are

chosen to take part we’ll pass on your contact details to

other members so they are able to get in touch and let

you know their thoughts.

We’re committed to providing you with the tools you need to make your job as easy as possible.

With more of you turning to your Smart

Phones for guidance we’ve developed

a brand new guarantee registration

app which provides you with a simple

solution to registering a Worcester boiler

following installation, meaning you’ll

have less paper work to take home at the

end of the day.

All you need to do is scan any gas-fired

boiler’s label code. Once scanned, the

appliance’s information will automatically

populate the form. Then simply fill out

the property’s details and you’ll be done.

You can also use the app to register our

Greenstar oil-fired boilers, Greenstar System Filters and the

Wave smart control.

All of your registrations submitted via the app will also

appear on your WAI website dashboard, providing you with

a complete view of your registrations. In order to access

this feature you must log in to the guarantee registration

app using your WAI website username and password.

Key features include:

• Builtinscannertodetectlabelcode

• Geographicallocationandpostcodelookupforaddress

• Saveasdraftfeature–idealforWAI’sonthegowho want to scan the boiler and fill in the details and submit later

• Displayyourlastsixmonths’worthofguarantee registerations

• Synchronisationofyouronlineguaranteeswith your device

• Simplepincodeaccessafterfirsttimeuse

Energy Related Products Directive

The Energy Related Products Directive (ErP) is a Europe-wide labelling scheme that will be launched in September to bring the standards of the rest of Europe in line with the UK.

But what does it mean for you?

As part of the ErP Directive labelling must be placed on

all energy-related products in the domestic and light

commercial sectors, creating a standard for emissions.

As part of this, the existing A-rating that’s reserved for

the most energy efficient products will be expanded to

include new classes; A+, A++ and eventually A+++. This

development of the scheme is a sign of the Government’s

continued commitment to reducing carbon emissions and

improving the efficiency of the UK’s housing stock but the

changes will have implications on the conversations you

as an installer will have, both with Worcester and your

customers.

As far as the impact on the installer is concerned, there’s

almost no change to the way a boiler will be sold – a

label will be provided with the boiler to show how energy

efficient the product is. But things will start to get a little

more complicated when other products are fitted at the

same time as the boiler, for example a smart thermostat

and a cylinder. When these are fitted together the nature

of the heating system’s structure changes, as rather

than looking at the performance of the boiler on its own,

there will be a need to assess how the three components

perform together as a package.

As things stand, the industry is yet to be in a position

where we know exactly how the labelling requirements

will be put into action, but we are dedicating a great deal

of time to finding a practical solution that merchants and

installers can put into practice. We will have a number

of tools in place to make the ErP process, and the

identification of efficiency levels for Worcester products

and systems, as easy as possible for you.

On each of our training courses we

have a slot dedicated to ErP and

will answer any questions that

you may have. Our technical

support team will be

available on the phone,

and our website will

also contain all of the

information needed

to ensure the

subject of ErP

is simple to

understand.

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Tom Leonard of Tom Leonard Plumbing and Heating got back on his motorbike for the first time in 12 years to compete in the Thundersport 500 Championship. But being a business savvy installer, he used the championship as a way to promote his WAI status and further his business opportunities through his hobby.

Tom had his company logo embroidered onto the back of his leathers and the Worcester logo on the front. Each race was filmed for national television, meaning the advertising was reaching a huge audience.

Local press followed Tom’s success throughout the season and the branded leathers were pictured and mentioned in every article.

Tom explained: “The idea behind branding my leathers with my business’s logo and the Worcester logo was to create brand awareness and publicity around my brand.”

While bike racing and leathers may not be your thing, Tom has demonstrated how branding your clothing can be a great way to increase awareness of your brand and publicising your WAI status.

Local marketing done differently

Matthew LeechRegion: North WestTel: 07790 489763

Daryl HayesRegion: South WestTel: 07790 489882

Oliver ReynoldsRegion: CentralTel: 07790 488644

Neil MerrimanRegion: North EastTel: 07790 489504

Alex SwannRegion: South EastTel: 07790 489493

Blue Flame (Cornwall) Radio Show

Tom Leonard Plumbing and Heating Clothing Branding

Blue Flame Heating Solutions, based in Cornwall, have been taking part in a weekly radio station segment since August 2014. Every Friday night, members of the Blue Flame Heating team discuss all things heating related in the Homes and Gardens segment on their local radio station Pirate 2 DAB.

They’ve even managed to secure an interview with Worcester’s Director of Marketing and Technical Support, Martyn Bridges.

Duncan Impey, sales manager at Blue Flame, explained why they decided to participate in the radio show: “We’ve purposefully aligned ourselves with manufacturers that provide a high quality product to complement our own high levels of service throughout the business. When the opportunity to present a regular radio show came up it provided us with a new outlet to reach more customers and share our passion for providing the best”

By taking part in the radio show, Blue Flame have highlighted a way to think completely outside the box when it comes to advertising, branding and promoting their business.

Case Study

This year will see the launch of a brand new national

heating and plumbing show called Installer2015.

Hosted by Installer magazine, the three day exhibition

will be held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry from 12th

to 14th May 2015 and will be taking a ‘back to basics’

approach to the industry by focusing on core business

interests and featuring various hands-on experiences.

On Wednesday 13th May we are also holding a

special WAI’s event at the show where you’ll be able to

meet the Business Support Managers. Join us between

5pm – 7pm for food, drink and a chat. Register now at

www.installer2015.com

Congratulations go to Accredited Installers NRM Heating Systems who are not only celebrating a New Year but also a significant company milestone.

Founded in 1990 by Neil Monro, NRM has been providing

heating services to Walsall and the surrounding areas for

25 years.

To mark their 25th anniversary they are planning on

organising lots of local advertising and press activity, plus

they’ll be offering discounts on routine services and power

flushing.

A milestone year or special occasion is a great way to

generate local interest in your business. It’s a great talking

point and an easy way to then tell prospective customers

about the rest of your business and the services you offer.

Are you celebrating a milestone year? Why not try

contacting your local Business Support Manger for help

and advice on how to promote this within your local area.

Celebrating 25 years

Congratulations to Raymond McKnight of Hillview

Heating and Plumbing in Newtown Abbey, Belfast,

who was named Screwfix and the Daily Star’s Britain’s

Top Tradesman 2014. Raymond wowed at the regional

heats before beating 10 other competitors at the final

at Wembley Stadium, where he walked away with the

coveted title and a Toyota van.

Tradesman of the year