Not everybody can make it as a blinds and shutter fitter. If you’re keen to enter this growing industry, you’ll need some specific qualities and skills to make you stand out from the fray.
Skills required to be a great blinds and shutter fitter are:
- Precise
- Friendly
- Driving licence
- Works well independently
- Carpentry Skills
- Design skills
- Good Knowledge of Materials
- Technical
- Good communication
- Team player
- Experience with power tools
- Flexible
- Trustworthy
- Reliable
- Tidy working practices
- Good time management
- Fit
- Cares about people
- Respectful
As more people discover the excellent benefits of blinds and shutters, the demand for skilled fitters is growing. Whether you’ve been a blinds fitter for years, or are just about to step onto the career ladder, this area of work requires a few key traits to ensure you deliver excellent customer service and high quality products every time.
So, what skills do you need to become a professional blinds and shutter fitter and why?
Technical Skill: A major part of your role will be creating bespoke, made-to-measure products. Crafting blinds and shutters to exact customer requirements takes a level of technical skill, so experience in a similar role or industry will be beneficial e.g. carpentry, design. Certain types of blind and shutter fitting require either a higher level of skill, or a specific type of skill. For example, installing plantation or wooden shutters requires carpentry skills, specialist tools, and lots of patience.
Friendliness: This seems like an obvious one, but its importance cannot be stressed enough. For the short time you are inside a customer’s home, you will be the face of the business. How you interact with the customer will therefore reflect upon your company and its future. Everyone feels a little nervous inviting strangers into their home, and that’s why a friendly, approachable manner goes a long way to put the customer at ease. Don’t overdo the chumminess, however; ultimately you’re providing a service, so ensure your professionalism shines through as well.
Knowledgeable: Expect to be asked your specialist opinion on anything from the right style of blinds for a room, to the properties of various materials, to the motorisation options available. Customers will anticipate a high level of knowledge from you, and whilst you may not know the answers to everything, be as prepared as you possibly can.
Communication and Teamwork: To avoid delays or miscommunications, make sure you keep everyone updated on a project’s progress, including the both the customer and the team members back at the store.
Driving License: If you work for a blinds company that covers a lot of ground, such as Paul James Blinds, you’ll need a full driving license to get around. Most customer service is conducted inside the client’s home, so the ability to travel is essential.
Good Time Management: Time is of the essence when it comes to customer service, and your punctuality will contribute to the overall impression a customer has of you and the business you work for. While shoddy jobs are not encouraged, you should still be working with efficiency to ensure you don’t eat into the next customer’s time.
Experience with Power Tools: Whether you’ve dabbled in DIY, or are a power tool professional, any experience at handling power tools is important to fulfil your role effectively.
Confident and Independent Working: Occasionally, depending on the level you enter a role at, you may be given a working partner to show you the ropes. Other times, you will be expected to pay measuring and installation visits on your own. It’s these occasions when you will need to take a confident and independent approach to your work, using your initiative more often and with assurance.
Trustworthy and Reliable: The key to repeat business is the customer feeling totally reassured by you and your service. For this, you will need to display that you can be trustworthy and reliable. These traits can be reflected by things we’ve previously discussed, such as a confident approach, good time management, technical skills, but can also be showcased by more simple things such as tidying up after yourself.
Here at Paul James Blinds, we focus on each and every client’s individual needs to create bespoke blinds and shutters. Our window dressings are fitted by a workforce of professional craftspeople, all of whom are committed to excellent customer service and producing high quality end results. For more information, simply get in touch with our specialist team today.
We cover Colchester, Chelmsford, Bury St Edmunds, Braintree, Witham, Ipswich, Stowmarket and the surrounding areas. We have a shop in Sudbury where you are very welcome to visit us and look at our blinds, shutters and materials.
