Customers sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that awnings are their only choice for shade because that is what they are most familiar with. However, there are a variety of sun control products that provide protection, style and functionality and fully meet your customers’ wants and needs. Consider these other sun control solutions for your customers.
Interior solutions
The Shade Inspiration Collection™ is a line of decorative window shades for interior applications that offer unique color, texture and personality, while providing a full range of sun control options. The four different Shade Inspiration design groupings include: Enchante™ Transitional, Sunbrella® Decorative, Filtered Light and Blackout.
Enchante Transitional shades deliver unique style. They have a distinctive two-panel design that allows fabric panels to lay apart to let light in, or overlap to block it out, and can be set anywhere in between.
Sunbrella Decorative shades offer sophisticated, classic beauty by providing four choices of openness factors. Sunbrella Decorative includes 32 fabric color options, each offering a unique texture.
The Filtered Light grouping features dependable SheerWeave® and Soltis® fabrics, which are available in a full range of colors, textures and opacities, to provide a variety of privacy settings.
The Blackout grouping features SheerWeave 7000 fabrics that are specifically designed to provide total light blockage. These fabrics are perfect for applications where full light blocking is required, such as bedrooms, home theaters and corporate presentation rooms, and are available in many neutral colors.
Extended outdoor living space
The Solair® Power Screen creates an additional living space and allows users to enjoy the outdoors with the touch of a button. You can match frames and rails to more than 30 fabric options that block 50-99% of UV rays, while allowing a clear view from inside. Utilizing the latest technology, many Solair Power Screen fabrics are not only fire retardant, but also have superior resistance to punctures, tears and mildew.
Free standing options
The new Solair® Umbrella designed by TUUCI® creates a fresh new look to any outside dining and lounging areas. These umbrellas come completely assembled with frame, cover and base, and feature TUUCI’s patented Independent Bracket System, which provides extra strength and longevity. You can match or complement the umbrella’s cover to your customer’s outdoor décor by selecting from any solid pattern from the Sunbrella® 4600/6000 fabric series. The Solair Umbrella is great as a stand-alone or paired with a sun control product such as a retractable awning.
For the customer who wants a window awning that does it all…their wait is over. Now you can give your customers the best of both worlds: a retractable awning that suits a variety of window sizes and controls sunlight at any positioned level. Tri Vantage has recently introduced the Solair® Retractable Window Awning, designed for customers who want unlimited sun control possibilities for their home or building. Its unique ability to extend at virtually any level can satisfy any customer’s wants and needs by offering protection, style and sun control options.
The Solair Retractable Window Awning is designed for both residential and commercial windows in a variety of sizes. It is ideal for windows as small as three feet wide to large window widths up to 12 feet, and any window size in between. Projections include 28 inches, 39 inches and 59 inches.
A key feature of the Solair Retractable Window Awning is its ability to extend at various levels. The drop arm with internal spring system gives users full control over adjusting the window awning. They can extend the awning all the way down for privacy, all the way up for full sun, or anywhere in between. When not in use, customers can fully retract the window awning into a self-storing cassette, which completely protects the awning frame components and fabric from harsh weather elements and sun fading.
The Solair Widow Awning is available with manual or motorized operation. Motor options include the solar powered AutoSun™ Motor System. Using a battery and solar panel, the AutoSun Motor System uses 100 percent clean, renewable and free solar energy to effortlessly retract the awning, and offers frost and obstacle detection for worry-free operation.
Homeowners and building owners alike will appreciate the style the Solair Retractable Window Awning adds to the exterior of their home or building. Choose from a wide variety of cover fabric collections, including Sunbrella®, Sunbrella® Mayfield Collection® and Dickson®. With hundreds of vibrant colors and patterns to choose from, these high quality fabrics resist UV rays, moisture and mildew, and remain bright and colorful for years. The awning’s aluminum frame components are electrostatic powder coated to provide a high quality, corrosion-resistant finish in a choice of White or Latte colors.
Not only does it protect the outside of the home or building, the Solair Retractable Window Awning helps protect inside furniture and carpet against sun damage. Users can also avoid the sun’s harsh UV rays and help reduce energy costs by controlling the interior temperature.
Additional benefits of the Solair Retractable Window Awning include:
Offer your customers a sun control solution that can satisfy any need with the Solair Retractable Window Awning.
The Solair® family of retractable awnings can match your customers’ needs and budgets while still offering them superior sun control. Consider the Solair line of retractable awnings for your next project.
The Solair® Pro, Comfort and Select family of retractable awnings provides shade solutions for any space. The Solair Pro is a top of the line retractable awning with customizable features. Customers can select the awning size, fabric, frame colors and motorization options. Solair Select is a midline retractable awning with motorized operation and semi-cassette hood. The Solair Comfort is a basic manually operated retractable awning for the most budget-conscious customer. The Solair Select, Comfort and Pro all allow you to offer your customers a generous selection of Sunbrella® fabrics from several standard solids to custom solid and stripe options to match their space’s exterior.
A great companion to Solair retractable awnings is the Solair® Retractable Window Awning. Designed to fit a variety of window widths and sizes, the Solair Retractable Window Awning provides customized shading options. Users can extend the awning all the way down for complete shade, all the way up for full sun, or any position in between. Complete the look by choosing from hundreds of fabric colors and textures available in the Sunbrella fabric collections.
How do you show customers what their outdoor living spaces will look like before they make a purchasing decision? Do you provide them with a hand-drawn sketch? Or, do you use CAD software programs to produce a rough image of the end-product? Both of these options might give customers a basic idea of what their space will look like, but they are time consuming and sometimes don’t convey an accurate image of the finished product. With Canvas Link Awning Composer, you can now use a real picture of a customer’s home or building and effectively create a realistic and dynamic 3D image of an outdoor living space. Take a look at this short Q&A about the product:
What is Awning Composer?
Awning Composer is an easy-to-use computer software program that allows you to design three-dimensional awning models and superimpose them onto digital images of a customer’s home or building.
How does it work?
Simply take a digital picture of a customer’s home or building exterior and import it into the program. Using the program’s built-in awning styles and templates, you can create, size, rotate and move objects such as awnings, casual furniture or fabric structures in any direction to fit a house or building. This gives you the ability to show your customers what awnings and other structures will really look like.
I’m not a computer whiz, how easy is this program to use?
Awning Composer is easy to learn and use, and not very time consuming. After an image is uploaded to the program, there are simple tools that help you add objects, rotate and position them by using the mouse and keyboard. You can save the image and come back to edit, and when finished, print it and show it to the customer. Awning Composer also features a built-in tutorial guide with screenshots available in English, French and Spanish. The Canvas Link website contains self-paced training videos to help you learn the software’s basic functions and advanced features.
I’m not that great at photography. Are there any features of the program that can make the image more realistic?
There are several features that can enhance the objects placed on the digital image to make it realistic as possible. For instance, if your customer wants a fixed awning over their window, you can use the direct light positioning feature to show what the awning will look like at all times of the day—morning, afternoon and night. The new automated scaling feature correctly resizes components of a 3D object. For example, as an awning size is changed, the fabric stripe repeat and number of valance cutouts automatically scale to the proper proportion. Also, retractable awning models render with a higher level of detail, so you can present a more accurate image of the finished awning.
What kind of objects and fabrics are featured in Awning Composer?
Users have the ability to add stationary and retractable awnings, casual furniture, fabric canopies, tents, signs, combination awnings, market umbrellas and more to a home or commercial building. Users can select from hundreds of fabric options from several popular collections including Sunbrella®, Dickson®, Ferrari® and Herculite®. The fabric option allows users to select from numerous solids, patterns and textures and match them to various frame colors. Users can also select from different valance and braiding options.
Where can I purchase Awning Composer?
Awning Composer is available for download at www.canvaslink.com. The program is compatible with any PC and features a company-wide license. Registered users will receive software update notifications via email. New users should contact their local Tri Vantage sales representative to order Awning Composer.
The explosion of social networking websites has created the ability to communicate and get information instantly through the Internet without any cost. You may be missing a great opportunity if you are not using social media to promote your business’ services. There are hundreds of social networking websites that are available for you and your customers to use that can be helpful in sharing information and creating relationships. How do you know which website will work best for your company?
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are all great social media websites that can help you connect with your customers, create buzz and as a result, gain more business. It’s free to become a member of each, and it’s easy to create a profile and enter information about your company. Each site also enables you to post pictures, videos and website links for additional information. Utilizing these three websites can help you better promote your company.
Facebook: Using Facebook is free and easy to do. After becoming a registered Facebook user, your first step is to create a company page that allows you to share a wealth of information about your company and encourages interaction between you and your customers. You can customize your page so it reflects and illustrates your company’s offerings. Some ideas and useful page features are:
YouTube: YouTube allows you to post videos about your company, and even create your own video channel where you can host all of your videos to share with all YouTube visitors. If your company has television commercials or video recordings of recent projects, you can display them for the world to see on this video-sharing website. Any YouTube member has the ability to subscribe to other members’ channels, browse and view videos and leave comments, encouraging interaction and discussion. You can also link your YouTube channel to your website so you can get maximum exposure of your company.
Twitter: With up to 140 characters per “tweet,” you can promote your company one comment at a time - quickly, precisely and creatively by using Twitter. It’s simple to use. After you establish a username, you tweet by posting a message that is 140 characters or less for other Twitter users to see, comment on, reply to or pass along to others. Your posts can vary from promoting new products and services, to simply just writing about what business is like that day. You can also post links within your messages, including pictures of recent projects or a link to your website. Followers of your Twitter page are able to “re-tweet,” or re-post, your message on their page, which is then displayed for their followers to see. It’s a quick communication and information-sharing website that allows messages to be passed along to millions of people instantly.
Some fabricators have found these social media websites to be very successful marketing tools. Awnings of Tulsa, in Oklahoma utilizes Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to promote their business. It has helped them gain new customer contacts and create brand awareness to potential customers in their region.
For 23 years, Awnings of Tulsa has successfully manufactured and sold canvas and vinyl awnings for commercial and residential applications. Office Manager, Leah Mercado, created a Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube channel to promote Awnings of Tulsa’s products, business offerings and recent projects. Links to these social media websites can be found on their website www.awningsoftulsa.com and in each of the company’s employees’ email signatures.
Mercado can testify that Awnings of Tulsa’s social media efforts have paid off. A potential customer started to follow Awnings of Tulsa on Twitter and the next day they called Awnings of Tulsa for more information.
“For Twitter and Facebook, we follow the companies that we have done work for and we promote the work by posting photos of the completed projects on our Twitter account or Facebook page,” says Mercado. “Once our customers see our post, they re-tweet it or leave a comment and then their followers and friends are able to see our post. Using social media allows us to connect with existing and potential customers on a personal level and helps boost interest in our products and services.”
Tri Vantage also created a Facebook page to inform their customers about new products and upcoming specials, events and trade shows. Visit Tri Vantage’s Facebook page at facebook.com/TriVantage.
Create personalized shade solutions to match your customer’s budgets. The Solair® line of retractable awnings are available at price points that fit any customers’ wants and needs. All Solair models – Comfort, Select and Pro – offer the option to select fabric, operating system and frame color. The different models vary in price, size, widths and options, but each guarantees long lasting quality and great style.
View more about the Solair line.
Once you’ve covered the deck or patio with a retractable awning, cover each individual window with the new Solair® Retractable Window Awning. It’s designed to fit a variety of window widths and offer sun control options at various levels. With the unique drop-arm mechanism, the window awning can be adjusted all the way down for privacy, all the way up for full sun, or anywhere in between.
View more about the Solair Window Awning.
Go beyond the retractable awning and complete the shading solution by adding a market umbrella to your customer’s space. The Solair® Umbrella is a sturdy yet stylish market umbrella that provides shade with strength and durability. Coordinate the umbrella’s fabric to match any outdoor design by selecting from numerous solid colors in the Sunbrella 4600/6000 series.
View more about the Solair Umbrella.
For the customer who is looking to expand their outdoor living space, consider installing the Solair® Power Screen. It’s great for decks, patios, lanais, garages and more. This versatile screen enclosure creates a comfortable, ventilated, pest-free environment and protects users from harmful UV rays. Solair Power Screen fabrics block between 50-99% of UV rays while maintaining a beautiful view from the inside and an element of privacy.
