FEATURES big tall openings clean-burning efficient solid masonry support system BENEFITS right for big rooms, tall ceilings approved where emssions regulated useful heat - emergency will last many years smooth job - happy customers

Sales Opportunity: First, don't un-sell it. Your customer says: "I think I'd like one of those Rumford fireplaces like I saw on the This Old House TV show last month." YOU COULD SAY "Oh those Rumfords are over-rated and way too expensive. Why don't you get one of those "zero-clearance" fireplaces and I'll build you a fancy stone front." YOU SHOULD SAY "That's a great idea. I just went to a workshop at Brock White and I was impressed with how big and good looking those masonry Rumfords are."

Sales Opportunity: Make a suggestion. Your customer says: "I don't think we'll put a masonry fireplace in this house. They are just too expensive and I've heard they are going to outlaw them soon anyway." YOU COULD SAY "Yup, I'm too busy anyway." YOU SHOULD SAY "If I could show you a fireplace that didn't cost much more than a metal fireplace, and was tested by an EPA certified lab and shown to be clean-burning, would you be interested?"

Want frys with that? Once you make a sale it really works to ask if the customers needs anything else, like a Chimney Pot or a Brick Oven.

Marketing Rumfords
What a mason can do
by Todd McClave, Superior Clay

The masonry fireplace market is very fractured. In a typical fireplace there are brick, block, sand, mortar, refractory mortar, firebrick, damper, angle iron, flue liners, perhaps a Rumford Throat and smoke chamber and of course labor. Who takes responsibility for marketing the fireplace? In realty no one. We have taken on the burden of advertising and marketing on a national level because we believe in masonry fireplaces and with the Rumford name we can more directly effect the process. But from another perspective the mason, the masonry materials dealer and the brick manufacturers have more dollars to be realized from a masonry fireplace being installed than we do. The mason especially benefits from the process. Building fireplaces should be among the most profitable jobs you do as a mason. There is little competition for these jobs and plenty of room to build in profit. Each one is custom and can be bid as such.

How do masons market fireplaces? Most do not. So even a little marketing can produce results. Marketing is the activity by which exchange of goods and services is effected. Anything you do to effect the process of getting a masonry fireplace built is marketing. Most masons that build fireplaces are small companies that do not have large advertising budgets. Radio, newspaper or magazine advertising by the mason is not very common. So how do masons market? How do they effect the process? What masons have that is a very valuable, often under utilized resource, is their expertise and knowledge. The decision process is very much effected by input from masons. Simply by being proactive about promoting the benefits of Rumford fireplaces when discussing projects with homeowners, builders and architects, masons can market and sell fireplaces. Todd McClave

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