Colored Garage Door – A Pink Garage No Longer A Fantasy

The wager was simple enough. Will anyone ever buy a pink garage door?

"You are never going to sell pink. There's not one person that wants a pink garage door," Larry Martin, vice president of Martin Doors Manufacturing, recalls his side of the wager.

Larry and Ken Martin, president of Martin Door, had disagreed about the viability of multiple colors in selling garage doors. They had a gentleman's wager on whether some colors, notably pink, would ever sell.

Larry admits he thought the five standard colors the company offered were enough options for the customer. Ken, on the other hand, had suggested Martin needed to widely expand its assortment of color options, including some that Larry suggested no one would ever buy.

Color, with all its idiosyncrasies, is increasingly important to the customer and a growing market.

That gentleman's agreement was settled easily enough one day when Larry was walking along the skywalk of the Martin Door facility and saw a pink door making its way through the plant.

Intrigued by the order, Larry pulled the paperwork to find that a couple from a retirement community in Arizona had purchased the door. Not content to leave it at that, Larry followed the order and went to visit the couple.

In becoming acquainted with George and Tracy (the names have been changed to protect their identity, per their request), Larry pressed the question of why the couple had chosen to buy a Martin Garage Door in pink.

He recalls the woman of the house was all in pink and that she had pink coral in the yard and a house trimmed in pink.

Larry wondered which of the Martin safety or value features had been the selling point and inquired in detail.

The woman replied that she knew nothing about any of the product's specifics, only that it came in pink.

"To my surprise, I could tell then that I had missed the boat. And so I was converted that day. Colors sell," Larry admits.

Ken Martin's vision of a wide color assortment for the demanding customer has become a reality at Martin Door and continuing market trends suggest that being able to color coordinate the garage door with the rest of the home is a growing national trend.

Martin said this trend transcends all industries. Color has become one means of identification for many people, he claims.

"People want to be different and color is one means of expressing that difference," Ken Martin said. He said those differences are shown in the color of dress of an individual and in the color of the cars they drive, but he said increasingly it is showing up around the home as well----including in their garage door.

Martin suggests that a wise dealer learns early on to not assume that his customer just wants a white garage door. "Door companies are getting the knack of asking the question," Martin said of potential choices.

About The Author:

Pat Adams is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.garage-doors-n-openers.com. Find everything you need to know about free garage plans, commercial and residential openers, installation tips, and more.