The Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Specialists Association (KBSA) has said it is speaking to in-toto group members so that they can continue with their membership at the end of the month.
These changes to in-toto membership will, said chairman Richard Hibbert (pictured) make the KBSA stronger.
If in-toto members decide to rejoin at the end of the month, it will increase the number of decision makers to 150, compared with the current number of 105.
Because of their past group membership, in-toto dealers don’t necessarily need to reapply. According to Hibbert, a form will be sent out individually where dealers simply need to fill in their details to confirm that the direct debit will now come from themselves and that membership will carry on as normal at the end of the month.
“It makes us stronger, being able to have the in-toto dealers on board as individual businesses, rather than one group,” explained Hibbert. “We’ve always been quite open about our numbers. In this instance, it gives us an increased number of decision makers, but we’ve found that they’re quite keen to join in their own right, and talk to us more and be more interactive.
“We can support them more easily and better and connect with them,” he added. “I’ve been talking personally to a lot of in-toto dealers over the past few days, just trying to support them, asking what they need, seeing what we can do for them, and trying to keep them informed, and they’ve been using our legal helpline as well.
“Alno is different,” he explained. “Their dealers joined themselves anyway. We have put a message out to all of our dealers saying ‘If you’re caught up in the Alno situation and want support, we’re here’.
“We’ve got legal helplines, and focus groups and also people with a lot of knowledge. We don’t know what help they may need, but any help at this moment is good.”