Warmup has been awarded ‘Exceptional Manufacture of the Year’ at the 2007 London Passport to Export Awards.

The award is presented to the manufacturer or designer who best exceeds expectations in taking their products to international markets. The award also recognises the successes of the capital's SMEs in trading internationally under UK Trade & Investment's (UKTI) Passport to Export programme. It is London’s only international business awards programme.

To win, Warmup had to demonstrate a clear indication of future plans and commitment to consolidate and/or increase international sales. The company has shown evidence of how an international trade strategy has translated into results.

International director Howard Flood attributes the success to ‘going back to basics’. “We asked ourselves who the decision maker is,” he said. “We made sure we were talking to the right people. We also targeted our sales and marketing materials to explain the benefits of our system and made sure we were attending the right trade shows to gain exposure to those people. We had our brochures and installation manuals translated to make the information even more accessible.”

“Local knowledge is important and so is having people who speak the language,” Flood continued. “The formula we have in the UK does not necessarily work elsewhere. The UK has a big DIY market and people are prepared to spend weekends installing a system whereas in Latin countries we have a network of installers because people don’t want to do it themselves.

“Although they are thought of as warm countries, Spain and Portugal have been very good markets for us. They have a lot of ceramic and marble flooring, which gets cold in winter. With our systems you can take the chill off without having a full central heating system.”

Mr Flood said high levels of customer service are essential and that responding to all email enquiries within 24 hours was an simple example of this.