Financing…if you don’t have it or don’t use it, you are missing out.  The average consumer does not have $10,000 or $20,000 available in cash to spend on home energy improvements and systems.  But that is often what it takes to get them the best system to best address their concerns and desires.  Sure, they can charge it…but with credit cards and rates being what they are the last few years, consumers are much more leery of using unsecured, revolving debt.  Education is on the rise, and people know that can get them in trouble.  So how do we help?

We must offer better financing CHOICES.  Loans through credit unions and other lenders reflect better rates and terms on a credit score than credit card debt, and give a consumer a fixed rate and payment they can plan for.  Credit cards do not offer this in our ever-changing world.  We must be be a one-stop shop for the client to earn the right to make the sale.

When leads are slow, every opportunity is even much more critical to maximize.  The only way to give your customers a way to own and receive the benefits of what they want now is through financing.  So what financing will work best? Stay tuned.

David Piscitelli is a retail sales professional with a highly sales-oriented HVAC and home improvement contractor in the Pacific Northwest. Over 80% of his sales include financing of some form. He can be reached atdavid@sellingtrust.com.

One of the most effective tools to communicate this is a Repair vs. Replace Cost of Ownership Analysis.  Tom teaches this method in his training seminars. Unfortunately this opportunity is too often ignored due to the difficulty of completing the analysis in a timely and professional manner.

What if your service techs could produce this customized Repair vs. Replace Cost of Ownership analysis in just a couple of minutes while completing the service estimate for the client? That is possible today as just one of the many integrated features available with TRUST PRO® online!  The tech only needs to fill in four (4) pieces of information specific to the client’s unique situation and click print.  The rest of the information is predetermined and set by you.   Will every client seriously consider replacement as an alternative?  No, but none will if not given the Choice®.

Mark Sims is President of Chameleon Management Solutions, Inc. and is the creator of TRUST PRO® online, the only fully functioning online HVAC contracting business management software.

I’ll share my favorite CHOICE® closing question but first let me establish that any close, no matter how clever or cute it may seem, will be relatively ineffective unless the sales person is comfortable and confident in their role. Have poor self-image as a sales person…and your customers will sense it. Lack confidence in your company or products…and your customers will be able to tell.

Learn what your installers do to make their work better than average. Develop pride in what your company does every day to deliver great customer service. See yourself as someone who delivers great value in consulting and advising your clients on how their needs and wants can be addressed. And then, with that pride and confidence, say:

“Well, folks, this system is the best solution, the one that does the best job in addressing everything you want. If this looks good to you then there are several ways you can invest in it. They are the Monthly Investment, the Total Investment, 12 Months Same As Cash and of course Visa or MasterCard. Which of these investments might be best for you?”

Ask…when you have earned the right to…and you will receive!

*Bible, King James, Matthew 21:22

A friend told me about a lead he ran where he met an elderly woman who had lived in their small family home for nearly 50 years. She was about to replace her furnace for the 5th time and was going to buy it from the Big Box Store salesman but wanted a second opinion. My friend is a sales pro so he went about his business, taking measurements, asking questions and inspecting the existing equipment. Sure enough, the installation was poor, the equipment oversized, and there were weatherization issues throughout the house.

He explained what he had found and why he was recommending a thorough solution to her problems. She decided to buy from him that night even though he was more than the $3,900 the other salesman had quoted.

Just before leaving he asked if she wouldn’t mind sharing what the Big Box Store salesman had recommended. She showed him the “bid”, which was from an independent contractor not affiliated with the Big Box Store. Red flag number 1. On top of that the price quoted was $11,100, not $3,900 as she had been told! The homeowner was nearly blind, couldn’t read the quote and would have signed paperwork obligating her to the full amount. Game over. The Big Box Store won’t like to hear this, nor will the State Attorney General, nor Angie’s List, nor the BBB.

I don’t hear this kind of story very often but even one incident gets around to a lot of people. Your reputation is hard-earned and well-deserved. Make sure to brag about it and defend it if necessary. It means more to you and your company than you might think.

Steve Curtis is a Colorado-based, BPI Certified home energy auditor. He also a Sales Coach for Tom Piscitelli and conducts a one-day seminar on how to incorporate a Weatherization approach to in-home selling of replacement HVAC systems titled, “WeatherizationPRO Edition of Selling with T.R.U.S.T.®”

I’ve written about this before but haven’t run the numbers; here’s an example:

A technician makes 1,000 customer contacts or more a year. Subtract PTU calls, warranty calls, call-backs, etc. and there might be 500 demand service calls remaining. Most techs will be very capable of offering a replacement on a failed unit or old unit where the repair costs clearly don’t make sense, such as a cracked heat exchanger or failed compressor. That might net down to 25 replacements at $3-4,000 each, so let’s make it $75,000- $100,000 in sales. Looks good so far.

Now let’s say the technician is very good at offering the Repair Vs. Replace information on every billable service call regardless of the age of the equipment. He just brings it up as information, not to sell but to inform. He shows them the quick analysis which establishes that it’s almost always less expensive to replace old equipment than repair it and he then asks if they would like to talk with their comfort advisor to get more information. The result? Out of 500 demand service calls there will be 50-100 leads produced, with a 50% or more close rate, at $6-8,000 or more. Being conservative again that will produce $150,000-$200,000 in sales or more and at a higher profit margin.

In every way having the technician trained to create a lead and hand it over to a competent comfort advisor is better…for the customer, for the company and for the technician.

Good Selling!
Tom

One key to obtaining repeat business is having a service agreement with the homeowner. What we tend to forget is that the greatest service provided in the service agreement is not the tune-up — it’s the enhancements and upgrades we can provide that increase the homeowner’s comfort, health and peace of mind while decreasing their utility costs and energy consumption. If your business is going to thrive, it is imperative that you employ and train service techs who know how to educate the homeowner and offer them choices for home performance improvements.

Training and managing them to sell service agreements the first step. Equipping them to offer home performance upgrades (and providing the right upgrades) completes the picture. In upcoming articles we’ll explore each of these steps in a bit more detail.

Good Selling!

Tom Piscitelli

• The cautious homeowner may be assured they found a reputable company
• The “multiple-bid” homeowner may decide to stop calling around for more
• The time-sensitive homeowner may set aside more time than they otherwise would have
• All homeowners may get the important first impression that your company is different, in a good way, from others
• Your retail sales professional can have the “stage” set for them so they are given the time and attention they need

My favorite appointment-setting script:  “Sure, we’ll be glad to help you. This is a big decision that impacts the entire family for many years. What our comfort advisor, Rick, will do is ask you to help him take a brief survey of your home, he’ll write down what you want to have in your new system, and he’ll be prepared to create some customized choices for you and anyone else you might want to join you. This usually takes an hour, maybe more, depending on your questions. Rick can be there either 5 PM tomorrow night or 2 PM on Wednesday, which of those might be better for you?”

Once the time is picked, then ask, “May I send you a confirming email with some information you may find interesting, and I’ll include some of Rick’s background information as well.”

Nice, non-pushy way to get someone’s email address!

Good Selling.

Up until now we have all bought increasingly powerful software to do increasingly sophisticated work with the hope of accessing better information, creating fewer mistakes, doing everything faster with improved productivity so we can make more money. These software programs consume gigantic amounts of memory and so we buy bigger and faster computers to run them, and then spend tons of money on IT support to make them compatible, debug them, protect them and update them. It’s overwhelming. It has to stop somewhere.

Cloud Computing eliminates most of these issues and costs. Instead of each individual computer requiring the capacity and software you need to do your work all of that information resides on the internet. This can be your private master server, or “cloud”, or you can access third-party data from others such as Google or Amazon.

This strategy eliminates the need for expensive, support-demanding computers. Any device that can access the internet will function: laptop, desktop, netbook, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, smartphone…you name it.

Consider the benefits to operating you business “in the cloud”:
• You can access your business information from anywhere, at any time
• You can control who has access to your information
• Your valuable, critical data is professionally backed up continuously
• Your information is available in “real time”
• Your overhead costs are significantly reduced by eliminating the need for manual inputting of data
• The cost of “moving paper” throughout your office is virtually eliminated
• You control selling prices, margins, products that are sold…everything
• You are in control of your business and can create the success you deserve

It’s inevitable. In the not-too-distant future software will run through the Internet and computers will serve to access information instead of storing it.

Can you see the benefits and are ready to go right now? Check out TRUST PRO® Online. Join us for a live demo by contacting Mark at mark@trustproonline.com.

See you in the clouds…

Everyone wants to sell more jobs at higher prices but very few are willing to prepare by training and by consistently executing the fundmentals during the sales call.

It’s ironic that our industry prays for hot or cold weather so we can “be busy” and then when the awaited sales leads come pouring in we run from one to the next giving “bids”, “estimates” and “quotes” in as little time as possible. The result, lower close rates at lower prices…creating much less success than we would if we stuck to our professional game plan.

Here are the top 7 Sales Steps You Can’t Skip, no matter how busy you are, without missing out on potential sales:

1. Properly Setting the Appointment
2. Using a Customer Survey Form every time
3. Calculating an Estimated Annual Savings amount to show a return-on-investment
4. Creating a BEST BETTER GOOD CHOICES Proposal at the kitchen table
5. Using all Financing program alternatives to close and handle objections
6. Presenting the company value with a formal Company Presentation
7. Asking for the Sale!

Each of these steps should be measured or monitored by the owner/manager. We’ll look at each one in detail in the upcoming weeks.

Here are three methods of dealing with leaky can lights:
1. If they can be reached from the attic, I recommend using an insulite® box to cover the can. After covering the can with the insulite® box, apply a two-component closed-cell spray foam (I recommend Honeywell’s Enovate™PRO ) to seal the box to the attic deck.
2. If you are unable to reach the can via the attic (for example, a vaulted ceiling), then a baffle trim insert can effectively reduce the air leakage. The cone-shaped insert is easily installed in the can from inside the house and a little caulk applied to seal around the trim.
3. Probably the most energy-efficient (but rarely selected) solution is to remove the lights, patch the holes and invest in new air-sealed lighting (e.g., track lighting, sconces, table lamps, etc.).

Sealing recessed lights can have a dramatic effect on air leakage reduction and save hundreds of dollars in wasted heating energy. For more detailed information on the techniques or products mentioned in this article contact me at Steve@Sellingtrust.com.

Steve Curtis is a Colorado-based, BPI Certified home energy auditor. He also a Sales Coach for Tom Piscitelli and conducts a one-day seminar on how to incorporate a Weatherization approach to in-home selling of replacement HVAC systems titled, “WeatherizationPRO Edition of Selling with T.R.U.S.T.®”