Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:29 PM
Don't overlook the importance of an HVAC business card and how you use it. It is something that people should carry with them at all times and be ready to use whenever the opportunity presents itself. If you consider for a moment that basically every structure in our society requires HVAC, you can star
t to see everyone as a client and you need to know how to use your business card effectively.
Have an Elevator Speech
What does this mean? When you go to a party or any kind of social gathering, people probably ask you what you do. If you are in the business of selling HVAC services, then you should hand them a business card when they ask and have a short speech ready. You don't need to prattle on for ten minutes, in fact you shouldn’t. If you have a thirty second long, succinct and clear message you will pick up additional clients.
Take an Emotional Tack
Consider for a moment that you are putting a company slogan of some sort on your HVAC business card. You should choose carefully what you put. Many proprietors are prompted to say what it is that they do. Instead, focus on an emotional angle for the client. Instead of saying ‘we install brand X type of units’, tell them how their home will be warm when it's cold. Obviously, reverse this depending on your geographical location but most of all let them know that you can make them comfortable. Stress to them that you can take the worry out of HVAC servicing. Appeal to them emotionally.
Include Your Website
When you hand out your HVAC business card, it should have the name of a website on it. Feel free to mention your website specifically when you hand out your business card. It doesn't cost much to put together a website that has good information on it. Take a few pictures and be positioned to educate your potential clients. When they see that, they are much more likely to call you.
Consider Putting Incentives on Your Card
There's nothing that says you have to have only one HVAC business card. You can have a specific one for existing clients that mentions that you will give them discounts if they refer somebody. You can also give those referrals a discount and it's an excellent way to generate new business.
Innovate Service with Your Business Card
You may not find that you can reinvent the wheel when it comes to product or service innovations in the HVAC industry. What you can do is be an innovator in terms of service. Far too many companies do not follow up properly with their clients. If you send out a survey with your HVAC business card asking people whether or not they were happy with the service and asking how you can improve, you do marketing for free and you make your customers’ impression of your service better.
Using business cards effectively is an art. It is one of the cheapest ways to do effective marketing and if you understand the power of a business card and all the things that go along with it, you will be able to effectively raise your profits.
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Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:28 PM
The Internet is now the most powerful marketing tool in the world. Despite that fact, many businesses do not take full advantage of what is available on the Internet and reap the rewards of positioning themselves properly. If your residential air conditioning business does not take the necessary steps to have a significant online presence, then you can bank on the fact that your competitors are picking up the business that you leave on the table.
Start with your website. If you already have one, then you need to consider whether or not you have the ability to update information on the website. If you don't already have one, then it is less expensive than you might imagine having one put together. You can easily contract with a freelance worker that can construct a basic website for a few hundred dollars. Just make sure that when you do this, you set yourself as the administrator and have full access and ownership to the site.
Make sure that you have put together a solid keyword strategy. This is how people will locate your website, and it does not cost any more to use the right keywords. If you are not sure what to use, then use some of the free keyword generating websites. If you are contacting with someone to build a website, make sure that they have a solid understanding of how to effectively use keywords.
Make sure that you can quantify the amount of traffic that your website is getting. You can either do this using Google Analytics or Alexa. When your website is new, you might not be getting much information but as the administrator you can tell how many hits each page on your site gets.
Keep your geographical location in mind. A residential air conditioning business is something that is specific to a certain location, and you need to effectively market to that location. When people go to a search engine to look for HVAC services, they will probably type the name of the city where they live followed by a service that they need. You can try it out on a search engine and see if you can find your own business.
Content is king when it comes to the Internet. You need to have information about residential air conditioning that people can use and be able to offer something that they appreciate. If you do not have good content on your website, it can also be a problem with search engines. You should use keywords effectively but make sure that your keyword density does not go over the limits that will cause search engines to your mark your site as spam.
If you ensure that you have a good website and a method of driving traffic to it, then you are ultimately going to spend less on advertising. There are a number of different strategies like affiliate marketing, email marketing or article marketing that will not cost much in terms of overhead, but greatly increase the amount of traffic and potential clients to your site.
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Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:27 PM
In the HVAC business as with any industry it is much more expensive to try and generate new clients than it is to service repeat clients. Building up trust with a customer is a good way to ensure that you have ongoing sales without having to spend more on advertising. If you are able to set the majority of your customers up with an HVAC maintenance contract, then you will realize greater profits in the long run.
Some customers are reluctant to sign a service contract. They may be aware of the fact that many industries offer extended warranties and similar products. The electronics industry in particular is known for having extended service warranties that can be expensive and offer little for the customer. Many consumer guides have warned people against purchasing them.
It is therefore important to position an HVAC maintenance contract in a different way. The equipment is certainly different, and it is necessary to maintain it. Systems will also run more efficiently when they are properly maintained. Let customers know that maintenance is something that they are going to have to do on their systems and it will make sense if you offer them the peace of mind of having an existing maintenance contract so that they can budget their expenses and save.
If you consider what a company makes on an installation, it does not offer that much margin. The real money comes when long-term servicing is purchased. In order to get people to buy into the concept of having an HVAC maintenance contract, it makes sense to package it together with an initial installation.
It is advantageous to give incentives to salespeople for selling ongoing maintenance contracts. They may sometimes be tempted to simply sell the initial service. By offering a lower amount they hope that they can sell the client. If they are motivated to package the two together, they will push harder for the bigger sale.
Something that might make sense is to have a customer sign the refusal for a maintenance contract. This is something that is often done in the financial industry, and it is an excellent psychological tool. It gives added value perception to the service contract if you have recommended it and the client has to sign something that says that they understand that they are passing up having ongoing service at a negotiated rate.
When you sell these maintenance contracts, you remain in constant contact with your client. And one way to that is with a social media strategy for your HVAC business. It is important to service them immediately and keep these clients happy. Not only do they provide ongoing revenue and stabilize the revenue stream, but they will also provide referrals to others when they get good service. That is free advertising, and the people that they refer are more likely to buy an ongoing maintenance contract as that client did.
Learn how you can develop a winning Social Media marketing strategy for your service business. Download the Service Industry Social Media Marketing Playbook Now!
Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:26 PM
If you have not already taken advantage of social networking sites to market your air conditioning business, you should be aware that you are missing out on a lot of potential advertising. This is advertising that costs very little and is extremely effective if it is done correctly.
If you don't already have a LinkedIn profile, then that's where you start. One of the things that you should do is fill out your profile with as much information as you can. It will help to build trust with people and before you start trying to get visitors to come in to view your profile, it needs to be complete.
One of the things that you will learn about fairly quickly is the widgets on the LinkedIn site. There are some that are very useful and will reduce the amount of time that it takes to import blogs that you write or Twitter entries straight to your profile. If you have somebody writing a blog, it can automatically be submitted to the any of the different LinkedIn groups that you belong to.
Using the groups is very effective. If you want to get the most out of it, then you need to provide content there that is helpful. One of the caveats is that you should not make the information you submit into a sales pitch. It should be knowledgeable and informative and that will be much more effective for driving traffic to your profile.
It is possible to join up to 50 groups and if you want to effectively market an air conditioning business on the site then you should try and join as many appropriate groups as possible. Try to link up with alumni groups or local groups that are more likely to need your services. If your business is geographically specific like HVAC businesses generally are, then choose carefully but be a part of as many as possible.
You can network with local chambers of commerece, property manager groups, real estate groups and more.
Take advantage of the knowledge that exists in your organization and go to the Questions and Answers section in LinkedIn. This will give an opportunity for you to show off what you know and when people go to gather information they will see that you or your representative is an expert on the subject. You can also ask questions in order to get an idea of what people want to know or how they feel about a certain subjects related to the air conditioning business.
The search function in LinkedIn is also very useful. You can use it to find businesses in your area that may be in need of your services. If you have been on the site for a while, you can ask for testimonials from people who are existing clients and this will help immensely when you contact new prospects.
LinkedIn is a very important tool. It should be linked with any other social media accounts that you have, and you should set your account to send you messages directly to your email address allowing you to respond to people right away.
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Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:25 PM
Far too many companies in the HVAC business either do not spend enough time on marketing or are not doing it effectively. It might not be something that ownership or management is looking forward to, but it is absolutely crucial and if it is done right it can change the fortunes of a business. Whether your business is new or you simply want to get an infusion of new clients, read these seven tips on marketing heating and AC repair.
Social Networking
This might not be the first place that you would think of doing advertising for an HVAC business, but many people are using social networking these days and there are a variety of different sites available. One of the biggest advantages is that they are generally free, and all that is required would be a bit of time to set up a profile.
Asking For Referrals and Testimonials
As with most industries, the bulk of your business should be coming from existing clients. Whether they are actually purchasing additional heating and AC repair services or helping to bring in new clients, they are a very valuable resource. Learn to ask for referrals whether you sell to a client or not. If you ask for testimonials, people will usually be happy to provide them and they can be used effectively in marketing strategies.
Have Service Promotions
Tap into those existing clients and make sure to approach them in advance of an expiring service contract. Have somebody at your office be diligent about looking for renewals and maintaining contact with existing clients. Many times people will simply go with the company they are already with provided they get the impression that the company is interested in keeping them as a client.
Keep Your Name at the Forefront
Many people could not tell you the name of their heating and AC repair company if you asked them. This is where small promotional materials that will keep your name in view make a lot of sense. Things like refrigerator magnets or calendars are things that people will look at often. You might not only keep your name in your client’s mind, but you may even get additional clients who are visitors to the home.
Know How To Upsell
It is important not to leave any money on the table when you make a sale. Salespeople should have proper incentives to sell packages with ongoing service contracts. If you make more on each sale, you'll have to spend less on advertising.
Invest In a Decent Website
Many people do their shopping online. It is essential for almost any business to have a website these days. Don't be tempted to set up something quickly that is not going to be useful to you. If you are not familiar with the process, hire somebody who can teach you about back links, keywords and other useful tricks for driving traffic to your website.
Consider Email Marketing
This is not to say that you should be sending spam emails as that is not very effective. If you do target your market and keep a database of all email addresses of people that you deal with, you can market efficiently and keep costs down.
Learn how you can develop a winning Social Media marketing strategy for your service business. Download the Service Industry Social Media Marketing Playbook Now!
Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:23 PM
Print, direct mail and telemarketing has slowed down in momentum in the advertising industry. Some are expensive while others take a lot of time to do. Since the birth of the web, it has evolved dynamically to cater to almost any individuals need. The latest in marketing strategy is through the use of local HVAC advertising.
If you are in the local HVAC business and truly want to get ahead then you have to learn what local HVAC advertising is all about.
How it works is first, you need to have your own website that showcases your services or products or even both. You can highlight what you offer along with other information deemed necessary. Now your probably asking what does having a website got to do with local HVAC advertising. The answer, a lot!
You see most often than not, people who need to find information about services or products go online and do searches on what’s out and available in the market.
As they conduct searches they would usually place in their location, zip codes and a service that they want. For example, they would type in “Scottscale12345 AC repair” and then they would hit the enter or return key and are presented with a list of search results. From there they get to see all the businesses that offer air conditioning repair in their local area.
The next step you need to do is to join local search engine directories. You can join Yahoo local, Google place, Aol local and others that are completely free. Being a member can increase your chances of being found online. Once you’ve signed up, you get to add you business into a category.
Building a good understanding of local HVAC advertising, can truly be promising when it comes to building you customer base as well as earning the profits. There will be information available to you that talk to local advertising in the internet.
Now let’s talk about what local HVAC advertising can do for you. First, we don’t have too much people who use the yellow pages or phone directories anymore. Not even on the newspapers. They all go online and check on the internet.
Second, a lot of people prefer to have their request for services by a business located in their own town. And how do they find out on what is available in their local towns; they go online, check on the internet and do searches.
Third, knowing about the global economic crisis you would want to choose a medium where in you don’t have to spend too much money. Switching to local HVAC advertising is much cheaper than the traditional ways of marketing.
Fourth, you can tailor your campaign and services according to the town’s demographics. Having this knowledge is a key in building potential business relationships.
Fifth, you get to track how many people showed interest on your add.
Lately it’s more advisable to work smarter than harder. Go ahead and give local advertising a try.
Learn how you can develop a winning marketing strategy for your service business. Download the Service Marketing Playbook Now!
Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:22 PM
The year 2009 was indeed a year of crisis and just like any other business the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) also took a big hit during that year. With the economic crisis worldwide, sales took a poll and showed signs of losses.
One aspect that was overlooked in the past was about energy saving capabilities. If they truly want to be back in the market, the companies needed to think innovation and place a lot of emphasis on energy saving technology and systems that is geared toward lowering cost without cutting off the quality and comfort that their product brings.
Knowing that this is what the industry needs, owners have started to strategize and rebuild projects to do just that and set new objectives in order to achieve that.
HVAC Organizations report growth. Recently, LG Electronics announced their new energy efficient products and initiatives. They introduced three new high SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rated) models. They also highlighted their latest innovation embedded in their commercial air conditioning product lines called “Environmental Control Manager”.
LG Electronics offers a range of household and commercial climate control units that can be utilized for both indoor and outdoor. They are the largest air conditioner manufacturer in the world.
The “Environmental Control Manager” enables owners to completely program and control the temperature using the internet from any part of the world. Indeed impressive since it can certainly help out in cutting cost and saving energy. It has a built in heat sensor that detects heat and motion that enables the tool to set the ideal room temperature from both the owner and the guest’s standpoint.
They are also featuring their Multi-V system that offers to be cost efficient and at the same time with offers Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology that ensure comfort to its end users. The VRF is the technology that gives the owner control over the system to manage temperatures and therefore allows them to save on energy.
More than 40,000 residential and commercial properties in the United States have had air conditioning installed. And since they forecast growth, they opened their fist training academy in December 2009. LG’s commercial air conditioning products provide cost effective and energy efficient climate control solutions.
HVAC Organizations report growth not only are sales on air conditioning and cooler units increasing, but we are also seeing an increase in sales for water heaters and warm air furnaces in the U.S. Spikes have been seen on shipments of the following units:
- Residential Gas units up by 21% (421,303 units from 347, 852 during March 2009)
- Residential Electric units up by 16% (383,318 units from 331,751 during March 2009)
- Commercial Gas units up by 3% (8,476 units from 8,119 units during March 2009)
- Gas warm air furnaces units up by 17% (186,93 units from 160,339 units last March 2009)
- Oil warm air furnaces units up by 18% (3,958 units from 3,337 units last March 2009)
Indeed HVAC Organization report growth. The figures above were released by the Air Conditions, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) Last March 2010.
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Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:21 PM
Starting out in the HVAC business and deciding the best way to charge your customers? Well there are actually a lot of options to choose from. The most used options are between hvac flat rate pricing and the other, time and materials pricing methods.
To give you a good idea, you first need to understand the concepts of both options. Hvac flat rate pricing simply means a fixed means that no matter what service, be it repairs, cleaning; maintenance that needs to be done the pricing remains the same.
On the other hand, time and materials simply means charging by hour. Usually includes labor costs, part, materials, percentage mark up and other possible charges deemed necessary.
But still the question of which pricing method to use remains unanswered. Here are some differences in using hvac flat rate pricing as compared to using time and material pricing.
- Hvac flat rate pricing are fixed unlike time and material pricing. If it’s fixed, you can immediately set expectations with customers. This gives the customer an idea on the amount and gets to compare with other prices. Much importantly they can identify upfront if it fits their budget. The pricing is pretty much upfront even before the work is done.
Time and material pricing on the other hand cannot be upfront with its prices. If that’s the case chances of building trust and confidence with a customer would be slim.
- Hvac flat rate pricing is pretty much straight forward. What you see is what you get.
Unlike time and material pricing, it can get confusing from a customers point of view. At the same time, the technician if not an expert may miscalculate charges and could end up having a difficult time and perhaps frustrate a customer.
- As an employer, having a hvac flat rate pricing guarantees that the charges will be consistent across the board. You won’t have to worry of possible over charging being done by employees.
Time and material pricing on the other hand is prone to that concept.
- Flat rate pricing becomes easier to manage from an accounting point of view, since the prices are fixed.
It may work otherwise for time and material pricing. Since the charges will be different.
- In flat rate pricing is fair the rates are based on fair market prices. They do this in order to be able to be competitive with other businesses within the industry.
Again, this may not be the same case for time and material pricing.
People today are more conscious and concerned about prices. They want one that is available and upfront. They really don’t have time to identify hidden costs. If you really want to make it big in the HVAC industry, then be straight forward and set the expectations at the very start of doing business with you customers.
So go ahead and take the time to do your study on the charging methods. Feel free to refer to the comparison list above between choosing HVAC flat rate pricing or time and material pricing methods.
Learn how you can develop a winning marketing strategy for your service business. Download the Service Marketing Playbook Now!
Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:19 PM
The selling of a HVAC Maintenance Contract has been a long introduced in this industry. Understand that you want to make sure that there is always work to do and keep the cash flow flowing in. One of the most challenging parts of running an HVAC business is selling an HVAC Maintenance Contract.
Here is a list of tips that you can try to make selling HVAC Maintenance Contract a bit easier to handle.
- Take your time in creating a HVAC maintenance contract. You want to make sure that it is fair both to your customer and to your business. Make sure to define the maintenance program. Try to come up with packages for different seasons. Add possible discounts. That you can share to your client during the presentation of the contract.
- As you begin to engage in business with a potential customer. Make sure to set the expectations that there will be a maintenance contract that will occur every X time a month.
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- Discuss the HVAC Maintenance Contract with you customer. Highlight the possible wins and advantages that the contract covers and what’s in it for them. The more specific it is the better. This gives your client a good idea on the terms and services that comprise the contract.
- Site examples of what could happen if maintenance is not done on a regular basis. Share that if maintenance is not conducted on a regular basis, it could lead to equipment failure. Identify certain parts of equipment that could possibly malfunction if maintenance is not done. Giving out facts does build credibility.
- Know your services and products well. This would help you in answering possible questions that your customer would ask.
- It’s always a good idea to make sure that you have everything documented. It makes your presentation organized. You may also want to add a checklist with all the tasks that will be done by a technician during maintenance.
- Having a detailed checklist also works for you as a business owner. Since the process is documented, you will have data that can tell you how stable the equipment or machine is. Some items you may want to consider adding on your technicians checklist.
- Sell the concept that if maintenance is conducted regularly it would prevent from incurring higher costs for repair, replacement or buying a new unit.
- If you are not confident in selling, you may want to hire and expert at selling. But then again, it’s just a suggestion.
Selling an HVAC maintenance contract take tons of commitment. Make sure that what is stated in the contract is fulfilled. Your credibility as a business owner could be at stake if an item in a contract is not followed. Make sure that you have the adequate staff that can do the regular maintenance as well as the back end processes that goes along with it.
Learn how you can develop a winning marketing strategy for your service business. Download the Service Marketing Playbook Now!
Posted by Steven Teneriello on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 07:18 PM
Having excellent customer service is very important in running and more so in making a business successful. You should always treat every customer encounter as an opportunity. Although there will be times that you get to interact with some customers who complain a lot or those who are just not satisfied. There are several approaches that you can try on how to provide great hvac customer service.
Allow your customer to speak. This approach is an effective way in defusing emotions. Since it gives the customer an opportunity to release that feeling or vent. Make sure not to interrupt or speak at the same time with them. Doing so, may just make the situation even worse.
As your customer uses the time to vent, make sure that you do your best to listen in. It is an effective technique, because you get to capture details and facts that you can use and refer to later on during the discussion. It is also one way for you to figure out the right solution. If you have a difficult time listening, make sure to equip yourself with a pen and note pad to jot down notes.
Set expectations with the customer. This will help them understand what you can and cannot do to help with their concern.
Here is another approach on how to provide great hvac customer service. If ever you don’t have the fixes and answers, make sure to find an alternative for them to use or try or better yet refer them to the right person who can actually fix their problem.
- Make sure not to give false promises to your customer. If you can’t fix the problem, then be honest enough to say so.
- Use “apologies” and “thank you’s” appropriately during your interaction with your customer.
- Always start the engagement with a customer using the proper greeting. This method is applicable virtually and even during personal interactions.
- Going the extra mile with your customers. They appreciate the extra kind gesture that you are able to offer.
- Mind your tone as you interact or engage in conversation with the customer. Your pitch and volume are part of your body language and customers can see or feel that.
- Once a customer’s concern is addressed or resolved, always have that habit in asking if there is anything else you can do to help them.
- Try to keep a smile on and use it accordingly.
- Address the name of your customer by using it at different parts of your interaction.
- Always try to put your place in the customer’s shoes. This helps change your point of view and allows your mind to open up on how the member feels. You’d get a better understanding from where they are coming from.
- If you have a solution, fix it, Fast!
The tips on how to provide great hvac customer service may seem easier said than done. But they definitely work! Customer service isn’t rocket science. If you want your business to be successful and grow, then make sure that you don’t only make new customers but also keep existing ones. Remember that the best advertisement is through word of mouth.
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