A Halloween inspired look at equipment sales and communications!
Has an evil witch placed a hex on the industry? Are customers turning to ghosts and disappearing into thin air when you try to follow up on sales leads? Or have black cats and broken mirrors simply brought on a rash of bad luck? It can certainly feel that way.
At this writing, heating oil is retailing above $6.00 per gallon, stocks are at historic lows, and supply lines remain choked in the Middle East, effectively cutting off a majority of fuel from the Arabian peninsula. The war that was only going to take “a few weeks” is likely to continue through the midterms, according to the president; longer, according to most other experts. Pricing, extreme backwardation, and fuel supplies are not expected to revert to normal for another year. It is easy to look for a supernatural explanation for all this bad news.
Your customers are looking for ways to save money on their heating costs. The easy answer might be an equipment upgrade. Preemptive system upgrades are always a difficult sale. In the best of times, when it comes to heating equipment, most homeowners go by the maxim, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In the current market, closing non-emergency system upgrades might require some supernatural assistance.
Dr. Frankenstein, “Bones” McCoy, and Dracula: Reviving the Dead (Heating System)
In the current economic environment, customers will expect service technicians to channel Dr. Frankenstein, continually replacing “dead” parts and reanimating a system that should have been buried years ago.
Your technicians, instead, need to be more like Dr. McCoy, and solemnly announce, “It’s dead. I’m a technician, not a miracle worker!”
Jokes and superfluous Star Trek references aside, your technicians can be your best resource to increase sales of systems to replace older models.
No one is suggesting that technicians should be asked to do anything unethical or push equipment replacements that are not necessary. But it is the technicians who are in the homes and build a rapport with homeowners they see over and over again. So, on a dark and stormy night, when they are completing their third no-heat emergency call at the home, they need to tell the homeowner that, despite all their skills, the system will break down again. They cannot offer eternal life for heating equipment, and the 29-year-old boiler or furnace is just too old for continued resuscitation.
Technicians should be provided with the training to have these conversations, just as they are trained to reanimate heating equipment. They should also have some equipment marketing materials on hand to leave with the homeowner, and let them know that someone from the company will be calling to discuss an upgrade further. Then, their long graveyard shift completed, they can head to sleep before the sun rises, and your company’s sales team can follow up.
Screams in the Dark: The Boiler Did It
When the technician is able to bring a broken system back to life, as in the scenario above, the equipment replacement falls somewhere between “elective” and “emergency.” However, even the most experienced service techs are going to find themselves in situations where there is just no coming back.
The shrieks echoing through the house are not from the ghost of the newly dead boiler, but from the homeowners facing the nightmare of an expensive replacement when they were dreaming of a service contract-covered no-charge repair!
In every murder mystery, there is an all-knowing character: a narrator, butler, or brilliant detective. In this emergency replacement scenario, it is your sales or service manager who needs to walk through a hidden doorway (or the home’s main entrance) to provide the facts, review the options, and reassure the panicked customer.
- No, there is nothing to fear.
- Yes, there are replacement options available immediately at different price points.
- No, you will not be without heat or hot water for weeks on end (or eternity).
- Yes, we can help you get low-interest home improvement financing.
- Yes, we will review available rebates and tax credits with you.
- Yes, we will schedule your replacement as soon as possible.
- Bonus yes, your home will no longer remind guests of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, because the eerie noises and odors from your furnace will be exorcised.
The mystery has been solved, the new boiler or furnace has restored order and the villainous heating equipment has been hauled away. And your team: the hero of the customer’s story.
Shakespeare’s Three Sisters and their Magic Brew … of Efficiency, Prices, and Financing
Despite the economy and fuel prices, or because of them, there will still be customers who are interested in upgrading their system. For them, you need to cast a spell so intoxicating that they can’t refuse. It’s a subtle brew of messaging, combining efficiency statistics, fuel prices, and financing options.
For this potion, we will leave out the eye of newt, toe of frog, and – most assuredly, no tongue of dog!
This recipe starts with a mix of efficiency ratings and fuel prices. We all know, and the customer knows, that a new system will be more efficient. The magic trick is showing them what it really means. Fewer gallons used equates to lower fuel costs … even when fuel prices are skyrocketing. Our statistics from the Upgrade & Save Rebate Program reveal an average efficiency boost of about 15 percent when replacing 28-30 year-old boilers and furnaces. On an 800 gallon-per-year average usage, that works out to about 120 gallons … and at $6.00 per gallon – that’s $720 per year saved.
You can show the savings from efficiency to the customer in many ways. The NORA Fuel Savings Analysis (FSA) Calculator, available at noraweb.com/fsa, can provide savings estimates based on current and recommended equipment. But even without the FSA Calculator, your sales manager or representative can pull the customer’s actual usage and delivery history for the last few years from your back-end system, and look at what they were paying at that time. Then estimate what those deliveries would cost at the current rate and show them how much they’d save on each delivery with the upgraded equipment. It is true that paying upwards of $6 a gallon is not going have anyone feeling like they are “saving” on their energy costs. But this strategy will show them how much less they could be paying on each delivery.
The final ingredient in the brew (or is it a love potion?) is a dash of financing. The low- or no-interest options available from your finance partner or state can be a powerful attraction. Again, pull out the calculator or even your online financing portal, and show the homeowner how the elephantine investment is magically transformed into a mouse-sized monthly payment. Throw some extra seasoning into the cauldron: NORA-funded rebates, potential tax credits, a free service plan, bonus loyalty points – or anything else you can think of. Gift cards? Restaurant coupons? Discounts on one of your other home services? The magic is already in the mix, no chanting required.
Voices in Your Head: Customer Service Reps
Those voices you hear are not the whispers of the ghosts of long-gone sales leads, nor the hum of buried oil burners. You are hearing the sounds of your customer service reps speaking with customers, explaining the current pricing issues, and outlining the ways your company can help lower their bills.
These ways, of course, will include budget plans, price protection programs (if available), service agreements, and any prompt pay or other discounts – including those for seniors, veterans, first responders, and the like. They should also offer the option of equipment upgrades, especially to those customers with older equipment.
Your CSRs should be provided with similar training as the technicians to broach these discussions. The training program should help them respond to standard objections, especially those around the cost, and also show them how to understand the customer’s service history and its relationship to higher fuel costs and potential breakdowns. One of the benefits of the CSR beginning the conversation is that the call can be immediately transferred to the sales manager.
While the upcoming heating season is looking to be spooky, the looming monsters can be tamed with a with the right preparation, mindset, training … and a bowl of candy.
Richard Rutigliano is President of PriMedia, Inc., an integrated marketing and communications firm specializing in the home energy sector and offering a wide array of SaaS products nationwide. He can be reached at 516-222-2041 or rrutigliano@primediany.com.
