During a recent interview on HVACTV.com, three of us were asked, “How can our industry reach the millions of existing homeowners with the breaking news about the new products and services we have to offer?” Most of us would readily arrive at the opinion that we need to get contractors and manufacturers to advertise more. Sure that works, but to really have impact, to really create consumer demand, we’d have to spend millions of dollars — money our slim-margin industry just doesn’t have.

Earlier in that same HVACTV.com show, Rex Boynton, president of NATE, talked about how his program has already certified more than 11,000 service technicians and they are gaining momentum on reaching the rest of the 300,000 technicians in the country.

Imagine, if these 300,000 techs make only 3 to 4 calls a day, that’s 1 million in-home service calls a day! And that’s just with the technicians. Add in the 100,000 or so calls per day being made by HVAC sales people.

My idea is simply this: let’s talk to the customer. Let’s make the time during every call to do what sales people do: greet the customer, establish some rapport, ask questions, listen, educate, and develop interest. If they want something, show them what the choices are, and ask them if they want it!

Talk to them? Why? Some will say, correctly, that we didn’t have to do that in the past. “In my father’s day, we went in and fixed the problem and the customers were happy. We went out to give them a bid or estimate (ugh…please don’t use those words), told them what they needed, and they bought it.” What’s so different today?

Well, today is different for several reasons:

• With our industry in a slow or no-growth mode, competition is tougher than ever.

• Retailers are solidly into HVAC and they’re doing a good job. This raises customers expectations for professionalism, etc.

• Customers are more interested and educated about HVAC and related issues today.

• Customers are more careful about what they are buying and from whom they are buying.

• Customers are tired of “pushy” salespeople.

• Customers are increasingly looking for a company, and people, they can TRUST.

Think about it from the customer’s point of view. Customers invite you into their homes. They have problems and want solutions. They want to be treated fairly and honestly by someone they can trust. They want their unique needs met. They want fair prices for what they get — they want value.

How do we know this is true? You can validate this thinking two ways:

1. Ask yourself, as a consumer, what you would want!

2. Look at what the successful retailers are doing! (Want to recalibrate your marketing thinking? Stop thinking about yourself as a contractor and start thinking as a retailer.)

What Do Consumers Want?

Customers generally want their HVAC contractor and system to provide:

• Peace of mind (no worry)

• Comfort

• A healthy environment

• Energy and cost savings

• Quiet operation

• Convenience.

Can you provide all this? You betcha. It’s done by blending some smart retailing business practices with a few key equipment upgrades and accessory/
enhancements to complete the system.

How Do Retailers Sell?

Heck, we all know this answer, because WE are their customers! Here’s what Retailers do:

• Offer choices

• Offer financing (every time)

• The price is the price
(no bids or estimates)

• Offer or include warranties

• Offer or include guarantees

• Open evenings and weekends

• Sell from showrooms

• Convenient to reach on the phone
or internet

• Advertise/market to attract new
customer

• After the sale, they ask the customer
how they did

• Ask for referrals.

And what does all this provide for the retailer? It provides customer satisfaction! First they attract the customer to them, then they make the sale, then they make sure the customer is very satisfied, then they ask the customer to buy again, and they ask the customer to tell their friends about the good experience they have had.

Why the increased emphasis on customer satisfaction? You’re probably thinking that’s always been important to you. I hope you have! Well, it’s even more important now as our industry has evolved from a growth to a service industry.

With that evolution, comes the realization that the incredible growth of the past decades won’t be repeated. As growth slows, our industry becomes more competitive. The winners in this environment are those who can clearly out-perform their competition. The key to winning in our new world is customer satisfaction!

Fact: companies with higher customer satisfaction also have higher profits than those with lower customer satisfaction levels. The reason: very satisfied customers will call you again. They will refer other customers to you.

Building Satisfied Customers,
One At A Time

Earlier I said that tops among the benefits customers look for is peace of mind, and that means they want to do business with someone they trust. In recognizing this, we created an acronym from the word “trust” that can help you remember what should be happening during the in-home sales call.

T… stands for the Truth

R… stands for Relationship

U… stands for Understanding

S… stands for Showing

T… stands for Telling How

Let me take you through the TRUST steps. TRUST starts with a commitment to the truth. We need this commitment to the truth if we intend the customer to have so much confidence in us that they’ll value our advice, will call us back into their home, will refer us to friends and relatives. This doesn’t just mean you need to become honest and ethical — you already are. It does mean you feel an obligation to share the honest facts with the customer.

If a customer has a 15-year-old furnace and it needs a major component replaced, and you do the job correctly and charge a fair price, then you’ve been honest. But you haven’t shared the complete truth with the customer — which includes the facts that a 15-year-old furnace is nearing the end of its useful life, that it’s consuming more energy that it was designed to, that the homeowner might save money in the long haul by choosing to replace rather than repair the system.

Sharing such honest feedback requires that we develop some degree of relationship. Relationship is the “R” in TRUST. If you think about a business that you enjoy going to — whether it’s a clothing shop, an auto dealership, or the local tavern — the main reason you probably enjoy it is the way they treat you or the relationship they have with you.

The average service technician doesn’t go on a service call to establish a relationship with each customer. But that’s exactly what I’m suggesting you do! This is the number one way that you can be different than the pack. It only takes a few seconds.

The “U” is for Understanding. By asking questions and listening to the responses we build a stronger relationship and we get a better understanding of the customer’s needs.

The “S” stands for Showing. With a better understanding of the customer and their needs, we can show them — using our expertise — what their choices are.

And lastly, the “T” stands for Telling how. For example, “I Showed you what’s possible, Mr. and Mrs. Smith; I’d be happy to tell you how you can make this happen.”

With the T.R.U.S.T. approach you can stop worrying about what you are SUPPOSED to say and simply let your sincere interest in helping customers get what they want take over. Your customers will suddenly be comfortable with you, because you are comfortable with yourself.

However, it’ll mean you have to change what you are currently doing.

One of the most important reasons that I left my career as a manufacturer and distributor executive was because I realized that I could have such a huge impact on people and on their businesses if I could just help them to change. I’m really fascinated with the subject of why people don’t change - and what to do about it!

Sometimes the need for change can be quite clear, and yet people continue to forge ahead, doing the same things that are not getting them where they want to go. Einstein said, “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.”

How many times have you bought something that was “cheap?” Or bought something from someone you weren’t completely comfortable with? We all have. And what was the result?

Perhaps the product didn’t live up to your expectations, and you had to buy it again. Only this time you bought the better one, or even the best one. And if you purchased it from a salesperson you weren’t quite comfortable with, did you refer friends or relatives to him or her? Probably not.

Why did you make those decisions?

As consumers, we learn from our buying experiences. One of the essential benefits we want when we buy something is peace of mind.

Peace of mind. It’s everywhere. It’s in the lyrics of our music. It’s in our checkbook every time we make a payment on the myriad of insurance policies that we seem to have. It’s in the store clerk’s presentation when they ask if we’d like the extended warranty protection plan for the appliance, electronic device, or car we just bought. Peace of mind is why customers usually choose the better choice when shown good-better-best options.

Why is peace of mind so important? Simple — because human beings are hard-wired to avoid worry. Worry causes stress and stress wears us out, or worse.

So, to address this fundamental issue, and to give HVAC salespeople a philosophy and roadmap that will guide them, and their customers, though the hazards of buying, I have developed the T.R.U.S.T.® selling process. T.R.U.S.T.® is an acronym that breaks down as follows:

T stands for the Truth

R stands for Relationship

U stands for Understanding

S stands for Showing

T stands for Telling How.

In this first of three articles we examine why it’s so important to always tell the truth, and why and how to build a customer relationship during the in-home sale.

The Truth

Approximately how much of the time should we tell the truth?

And what happens when we don’t, when we tell just a small “untruth?” There are many human reasons for not being 100% candid or truthful with people, and, in spite of our rationalizations for them, choosing to behave in this manner is ineffective in selling, and in life.

One reason we sometimes don’t tell the truth is because we are afraid of the customer’s response.

“How long will this last?”

“Ummmmmmmm…50 years.”

We assume the customer needs it to last 50 years. Did the customer say that? No, she just asked how long it will last. We assume 50 years is what the customer wants to hear. Let’s try the truth:

“How long will this last?”

“With proper maintenance, this furnace will last 15 or 20 years or even more. One of the reasons we offer this furnace is because of its history of reliability, and our service technicians recommend these to all of our customers. In fact, it comes with a 5-year warranty on all parts, and the heat exchanger, the most expensive part of the furnace, is warranted for as long as you live in the home. We believe in it so much that our company also includes a 5-year labor warranty on this model.”

Another reason we might not tell the truth is because we don’t know the answer to the question.

“How long will this last?”

“Ummmmmmmm…50 years.”

In this example, we’re afraid to let the customer know we don’t know. What gets us into trouble here is what I refer to as image. This powerful, and largely unconscious, driving force compels us to present an image of what we think the customer wants us to be. For most people, image is behind the car we drive, the clothes we wear, and, as a salesperson, in the words we use. Some salespeople memorize what they think they are supposed to say because they think the words are what compels the customer to buy.

Nuts.

The only person I’m fooling when I try to become something I’m not, is myself.

The customer knows.

Only 7% of all communication is verbal: the words we say only account for 7% of the entire message we deliver. The other 93% of all communication is non-verbal, and includes appearance, posture, facial expression, hand gestures, eye contact, and, the most powerful of all, tone of voice. In fact, tone of voice reveals 35% of our “truth.” We can’t fake who we are, or why we say what we do — the customer knows. So let’s see how we might reply with the best information we happen to have:

“How long will this last?”

“That’s a good question. This is a fairly new model, so we don’t have a life-history on it yet. I can tell you that the manufacturer is proud of its past products’ reliability, and we are too. That’s one of the main reasons we’ve sold this brand for 20 years. As evidence that they, and we, believe in this furnace, it comes with a 5 year warranty on all parts.”

Let’s not worry about what we think they want to hear, let’s just let our guard down and explain things as they really are. The truth is very, very effective.

Relationship

First of all, to our male readers, the word “relationship” is okay to use. I’m kidding a bit here, but some of us just aren’t used to thinking this way!

Why do we need to consider what we do as having a relationship? Why can’t we just get the job, do the work, collect the money and move on to the next job?

We must think of every customer as a customer-for-life. Successful companies in all industries understand this. Our success, and our survival, depend on this attitude and commitment.

First, industry marketing gurus tell us that it costs more than $400 to advertise to win one sale, which means it costs $400 in cold cash, net profit cash, to attract a new customer. Walking away from that customer once we’ve sold the job is like flushing money down the toilet.

Plus, these gurus say, it’s six times easier, and six times less costly, to sell products and services to past customers who’ve already purchased from you than it is to find and sell to a new customer.

When you continue a business relationship with your customer, you can receive future revenue from maintenance agreements, replacement parts sales, add-on sales, future replacement and add-ons and, the best of all, referrals. Add it up, and you’ll discover that a customer you sell to today is worth $20,000 or more over your business lifetime.

It’s all about the relationship.

So, how do we develop and maintain an effective customer relationship? Here are some high points for the HVAC salesperson to follow during the in-home sale:

Be on time: five minutes early, zero minutes late, call every time while on the way.

Knock on the door: A small thing, but friends knock, strangers ring.

First impressions count: Smile, clean and neat, professional appearance, photo ID.

Wait to be invited in: You are a guest.

Put on your boot covers: Yes, even the salesperson must do it.

Shake hands with everyone: Firm, responding to their hand pressure.

Establish rapport: Must be sincere.

Review why you are there: Make sure the information you have is accurate.

Explain how the call will progress: Set expectations and ask for approval.

Survey the home with the customers.

Involve the customers: Ask them to help you measure for the load calculation.

Ask questions and listen: Active Listening is Key.

Have a “servant’s” attitude: You are there to help the customer.

Have fun: If you do, they will.

Be confident and enthusiastic: If you are, they will be too.

A final note on building customer relationships. You can follow all the steps, but if you don’t sincerely care about the customer, it won’t work. What I mean here is that if you are focused on “getting the order” and “how much the order will be,” most customers will sense this and they will treat you as “just another salesperson” out to get their money.

If you need to, recalibrate yourself a bit, and see yourself as a consultant or as an advisor whose job is to help customers sort through their problems, understand what the possible solutions might be, and help them make a decision that is right. When you are “there” for customers, customers will be “there” for you.

Congratulations! You just made a sale! Now what? Some sales people might think the work is done, that they’ve completed their part by getting the customer to say “yes” and sign the agreement. Well, if the sales person’s goal is to get the sale and move on to the next prospect, they could be right.

But if the sales person wants customers for life, then there is more to be done.

Imagine you’re the homeowner who has just made a big purchasing decision, one you’re a little unsure about. You don’t know much about the product you bought, how it needs to be designed and installed, the materials necessary, or the contractor you are hiring. You also don’t know anything about all the contractor’s employees who might be involved in your job. Even the sales person is a stranger. What would you want to happen next?

Let’s start by seeing ourselves, and our customers, as consumers. As consumers, we’re conditioned by an almost endless number of retailers who all vye for our attention and money. Retailers are very competent at attracting us, and our money, or they wouldn’t still be in business. Most retailers know it’s very expensive to convince us to buy from them, and don’t want to spend more money to convince us again. So to save money and grow their businesses with people who want to do business with them, they spend a little more after the sale to keep us as customers. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

My father is an accountant and, at 82, still runs a small business with 40 clients. I grew up hearing about clients, but didn’t put it together until recently. I got the point when one of my seminar participants suggested that a customer was “someone we’ve sold something to, putting them in the past” and that a client was “someone we continue to sell something to, putting them in the present and future”. (I finally got it, Dad!) We want clients!

Okay, so we’ve established that we want to keep customers, that we can take lessons from retailers, and that our customers-for-life can be called clients. How can we make sure this happens?

Creating Clients
Retailers know about something called Buyer’s Remorse. You’ve heard of it, I’m sure, and have likely felt it yourself. It’s that uncomfortable feeling we have, that ” doubt” we feel, right after we say “yes.”

Researchers know that the actual decision to buy is mostly an emotional one, and we later start justifying it with facts and rationalization. This is an awkward time for the buyer, and it can be for the seller too.

However, certain things can be said and done to make this a positive part of the experience, putting positive closure on the buyer’s decision, and beginning a new lifetime relationship with your client.

Let’s take this one step a time:

• The client just said “yes” and signed the agreement. You’ll want to say something reassuring, such as, “Thank you, you’ve made a good decision, one that you and your family will all appreciate.”

KISS applies here. I suggest you Keep It Short and Simple.

• They will want to know what’s going to happen next. “Here’s what will happen next. Brenda will call you tomorrow before noon to confirm an installation date. She will talk to you about when the installers will arrive, tell you who they will be and who is in charge, and how long they will likely be here. If you have any questions she can answer them. And, of course, you can call me anytime if you have questions for me. Does that sound all right so far?”

• The clients are feeling better. “Good. You’ll like our installers. They have been with us a long time and are excellent craftsmen who take a lot of pride in what they do. You’ll see them paying attention to all the details including putting down drop cloths and wearing boot covers to protect your home. When they’re done, they’ll go over everything with you on a quality checklist they use, and make sure all your questions are answered. Does all that sound okay too?”

• They are breathing again. “Great. When the job is complete and the checklist is gone over and your questions are all answered, the lead installer will ask for a check or credit card for the remaining balance due. Will that be okay with you?”

• They feel good about not paying until they are satisfied. “Terrific. I’ll give you a call to arrange to come by again after you’ve had the system running for a week or two and see if you have any more questions. In the meantime please call me anytime you want. Sound good?”

• Don’t forget the yard sign: “Would it be okay if I left one of our company yard signs out front? Some of your neighbors may be interested in what we offer and it helps us grow our business. I’d appreciate it.”

Time for Marketing 101: Creating Clients-For-Life
Okay, you left the clients feeling as good as possible about the decision and now it’s up to the rest of your company team members to do their part. Let’s assume they do and now you have made arrangements to revisit the new clients a week or two after the installation. Since you are building a personal as well as a company relationship with the clients, a personal visit is best.

Make sure they are happy, or find out if they are not, by asking questions:

“So folks, how do you like your new comfort system?”

Listen. Listen. Listen. Be prepared to write down any issues or concerns. If there are any, show your concern and address them immediately, resolving what you can, and committing to following up personally to resolve any others. Make sure you personally follow up and, if at all possible, revisit the clients and ask again if they are then happy.

When your clients tell you they are happy:

Find out what they are happy about, “Terrific, can you tell me what you like the most about your new system?”

Listen! Then take out a blank sheet of nice quality paper and a nice pen and hand it toward them and ask, “Would you mind doing me a favor and writing down just a few sentences including what you just said? I’d like to share that with other folks

who are looking for a system like yours.”

You will get a written testimonial every time. This goes in a separate binder with 20 or so pages of photos of your nice work in the front section and an additional 20 handwritten testimonials you’ve received from other very satisfied customers.

This binder (I like to call it the Iceberg Binder since it shows your hidden value) is given to the clients during the sales call to look at while you’re at the kitchen table preparing your proposal.

As they turn the pages you can imagine them concluding that you and your company are the right choice for them!

Now for the Referral
Once the client has given you a testimonial it is time for you to ask for the best of all leads: the referral.

“Thank you for this (taking the Testimonial from them). One last thing. Would you happen to know anyone, friends, coworkers, neighbors, family, who might also be looking to solve the kind of problems you had? I’d appreciate anyone you might refer me to.”

Now wait for them to reply!

As a consumer, have you ever received a thank you card? How did you feel?

I’m sure you have, and you felt good about getting it, and felt good about those who sent it. Make a commitment to personally send one to every client after a sale. Personally means that you hand write a message and sign the card and you hand write the names and address on the envelope. Use a stamp, not metered postage — it’s more personal that way.

And include another request for referrals in your thank you note. Many salespeople have a referral offer of $50 on the back of their business cards. I often hear this consistently works well. Give it a try. (Hint: Don’t offer more than $50 — that’s enough for people who like you and wouldn’t mind getting a few bucks for their trouble. Even better, give $25 to the client who is providing the referral, and $25 credit to the new client.)

What’s Next?
Now Marketing 201 kicks in. You’ve earned a relationship with a client who has chosen you to be their HVAC contractor, and you must keep telling them that you value that relationship. Here’s a partial list of good things to do to keep clients-for-life:

• Quarterly company newsletters with general HVAC information and new product and service offers

• Monthly postcards with offers

• Annual birthday cards for the system on their installation date

• Technician conversations with clients about new products and services on planned maintenance agreement calls

• Send a personal letter (from the salesperson) annually announcing new products and asking for a referral.

After the Sale: Creating Very Satisfied Clients
Research has shown that creating a very satisfied customer will result in them telling nine of their friends about the experience, turning some of them in to future customers, who will in turn do the same and on and on. When you follow the guidelines we’ve discussed, coupled with your everyday excellence in designing and installing top quality HVAC systems, you will indeed create your own business future, you will create clients for life.