Joanna Turpin, editor of Contractor Excellence magazine, wrote a story in the Spring 2011 issue of the magazine featuring long-time ESC customer, Brothers Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing, of Rock Hill, South Carolina. The story talks about Brothers aggressive, technology focused growth.

The article covers the background of the company and some recent expansions, but then gets into the technology they implemented to reach and track their very aggressive sales and growth goals:

In order to track those numbers on a daily basis, Brothers Air made a serious investment in technology. The company is now essentially paperless, as dispatches are sent electronically, technicians use tablet-style PCs in the field, and customers receive invoices from printers located on each truck. After the service call is completed, the information is immediately transmitted to the office, so not only can sales be monitored hourly, but the barcode system can update any parts that need to be restocked.

“What’s nice about this system is that the technician on a service call can pull up the history of everything we’ve ever done for that customer,” said [CFO, Jamie] Robinson. “The technicians can also collect electronic signatures from customers and run the credit cards right in the field. If they get a declined credit card, they can handle it right there, before they leave the house. Virtually every aspect of each service call is now handled in the field.”

This type of close scrutiny is mandatory in order to understand what the profit margins need to be in order to move forward as a company. In fact, not understanding the margins is one of the big mistakes many contractors make in their companies, said Robinson. “If you’re not putting money on the bottom line, then you’re not growing the company, and you’re not going to be able to make the capital expenditures you need to keep everything going. If we weren’t paying attention to what our bottom line was, there’s no way we could’ve built the new addition.”

The story goes on to tell some of the lessons Brothers learned about the importance of tracking advertising dollars to sales, as well as using their accounting system to calculate the profit margins and contributions of each of their trucks and employees.

We’re happy to see that such a profitable and successful company is using our software.

[ Via Contractor Excellence: New Ideas Lead to Aggressive Expansion (and Higher Sales): http://www.contractorexcellence.com/4474]

A real challenge for service companies is convincing customers they’ve been servicing for years that it’s time for an upgrade. You customer possibly has trusted you for years as you service and maintain their equipment. However, there comes a time when you see that continuing to service the equipment is not in your customer’s best interest. Instead, you think they need a replacement.

The question then is how do you shift from the role of fixer to the role of replacer?

Many times your customer sees the quote and is afraid or unwilling to pay for what their business or home needs, but that mean’s it’s your responsibility to help them think about what’s important in the long run. You may know what your customer needs, but that’s because you are the expert. You also have to convince your customer of the benefits you’re offering.

Selling replacement equipment is easier after you have built up a relationship with your customer. However, if you haven’t yet come to that level of trust, then you need to point to your company’s history of similar work, how long you’ve been in business, examples of customers you’ve helped, testimonial statements, and references to call. You have to make sure your customer is confident that you know what you’re doing with replacement as well as with service. When talking about other replacements or installations you’ve done and other customers you’ve done work for, be sure that everything you say relates back to your customer’s situation.

Finally, when shifting the focus from service to replacement, don’t get hung up on price. And don’t let you customer get hung up on price. Instead focus on value and the long-term benefits of replacing their equipment. You know the value of what you are offering, but you must be sure your customer sees that value too. Otherwise, any price you quote will be too high. Also, focus on the positive benefits of what you are offering rather than the negatives of not buying.