If you are just getting started with maintenance agreements and want to make sure you get off on the right foot…

If you are stuck – selling and renewing about the same number of agreements each year…

If you want to exponentially grow your maintenance agreement base to have less seasonality, more replacement sales, and a more stable business….

Then join our live, exclusive program tomorrow, Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 11 AM Eastern time.

You’ll learn:

• The one simple thing that will exponentially grow your sales
• How to run a contest so that everyone wins
• Why commercial agreements are a critical component of your plan

Call in or chat in questions for Ruth King, the presenter who has helped thousands of contractors increase their maintenance agreement bases.

Here’s how to participate:

On Wednesday, February, 2, 2011 at 11 AM Eastern time:
Go to the HVACChannel.tv Program Schedule
Fill out the form and use the password, esc (all lower case letters)

If you miss the live session or want to watch it again:
Go to the HVACChanne.tv Library
Click the link for 5 Easy Ways to Grow your Maintenance Agreements
Fill out the form and use the password, esc (all lower case letters)

In addition to the free broadcast, you’ll also get the opportunity to participate in the 2011 Grow your Maintenance Agreement Challenge at reduced rates as an ESC user.

I hope you can make it tomorrow!

Here at dESCO we are always looking for ways to provide you with the resources you need to grow your business and make it more valuable to you.

We’ve discovered that one of the most effective ways to increase the value of your business is through maintenance agreements. Growing a maintenance agreement base, whether for HVAC, plumbing, or another type of service company, is critical for profitability.

With that goal in mind, Ruth King, a well-respected industry consultant and Channel Manager for HVACChannel.tv, is leading a 301-Day challenge for ESC users to grow your maintenance agreements.

You can find out more information about the 301-Day Challenge and sign up for the program by clicking the link below.

301-Day Maintenance Agreement Growth Challenge

If this program sounds like what your company needs to take its maintenance agreement program to the next level,  download and print the registration form.

The following is a guest post by Darion Miller is the Co-Author of the Service Coach Blog, which provides marketing resources to the service industry.

Loyal Customers are hard to come by today with so much competition. However, with a solid company plan on how to generate leads and turn them into loyal customers you should not have a problem. Here are seven tips to turn a lead into a loyal customer that keeps on giving:

Selling Service Agreements

Creating service agreements is a great way for your service company to provide value throughout the year. These agreements let the customers know that you stand behind your work and that you will be there if something goes wrong. Here are 3 things to keep in mind when creating a service agreement:

1. Make the service agreement simple for your customers to understand
2. Keep the agreement fair and make sure it benefits both parties
3. Create packages that will allow you to extend a service agreement over a year or a season

Be On Time for Service Calls

Being on time is critical for any service business. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes for a minute, could you afford to take time off from work, for a day or even a couple hours, to allow a service technician access to your house? Most cannot and it could mean they are really paying double for your services when considering the lost time in wages. Having a solid dispatch and mapping system will allow you to remain on time and keep your customers coming back.

Keeping Past Records of Your Customers

There is nothing worse than when a customer has to repeat information or provide the service tech with details from a previous visit. Keeping records on your customer’s accounts for at least 5 years will benefit you in many ways. One of the most important is that account information can be extremely useful to your technicians while on-site. If they know what was done in the past, to expect a certain result, or know not to try a certain technique your clients will see that your company really has operations under control and will respect your technician’s advice. When your clients trust your company they will trust your professional opinion on how to best complete a project.

Providing Free Tips & DIY Materials

Sometimes your customers just want to understand how or why you go about a project the way you do simply for their own curiosity. When a plumber comes to my house I make a point to find out what’s going on even though I know I’m not skilled enough to perform the task myself. Provide “do it yourself” articles on your company blog to answer basic inquiries that satisfy your customers questions and present yourself as a knowledgeable industry leader. Don’t forget to have a call to action to convert them into a lead!

Try and Be Accessible to Your Customers 24/7

You should try and be assessable 24/7 even if you don’t answer your phone. When something happens you need to make sure your customers know there is always a line of communication open. Make sure your website has a customer login portal where customers or potential customers can request service or have the information to contact you in the off-hours.

Here are some ways to be accessible:

• Have an emergency email address like: emergency@company.com or help@company.com
• Have a customer portal
• Have a landing page dedicated to Emergency help on your site
• Have an off hours dispatcher

Allow for Company Transparency

There is no better way to create a loyal customer base than to be transparent about your company. If a customer or potential asks you a question the best thing you can do is be honest. With the internet and company reviews (both good and bad) accessible to almost everyone anything you say can be cross checked online. Don’t take for granted how much research people do on a company, a problem, or a solution before actually handing over cash to start a job with you. Train your technicians on the best ways to handle objections or tough questions that may be asked by customers and show they how to avoid making the company look bad or misinformed.

Knowing When to Say No to a Customer

It’s tough to say no to a client especially in a down economy. However when the job is too tough or beyond your skill set it’s better to be upfront and honest with your client and recommend a few people that can get the job done right than for you to attempt and perform poorly. This will allow you to become a trusted advisor and when the client has more work they will defiantly come back to you with questions or referrals.

These 7 tips will not only make for a better service company but will continue to generate revenue through your customer loyalty.

You can read more posts about marketing service businesses by Darion Miller at the Service Coach Blog or follow @theservicecoach on Twitter. You can download his free Service Marketing Playbook.

Contracting Business Magazine named longtime ESC customer, Kahn Mechanical Contractors, Inc., of Dallas, Texas, a winner of the prestigious 2010 Design/Build Award. Kahn Mechanical Contracting became an ESC customer in April 1993 and have been a loyal customer ever since.

Most of this year’s winners of the Design/Build award have previously been awarded and named the ContractingBusiness.com Commercial Contractor of the Year. This award is all about how well the HVACR contractor’s is able to “take a leading role in providing the ultimate HVACR system for the benefit of the customer.”

Contracting Business has been honoring companies that excel in the Design/Build process for two decades through this prestigious award. The Design/Build process can allow for higher margins, warranty control, lower costs, a higher level of quality, and more satisfied customers.

Ron Rajecki, contributing editor at Contracting Business Magazine, had an excellent overview of the Design/Build project Kahn Mechanical Contractors completed for this award, as well as the work that it took to get the client to put faith in them to design and get the project done.

You can read the full article here, or read some of the highlights below:

The steps required to win a Design/Build project can be a greater challenge than the actual installation, because the contractor must win the trust of the client. Kahn Mechanical won this client’s trust, and followed through with efficient comfort and indoor air quality solutions. […] As a prior Design/Build Award winner and Contracting Business magazine’s 2008 Commercial Contractor of the Year, Kahn Mechanical was the right company at the right time to update [the JFO Group Office Building, Irving, TX.] comfort systems. […]

“We presented solutions to problems beyond the nuts and bolts,” says Josh Kahn, president of Kahn Mechanical Contractors. “We avoided discussion of air handlers, chillers, and pumps, and focused on improving dependability, comfort, energy efficiency and lower cost of ownership.” […]

“This client placed extraordinary trust in Kahn Mechanical Contractors,” Kahn says. “They allowed us carte blanche (within budget, of course) to do whatever we felt was in the best interest of the building owners. This was simultaneously an amazing gift of trust, and an awesome responsibility. In the end, the results exceeded the client’s expectations, and showed us that we continue to improve our delivery with each and every project.

“That’s the price of success,” Kahn concludes. “As an award-winning Design/Build team, we want to not only be award-worthy, but to surpass our prior accomplishments.”

(via Contracting Business)

We come across articles and blog posts every day that help service companies better operate, market, and grow. There’s simply too much out there to keep up with. That’s why we periodically will publish a collection of useful links like the ones below.

Mobile Payments As Marketing Strategy – John Jantsch lays out the argument for using and accepting mobile payments as a marketing strategy, as a way to set your company apart from the competition. He poses this question: “The question marketers of all kinds need to start asking is if their customers are mobile, how mobile does the business need to be?”

Golden Opportunity – Garry Upton and Robert Wilkos write in Contracting Business Magazine about how to get the most out of your existing customers by expanding your service agreement offerings.

Top 10 Tips on How to Sell a HVAC Maintenance Contract – Following on the idea of growing you service business with service contracts, we have a post from The Service Coach about how to sell maintenance contracts more effectively.

Forming a Board of Directors is Crucial for HVACR Businesses – Greg McAfee has a post on his blog about the importance of getting outside advice from trusted advisors, or a board, for long term HVAC success.

HVAC Marketing Terms – Ron Smith published a post on his blog says there are terms HVAC contractors and other service contractors use to describe their business that are less than idea to share with customers. He suggests 14 improvements to your marketing vocabulary.

If you come across a great link you want to share with your service company colleagues, email it to jonathanf [at] desco-soft [dot] com

Below is a collection of quick tips for your service agreement program. These are from the end of a longer article from Contracting Business Magazine by Robert Wikos of Peaden Air Conditioning. The rest of the article goes into depth about how a strong service agreement program will lead to better customer loyalty, revenue, and company value. The full article provides lots of stats to argue for a strong service agreement program, but for those of you who are already believers, the following list will give you some food for thought of what parts of your service agreement program you can work to improve:

1. Display a total commitment
2. Offer priority service
3. Honor your word
4. Be flexible
5. Provide reasonably-priced service with good value and benefits. It’s the beginning of a long-term relationship and not just a quick sale
6. Monitor your growth
7. Refine and duplicate procedures
8. Track technician performance

How has your company benefited from your service agreement program? Share your service agreement tips in the comments.

Make Each of Your Customer Interactions During Service Agreement Service Call a Selling Opportunity

August is almost over. That means the hot weather and the summer busy (or crazy) season is drawing to a close for much of the country.

It also means it’s time to take a look at the health of your service agreement program. Did your technicians sell more new service agreements than they did last year? Did your renewal rate improve? Do you have enough service agreements to keep your technicians busy through the winter? How has your service agreement base affected the overall value of your business? These are all good questions to ask to get ready for next summer’s busy season.

The summer busy season was a great opportunity to sell service agreements to your new or repeat customers. I hope your company had a successful year for selling service agreements. I also hope that the service agreements you sold are more than just a way to keep your technicians busy during the slow times.

Service agreements do give you revenue throughout the year and help to spread out the annual work load, but they also give you an opportunity to sell to your customers. A routine service check can uncover major problems for your customers before they become emergencies.

Those same routine checks also get your technicians face-to-face with your customers, which will beat the odds of door-hangers and direct mail any day of the year. You have a huge opportunity here. Your customers are expecting you to come. They’ve invited you in.

However, this direct interaction will be a huge waste if your techs just go into the house look at the equipment, change a filter or two and move on to the next service call.

This doesn’t mean you can invent problems or be dishonest with your customers, but your technicians should approach each service agreement call as an opportunity to find a way to help the customer through suggesting an equipment upgrade to save energy, proposing automated climate controls to make their house more comfortable, or some other way that you can benefit your customers.

You’ll want to make sure your technicians are prepared to sell during each encounter they have in the home of your service agreement customers.

Conversion Rate on a Service Agreement Call

Conversion rates on these routine calls will probably be much lower than your conversion rate of service agreements or ordinary service call, but it stands to bring in more sales dollars because you’ll be selling a more tangible product or service.

During a service agreement service call is the best time to bring up more extensive tune-ups to prepare equipment for cold weather and seeing what equipment is in need to replacement.

Conversion and sales rates are going to vary by your type of Service Company, but there are a few principals that will remain consistent.

1. Set a conversion rate goal: Every one of your technicians needs to know what the goal is and how well they are doing to reach it. Each tech should know where they stand.
2. Sales Training for Technicians: First and foremost, your technicians are technicians and the good work that they perform will have to stay priority number one. However, they are also the ones on the front line of your business. They have the most face-to-face contact with your customers, and therefore are best suited to selling to them.
3. Provide Strong Marketing Materials to Your Technicians: Your technicians can sell and talk about solutions, but many times it will not be a one call close. However, the marketing materials they leave behind after the sales conversation can help in the decision making process, as well as fill in many of the technical gaps that don’t get talked about in the sales conversation.
4. Reward the Results: The technicians that succeed in converting more sales should be rewarded generously for their efforts. Give them the incentives they need to stay motivated and focused on their goals.

You worked hard to get these service agreement customers. They trust you and count on you. Make sure that you serve them well by finding ways to make them more comfortable and making sure they’re equipment doesn’t break when they need it the most.

“We switched to ESC about six months ago because there were a lot of problems with our previous software. We really didn’t get any support with our previous software, and they were charging astronomical pricing for the support. If we would do an update, it would mess everything up.

“dESCO’s support team is all in the same place, so all the techs know what’s going on. That helped me a lot because they’re all on the same page. That helps tremendously. I really like that dESCO uses the program to test it out. If you’re not actually incorporating the program into your day, you don’t have a clue.

“It’s been a very easy program to use. When we first got it I was trying to figure out our letters for our service agreements. I ran off the report on one of our service agreements, and I could see right there in front of me who needed to be inactive and who needed to be billed. The email and letter templates were great. That’s what I couldn’t get over. They made billing our service agreements so easy.

“On this program which I really like, you can do things and it doesn’t screw it up. ESC has just been great and as I go on, I find more and more things that I can do. I’m really enjoying the program. It’s just so much easier to me. This is such a great program. The more I play with it, the easier it gets. Our previous software was so hard to me.

“This is my game. I feel like a kid. I get to play with it all day long, and get paid for it.”

Lisa Betz, Service Coordinator. Nardco Heating and Air Conditioning