John Travolta said it best in one of my favorite movies from my youth    - “It’s systematic!” Systems are put in place for a reason, especially when it comes to air conditioning and heating sales and service. You see, cars aren’t the only thing that can perform like greased lightening. Just ask Ellis Guiles, Nexstar® Network member, ACCA member and Operations Manager with Tag Mechanical in Syracuse, New York. Ellis says, “Ever wondered how Ray Kroc managed to make millions from simply flipping burgers? Well, quit wondering. Processes and procedures consistently performing and providing exceptional customer experiences over and over again are what created Ray Kroc’s fortune.”

Good systems, processes and procedures bring order to chaos, transferring dependence upon staff to dependence on the system. They help hold staff accountable and are proven to increase revenues and increase satisfaction among the customers your serve. CSR and Dispatch systems bring consistency of message, increased productivity and enhanced communication between the two departments.

A good HVAC sales management system steps your sales team through the sales process from getting the appointment to closing the deal. Each step should provide objectives, activities and the tools like these that are needed to complete the step:

•Comfort Survey Worksheet

•Cost of Ownership Worksheet

•Daily Productivity Report

•Estimated Energy Savings Calculator

•Heat Load Calculator

•HVAC Sales Post Call Assessment

Bob Hamilton, owner of Bob Hamilton, Plumbing, Heating & AC in Kansas City, Missouri agrees. Bob is an ACCA and Nexstar member who says, “Within 3 months of joining Nexstar, my business did a 180-degree turn for the better. As a result of implementing Nexstar’s proven systems and working with their coaches, we’ve grown our revenues to over $5 million.”  Bob increased his revenues in spite of a down economy because he stuck to his proven systems.

If you’re an air conditioning and heating contractor heading to Las Vegas for the ACCA Indoor Air Expo March 5-8, stop by the Nexstar Network booth – #609 and ask Lisa Schardt and Bryan Martin how Nexstar’s proven, greased lightning systems can help you increase sales and lighten your load!

Denise Swafford, Nexstar Network Business Coach

Did you know that as of this posting, Nexstar Network has certified 387 technicians? These technicians have completed levels one and two of Nexstar’s Service System training, granting them Nexstar Certified Service Technician status. Many of you are familiar with the Service System training program, but for those of you not in the know, Service System training prepares technicians to provide exceptional customer service and provides owners the opportunity to build their businesses upon an ethical foundation.

How Service System Helps Grow Customer Relationships:

• Customer loyalty is secured through trust and respect. Customers want to know that they can trust service contractors to do the job right. They want the company to do the work as promised, come back if something wasn’t done right and follow through on their commitments. They want themselves and their property to be treated with respect.
• Employees want recognition for a job well done. They want opportunities to grow and learn, and to feel proud of “their” company.
• Operating a business ethically gives employees a sense of personal satisfaction and contributes to the bottom line.
• Who is a customer going to call for service? The company they trust!

On Facebook, we like to recognize newly certified technicians. These technicians have demonstrated positive attitudes, willingness to learn and the drive to improve themselves and their service. When you see these posts, make sure to congratulate these individuals.  They’re on their way to greater job satisfaction and are taking the next step in their careers!

By: Susan Kimball, Nexstar Network Marketing Coach

For many years, Bounce Rate described the percentage of your website visitors that left within 30 seconds – this metric is no longer widely used.  Google Analytics currently provides a Bounce Rate which represents the percentage of visitors who enter the website and “bounce” (leaving the site) rather than clicking through to visit other pages within the same site – no matter how long they stayed on the initial page.  You may hear that a Bounce Rate of over 50% is considered to be a signal for concern and generally indicates that the site is getting unqualified traffic, loads too slow, is hard to navigate or is poorly written – but that signal does not apply to all companies or industries as an indication of poor performance. 

For home service companies like yours, it could mean people are finding exactly what they need or want and leaving the page. They may be coming to the website just to get your phone number or with following basic questions of  “do you do the service I need in my area” and “why should I call you and on what number.”  Those are questions that may be answered right on the home page, meaning that they don’t need to visit any other pages in the site.  If you have a lot of visitors that go to your home page and then call your phone number that meets your company’s conversion goals, but because they left the website without going to any other pages in the site, Google considers those visits to be bounces.  This may result in your website having a high Bounce Rate even though it is actually performing well. 

Google’s new Analytics version also shows you how visitors engage with your site including “visit duration”.  You will see that your visit duration numbers for 0-10 seconds will correlate with your Bounce Rate. This is because no matter how long the person that visited only one page in your site stayed on that page, Google considered that visit a bounce and credited time on the site as 0 seconds.

If your Bounce Rate is on the higher side, but your site loads quickly, is user-friendly, is well written & relevant, and is performing well with good conversion from visits to calls/form fills, you should continue to strive to improve your Bounce Rate while using it as one of your benchmarks to regularly review – if it should ever rise significantly, quickly determine the cause and fix it.  If your site has a high Bounce Rate and is not performing well, look to improve site quality, performance and relevance.

 “Bounce” is also a term used in email marketing when an email cannot be delivered.  A soft Bounce means that the email account is temporarily at storage capacity or down for technical reasons.  A hard Bounce means that the email is permanently undeliverable as the address is no longer valid or is not in correct format.

By: Ed Cerier Nexstar Network Marketing Strategist

 Imagine you’re a consumer who’s shopping for a product or service that you know very little about, and that costs a fair amount of money. If you’re like most people, you’ll consider more than one company. And why wouldn’t you? It’s so easy to shop for companies today! In just minutes, with the click of a mouse, you can check out multiple companies.

This means that many days, consumers aren’t just calling and finding your company, they’re considering you versus your competitors. How do you stack up? If you’re like many owners, you’ve probably never even thought about it. But you can find out, and it’s surprisingly easy!

The first, easiest thing you can do is read and rate your competitors’ yellow pages ads, websites and other internet activity.

The next step is to research your competitors’ CSRs. Begin by making a list of questions to ask and things to look for (e.g., friendliness). Include some of the challenging questions you get, like “Can you give me the price over the phone?” Now find a few friends and family members to call your primary competitors. Ask your volunteers to call each company a few times, because one call may not reveal the way they typically answer their phones. Once the calls have been made, compile a report that will tell you the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ CSRs.

The next step is ask your volunteers to order service calls. There are two reasons for this. One, you’ll now be on your competitors’ current customer lists, which means you’ll receive all the postcards, newsletters, emails and so on they send to customers. Second, you’ll know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ technicians.

It’s important to go through these steps at least twice a year. Even though you know about your competitors from a contractor’s perspective, it’s important to know how your competitors appear to consumers. That’s good marketing.

By: Susan Tigner, Nexstar Network Strategic Partnerships Manager

We work in an important industry. Plumbers unleash and protect the water supply, HVAC professionals keep people warm in the winter and cool in the summer and electricians bring energy into homes and offices.

In a profession that requires specialized skills and customized solutions, it doesn’t make sense for a contractor to use products and services from outside the industry. But it’s not always easy to configure your own software program for tracking service calls or find a marketing and public relations partner who knows how to sell sewer replacement to a news producer as a story for the ten o’clock news.

As Strategic Partner Manager for Nexstar® Network, I have the pleasure of advocating for PHCE professionals to turn common goods and services into signature solutions for plumbing, HVAC and electrical contractors.  I’ve worked with human resource companies to define job profiles that outline the characteristics required for technicians, CSR’s, Dispatchers and other key positions. I’ve also guided a software provider through the process of optimizing a software program to meet the needs of our Nexstar members.

Elise Teasdale, controller with Andy Rodenhiser Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in Holliston, MA is now using a technician lead report program, configured for them by Servman. “Hiring Servman is one of the best things we ever did,” says Teasdale. “We have them create specific reports for us like our technician lead report. We pay technicians a commission based on the leads they provide and when a lead is turned into a sale, they get an additional commission. Servman customized a program for us so we can track it all and the software is flexible, and user friendly.” 

You wouldn’t sell a traditional water heater to an owner of a tankless system and you wouldn’t buy bottled water when you own a water purification system. So why buy the same disability insurance for your technicians that the computer programmers have down the street?

One size does not fit all, so make sure you try things on and don’t be afraid to ask for alterations! Your business will be better served and so will your customers if you advocate for your industry and find signature solutions. I do it for Nexstar members everyday and would welcome the opportunity to do it for you.

By: Dan Friesen, Nexstar Network Master Trainer, Owner of My Service Company

Yesterday I interviewed a plumber…

Let’s call him Fred. As I began to ask Fred about his employment background, I learned that he recently closed shop on his own dude-in-a-white-truck plumbing company. Allow me to share his version of what goes on behind the dashboard of that white truck we all see everyday.

He described how he spent 13 years with a new construction outfit and when the work dried up, he went out on his own. He no longer wanted to work for “the man.” He wanted to “control his own schedule — be home when HE wanted to be home. He knew there was “a *&$%load of money to be made.” I was intrigued.

But according to Fred, running your own business is much harder than it looks, and not nearly as cash rich as he once believed. He told me about vendors that wanted him dead, employees that are impossible to find and keep happy, and phones that just don’t seem to ring without spending ridiculous sums on advertising. I listened patiently.

He admitted that he sees my advertising everywhere and used to think  – “What a waste of money.” He heard about what I charge just to get a plumber to a customer’s house ($49) and didn’t think anyone would ever pay that. He has different opinions about those things now.

So I asked the obvious question. So why are you here?

“Well, I ultimately had to choose between my family and my business.”

Today’s takeaway:

You can lower your price to compete with the white vans in your marketplace. Just be prepared to ask your family to pay the difference.

Cheers to holding true to what we believe, staying the course, and changing the industry.

Dan Friesen is the owner of My Service Company in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. He is passionate about growing his own business as well as helping other independent contractors acheive their dreams. He wows and inspires fellow Nexstar Network members as one of Nexstar’s Master Trainers. Check out his blog for more inspiring words and insights regarding life as a father, husband and small business owner.

By: Susan Kimball, Nexstar Network Marketing Coach

If you are running a Pay Per Click (i.e. Google Adwords) program, a key factor to check is what keyword terms people searched that brought up your ad.  You may find that your ad appears for terms like Plumbing Parts or Window Air Conditioner or for types of equipment you don’t offer or for cities that you don’t service.  Even worse, you may find that people searching for those terms clicked on your ad. And then nobody was happy: the consumer didn’t get what they wanted and you had to pay for that click.

1)      Review your keyword list. Some vendors load up a standard list for your trade, but perhaps you don’t service well pumps or oil furnaces.  Remove those keywords. Conversely, you may offer geothermal or home theater wiring and want to add those keywords. Also make sure words are correct for your specific market – for example, a garbage disposal is called a garburator in Canada.

2)      Review your geo-targeting and localization keywords to see that your campaign covers the appropriate service area

3)      Check to see whether your vendor is using [exact match], “phrase match” and/or -negative keywords to prevent your ad from showing up for searches that include terms you don’t want such as parts, schools, window, car, cheap etc. For more information on keyword matching types, visit http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6100