Admit it: Almost all your replacement sales are the basic, minimum SEER or AFUE equipment.
I know why you do it.
You need to make the sale and you are afraid you’ll lose it if you price out the Premium, variable speed, 25 SEER system.
Another thing is that it’s time consuming to work up one price, let alone several different prices! You have to look up the equipment cost, then add all the other things like taxes, material, labor, etc. and add a mark-up for your profit. By the time you do all this for your cheapest system, you don’t have time to do it all again for the better, more expensive units.
If you were buying the system for yourself, you probably wouldn’t install the Premium system because you don’t think it’s worth the extra money for the 25 SEER unit. Right?
So, you add up your costs on a basic model of equipment, add just enough mark up to make you feel like it’s a “fair price” and hand it to your customer on a business card or service invoice.
Sound familiar? Well, you’re not the only contractor to do it that way. Most of my competitors still do it that way. And most of them are not making the income that they deserve for their hard, skilled work.
Question: When you bought your last car/truck, did you get the stripped-down model of the cheapest vehicle you could find? You know, the one with no radio, no power windows and no air conditioning? All those bells and whistles are just unnecessary things to get your money, and you won’t be a sucker for a car salesman. Right?
Or did you buy the most expensive truck you could afford? You know, the one with 4 wheel drive, club cab, air conditioning, radio with CD player, Bluetooth and a back up camera, power tinted windows and a sunroof?
Or how about the last refrigerator you bought. Was it the small, single door basic model, with no ice maker or automatic defrost? You can buy an ice tray for a few dollars, and you can defrost your own refrigerator. You don’t NEED all those expensive fancy bells and whistles. Do you?
Or did you buy the extra large refrigerator with two side-by-side doors, filtered water and ice dispenser, auto defrost and humidity controlled fresh food drawers?
If you didn’t buy the bare bones basic car or refrigerator, why is that the only thing you offer your customers?
I know, it’s a lot of work to calculate three or four different prices for every bid. You’ve got a lot to do and don’t have time to do all that math!
That’s why I developed my Flat Rate Replacement Price Book. Let me be clear, it wasn’t my original idea in any way. There have been and are other price books out there. But all of them had fatal flaws that made me reject them. They were too expensive, or were provided by a manufacturer who only allowed their brand to be sold, or didn’t allow me enough flexibility to add or adjust pricing, mark-ups or other features.
So I spent many days when work was slow developing my ideal price book. (I’m pretty good at electronic spread sheets.)
And it worked! When I presented my customers with a single price sheet that gave them the choice of four different systems, they almost always chose a higher grade of system than the basic one.
It was so easy! I just opened the notebook with the prices and they picked the system they wanted! And they almost NEVER bought the cheapest system!
Even better, I closed the sale on the spot – when they were ready to buy. My close rate was much higher, my customers were happier, and I made more money. There was no down-side to this price book except for the many hours it took to develop it.
Your customers do not want the basic stripped down hvac system! They WANT bells and whistles like higher energy ratings, air cleaners, uv lights, longer warranties, fancier cabinets and lower sound levels. And they don’t even blink at the higher prices in your price book!
It’s not your job to decide for your customer what hvac system they want. It’s your job to show them their options, then sit back and remain silent while they decide what’s best for them.
My favorite moment in the sale is when I’ve been silent for a whole minute (that feels like forever) while the customers look at my price sheet, and the husband looks at his wife and says: “Which one do you want honey?” That’s when I know I’ve got the sale. And the wife NEVER chooses the cheapest system!
We recently hired a new technician and was too busy to train him right away. We simply gave him the notebook, which included my Flat Rate Service Price Book and my Replacement Price Book, and sent him out on service calls. In the first week, he sold a new higher grade system – at full retail price! With no help from me! He also did many repair calls and priced the repairs correctly from my Repair Book with no help.
My Replacement Price Book and Repair Price Book can make your business more money and save you a great deal of time in the process.
Admit it: Almost all your replacement sales are the basic, minimum SEER or AFUE equipment.
I know why you do it.
You need to make the sale and you are afraid you’ll lose it if you price out the Premium, variable speed, 25 SEER system.
Another thing is that it’s time consuming to work up one price, let alone several different prices! You have to look up the equipment cost, then add all the other things like taxes, material, labor, etc. and add a mark-up for your profit. By the time you do all this for your cheapest system, you don’t have time to do it all again for the better, more expensive units.
If you were buying the system for yourself, you probably wouldn’t install the Premium system because you don’t think it’s worth the extra money for the 25 SEER unit. Right?
So, you add up your costs on a basic model of equipment, add just enough mark up to make you feel like it’s a “fair price” and hand it to your customer on a business card or service invoice.
Sound familiar? Well, you’re not the only contractor to do it that way. Most of my competitors still do it that way. And most of them are not making the income that they deserve for their hard, skilled work.
Question: When you bought your last car/truck, did you get the stripped-down model of the cheapest vehicle you could find? You know, the one with no radio, no power windows and no air conditioning? All those bells and whistles are just unnecessary things to get your money, and you won’t be a sucker for a car salesman. Right?
Or did you buy the most expensive truck you could afford? You know, the one with 4 wheel drive, club cab, air conditioning, radio with CD player, Bluetooth and a back up camera, power tinted windows and a sunroof?
Or how about the last refrigerator you bought. Was it the small, single door basic model, with no ice maker or automatic defrost? You can buy an ice tray for a few dollars, and you can defrost your own refrigerator. You don’t NEED all those expensive fancy bells and whistles. Do you?
Or did you buy the extra large refrigerator with two side-by-side doors, filtered water and ice dispenser, auto defrost and humidity controlled fresh food drawers?
If you didn’t buy the bare bones basic car or refrigerator, why is that the only thing you offer your customers?
I know, it’s a lot of work to calculate three or four different prices for every bid. You’ve got a lot to do and don’t have time to do all that math!
That’s why I developed my Flat Rate Replacement Price Book. Let me be clear, it wasn’t my original idea in any way. There have been and are other price books out there. But all of them had fatal flaws that made me reject them. They were too expensive, or were provided by a manufacturer who only allowed their brand to be sold, or didn’t allow me enough flexibility to add or adjust pricing, mark-ups or other features.
So I spent many days when work was slow developing my ideal price book. (I’m pretty good at electronic spread sheets.)
And it worked! When I presented my customers with a single price sheet that gave them the choice of four different systems, they almost always chose a higher grade of system than the basic one.
It was so easy! I just opened the notebook with the prices and they picked the system they wanted! And they almost NEVER bought the cheapest system!
Even better, I closed the sale on the spot – when they were ready to buy. My close rate was much higher, my customers were happier, and I made more money. There was no down-side to this price book except for the many hours it took to develop it.
Your customers do not want the basic stripped down hvac system! They WANT bells and whistles like higher energy ratings, air cleaners, uv lights, longer warranties, fancier cabinets and lower sound levels. And they don’t even blink at the higher prices in your price book!
It’s not your job to decide for your customer what hvac system they want. It’s your job to show them their options, then sit back and remain silent while they decide what’s best for them.
My favorite moment in the sale is when I’ve been silent for a whole minute (that feels like forever) while the customers look at my price sheet, and the husband looks at his wife and says: “Which one do you want honey?” That’s when I know I’ve got the sale. And the wife NEVER chooses the cheapest system!
We recently hired a new technician and was too busy to train him right away. We simply gave him the notebook, which included my Flat Rate Service Price Book and my Replacement Price Book, and sent him out on service calls. In the first week, he sold a new higher grade system – at full retail price! With no help from me! He also did many repair calls and priced the repairs correctly from my Repair Book with no help.
My Replacement Price Book and Repair Price Book can make your business more money and save you a great deal of time in the process.
L. Doc Garner, Owner
HVACQuickStart.com
hvacsuccess@mediumseagreen-ibis-154838.hostingersite.com
423-457-2787
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