In Their Own Words
THE PLUMBING/HVAC/ELECTRICAL GENERAL MANAGER: CURTIS BULL
“We enrolled in this training for our plumbers and comfort advisors because
we think it’s unique in the marketplace. There is a lot of training out there
from people who are not actually in the business.
“The SPN training doesn’t come from talking heads … it comes from
people working in the field every day and sharing what works and what doesn’t.
“That carries a lot of weight with our people.
“Our goal is to become more professional, to become different from the other
guy, to provide world-class service.
“When you try to grow your internal community to do that, there is a tendency
to repeat the same things over and over again – I call this the Department
of Redundancy.
“So it’s good when someone from outside your company, someone from Minnesota
or Nashville or Canada, tells your people what works.
“We have had a very good year in 2008. For example, our One Hour revenue
will be up about 35 percent and our plumbing revenue will increase about 20 percent.
“During the summer, we had the best month ever, generating about $600,000
in revenue. The previous record was $340,000.
“But we still feel that we’re not nearly as good as we want to be. Sometimes,
it’s easy to think you need a million more calls if you want to grow, but
what’s really important is what you do with every call you get now.
“What we focus on is getting our people technically competent and not leaving
business on the table. It’s the basics … what I call the blocking and
tackling.
“That’s where SPN comes in. I don’t want to put a percentage on
how much the training has increased our revenue, but it’s an important part
of what we are doing to grow our company.”
Curtis Bull is general manager of Boulden’s Plumbing, Boulden’s One
Hour™ Heating & Air Conditioning and Mister Sparky® in Newark, DE.
THE PLUMBING OPERATIONS MANAGER: JAMES MASON
“The Success Profit Network has really helped us focus on needs beyond the
call. We all understand that if a customer calls you out to the house to fix a plugged
toilet, that’s what we need to concentrate on and do first.
“But in the four months at the end of 2008 that our plumbers were enrolled
in Success Profit Network training while I’ve been here, it has helped them
understand that identifying things that can cause problems down the road is doing
the right thing by the customer.
“For example, if a customer has a leaky pipe under the house and doesn’t
know about it, at least here in the Southeast, that opens the door for mold spores
and creates a health issue. What happens if that pipe bursts in the middle of the
night.
“Or what if the customer has a problem while he or she is on vacation and
comes home to find the house flooded?
“Our customers would rather know about the potential for that kind of
thing to happen in advance, and have the option to do the repairs or maintenance,
or plan to do them in the future.
“Since our plumbers have been using the checklist developed by Success Profit
Network, and have listened to the presentation by Tab Hunter, they’ve been
more proactive.
“Our average ticket has grown $100 during the last four months of 2008.
Projected over a full year, that would mean an additional $500,000 in revenue to
our company.
“What I like about the training, also, is that our people are not reading
this in some textbook but learning from people who are actually using it.
I keep hearing from other companies about being slow. Well, we made budget this
month on Dec. 23 using things like I’ve talked about here.
We take care of the customer. It sounds simple, but it’s not. I believe that
for every customer you help, you gain two. And for every customer you hurt, you
lose five.
“For us, that’s a very good thing.”
James Mason is Operations manager for Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® in Valdosta,
GA.
THE COMFORT ADVISOR: TRAPPER BARNES
“The training has taught me to take the time to build a rapport with the customer,
be consistent in everything I do, and focus on achieving what the customer wants,
not on selling something.
“I really don’t think of myself as a salesman and I never will. I tell
my customers I’m not designing a system for them, I’m a consultant who
is helping them design their own system.
“And that’s really true.
“The other thing that I learned is that the average HVAC company will spend
about 17 minutes in the home. I spend up to three hours there.
“Obviously, I’m there to make money, but it’s never about beating
people over the head, it’s about educating them on what they need and the
reasons why … and then providing it to them.
“They taught me that sales is really like walking down a hallway and shutting
doors … the doors stand for objections. As you go down that hallway and are
able to close every door, you reach the end of the hallway and all you have to do
is take the order.
“I had kind of a slow first five months of the year in 2008 and sold $537,635,
an average of about $107,000 a month.
“Success Profit Network helped me realize that I needed to take more time
with the customer to build a rapport … that sales is really about building
trust with the customer. People will say ‘no’ when you don’t build
a rapport with them first because they’re unsure about you, because they don’t
trust you, or they’re afraid of being taken advantage of.
“So I really concentrated on talking to the customer and focusing on what
they need. I used one key tool that Success Profit Network provided to me …
the comfort survey.
“The comfort survey is a list of questions that I ask the customer to find
out as much as I can about what they want. How long have they lived in the house
and how long ago did they replace their system? If we didn’t originally put
the old system in, why did they choose us to come out to their house? Were there
problems with the previous contractor and why?
“It’s questions like this that help you start a dialogue and build trust.
People will share information about what they want if you let them. This helps you
go full tilt after what they need.
“Two other things that really helped me were the utility overpayment presentation
and breaking down big numbers into much smaller ones.
“For example, today (in late December 2008), I talked to a customer who had
an older system for a 3,500-square-foot house. He’s spending about $2,600
to cool that house right now during the hottest months of the year … I don’t
know if you know, but we have an average of about five months a year in Texas that
are hotter than all get out. So he’s spending $2,600 during those five months
and I showed him how our two systems can reduce that to about $1,200 during those
months. That kind of thing definitely gets a customer’s attention.
“Another key thing I’ve learned through the training is to break down
large numbers to smaller numbers. For example, my average sale is about $10,000.
“Now that’s a large number. But when you break that down to an average
monthly number, then to a weekly number, and finally to a daily number, that number
is much smaller. I ask my customers what they can afford per week and they give
me a number.
“Then I show them that they will be paying less, and often that doesn’t
include the savings off their utility bill. When I factor in the utility savings,
that’s an added bonus to them.
“Using these kinds of tools, building rapport and trust, and doing the
right thing by the customer really helped me increase my sales dramatically from
my slow start. I reached $184,579 in sales in June, $175,969 in July and $156,264
in August for a total over three months of $516,812.
“I am projecting to end 2008 with just under $1.45 million in my first
full calendar year as a comfort advisor. (I started as a comfort advisor in May
2007.) My average ticket went from $8,800 to about $10,000 this year, and my closing
rate went from 45 percent to about 60 percent.
“This training really works!”
Trapper Barnes is a comfort advisor at Unique’s One Hour™ Air Conditioning
& Heating in Dallas, TX.
From a 42% closing rate to an 84.6% closing rate in 2 ½ days!
The Success Profit Network (SPN) Doubled Myrtle Beach’s One Hour’s closing
ratio during the first 2 ½ days after the first SPN broadcast!
Here’s what Joe Mascetti of Myrtle Beach’s One Hour had to say….
“Just wanted to let you know Mr. Abrams's training session
was a success for us. Our 3 comfort advisors had 13 leads since Tuesday and closed
11 for $79,540 a average sale of 7,231. Before that we had a 42% closing rate with
a 6,330 average ticket. Thank You Again”
Joe Mascetti, Myrtle Beach’s One Hour
Closing 11 out of 13 leads calculates to a closing ration of 84.6%, that’s over double their previous closing average.
We weren’t lying when we said SPN would pay for itself, it pays you. If you take the same 13 leads and apply Myrtle Beach’s previous stats, they would have only closed 5.5 of those leads for an average sale of $6,330. That would have resulted in a total revenue of $34,815. They would have missed out on $44,725 in sales if they had skipped the SPN opportunity. That’s eight years worth of enrollment fees in 2 ½ days.
“The training has been awesome! It has escalated each CA's closing rate, and average ticket, my new guy, James 1 month on the road sold his first optimum system and he attributed it to Randy's call on Tuesday. Don't stop this one!”
John Poniewozik Iceberg One Hour, Monroe, Michigan
“The method given to close the objection doors taught me so much today. I can’t wait to do this on my next call.”
James Beavdrie, Home Comfort Advisor, Monroe, Michigan
“The technique given on the approach for each call with the homeowner, time commitment and today decision were all effective questioning methods given; me and my guys can use daily.”
Ramon Blachly, General Manager and Owner, Olathe, Kansas
“The information provided was not only for home comfort advisors it will help me to be a better sales manager and hold my team accountable. Can’t wait till next week!”
Donna Lanier, Owner and General/Sales Manager, Huntsville, Alabama
“Instructor Randy Norton has been doing this forever! He has personally handled every objection and situation in front of a customer. He speaks from “actual” experience and he trains exactly the way he executes in the field.”
Tim Heggie, Air quality’s One Hour Toronto, Ontario
