The Best of Rob Falke: So, You Have a Diagnostic Lead – Now What?

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing,” writes Benjamin Franklin.

Any article from a good writer is worth reading again and again. This is most certainly true for those written by the late, great Rob Falke. Rob was the president of National Comfort Institute (NCI) and one of the architects of what is now known as the High-Performance HVAC Contracting movement. With that in mind, we’d like to revisit an article he published in this magazine in July 2021. It is just as pertinent today as it was then. So without further ado:

The first critical ingredient to create a system upgrade sale is your conviction that each system needs more than equipment replacement. Your ability to successfully sell more than a box swap depends on being able to communicate that conviction. You’ll use it along with your skill, expertise, and creativity to deliver a custom system built on the foundation of diagnostics.

Let’s take a look at the events you’ll arrange in your customers’ homes to help them understand their system, discover its failings, and get them to ask for help improving the performance of their system.

Let’s also acknowledge upfront; this new system will usually cost more than they anticipated. Your job is to help customers learn enough about it, so they’re delighted to pay the higher price. If they’re not, you have done a disservice. Sadly, some will be unable to afford more than a box, and that’s OK.

Fortunately, if you have a diagnostics sales lead in hand, your customer has shown some level of interest in system upgrades and may want more.

This sales approach is very different than what is normally practiced within the general HVAC industry and taught by its best sales trainers and manufacturers.

A Unique Series of Events

It’s up to you to orchestrate a unique set of events that we’ll call an in-home Learn-O-mercial. Sorry for the weird word, but after nearly 40 years of personally practicing this sales method and trying to teach it to others, it’s the most accurate description. This is the secret sauce for closing diagnostic sales leads.

You need to be a detective to discover the diagnostics sales lead. In the quest for sales leads, diagnostics may be your strongest tool. Help customers discover their system’s defects and you will close the sale.

If you carefully study, practice, and develop your brand of in-home Learn-O-mercial, following these principles, I can promise you increased success and enjoyment in your sales efforts. Typically, sales closing rates nearly double, margins and profit naturally increase, and you’ll never need to exert pressure on a customer again.

This unique series of events will result in a successful sale the moment that you and your customer discover any issues together and agree upon their resolution. You have now made this the homeowner’s custom project.

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