< Previoustractors were already doing. Air balancing and combustion efficiency testing measured the per-formance characteristics of the HVAC system and compared the collected information to man-ufacturer’s specifications.When this testing is used today, customers are invited to become involved in the testing and diag-nostics of the system, and a contractor/customer bond is created. Using an air-balancing hood en-ables the customer to “see” and relate to airflow. By including the customer in the testing process, it will be easier for the contractor to convince the customer that a kitchen that has been uncomfort-able for years requires airflow of 100. The contrac-tor should use the balancing hood to show the cus-tomer that the measure of airflow is only 35.Customers quickly understand the cause for inefficiency and desire to have the problem The quest for greater energy efficien-cy has been promoted by the govern-ment using utility company programs for more than a quarter of a century. This movement has made consumers aware that higher efficiency equipment is the right thing to use. Manufacturers have responded with higher efficiency equip-ment and contractors have consistently been able to increase the sale price of their systems because of this.An increasing number of HVAC contractors are voluntarily measuring the performance of the HVAC systems they in-stall. They do it because their customers are will-ing to pay extra for the assurance of increased efficiency and verified comfort. Let’s take a closer look at system performance measurements and how you can use them to solve your customer’s comfort and efficiency problems and increase sales.CONTRACTORS CAPITALIZE ON EFFICIENCYDuring this same period of time, leading HVAC contractors took the concepts from utility com-pany programs and began to infuse their sales opportunities with the idea of testing. Since they had a relationship with the customer and were able to work directly with them to make the buy-ing decision, testing evolved into a key compo-nent of the sales process.Testing and diagnostic methods were used and tied to live system-testing that HVAC con-20 NOVEMBER 2018WHY System Performance Measurement WorksBy Rob “Doc” FalkeTECHNICALHIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYthe sale. Additional testing and diag-nostics will be needed to form a de-tailed scope of work for the installers. The work can be priced and sold to meet your customer’s budget and effi-ciency needs.A LIVE ONE-HOUR INFOMERCIALSystem performance measurement works because what you’ve created is a live one-hour infomercial. You’ve educated and motivated your custom-er to get more than a new box that did the same thing the old one did. Typi-cally the sale increases by a third, but more importantly, you can now actu-ally deliver the efficiency and comfort that others can’t.Through testing and diagnostics, you also exposed the feeble attempts of your competition to sell a high-ef-ficiency box that cannot deliver what they promised. Your customers win and you win.CAPITALIZE ON THE VALUE OF VERIFICATIONYour customers trust you. They commit to being your customers and you commit to being their trusted contractor. By adding system perfor-mance measurement before and after the sale, you can raise the level of trust and seal that promise by inviting your customers to witness for themselves the results of your work.Remember that bedroom with an airflow reading of 35? Let the custom-er measure it at 105. If the pressure was 85 (.85-in. water column) show them it’s now 48. If their system was operating at 57%, show the customer the testing and calculations confirm it’s now operating at 93%.What’s most important is you can now deliver to your customers what you’ve been promising them for years. They’re willing to pay you to deliver the quality and efficiencies others talk about, but are unable to deliver.All the government and utility pro-grams want is for you to capitalize on what they’ve tried to offer for de-cades. They’ve created the demand, that’s their job. Yours is to deliver to your customers what they have wanted and are willing to pay for all along. solved. In addition to getting a new box that heats or cools, they will now gain comfort in a room that previous-ly had none.THE EQUIPMENT AND THE DUCTS MAKE A SYSTEMNew heating and cooling equipment is not an appliance to be swapped out like a refrigerator. System perfor-mance measurement helps custom-ers understand that purchasing new equipment alone cannot assure com-fort and efficiency.Efficiency is purchased when duct and equipment defects are discovered using easy to understand live system diagnostics. An air-balancing hood is a good method for basic pressure and temperature testing, and can be very effective at identifying defects that pre-vent efficiency, comfort, and safety.Keep pre-sales testing simple and to a minimum. When a customer sees enough to buy, stop testing and make NOVEMBER 2018 21Rob “Doc” Falke serves the industry as president of Nation-al Comfort Institute, Inc., an HVAC-based training company and membership organization. If you’re an HVAC contractor or technician interested in a free procedure to calculate system airflow at higher elevations, contact Doc at robf@ncihvac.com or call him at 800-633-7058. Go to NCI’s website at nationalcomfort- institute.com for free information, articles, and downloads.HVACTODAY.COMNOVEMBER 2018 23HVACTODAY.COMAccording to most customers, tech-nicians are your most credible team members. As a result, technician rec-ommendations are trusted more often than even those of the company owner. I clearly remember the day that this lesson hit me square in the face while working in my family’s HVAC business. Let me explain.I was contacted on my two-way radio (it was 1992 so no cell phones were in the trucks yet) by one of our best service techs, Herbert. He said, “Mrs. Smith needs a new furnace and she wants you to come out and write it up.” I told him to let her know I’d be there at 2:00 pm.When I arrived at Mrs. Smith’s house, she promptly greeted me with “Herbert said I need a new furnace and it would cost around $1,800.” Remember, this was in 1992! I thanked Mrs. Smith for her business and the opportunity to discuss various options with her.She firmly said, “Herbert said all I need is an $1,800 furnace and that is all I want.” The more I tried to explain that other options might be a bet-What Makes a GREAT High-Performance HVAC Tech?By David HoltSERVICEter solution for her, the more committed she be-came to Herbert’s recommendation. “I just want the $1,800 furnace - period.”That was the day I realized that technician rec-ommendations were viewed as “the gospel.” Even though my last name was the same as the compa-ny name, my technician’s recommendation had greater weight than mine. What a lesson! That’s when I started thinking about how important my technicians were to the company’s sales lead gen-eration strategy.EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE IS KEYYou can learn a lot about excellent customer service by watching your truly great technicians. Herbert’s recommendations were taken serious-ly because he provided great service to our cus-tomers. He took time to listen to their concerns, and always went the extra mile to make sure they were more than satisfied. That’s how he earned the right to make recommendations that were taken so seriously. In the heating and air conditioning service busi-ness, there are two types of technicians — good ones and great ones. There are also those “not so good” techs, but they don’t typically stick around very long. The great technicians are popular, busy, and valued members of the team. They’re personally successful and make great contribu-tions to their customers and the company.I’ve worked around many great technicians over the past four decades. I’ve learned many import-ant lessons from each of them. When I consider the characteristics of the great techs I’ve encoun-tered, they typically: ●Are excellent communicators ●Take time to look at situations through the 24 NOVEMBER 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYLOOKING THROUGH CUSTOMER’S EYES BECAUSE THEY CAREGreat technicians have taught me the importance of seeing things the way the customer sees things. They know the customer isn’t “always right,” but they are always the custom-er. Great technicians naturally care about customers and about the quality of the work they deliver to them.Care is what makes these techni-cians so resourceful and motivates them to be life-long learners. They feel a responsibility to serve custom-er needs and take the initiative to find a solution when others give up or pass the problem to someone else. Great technicians never give up. They’re first in line to attend classes and constant-ly read trade magazines/websites to keep up with emerging trends.Care is also what drives great tech-nicians to pick up the phone or send a brief email to follow up on previ-ous work or recommendations. They ask customers if there is anything else they can help with. They do small fa-vors like changing a light bulb, bring-ing in a trash can, or other simple tasks. Doing the small, seemingly in-significant things spotlights that they really do care.Great technicians think from the customer’s perspective. They are sen-sitive on how their presence and work might impact the customer and take steps to minimize disruptions. They know that time is important, so they show up when promised and are effi-cient on the job.They know that a complaining cus-tomer isn’t always being unreasonable. They try to understand customers’ un-derlying concerns without judging out-ward behavior. They treat others the way they would like to be treated.POSITIVE ATTITUDES CREATE HIGH-PERFORMANCE RESULTSGreat technicians have also proved to me that positive attitudes can re-ally move emotionally-charged situ-ations to a positive resolution. Great technicians recognize that the ser-vice business is a high stress business where conflict often arises because of uncomfortable customers, demand-ing dispatchers, unexpected failures, long working hours, and sheer frus-tration. Great technicians understand that their approach to highly emotion-al situations will largely determine its outcome. This is positive attitude.As a result, great technicians don’t customer’s eyes ●Maintain a positive attitude ●Make proactive recommendations whenever possible.EXCELLENT COMMUNICATORS USE MORE THAN JUST WORDSGreat technicians are great com-municators. They speak with custom-ers before they “get to work” to check in and inquire about any issues that affect customer safety, health, com-fort, and efficiency. They also check in at the end of the call to explain their work, provide helpful advice, and to see if there is anything else that needs attention.Great technicians typically go be-yond these important niceties. They also communicate through what they do, how they do it and how they pres-ent themselves.They realize that the condition of their van or the organized way in which they go about their work speaks volumes about their attention to detail and thoroughness. Great technicians know customers depend upon their personal presentation to help assess work quality.These techs understand the work order description is more than just a necessary administrative task at the end of the call. They realize their writ-ten words communicate the value de-livered to the customer. They see this as an opportunity to reassure the cus-tomer of a job well done.SERVICENOVEMBER 2018 25HVACTODAY.COMa natural interest in understanding their future goals and objectives.Their empathetic nature causes them to see their job as not only keep-ing the existing equipment running well, but also helping the customer recognize opportunities for improve-ments they would never see on their own. After all, customers don’t study heating and air conditioning technol-ogy – that’s why they need a profes-sional to look after it for them. This is where great technicians’ efforts cre-ate an ongoing flow of new business opportunities. Great technicians are a bonus to any service organization and the custom-ers they serve. They do not have to be the best “technically” and they don’t have to act much differently from good techs. The small difference in their ac-tions, however, contribute tremen-dously to their personal success and to the delight of their customers. There’s a lesson in this for all of us. The next time you see a great techni-cian at work, watch him or her very closely. They have a lot to teach us about how communication, empa-thy, positivity, and proactivity can lead to more delighted customers. With more delighted customers, more high-performance sales leads are the natural result. happen. They recognize this reality and, like a good Boy Scout, know they must “be prepared.” They take steps to reduce the emotional temperature, so they can work together with the cus-tomer to address the issue.MAKE PROACTIVE RECOMMENDATIONSFinally, great technicians taught me one valuable customer service which is to make recommendations. They can do this because great technicians always look for ways to do things bet-ter. They see this as a critical part of the service. They are true craftsmen (and women) who stay focused on im-proving their own skills regularly.This often means they take pride in their knowledge of technology and its application, and constantly add to their expertise. They make it their business to know the complete range of prod-ucts and services their company offers.Great technicians are very familiar with their customers’ needs and wants because they ask. They also have strong relationships with their customers and take things personally and avoid be-coming defensive. Many seem to in-stinctually follow the fifth habit from Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of High-ly Effective People,” (I highly recom-mend all technicians read this book) -- seek first to understand, then be un-derstood. They remain calm, using their body language to show that they are fully engaged and share the urgen-cy of the moment with the customer.They verbally acknowledge the cus-tomer’s concern and let them know that they understand. They avoid emotion-laden language that might increase the tension. They need to ful-ly hear the customer out and allow them to express their concerns. Only then can they move to address the problem itself.Whenever possible, they take a collaborative approach, involve the customer in the solution, and pro-vide multiple options from which to choose.Great technicians don’t look for-ward to conflict. They know that, de-spite their best efforts, it’s going to David Holt is the Director of Business Training & Coaching for National Comfort Institute., Inc. (NCI). He joined NCI in 2011 and focuses on training contractors on how to implement the perfor-mance-based processes into their business. David also helps develop content for NCI’s in-person training events, as well as for a num-ber of classes. He is also one of NCI’s trainers. He can be reached at DavidH@ncihvac.com.26 NOVEMBER 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYPHOTO OF THE MONTH“There Are No Words ...” — Pasquale Giovane, Priority Energy, Lansing, IL When this crew leader and energy rater came upon this scenario, he was speechless. In his mind, all he thought was, “What the heck?”Pasquale Giovane from Priority Energy LLC is the November 2018 winner of our Photo-of-the-Month contest, as voted on by the subscribers to the High Performance HVAC Today magazine and visitors to the website. He will receive a $50 gift card.You can too – submissions are always welcome. If you’d like to submit a photo for consideration in our Photo-of-the-Month contest, go to ncilink.com/POMSubmit and fill out the information as requested.THE DECEMBER CONTEST OPENS ON NOVEMBER 9, 2018. That gives you plenty of time to submit something in any of our three categories: The Good , The Bad , WTH (What the heck).NOVEMBER 2018 27HVACTODAY.COMthe most valuable parts of Summit. You’ll also have lots of opportunities to spend time with our industry partners throughout Summit. Furthermore, our partners will once again donate dozens of great items for our prize drawing on Wednesday afternoon.Summit culminates with one of the most cherished events Wednesday eve-ning, with our Awards Reception, Ban-quet, and presentation of our 2019 Award Winners. But Summit Week doesn’t end there. Thanks to our Alliance Partner and Sum-mit sponsor, EGIA, you’ll have the oppor-tunity to spend Thursday, April 18th with renowned Speaker and Author, Gary Elekes, in his unique workshop, “Break-through Business Leadership: Develop-ing a Process Driven Company,” also at a highly discounted Summit rate.Stay tuned for more details. Early-bird registration will be open online later this month! Go to GoToSummit.com to Pre-register and we’ll send you a link as soon as registration is open. HIGHPERFORMANCETALK.COMOne of the newest upgrades to your membership is the HighPerformance Talk.com website and discussion forum. What is a discussion forum? It is a site where people can hold con-versations in the form of posted mes-sages. Those messages are then ar-chived and made available to you anytime and from anywhere.Within a forum, a single conversation is called a “thread” or “topic.” It is set up in a hierarchical or tree-like structure and can have several subforums, each of which may have several topics. In High-Perfor-mance Talk, each new discussion started is called a thread, and can be replied to by any member.The operative word here is member. HighPerformanceTalk.com is only for NCI members and provides an online peer-to-peer networking forum where you can ask questions, seek and offer advice, and converse with other Perfor-mance-Based Contractors across the HVAC industry and around the world. Think of it like the proverbial water cool-er where everyone gathers to talk about things in an informal setting.High-Performance Talk is also where you have access to NCI trainers and other staff members.High-Performance Talk links you to your performance-based contracting peers like no other forum can. From CO to air to business practices, ask your fel-low members (and NCI knowledge ex-perts!) for advice. Were you a fan of the old Performan-ceTalk email list? You can participate with HighPerformanceTalk.com via email as well! We’ll help you walk through it if you’d like.Don’t miss out on this invaluable mem-ber resource! If you aren’t already set up with High-Performance Talk, please call NCI Customer Care at 800-633-7058 Monday – Friday, 8 AM – 5 PM EST.MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR HVAC SUMMIT WEEK!NCI Summit Week 2019 registration will soon be open. The weeklong event will be held in Orlando, FL on April 15-18. It starts with an optional all-day Good-man/Amana Business Bootcamp, fea-turing well-known industry speakers -- available to NCI Members at a deeply discounted rate. Then get ready for Summit’s biggest welcome reception ever. We’re expecting well over 300 at this gala event, co-spon-sored by Goodman Manufacturing and the High-Performance HVAC Alliance – a partnership between EGIA and NCI.Tuesday morning kicks off the two-day core Summit Conference which is jam packed with interactive and fun General Sessions, plus the Idea Meetings -- where you have the opportunity to win cash for your ideas. This year we’re featuring double- length breakout sessions focused on the High-Performance Sales Cycle, taught by top NCI members and instructors from around the country.Of course, you’ll have plenty of time to interact and relax with your fellow High-Performance Contractors from across North America during our breaks, social events, and after-hours. Relax in one of the resort’s several lounges, pool, or gardens. Past attendees have lauded one-on-one time with fellow members as one of NCI MEMBER UPDATE28 NOVEMBER 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYHVAC SMART MARTNOVEMBER 2018 29HVACTODAY.COMAdvertiser IndexHIGH PERFORMANCEHVAC TODAY TMAD INDEXBaker Distributing Company | BakerDist.com ............................................................................4Dwyer Instruments, Inc. | www.dwyer-inst.com .......................................................................2Goodman Manufacturing | www.goodmanmfg.com ...........................................................19Jackson Systems | www.JacksonSystems.com ........................................................................28Lazco Corp. | www.lazcocorp.com.................................................................................................26R.E. Michel Company | www.REMichel.com ..............................................................................15The New Flat Rate | www.thenewflatrate.com ........................................................................28To Your Success | ToYourSuccess.com .........................................................................................28TSI, Inc. | www.TSI.com/comfort .....................................................................................................5United Refrigeration Inc. | www.uri.com ....................................................................................18To Subscribe to High-Performance HVAC Today:ONLINE: Visit HVACToday.com/subscribe for a FREE digital subscription.PRINT: 1 year/$72; single copy $7. Canada: 1 year/$92; single copy $9. Payable in advance with U.S. funds. Prepaid subscriptions may be sent to: High-Performance HVAC Today, PO Box 147, Avon Lake, OH 44012. Phone: 440-949-1850; toll free 800-633-7058; FAX 440-949-1851, or visit HVACToday.com/subscribe to order online.PublisherDominick GuarinoEditor-in-ChiefMike WeilArt DirectorConnie ConklinOnline Development DirectorBrian RosemanSales ManagerDave KenneyCirculation ManagerAndrea Begany- GarsedEditorial AssistantMarge SmithEmail us at contactus@hvactoday.com with your comments and questions.Next >