In his article on pricing air upgrades and duct renovations (ncilink.com/Holt), David Holt asks, “Aren’t you a high-performance HVAC contractor? Haven’t you heavily invested in the tools and training required to be a craftsman in this trade? As a result of these investments, aren’t you worth more than low-bid Larry?”

Of course, you are! In many instances, being worth more, and being able to prove you are, puts your business at an advantage to soar above everyone else in your marketplace.

In my mind, you SOAR above competitors because of your Situation as a High-Performance HVAC contracting firm and because of the Opportunities you have by investing in the right way to do business. This enables you to take Action by listening to your customers, and by innovating to solve problems that others don’t know how to find. Your Results are satisfied customers who provide you repeat business and fantastic leads.

Five Ways to Beat Your Competitors

To SOAR in your marketplace, consider these five ideas:

  • Find Customer Pain Points. They all have them. Your job is to find and fix them. You do that by discussing issues they are experiencing, then testing and measuring the system to find out what is going on. Cost is a pain point too, so give them several options to help with their budgets. And don’t forget financing!
  • Tell Your Story. High-performance HVAC contracting isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it. But you have to be able to tell customers what that means and how it benefits them. Telling your story means being clear in your messaging. It also means reinforcing your brand. Your story should be in terms customers can understand so they can make the best decisions and feel good about their purchases.
  • Provide Great Customer Service. You have to deliver on your promises and prove that you delivered every single day. Doing this sets up an interesting situation where you aren’t actually competing against someone else. If you think about it, your only competition is to become better than you were the previous day.
  • Innovate and Grow Your Company. To beat your yesterday self is to continually improve. By doing this, it almost doesn’t matter what your perceived competition is doing. Implementing a high-performance approach is a strong way to innovate, command higher prices, and grow your team and your business.
  • Provide More Value than Expected. High-performance HVAC contractors focus on providing a product with proven performance accomplished through testing, measuring, diagnosing, and correcting customer comfort and energy issues. You outperform expectations by making air visible and finding solutions to issues that few other contractors even know about. Talk about value!

Value is also seen in how energized your team is. Customers can see that. Most employees only really ask for trust, professional development, collaboration, and the opportunity to take ownership of their work.

All of these things combined can help you SOAR above competitors and truly distinguish your company in your marketplace.