Lord Kelvin (William Thomson), a well-noted mathematician and physicist (ncilink.com/kelvin), wrote ‘When you can measure what you’re speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it. But if you cannot measure it or you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.’

That’s the ideal I strive toward achieving. I’m measuring and doing duct calculations. It makes a difference to our customers who are being delighted by the results we can achieve. Delighted customers help us to build leads.

We’ve hired a new person in our office who is helping us with digital marketing and processing paperwork, inputting data, and handling our spreadsheets. She creates a form letter specifically for those customers.

The letters are very personalized and say we’ve been going over the measurement reports our tech created and found some things that might warrant having a closer look. The letter goes on to explain how we want to make sure everything is working correctly and safely. We may have to tweak things a bit. I want to make a no-cost appointment to check it out.

I then call and set up the appointment. These calls typically end with me selling them additional service or even a system replacement.

When things get busy and we fall a little behind, these reports are always helpful in following up with the customer later and potentially making more sales. Our ComfortMaxx’ reports are essential lead-generation tools for us.

Furthermore, very few, if any, of our competitors follow up with customers in this way. People talk about that. Word of mouth promotion is also a keen way that we build leads.

Challenges

Because our lead generation relies so heavily on our technicians, they must be all on board with properly testing static pressures and measuring temperature rise. At Canco, our installers do this on EVERY job. They understand the importance of measuring. They get it.

But some of the service guys don’t think it’s important. That’s our challenge. Add in the pandemic, a need for social distancing (and reduction of meetings/training), accountability has fallen off a bit. So, we need more training to get everybody back on board. I know many of my techs face the expiration of their airflow performance certifications. I have a valid reason to get everyone back into training.

The good news is that training and certification are so invigorating for me AND all my field techs. We all need reminding of how necessary testing and measuring is for the customer issues we need to solve any potential problems coming down the road.

Another issue common to many HVAC contracting companies is the ability of technicians to communicate clearly with customers. In terms of interpreting their measurements into meaningful information for the customer, our techs are not quite there yet. That is why I look at all the reports to see how far a system is out of line and then go back to the customer to recheck it and offer solutions.

By the way, training also helps build confidence. No tech wants to trip over themselves trying to explain something until they feel confident that they know what they are talking about. Once we help them become more confident, we will see more leads coming in based on their conversations with customers.

Click Below for the Next Page: