Steve Howard

When Baby Boomers buy any product, we instinctively believe it will perform its designed function. We assume our physical requirements will be met. What our subconscious minds are desperately seeking is people and products that will satisfy our emotional needs.

Years of positive experiences and expensive lessons affect everything Boomers buy, especially when it is something unfamiliar or complex like a replacement comfort system. Too many sincere salespeople lose sales because they don’t understand how the Boomer “rip-off prevention system” works.

The changing needs of the Baby Boomer generation offers our industry an opportunity to break the feast and famine cycles of weather-driven sales. When properly approached, a large percentage of Boomers will gladly replace their working HVAC systems in order to improve their homes and enhance their lives.

Imagine value as links on a chain connecting a railroad car full of gold bars (profits) to a powerful locomotive (sales). If any link in the chain is missing, your gold won’t move. If a link breaks during the journey, your gold is left behind. When selling comfort, success is determined by the strength you forge into every link of your “value chain.”

Smart HVAC is a concept that, simply put, deals with technical products and how they improve consumer comfort. Lifestyle selling, simply put, is a process proven to maximize smart HVAC sales in the residential sector. What’s lifestyle selling? Let me explain.

Even though the odds may seem to be against a commercial contractor, he/she can sell smart HVAC accessories, components, and equipment if the commercial contractor keeps the following in mind: Don’t sell products. Instead, sell the profits the products produce.

We’ve known for years that growing demand for electricity, aging power plants, and inadequate distribution facilities were going to cause electric bills to increase over time. However, a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court will supercharge rate increases and could easily double the cost to cool your customers’ home over the life of their new comfort system.

The number of HVAC contractors struggling to survive far outweighs those who’ve reached financial freedom. After 35 years of observing thousands of contractors, I believe the wealthiest ones have identified and are constantly working to eliminate 10 factors that lead to business failure.

As contractors with poor sales skills scramble to sell cold air at the lowest price, consumers who want to be comfortable are being underserved and undersold. This supply and demand imbalance creates an amazing opportunity for contractors willing to change what they sell and how they sell it.