This time last year I shared with you a few low-cost and no-cost customer loyalty programs that work. Here are a few more.
Community Involvement
Join business networking groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis, and Rotary. Don't join just to pass out business cards. Get involved. Help plan and staff events.
Be advised that Rotary actually requires you to regularly participate in their luncheon meetings. There's always a presentation, and they need to fill those slots. Do presentations on Indoor Air Quality, Energy Savings, Total Home Comfort, and ways to make your existing system run better, provide more comfort, and last longer. It will take you a couple of hours to put together your presentation, but it's totally free advertising.
Support Local Sports Teams
This is one of the best ways to promote your business. Simply sponsoring local teams helps, but nothing helps like actually helping. Get involved. Volunteer. Meet people. Almost everyone has some kind of question or issue with their home
Let's not leave out professional sports teams. I know a very successful contractor whose sole advertising budget is getting his name plastered all over the arena of a major league team. If that's all you're spending your money on, it's affordable.
Discount Coupons on Service Calls
"Free Service Call" coupon with no expiration date. You're not wasting your time or resources running this "free call". Anyone who uses this coupon obviously has a problem and wants it fixed.
If you're like a lot of companies, you waive the service call fee when they buy a repair anyway. Besides, you're not giving anything away anyway. Your service call fee should be incorporated into the price of the primary repair. Telling people who call to ask "How much is a service call?" that you waiving the service call fee when they buy a repair makes it easier to book people. You want to book every single one of them because they wouldn't be calling your shop if they didn't have a problem that needs to be fixed.
By the way, let them keep the coupon. They can use it as many times they like, and you want them to use it. In fact, they can "loan" it to a friend. BAM! You just got a new customer for the price of a service call fee that you were probably going to waive anyway.
"Existing Customers Only"
Don't you hate it when a business that you've been patronizing for years, and have spent a lot of money with them, offer a sweetheart deal to "New Customers Only"?
How about running a promotion for "Existing Customers Only"?
Custom-branded Attire
What could be better, cheaper advertising than to have hundreds, may even thousands of people walking around wearing your company's advertising. People seeing your company name and logo everywhere they go creates top-of-mind awareness for a very low cost.
To avoid someone wearing the company shirt and posing as an employee, include "Loyal Customer" with your logo.
I worked for a company where, if you were quoting a system replacement and they gave you the old, "We're 99% certain we're going to buy from you. We just don't make decisions on the first night," you could give them a high quality logoed polo shirt if they could make up their minds on-the-spot. It often was just the little incentive required to get a faster decision. A little secret was that I'd give them the polo, hat, or whatever, whether they made up their minds or not. I wanted them wearing that stuff around.
Don't worry about someone wearing your attire and posing as an employee. Things like that don't happen very often. What you can do to prevent that is to have a ribbon under your logo with "Loyal Customer" on it.
Of course, there are smaller, less expensive promotional items you can give away that work well. My personal favorites are pot holders, grocery shopping lists, and refrigerator magnets.
Send Consumables
A lot of companies send flowers or cookies to customers who purchase a system the day after they sign the paperwork. You can handle this yourself, but that does take time. There are a number of companies that cater specifically to HVAC
Charlie Greer was voted Favorite Industry Sales Trainer and HVAC Consultant-of-the-Year. He's also a member of the Contracting Business Hall of Fame. For info on Charlie's services, go to www.hvacprofitboosters.com. Email your comments on this column or your sales questions to [email protected].
Manufacturer News continued from page 11
Franklin Electric Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Global Corporate Headquarters
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Franklin Electric Co. recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its global corporate headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
On Friday, July 14th, the headquarters staff of Franklin Electric came together to celebrate the anniversary with a fun-filled day of activity. CEO Gregg Sengstack kicked off the celebration by addressing the employees and cutting the “anniversary” cake. Throughout the afternoon, as employees enjoyed outdoor lawn games, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic played bluegrass music. An ice cream truck was onsite, and food and beverages were also served to celebrate the milestone. Headquarter-based employees received a Franklin Electric memento to commemorate the event.
“As we celebrate the first decade at our Global Corporate Headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana, it gives us the opportunity to reflect on how much we’ve accomplished here,” said Gregg Sengstack, Chairperson of the Board & CEO. “Ten years ago, our goal was to expand our ability to provide our customers with complete water system solutions, and we’ve exceeded these expectations. We’ve grown by delivering reliable, trustworthy products, and the resources available here were a big part of that.”
Completed in 2013, Franklin Electric’s headquarters is 120,000 square feet and sits on 102 acres. The building is constructed with 294 tons of steel, and it’s powered by more than 70 Franklin Electric products. Outside, a cooling pond provides geothermal heating and cooling. The company was granted LEED Silver certification through the U.S. Green Building Council.
The headquarters also features a number of amenities to create a comfortable, productive forward-thinking environment, including collaborative areas to re-ignite creative thinking, onsite catering (with complimentary gourmet coffee), an in-house fitness center, state-of-the art meeting rooms, outdoor meeting areas and outdoor walking trails. The building features a significant collection of large-scale photographs by Canadian-born artist Edward Burtynsky focused on environmental and water infrastructure themes.
“This facility and the people who work here continue to drive our business forward,” said Sengstack. “Our Fort Wayne location houses not only our Global Corporate Headquarters, but it is also home to our 25,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Engineering Center of Excellence where we test each product to ensure they deliver the performance that is critical to the markets and applications we serve.” franklin-electric.com
About the Author
Charlie Greer
Owner
Charlie Greer was voted “Favorite Industry Sales Trainer” in 2019 and is the creator of “Tec Daddy’s Service Technician Survival School on DVD,” the video training course that provides you with a year’s worth of weekly sales meetings. For more information on Charlie’s products and services, go to www.hvacprofitboosters.com or call 1-800-963-HVAC (4822). Email your comments or sales questions to [email protected].