Recurve will offer special pricing to participating contractors – find out more by contacting us at http://www.recurve.com/about-us/contact-us/.Although contractors in the NY HPwES Program will still need to use program-approved energy modeling software for full program projects, we have been pursuing software approval and expects to to available for full use later this summer.

New York is one of the oldest and most successful home performance contracting markets, and we are excited to bring Recurve software in to give contractors the tools to be even more successful.

Troy Tanner, owner of The Home Energy Detective, weighed in last week about what winning this contest means to him. His goal is to make his company more profitable in an area with no program rebates. We’re excited to help Troy build his business using Recurve Software to speed up their auditing process and deliver reports and proposals on-site.

Most salespeople have been trained on certain steps to a sale. It may have been a 10-step selling system, maybe a 12 or 13 step selling system – they are all pretty much the same, as selling really hasn’t changed since the beginning of time when Eve was sold on taking the apple from the serpent.

The main steps to a sale are as follows:

• Meet and Greet
• Interview – build rapport – investigate
• Select a product or service
• Present that product or service
• Demonstrate that product or service
• Trial Close
• Service & Parts
• Negotiations
• Close

Let’s now discuss the ingredients.
There are five ingredients that every sale must have. In other words, you as a salesperson must sell these 5 things. They are:

You – you must be able to sell yourself first and foremost. Not many people will buy what you are selling if they don’t buy you first. Yet if you sell yourself, a lot of people will buy whatever you are selling!

Who You Represent – Why buy here? You must be able to sell your customer on buying from your place of business. There are other vendors out there selling similar products with similar prices, so why should they buy from the company you represent? A professional salesperson will honestly believe that they are representing the very best company in the field, and therefore believe in that company. Selling that company then becomes easy. If you don’t think you represent the best – change companies!

Product – You need to be able to sell the product – this is probably the easiest of the 5 ingredients – use the presentation step in the steps to a sale above to do this. As with your company – if you don’t believe you are selling the best product, do something about it.

Price – If you can’t sell your potential customer on the price of the product, go back to the product itself – have you done the best possible presentation of the product? Remember that customers buy benefits, not features. Build value in the presentation and demonstration stages to help sell the price.

Time – Customers need to hear that there will never be a better time to buy this product or service than right now – you need to sell them on this fact by creating urgency.

I am going to discuss each step in more detail – this article will cover the first one, and the others will be covered in more detail in a subsequent article.

Selling You
Your customers will judge you initially using 3 of their 5 senses. They will look at you, smell you, and listen to you.

So, how do you look? Did you shave today? Do you need a haircut? What do your clothes look like?

How did you look when you went on that very important date with someone you wanted to impress? What did you do to prepare for that date?

Here’s what I think – you went to extreme lengths getting ready, chose your clothes carefully, asked other people for their opinion, showered, shaved (guys as well!), clipped fingernails, ironed clothes (yes, that contraption that plugs into the wall and hisses), polished shoes, and put on some “smell nice.”

Why did you do that? Because you were trying to sell yourself – that’s why! You knew that the person you were hoping to impress was going to look at you and assess you. You knew they were going to smell you and assess you. You knew that they were going to listen to you and assess you. You also knew that in order for any relationship to develop, you needed to pass these tests, so you went all out to impress. Anything less just wouldn’t do.

Here’s what else I think – you don’t go to these lengths each and every day for potential customers. Why? Probably because you think you are a good enough salesperson that you can still win your customers over without having to go to so much trouble. You see we are a lazy bunch, us salespeople. We like to do as little as possible in order to gain as much as possible.

What would happen if we made the very best first impression every time, every day, without fail, no exceptions? Are you willing to even give it a try? What is the worst that can happen? Absolutely nothing different than now, right?

How else can you sell yourself? Use the steps to a sale above – the first couple of steps are crucial. You must conduct a professional meet and greet – introduce yourself, allow the client to establish eye contact with you – maintain a sincere smile – have a firm, professional handshake – control your voice.

Conduct a professional interview/fact finding/rapport building session. Allow the client to do most of the talking – the more they talk, the more they will like you. This is not a time to sell, it is a time to allow the customer to get to know and like you. This needs to be a conversation like you are talking to a friend – not an interrogation.

Work hard on selling yourself – all the ingredients are important – I happen to believe that this is the most important of the five, you sell yourself and the world is yours.

The key to home performance he says is a holistic approach to the problem. Software applications today need to be flexible enough to appeal to all types of business, ranging from the small-scale insulation jobs to high-end retrofits. In the end he is optimistic about the direction the trades are heading, and offers up advice to professionals looking to take the plunge into software.

This sale lasts as long as the weather is warm, so don’t delay – give us a call or email before it turns cold again.

(877) 303-0979
http://www.recurve.com/quick-start/

The first 50 homes will receive double the incentive (normally $1,000), and the program is only open to 433 homes total.

More on the program details here.

“Together, these programs will grow the home retrofit industry and help middle-class families save money and energy,” says Vice President Biden

The program is designed to encourage homeowners to make energy-saving upgrades and to jump-start the industry for home energy retrofits, Biden said in a statement. It will also include financing for homeowners (up to $25,000) and software that will let energy contractors give consumers the home efficiency equivalent of miles per gallon for cars.

Sources:
CNET
USA Today

This video features one of Recurve’s Home Performance Specialists, Daniel Bell.

Green Footprint: Home Performance 101 from Foster City TV on Vimeo.

• Recurve offers one-of-a-kind home performance software built for contractors, by contractors.
• The software has a no-nonsense interface that’s easy to learn and can be used anywhere (with or without an Internet connection)
• Recurve users get audits done faster and they collect more valuable data than they did without the software
• High quality, personalized reports help homeowners understand why they should retrofit their home
• Recurve’s solution engine creates scope items that calculate the price of the work and the building performance improvement caused by each one

In case you haven’t seen it, check out our software demo: http://software.recurve.com/demo

Since we introduced Recurve software at ACI, our developers have been hard at work on additions to the software that will allow our users to:

• Show estimated annual dollar savings for each solution package
• Comply with local and national rebate programs
• Calibrate audit findings to the homeowners utility bills, to draw a comprehensive detailed picture of how the home’s appliances use energy

Interested in learning the latest on Recurve Software? Register for our next webinar on August 11 at 9-10AM PDT: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/487007865

The problem is that you can spend hours in cramped spaces sealing ducts only to find that there’s little real improvement in leakage levels, and using a duct blaster to locate leaks is a slow process. The alternative? Using a pressure pan in conjunction with a blower door can help you quickly zero in on leaky duct runs that need the most attention, so you can achieve good results in much less time.

Assuming you’re already running a blower door on most of your projects (or have one easily accessible), a pressure pan can take the place of a duct blaster for determining the highest priority areas to seal. With the house prioritized to 50 Pa by the blower door, record the pressure drop with the pressure pan when it covers the register. A large pressure drop (3-6 Pa) indicates that significant leakage is occurring close to that location. A small pressure drop will indicate there is no leakage in that duct run, or that the leakage is far away.

Don’t get us wrong—duct blasters are essential equipment in situations where you need to perform a rigorous leak test. But this quick pressure pan test can save an hour or more compared to taping off the registers and running a duct blaster test, and anything you can do to achieve the desired results in less time will benefit both you and your clients. The bottom line: Knowing where to focus your energy to save your clients’ energy can give you a real competitive advantage.

When I first started at Recurve, I was so excited about building science that I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm. I found myself talking nonstop to customers about some pretty technical stuff—like the complex physics behind duct leakage, or the finer points of buoyancy forces and the stack effect. But over time, I realized that all of my lecturing about building science wasn’t motivating many customers to buy. It became clear to me that most customers buy retrofits to address specific problems they are experiencing with the comfort, energy efficiency or indoor air quality of their homes—not because they’re worried about pressure differentials in their heating ducts.

To accelerate sales, you need to do what I did: Stop talking at your customers and start asking more questions. And bear in mind that not all kinds of questions are equally effective. Asking open-ended questions (questions that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”) is the best way to gain trust.

Here’s an example of the kind of closed question we avoid asking our customers:

Q: Is your home uncomfortable in the winter? A: Yes

An open question goes more like this:

Q: How would you describe your comfort level during the winter? A: It’s terrible! We’re all bundled up half the time, and the house is very drafty, but we don’t like to run the heater too much because the heat doesn’t seem to stay inside anyway.

Notice that with the open-ended approach, you’ll end up gathering a great deal of information that can be used later to support your recommendations to the homeowner. “We’re going to seal up and insulate your attic. What that’s going to do is cut down on the drafts you told me you feel in the winter, and help your home hold the heat longer. You’ll be more comfortable, and you’ll save on your heating bills.”

The more you can get your customers to open up, the more you’ll learn about their real motivations. We’ve found that the majority of homeowners will tell us at the beginning of the process that they want to achieve X, and end up making a decision to buy because of Y and Z. The key to getting to these “real” motivating factors is to ask open-ended questions that will reveal more about what the customer is experiencing. We have found that linking one open-ended question to next in a natural, conversational tone builds trust—and trust leads to good relationships.

Are you listening yet?

How Does the ME2 Program Work?

• You must get a home energy audit to qualify for the rebates
• Since the program is sponsored by the city of Berkeley, you must own a single-family home or duplex in the city and meet certain income guidelines. You must be up-to-date on your taxes and liens.
• Recurve will help you apply for the ME2 rebate program which is available based on a lottery system based on applications received during a 2 week period (July 6- 20). People who will get the rebates will be selected at random from the pool of applicants after July 20th at midnight
• Special financing is available through Recurve – if you want to finance the net (after rebate) cost of your home improvements

When is the ME2 Program Available?
Sign up for a home energy audit now. The ME2 Program is taking applications for the lottery July 6 – 20, 2010. It’s likely the money will run out during these 2 weeks, but if it doesn’t, they’ll accept applications on a first come, first serve basis after the 20th. The PG&E Pilot Program will have money available for a longer timeframe.

Full details here: http://www.recurve.com/what-we-do/financing/berkeley1/

What’s the difference between a free energy audit from a utility company like PG&E, and one that you pay for?

A home energy audit is the first step in understanding how to make your home more energy efficient by uncovering how it uses energy and where it is losing energy. You have a few options when it comes to energy audits:

• Simple do-it-yourself audit: Utilizing a tool such as the ENERGY STAR Home Energy Yardstick, which compares your home’s energy use with others across the country and provides suggestions on improvements
• Free audits offered by utilities, organizations, or companies: A basic assessment conducted by a technician that looks at some of the areas in your home that affect your energy usage and carbon footprint
• Professional audits by home energy companies or raters: A comprehensive assessment performed by a certified auditor that identifies the most cost-effective improvements to address root causes of your concerns and provide long-term solutions

Both DIY and free energy audits are good starting points but vary greatly in process and goals from professional audits. Here’s an illustrative example of how they differ:

Acterra, a local nonprofit organization, offers free audits to homeowners in select areas of the South Bay. Conducted by a team of two trained volunteers over two and a half hours, the “HouseCall” is an introduction to basic energy efficiency and conservation measures. It includes simple upgrades such as changing out light bulbs to compact fluorescents, optimizing refrigerator and water heater temperatures, and installing faucet aerators. Additionally, the volunteers will suggest other tips on other energy-saving upgrades. For renters and homeowners alike, it’s a great first step if you are looking for a simple, no-cost way to reduce your energy usage by up to 10%.

Recurve’s energy audit includes a 20+ point inspection of your home, including blower door testing to assess the leakiness of your home, attic and crawlspace inspections, utility bill data analysis, heating and cooling load calculations (i.e. how much energy it takes to heat and cool your home on the coldest and hottest days of the year, respectively), lighting and appliance audits, and heating, cooling and water heating systems analyses. The result is a comprehensive report on how your home is currently using energy and a roadmap to making your home more healthy, comfortable and efficient. And if you move forward with the improvements, you will often see significant results – most of our customers see upwards of 30-50% in energy reductions.

In sum, free energy audits are a great way to identify easy, DIY fixes to your home and can be utilized by renters and homeowners alike. Professional audits offer a much more thorough look at how your home uses energy and the specific steps you can take to significantly improve efficiency in the most cost-effective path possible.

To clear a few questions/myths up:
• PG&E only offers free audits to businesses, not homes
• If you decide to do the energy upgrades, some professional companies will credit part or all of the audit cost back – making it essentially free
• Beware of free audits offered by companies that are just trying to lure in buyers of their product, instead of relying on a comprehensive whole-home approach

Remember, energy audits alone don’t save energy. Use the information you glean from your home audit to identify the improvements that make the most sense for your energy needs and your budget.

Resources:
• Energy Star’s take on home energy audits: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_improvement.hm_improvement_audits
• Home Energy Yardstick: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=HOME_ENERGY_YARDSTICK.showGetStarted
• Acterra’s Green@Home program: http://www.acterra.org/programs/greenathome/housecalls.html

Obama has previously said that shifting the U.S. toward cleaner, renewable sources of energy and making homes — particularly older houses — more energy-efficient will help accomplish three goals: reducing America’s dependence on foreign energy sources, creating much-needed jobs and saving consumers money on their utility bills.

Under the first level of energy rebates, Silver Star, consumers would be eligible for rebates between $1,000-$1,500 for a variety of home upgrades, including adding insulation, sealing leaky ducts and replacing water heaters, HVAC units, windows, roofing and doors. There would be a maximum rebate of $3,000 per home.

Under the second level, Gold Star, consumers who get home energy audits and then make changes designed to reduce energy costs by at least 20 percent would be eligible for a $3,000 rebate. Additional rebates would be available for savings above 20 percent.

The administration expects household demand for energy upgrades to be boosted once the program is underway, similar to how Cash for Clunkers boosted demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.

Read the full article from Associated Press here.

Celebrated actor and environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. has been translating his green lifestyle into family entertainment with the revival of Living With Ed, a reality series now showing on the Planet Green television network. The show touches on a wide range of topics – from eco-friendly gardening and interior design to electric cars and home energy conservation – and has even featured an energy audit of model Cheryl Tiegs’ Bel Air estate. In a recent Q&A posted on the Planet Green Web site, Begley summed up the value of energy audits while answering a question about what kind of green businesses are most needed:

I think the key is to provide services that people need at the very ground level – the low hanging fruit so to speak. Solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars – all good things but not ground level things. What people really need these days is a home energy audit – one that can create a game plan for energy efficiency in each home. It looks at insulation, windows, ducting, lighting, HVAC, etc., and creates a full plan to bring each house up to a high level of energy efficiency. If I were to start a business, it would be doing home energy audits and doing the work that follows from them.

And here’s what Begley had to say to a viewer who was troubled by the high cost of residential solar, wind and geothermal systems:

Please don’t focus on energy PRODUCTION technologies. Try instead to focus on the low hanging fruit of energy and resource CONSERVATION. A kilowatt SAVED is so much cheaper than a kilowatt PRODUCED. I always recommend starting with a home energy audit – it will create a great game plan of things to do where you will get your fastest and largest return on investment. I didn’t get solar electric until 20 years after I started this stuff!

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

More information about Living With Ed, including broadcast schedules and video clips from the show, is available here: www.planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/living-with-ed/

2. Unplug energy vampires: In the average home, 40% of all electricity is used to power home appliances while they’re turned off.

3. Insulate yourself against rising energy costs: Well-installed green insulation is the biggest bang-for-your-buck improvement you can make.

4. Get your ducts in order: In California, duct leakage accounts for a loss of 30% of heating and cooling energy.

5. Reduce, then produce: Before installing an expensive solar array, make your home a lean, efficient machine — then pay a lot less for your sun collectors.