Source: ACCA Contractor Excellence

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first: Do you agree that energy-efficient homes can seal in and recirculate the same germs, allergens, and chemicals?

Do you agree that this can also cause health issues for occupants within the home?

Did you know that during a recession people spend more time at home?

If you answered “yes” to all three questions, then I bet you will agree with this next one: When you look inside a customer’s air return and see what appears to be a weasel wearing a Snuggie, the homeowners:

(a) have not changed the filters since the Clinton administration; and/or
(b) have nostrils that look like tiny versions of the air return. But I’m not going there.

The point is, you know all this, but your customers don’t. Thus, the largest issues facing IAQ in HVAC are your credibility and their awareness. No one wakes up and says, “Man, what a beautiful day to have my ducts cleaned.” Unlike preventive maintenance (which people recognize as a plausible need), IAQ has both the specter of skepticism and the lack of evidentiary proof needed to go along with it.

You can say, “Your ducts need cleaning,” or “UV lights will protect your coils” all day and have a hard time convincing anyone who doesn’t have sinus problems, allergies, or other health issues that this is a valuable service. Silly them. And considering how HVAC sold IAQ initially, silly us.

Selling healthy air doesn’t require a degree in molecular science. Ever heard of asthma? About 23 million Americans wish they hadn’t. A full 6.8 million of those are children who have parents who are worried sick as well. They’d much prefer to avoid the 19 million doctor, hospital, and emergency room visits spent trying to avoid death by asphyxiation. Ask them if clean indoor air is about microbes and formaldehyde and the technicalities of UV treatment.

Nope, it’s about cleaner, healthier air. Period.

Now consider, asthma is just one of hundreds of problems linked to IAQ. As a heating and cooling professional, that makes you uniquely positioned to both build your business and provide a beneficial and potentially life-saving service.

So what are they buying? They’re buying problem avoidance. It is not a thing; it is a benefit that erases sizeable doubt, fear, and concern with a healthy alternative. Kind of like breathing clean air.

You’re poised to offer problem avoidance and even a cure for certain airborne menaces. Aside from the obvious health benefits, a shorter supply of recession-era leads points toward maximizing each one with higher transaction sizes. Further, with the maintenance of UV lights, super filtration, humidifiers, and other better air solutions, you can lock in more customers.

How to Offer IAQ Now
Bad economies don’t improve air quality or health concerns. Allergens and molds refuse to invest in 401(k)s. So, please, don’t let the economy’s condition or your frightened competition make you think these concerns are equated. Position IAQ not as equipment, but as a packaged path to better health. Sell it against missed work, doctor visits, pharmacies, medication, family wellness — not microns and density depletion.

On a service call, you can offer a point-of-purchase healthy air solution based on an IAQ survey. Many of our clients sell humidifiers, UV lights, and filtration with or without duct cleaning jobs, straight from this survey.

For more complex solutions, consider utilizing in-home IAQ monitors, which help replace the doubt factor with scientific data. The sales cycle is a bit longer, but they can make the sale for you while they collect the data. Offering a free IAQ test has opened thousands of doors for our clients, who merely park the monitor for the appreciative prospect, and return with a diagnosis and options.

Always remember that customers will get what they want, whether it’s from you or from your competition. I find it sad to go into so many homes that have $499 “room air purifiers,” while stacks of superior solutions lay at your distributor’s warehouse. Once again, technical supremacy, greater reliability, and more longevity will not sell — if poorly marketed.

Though the HVAC industry has had IAQ solutions for years, it took Sharper Image and Oreck to show us how to sell over a billion dollars of equipment all without a single service appointment. How? Fact-based fear, evidentiary proof, and piles of compelling testimonials positioned their “solution” as an easier and less expensive alternative to illness and poor health. Oreck’s infomercials are marketing seminars — take notes.

Finally, ask yourself, what are you selling and why. Are you selling hardware (technical) or software (benefits)? IAQ benefits are huge for homeowners and contractors. This is especially true while others pull back on marketing or lower prices just to get the sale (creating their own worsened economy). But when you offer upsells, you create differentiation, enhance margin, and increase average transaction, while winning a longer-term customer with a higher lifetime value. Upsells are smarter than ever.

IAQ is right for the times. Customers are more health conscious and want to preserve dollars wasted on unnecessary doctor visits, more medications, and unpaid sick days. You can offer a superior whole-house solution easily, silently, and out of sight. They’d rather pay you for this anyway; all you have to do is effectively market it. And isn’t that a breath of fresh air?