HVAC PROFIT: leads, sales. The best marketing and consulting experts. Free web analysis.

	home
	service plans
	customer retention
	internet strategy
	customer acquisition
	financial analysis
	HVAC leads & sales
	testimonials
	press
	online store

Concentrate on Customer Acquisition to Grow While Others Fail

A recession-proof contractor (RPC) is savvy enough to know that during hard times, some of his or her competitors will not survive.

While this is a sad fact of business, it is nonetheless an opportunity — because “good” customers will be searching for a new provider…and even using the opportunity to research their options and make a perceived upgrade.

An RPC will position the business to both endure the challenges of an economic downturn and thrive upon the arrival of the inevitable upswing by:

developing a comprehensive acquisition strategy, including identifying geographic/ demographic/home-equipment-types in the service area

adding to that a progressive acquisition strategy, which eliminates money wasters like needlessly oversized Yellow Page ads, as well as things like Val-Pak materials and excessive sponsorships. At the same time, developing an informative hard-selling website with search engine optimization;

mailers to well-considered ZIP codes and aggressive offers in newspaper inserts.

purchasing a customer list from a failing competitor, who may be retiring or just plain folding and might welcome the unexpected revenue on the way out.

You can also lease a mailing list from a related business, such as pest control operator, carpet cleaner or electrician.

making sure everyone in the company knows that they are expected to help “market the company” regardless of their job title, especially during tough times. All technicians, CSRs and dispatchers should be trained to sell service plans and generate equipment leads – and it is only fair that you offer them a reasonable incentive program.;

How Warm Thoughts Can Help You Concentrate on Customer Acquisition

Customer acquisition is a big part of what Warm Thoughts Communications does for its many HVAC clients. We attack it systematically and aggressively from all angles.

We offer you the strategic, creative and programming support you need to have a website that promotes your services, provides industry information, delivers special promotions and enables your customers to pay their bills online, schedule services, ask questions and leave feedback. And we can also optimize your site to generate high-ranking search results within your targeted local market.

Our customized newsletters are chock-full of informative, persuasive material that your customers care about. They help promote your sales and services…and help generate referrals too. Our clients report that they regularly achieve more than 50% readership — sometimes as high as 82%. Plus, our overall newsletter renewal rate is over 90%.

We write and design direct mail packages, postcards and bill inserts that talk effectively to the people you want to reach. They get opened, and they get results.

Need to upgrade your newspaper or trade magazine marketing? Local radio? The Warm Thoughts team of creative and strategic thinkers can work wonders with what you say and how you say it.

And don’t forget the incredible effectiveness of “non-marketing marketing” – otherwise known as “public relations.” We use our industry savvy and media contacts to get your name out there in ways that penetrate your targets’ minds and memories and build invaluable brand awareness. And there’s more: an effective PR push quite often leads to your being contacted by reporters, readership and other third parties as an “expert”. It truly is the proverbial gift that keeps on giving.

These are just some of the ways that Warm Thoughts can help our HVAC business partners acquire new customers as part of an overall recession-fighting effort.

To learn more about our many strategies and support programs for customer acquisition and how you can use marketing communications to succeed in a down economy, click here.

Other ways to recession-proof your business:

Service plans
Customer retention
Financial analysis
Sales leads

“Economic downturns reward the aggressive advertiser and penalize the timid one.”

— Strategic Policy Institute