Allen Air Conditioning and Heating services thoughts on marketing
Allen Air Conditioning and Heating owner Steve Lauten has grown his business into one of the most respected in the Industry.
Steve’s thoughts on marketing provide insight into how he runs his business. This can help you decide if Steve is the kind of business owner you want to trust with your commercial and residential service needs. This article is the text of a talk that Steve gave to an Industry gathering of his peers.
What Kind of Marketing Does Your Company Use?
As I reflect upon the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl, I have to ask myself “Did the massive amount of money spent on a 30 second commercial pay for itself?” Can you remember the commercials from the Super Bowl? There were a few that I can remember the commercial itself, who the advertiser was, and the message they delivered. Some were funny, some sentimental, and some were over the edge and pointless. I think my favorites were the ones from Ameriquest with the doctor zapping the fly and the other one was the lady trying to get out of her seat on the airplane and she falls in the guy’s lap. Both of those commercials were funny, yet had an excellent message: Don’t judge people too quickly and we won’t either.
Ameriquest’s product they were marketing was home mortgages. That type of marketing used in television is called “interruption marketing” because they interrupt what you were watching to fight for your attention. That may be OK with you during the Super Bowl because the quality level of the commercials is normally worth your time. I find it amazing that television and radio both use “interruption marketing” and it’s their main way of generating revenue. Even movies are starting to do this. At least it’s all at the beginning of the movie! How soon will it be before they start interrupting the movie to force a commercial message upon us?
The good news is, we have options…Satellite Radio and Premium Cable channels such as HBO and Showtime. So do you pay to avoid commercials? That’s what XM Radio and HBO is all about. Another option is to use a DVR or video recorder and fast forward through those pesky commercials. Some advertisers are trying to get manufacturers of DVR’s not to allow commercials to be skipped. It seems these advertisers feel like they have paid for the privilege of making you watch their commercials.
The traditional method most HVAC contractors and Associates use to market is “Direct Mail” and “Yellow Pages”. I don’t know about you, but I am getting real tired with the amount of yellow page directories going into each area I do business. If I advertised in all of them, I could blow my entire marketing budget for the year! In addition, both my office and my home mail boxes are overloaded with every type of direct mail piece you can think of. Between the direct mail pieces I get at my office and home, I estimate I throw away about 100 pounds of paper per month! So which is the right yellow page directory for you to use? Do you know if your direct mail piece gets read or does it end up in the trash without so much as a glance?
I remember the good old days when there was “door to door salesmen”. You know the Fuller Brush man, the Kirby Vacuum cleaner man, and of course the Encyclopedia Britannica man. Then there’s the Ice Cream man, with that music blaring loud enough to drive a sane person crazy. As a kid, I loved to watch the Fuller Brush man try and sell my mom something. Some people call this type of marketing “Cold Calling”; I prefer to call it “Invasion Marketing.” For the most part, door to door selling is a dying profession, unless you are a Girl Scout! I’ll take 2 boxes of Thin Mints, and 1 box of Samoa’s.
The internet has fast become a way of advertising, especially if you like SPAM. Isn’t interesting how what used to be a food Spiced Ham=SPAM, has become a name for unwanted advertising? By the way, I never liked the SPAM you eat either. However, I did win an award for the best use of SPAM by making SPAM fajitas.
I recently read about a new method of marketing called “Permission Marketing”. It’s primary focus is aimed at getting permission from the customer to learn more about your product or services. Instead of annoying them into listening to your message, you ask for permission. The basic premise is you tell the consumer a little about your company and its products, they tell you a little about themselves, you tell them a little more, they tell you a little more and over time, you create a mutually beneficial learning relationship. You still have to get people’s attention in the first place and that can still cost a lot of money in advertising funds. But that’s the beginning of the story, not the end. You turn that attention into permission, permission into learning, and learning into trust. I think the Commercial side of our business does a much better job of “Permission Marketing” than the Residential side.
Regardless of what type of marketing you use, I hope you track the results. I also hope you have a Marketing Plan in place and you plan out how you will spend your advertising dollars. Many of us make the mistake of putting all our eggs in one basket. What good does a full page ad in the Yellow Pages do you if it’s not hot or cold outside? Yet that same ad likely gives you more business than you can handle when the weather is real hot or real cold. I don’t consider that effective marketing.
Do you consider your employees part of your marketing effort? Let’s face it, your service techs and installers are already getting paid an hourly wage so you expect them to look for additional opportunity, right? In my opinion, every employee is part of your sales force and should receive some type of reward for gaining a new customer or generating a sales lead that results in a sale. The sales process begins when the telephone rings. Are you rewarding that person who answers your telephone properly? Remember they could gain you new customers or scare your existing ones away!
The marketing opportunity is endless and most of us are looking for that magic pill that will vault us to success. Yet we fail to take care of our most important asset, our employees. Which is easier to keep an existing customer or gain a new one? How about your employees? An excellent way to reward your employees is Training! It tells them they are important to your company’s success. In addition, Training is an excellent marketing tool. Remember-The Only Competitive Edge Any Corporation Has Is: “It’s Rate Of Learning!”. Take advantage of the awesome training offered to you by ACCA-NTX and invest in the future success of your company.
Allen Air Conditioning and Heating Company, Total Air and Heat, is owned by Steve Lauten, the second generation owner. Founded in 1957 by Steve’s dad, Fred Lauten, Total Air and Heat is proud to have received some of the highest awards for quality and service that are offered in the Industry. Among those awards are the Readers Choice Awards from the Collin County Newspaper, the Trane Pacesetter Award in 2002, and designation as a Trane Comfort Specialist. Call Steve at (972) 535-8066 for a personal consultation.