Residential Sales Academy™

The replacement market in the HVAC industry is a growing entity and is a fertile crop seldom fully harvested by most contractors. If a company is willing to be assertive in their marketing efforts, diligent in mining their customer base and willing to hire, train and maintain a residential replacement salesperson the profit potential is limitless.

The opportunity to perform effectively in the retail market always exists, regardless of weather, time of year, economic or industry trends, and the ability to tap into that market is totally within the control of each and every heating and cooling company that wishes to participate.

(However, this doesn’t mean it’s easy)

The key to success in this endeavor is to have a proven, workable plan, and to determine and set realistic goals that require you to think, reach and stretch, and then work with someone that has a proven track record to help you recruit, train and motivate a sales force that will sell more customers at a retail level than you are able to do on your own. The salesperson you hire may be quite different than you in thought, manner and actions, but if this new person can help you achieve your goals and maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, you will profit more than you can imagine.

Residential Sales Academy™

The Residential Sales Academy™ is a unique and proprietary, proven* program to build a residential sales department in an HVAC Company or greatly improve an existing one.

It is one of the few programs available today that can take a person that has little or no experience in selling HVAC equipment and turn them into a high performance sales person in less than a week or an existing in-home sales person that either needs to be taught the industry knowledge and selling skills necessary to succeed in this field or to refine and hone their existing skills so they may achieve higher levels of success than before.

The Residential Replacement Specialist Program is a 4 day long, customized, intensive, in-home selling course designed to create sales professionals with high closing ratios and high efficiency product mixes.

The time tested and proven* curriculum used and the techniques taught to the students have resulted in the creation of the most successful salespeople in the HVAC industry with both the highest closing ratio and the most robust hi-end product and add-on mix.  The program has proven to be highly effective with industry newcomers that possess little or no industry knowledge.

This course will cover the complete 5 step selling process with emphasis on creating an atmosphere of trust with a prospect so that the prospect chooses to buy higher efficiency full systems on a one call close.

The attendee will gain an insight on the technology necessary to properly size a system for virtually any house he may encounter and then confidently lead the customer into an educated buying decision. That same attendee will also learn what it takes to install systems in a house and what the common obstacles may be; thus insuring the right equipment choices for the customer and ease of installation for the company.

Every student will gain the confidence necessary to guide the prospect into a buying decision and help the prospect choose the system that is right for their lifestyle including any add-on items which might enhance the prospect’s comfort and health.

Further achievement and positive motivation and skills review for all graduating students will be enhanced through the utilization of a Successtrack Network monthly reporting system and a “Sales Mentoring Program” designed to keep the salesperson selling and avoid any “slumps”.

The Residential Replacement Specialist Program has created more million dollar plus replacement sales reps than any other program created for the HVAC industry 

Residential Replacement Specialist  Selling Course

Monday

• What our industry is about
  • How it started
  • How it grew
  • How it has changed
• Industry discussion
• Introduction to program
• What’s happening in HVAC contractor’s businesses today
• How an HVAC company works
• How they grow
• How they generate business
• How a retail salesperson can affect business
• How utility companies affect the market
• The level of competition in the industry
• The need to be a retail company
• Individual requirements for a salesperson
  • What you need to know technically
• The outline of the technical course
• Ongoing education requirements
  • Your attitude
  • Your image
  • Your job description
  • Your necessary performance levels
• What to expect from your employer
  • Technical experience and assistance
  • Ongoing training
    • Technical
    • Non-technical
• Technical program Section 1
  • The refrigeration cycle
  • How a system works
• Homework assignment

Tuesday

• Overview of the 5 step selling process
  • The Warm-up
  • Qualification
  • Presentation
  • Close
  • Post Close
• Introduction to the selling process
  • What we’re really selling
  • Why we sell it the way we do
  • What sets you apart from the competition
  • How we communicate more effectively
• Leads
  • The importance of a lead
  • Where the leads come from
  • Self generated leads
  • Tech generated leads
  • Outsourced leads
  • The difference between leads
  • The cost of a lead
  • Your role in the lead generation process
• Review of Monday/ Q&A Session
• Test # 1
• Learning the selling process
  • The Warm-up
    • Sincere compliment
• Time Commitment
• Who we are
• What we’ll be doing
• Tonight commitment
• Role Play
• Introduction of the Heat Load Process
  • Why a Heat Load is important
  • What a Heat Load will tell you
  • How to perform a Heat Load
• Heat Load Practice
• Step 2 of the Selling Process/ Qualification
  • Why you qualify
  • What conditions you qualify for
  • How you qualify
  • What qualification will tell you
    • How to use qualification answers to determine prospect’s needs and wants
    • How to utilize the “Confidential Questionnaire”

• Third Step of the Selling Process/ The Presentation
  • Separating yourself from the competition
  • Telling your company story
  • Convincing the prospect you are the right company 

• Homework Assignment

Wednesday

• The Importance of Proper Airflow
  • Uncovering common comfort problem
  • Determining solutions to common problems
• Developing your script
• Collecting necessary support items
• Creating your company story
• Building Your Presentation Book
• Program Review/ Q &A Session
• Test # 2
• Choosing the right products
• Your Story/ Why You
• The importance of hi-efficiency systems
• Cost analysis between inefficient and efficient systems
• Selling the Quality Product
  • The 4 choices in making an HVAC buying decision
  • Helping customers choose beyond price
  • Educating the customer
  • Defining the competitive comparison
• Refining your presentation
• Building the company story around prospects needs and wants
• The art of leading with questions
• Step 4 of the Selling Process/ Closing the sale
  • Asking for the order
  • Developing a closing statement
  • The importance of no-pressure persistence 

Thursday

• Test # 3
• Review program / Q & A Session
• Handling Objections
  • What is an objection
  • Why prospects object to offers
  • Handling objections before they occur
  • Handling objections when they do occur
  • The most common objections you will receive
• Building Your Third Party Article Book
  • The importance of recognizable documentation
  • How to use your Third Party Article Book
  • How to create your Third Party Article Book
• More closing techniques and objections handling
• Step 5 of the Selling Process / The Post Close
  • Build your final statement
  • Avoiding buyers remorse and cancellations
• Selling Ancillary Items
  • What is an ancillary item
  • What items are readily available
  • What are the benefits of ancillary items
  • How do you offer ancillary items
• IAQ
  • What is IAQ
  • What items are readily available
  • What are the benefits of IAQ products
  • How do you offer IAQ products
• Final Exam
• Full Presentation Roleplay
• Preparing For Continued Success
• Utilizing the sales reporting system
• Getting involved in the Sales Mentoring Program

Technical Materials & Information

The Technical course will consist of information and materials interspersed throughout the non-technical portion of the Residential Replacement Specialist Selling Course. This material and information will be delivered to the attendees in the proper sequence necessary to introduce the topics in the way they are introduced to a customer during a sales call.

It is essential that a Replacement Specialist be comfortable enough about the subject of heating and cooling to be conversant about the products and services he is selling and knowledgeable enough to avoid most mistakes, but it is not necessary to be so knowledgeable about heating and cooling products that he would be a technician.

In order for the student to gain the necessary technical knowledge to perform sales calls successfully, the following items and materials will be used:

Heat Load Video and Workbook

A proprietary video written and produced by Joe Cunningham that walks a person step by step through the process of properly determining system requirements for most residential situations. This video also outlines to a student, the operational cycles and functions of most heating and cooling systems so he can explain these things to a customer in laymen’s terms.

Understanding How A System Works

A visual workbook complete with diagrams and an accompanying video describing the function and operation of a system

Monthly Reporting Program

The Residential monthly reporting system will divulge all information necessary to determine if the salesperson is performing as necessary to achieve sales goals.

Since sales goals are determined by several factors it is important to know not only total sales volume, but also closing ratio to determine effectiveness of both the salesperson and marketing efforts.

Close attention should also be paid to the lead log to determine closing ratio as per source or type of lead.

Closing ratios correlations to number of leads needed to achieve dollar goals can fluctuate by lead type and source. It is necessary to provide the salesperson with the right type and amount of leads to achieve your sales goals and it is unwise to invest heavily in a program where the closing ratios aren’t producing an acceptable level of sales.

It will also be possible after determining your salesperson’s closing ratios and lead type performance to determine a proper marketing budget to reach your goals.

The monthly sales numbers are easily determined if you use a weekly sales report form. Without a reporting mechanism and goals in place it will be impossible for a salesperson to achieve his full potential.

The monthly sales report should be sent to the Successtrack Network headquarters and an assessment form will be returned based on the results of the sales person as compared to goals. There will be skills building assignments given to the salesperson to improve their sales skills based on the assessments.

Sales Mentoring Program

The sales mentoring program is built around maintaining performance levels and/or creating greater sales results through a series of regular quarterly telephone conferences.

The agenda of the Mentoring Program will be driven by individual sales results determined through the use of the monthly sales reports and activity generated by the educational and training assignments given to each salesperson.

According to the results being achieved additional training may be assigned to the salesperson. In addition to the monthly teleconference the salesperson will have unlimited email access to a professional sales trainer for individual training consultations.

TM Interface

In order to maintain a high degree of success and communication it is necessary for the TM’s to become involved in the training process and follow-up programs of their respective dealers.

By working closely with and helping the business owner, manager or principal to create their own unique set of goals and performance requirements and also attending the management class with their customers, the TM will have a very close, inside view of the selling process in a given company. With such an inside view, the TM will also be able to call attention to any areas that need some guidance and/or direction before any problems may arise. The TM can also assist in providing the new salesperson with any materials or information that may be needed for sales improvement. The TM can also be a leading force in assisting the new salesperson in their HVAC learning experience.