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AttiCat® by Owens Corning

In This Issue:

Selling High-Efficiency Systems with Tax Credits, Rebates, Energy Savings and AttiCat®

I talked with a comfort advisor last week who finished October at $140,000. Nice. It gets better. September was $150,000 and August was $120,000. Fluke? Anomaly? Freak occurrence?

Not likely. So I asked.

These days, he said, it’s all in the numbers. He writes up three “system” choices with the “best” on being the one that qualifies for the Federal Tax Credits and some local utility rebates. The “better” choice is a step down from that that does not qualify and the “good” is his best shot at being competitive with the price-shoppers.

You can probably guess what happens. When given three choices most people are inclined toward the middle one. However in this case the top choice, after credits, rebates and savings are deducted, comes so close to the middle choice that for most people it’s a no-brainer to go with the best system.

So let’s take this terrific sales tactic and see how adding insulation with AttiCat® can play into all of this. Adding insulation is a perfect fit...since adding insulation creates even greater savings and the net cost of the total investment is further reduced and the net monthly investment is even lower.

Here’s an example:

  1. Complete Hybrid System (Federal Tax Credit Qualified) with IAQ Enhancements, 10-Year Company Warranty, 3-Year Service Agreement AND AttiCat®

    Total Investment = $15,000
    (Less Federal Tax Credit = $1,500)
    (Less Utility Rebates = $500)
    Net Investment = $13,000
    Monthly Investment (on $15,000) = $300

  2. High-efficiency System (NOT Federal Tax Credit Qualified) with media filter , UV coil, 10-year manufacturer warranty, 1 year Service Agreement

    Total Investment = $10,000
    Monthly Investment = $200

Okay so now we’ve narrowed the Total Investment difference to $3,000 and the Monthly Investment to $100.

With the #1 hybrid system’s typical annual savings running around $500 a year and AttiCat® adding at least $200 to that we now have $700 per year or about $60 per month that we can include.

The #2 high-efficiency system without AttiCat® might save half of that or $350 per year or about $30 per month.

Now the numbers look like this:

  1. Hybrid with AttiCat®
    Net-Out-of-Pocket Monthly Investment = $230
    PLUS ($1,500 + $500) $2,000 in cash back!

  2. High-Efficiency System without AttiCat®
    Net-Out-of-Pocket Monthly Investment = $170

So the Sales Close becomes:

We have 3 Choices here for you to consider. If it’s okay I’d like to explain the Best one first, it does the best job of providing solutions to all the problems you said you had, would that be okay?

Explains and customers ask questions and they are interested in the top two choices.

So, if I understand correctly, you would like to have the best system but at the better system’s price, is that correct? Well, actually you are pretty close to just that. May I show you what I mean?

After the Federal Tax Credit and the Utility Rebate your net investment is within $3,000 of each other. If financing were something you were interested in doing then, after the energy savings from the hybrid system and the AttiCat® insulation are factored in, the monthly investments are only $60 apart...plus you’ll have $2,000 in tax credits and rebates. Do you think that’s something you’d like to go ahead with for only a $60 a month difference?

Try it...it will work!

Tom Piscitelli

Three Predictions

Here are three predictions for you: First, there will be more changes in your field in the year ahead than ever before. Second, there will be more competition in your field than ever before. And third, there will be more opportunities in your field than ever before, but they will be different from those of today and they will come in different forms than you expect or anticipate. How are you going to exist? How are you going to excel?

Life is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. The first key to existing and excelling is understanding this marathon principle. Having run a few marathons myself, I have learned the most difficult challenge is not the competition. The most difficult challenge is not the obstacles that the course may have (hills, etc.). The most difficult challenge is not the lack of resources (energy, sore muscles, etc.). The most difficult challenge is ... the mind. If you lose the challenge of the mind, you lose your will and you find yourself sitting on a curb watching everyone else run past you.

Your thoughts can create the conditions of your life. The predominant quality of successful people is optimism. When I was a teenager and my father was teaching me how to drive, he told me to look straight ahead when a car was approaching me on a narrow road. He said that if I looked at the approaching car then I would tend to go where I was looking. If you’re going to avoid crashing you must be solution-focused, not problem-focused. More than anything else, your attitude will determine your outcome.

Times are tough. No doubt about it. But that’s the nature of a marathon. You wouldn’t have gotten into this race if you didn’t enjoy a challenge and the thrill of victory in overcoming those challenges. You’re a self-starter and you know that no one can do the job better than you can. If you see yourself as a victim then you will become passive and resigned instead of powerful and proactive. Don’t focus on the hill you’re climbing; focus on the finish line.

Continue to add value to what you offer. Continue looking for ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. But most importantly, regardless of the competition, regardless of the obstacles — continue to BELIEVE. The positive thinker achieves the impossible

Steve Curtis

Announcing AttiCat® ProposalPRO™ Software

Specialty Comfort Enterprises is excited to introduce an exciting new Sales Tool that will help your company professionally:

  1. Propose and Present AttiCat® Insulation opportunities... including calculating the potential client savings based on DOE/EPA Energy Star formulas.
  2. Explain to a client who is facing significant repair costs on a furnace, air conditioner or heat pump, today’s clear and strong benefits of replacing this equipment vs. repairing. This is simply the strongest tool available to assist your company in converting service repair situations into installation opportunities.
  3. Complete a detailed heat loss/gain calculation for all your residential equipment sizing needs. Our system provides the world’s fastest ACCA-Approved Manual J 8th Edition load calculator.
  4. Calculate Utility Savings for both AttiCat® insulation and HVAC equipment. This great feature allows savings to be directly calculated from the Load Calculations for the home or with manual input of heating and cooling costs.
  5. Deal with a wide variety of client Comfort, Health and Energy issues with a dynamic on-screen and printable reference library. In addition to preloaded reference materials, you can load easily access unlimited reference materials to help your comfort consultants and service techs be an invaluable resource to your clients.

All of this for a little as $1,195! Any one of its 5 programs is worth that... and more!

This dynamic new tool has been developed to greatly enhance the productivity of both your service techs and comfort consultants.

Try ProposalPRO™ FREE for 10 Days

AttiCat® ProposalPRO™ is sooo... loaded with great features that the only way to experience all its potential power is to try it. Just click here to receive a 10-day Demo version. If you like it, you can convert this demo version to a fully licensed version. You can also download a 5-minute self-guided tour of AttiCat® ProposalPRO™.

 AttiCat® by Owens Corning

Increasing Your AttiCat® Sales

If you’re not selling a job a day then take a moment to go through the following checklist of the proven basic steps that will produce more sales. As Larry Bird said, “First, master the fundamentals.” Remember, you must make a change in order to improve your results. Here are what best-in-class dealers do that make their sales so successful:

  1. The dispatcher mentions to the homeowner that your company is offering a free attic inspection while the tech is in the home (on every call).
  2. Each service tech carries Homeowner brochures/ introduction letters on every call.
  3. Each service tech carries AttiCat® rulers on every call.
  4. The service invoice has the “AttiCat® Question” (Has anyone ever checked to see if your insulation is up to DOE standards?) printed on it with space for the tech to write in the homeowner’s response.
  5. Each tech asks the “AttiCat® Question” on every call and asks for permission to inspect the attic. (Has anyone ever checked to see if your insulation is up to DOE standards? Would it be okay if I take a quick look for you while I’m here?)
  6. Each tech uses the DOE map to show the homeowner the amount of insulation they need.
  7. Each tech shows the homeowner the difference in the amount of insulation they currently have and the amount of insulation they actually need.
  8. Each tech records a written homeowner response on every call.
  9. Each tech passes on the lead to a Comfort Advisor or works up a proposal on the spot.
  10. Each tech hands in a copy of the invoice with the written response of the homeowner to ensure that the techs are actually asking the question. (They should also need more rulers and homeowner brochures!)
  11. Each tech is given a meaningful spiff for leads that convert to sales.

Are you implementing all of these best practices on a consistent basis? In his book, Winning Basketball, Nat Holman writes, “mastery of detail in fundamentals is the first principle of winning basketball.” It’s no different with HVAC in general or AttiCat® in particular. Successful dealers stress and practice the fundamentals. Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basics and repeating the fundamentals that are proven to create success.

Steve Curtis

Questions? Ask us!

Do you have questions about best practices, installation procedures, advertising and marketing, or anything else related to AttiCat®? We’re here to help!

We have setup a Question and Answer system in the protected Dealers area of our website, so login and post your question. You might just find some other useful info there as well!