Page 19 - Oil and Energy-February 2013

February 2013 • 19
Oilheat Dealers Can Increase Profits Selling IAQ
By Bobby Nelson, Field Controls
Diversification
Field Controls’ Healthy
Home iAQ app runs on an iPad.
in IAQ. Very few know how to best capi-
talize on the opportunity.
The questions abound. How do you
transition from “the oil company” to “the
air quality” company? How do you teach
delivery men and service techs how to sell?
How do you educate the homeowner about
IAQ? Do they even care? As with most
things in life, it’s easier than you think. You
just have to understand the market, focus
on a strategy, and ask the right questions.
HOMEOWNERS NEED EDUCATION
A recent nationwide study shows that 80
percent of American homeowners consider
indoor air quality to be a significant problem.
Thirty percent say it’s more important than
energy efficiency. They have seen the ads
and the articles and heard about indoor air
pollution. The problem is that when asked
what they consider the remedy, the answers
range from a plug-in air freshener, to a
furnace filter from the home improvement
store, to “I don’t have a clue.”
Fifty-seven percent aren’t aware of a
whole house air quality system, and they
don’t automatically look to their energy
company or HVAC contractor for air quality
answers. Meanwhile, the IAQ problem
continues to grow as new homes are being
built extra tight and older homes are get-
ting tighter for the sake of energy efficiency.
Fresh air ventilation, long considered a
luxury or an afterthought, is becoming more
of a necessity as well as a code requirement.
More on fresh air ventilation in a moment.
HVAC contractors and energy distribu-
tors that have embraced the IAQopportunity,
have found customers eager for answers,
with open pocketbooks. During the current
recession, more homeowners are upgrading
rather than building new. Better air quality
is an important part of that upgrade. When
presented with a professionally installed
system approach to indoor air improvement,
homeowners say yes 34 percent of the time,
spending $450 to $2,500 per installation.
Since 20 percent of Americans suffer from
allergies or asthma, they tend to say yes more
frequently and are willing to spend more for
a state-of-the-art solution.
EDUCATE AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO SELL
So, how do you turn your service guys
into salesmen? The answer is, you don’t.
Instead, you teach them to ask the right
questions and to put some information in
front of the homeowner. The questions can
be as simple as “Are you concerned about
your indoor air?” “Does anyone in your
family have allergies or asthma?” “Are you
concerned about mold, bacteria, viruses,
or stale air?” If the answer to any of those
questions is yes, you have a prospect.
At that point, you simply hand them
some literature, play a video or make a note
to have your IAQ expert come by for a free
air quality audit. One of the best selling tools
I’ve ever seen for IAQ education is the Healthy
Home iAQ app. It contains a short animated
video that explains the challenges of indoor
air and the need for air that is fresh, clean,
and pure. Contractors set their iPad on the
kitchen counter and push “play” while they
go to work on the service call. By the time they
come back, the homeowner is basically sold.
THE MESSAGE DOES MATTER
It is important that you present the
homeowner with the right information.
If all you plan to offer is a better filter or a
UV light, you are missing the boat and you
aren’t giving your customer what they really
need, which is a comprehensive, whole house
solution. And that brings us back to fresh air.
While HRV/ERV technology remains the
gold standard in fresh air ventilation, there
are other options that are more affordable,
including make up air dampers and fresh
air intake dampers that bring air into the
plenum from the outside. A fresh air damper
(like the one included in Field Controls’
Healthy Home System™) is opened on a
prescribed schedule in conjunction with
the central fan. The system should be
designed to activate the fan and open the
damper whenever fresh air is needed, even
when there is no call for heat or cooling.
This also ensures better use of the filter and
UV light, since air movement is required to
receive any benefit.
YOU DO HAVE TO ASK
It is also important that you stay in touch
with your customer after the installation.
Make filter and lamp changes an automatic
part of your six month maintenance calls.
So, find a system you like, know it like the
back of your hand, then just ask the ques-
tions. Ask politely. Ask frequently. Ask in a
variety of ways.
Once your customer understands that
you care about their indoor air, they will
start to regard you as the IAQ expert. Once
that happens, more often than not, the
answer will be “yes”.