10 Home Performance Marketing Tactics Worth Stealing

ACI Home PerformanceMay 21, 2010

Ed Thomas, UtilityExchange.orgethomas@utilityexchange.org(970) 209-8347

Ed Thomas

• Director, UtilityExchange.org, an EGIA affiliate

• Utility & Contractor Exchange events & webinars

• Home Energy Makeover Contests & workshops

• Author, & Presenter, Home Energy, ACI, RESNET, ACEEE

• Managing Partner, Market Development Group

• Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Workshops

• Manager, Intermountain Energy, Delta-Montrose Electric Assn

• Over 500 Geothermal Heat Pumps Installed

Education

• Bachelor of Science in Communications from Butler University

• Masters of Science in Marketing from The American University

National Trends

• Insulation is as Sexy as Solar Panels!

• New homes to existing homes

• Single Measures to Whole House

• Prescriptive to Performance

• Dumb Meters to Smart Grid

• Flat Utility Rates to Time-of-Use

• Cash for Caulkers, HomeStar

• Home Performance with ENERGY STAR

Build –Your -Own Market Launch Plan

Define Success!

• Where do you want to go in 2010?

• Where do you want to be in 2015?

Create a 90-Day Plan to Get There!

1. Define Yourself

2. Introduce Yourself as the Subject Matter Expert

3. Get into the Community

4. Celebrate your Customers

5. (Repeat application as needed)

1. Expand how you use Business Cards

• Full color and professionally designed

• Mini-ad for your business

• Drive people to your website to learn more

• Everyone in the company needs a card

• Magnet for the refrigerator

• Peel-and-stick for HVAC system

• Rubber stamp special offers on the back

• Leave extras with:

• Trade allies

• Past customers

• Restaurants

2. Build a Brag Book

• “The analysis you provided on our 100-year-old home gave us the information we needed to make our decisions with confidence. The work you provided went far beyond our expectations of quality.”

Harold & Linda – Homeowners, Ithaca, NY

• “We installed new equipment and the energy savings more than pay for it! We had immediate positive cash flow, decreased maintenance costs, and increased property value; it was a no brainer.”

Walter – Apartment Complex Owner – Syracuse, NY

• “Between the insulation and the furnace, it is a very different house. If you have an older home or are contemplating buying one, this kind of work is an amazing way to make the cost of ownership much lower.”

Simon & Tracy – Homeowners – Dryden, NY

Word-of-mouth marketing is the most believable

3. Draft a News Release

• About you as local expert

• First customer! 100th customer!

• Local representative for your state program, BPI, etc.

• Free resources on your website

• Available to speak to groups

4. Enhance your Web Presence

• Google yourself

• Your storefront

• News release and Brag Book online

• Links to “other” energy experts

• Action steps

• Search engine optimization

Marketing Toolkit Access

5. Distribute the News Release

• Media and Search Engines via www.marketwire.com or www.businesswire.com

• Everyone you know via www.constantcontact.com

• Friends and Family via Facebook and LinkedIn

6. Produce a Customer Open House

• During and after current customer project

• Email invites

• Door hangers

• Yard signs

• “Impromptu”

7. Get on the Speaker Circuit

Topical and “How To” Speakers are needed at:

• Rotary Club and other Civic Organizations

• Home Shows

• Home Owners Associations

• Chambers of Commerce

• Adult Learning Centers

• Realtors and Code Officials

• Business and Trade Groups

8. Produce a Workshop

• 20-45 min. on “10 Tips to Save Money, Be More Comfortable and Make Your Home More Earth Friendly”

• 1-2 hours on “Whole House Improvements: How to Do it Yourself and/or Manage Your Contractors”

Tips for Organizing Seminars and Workshops

1. Draft a brief description and flyer for group to use to promote your “appearance”

2. Recommend RSVPs and/or a modest registration fee to demonstrate “value”

• Allow host/sponsor to waive fee as appropriate

3. Script your presentation with plenty of customer stories• Provide handouts and news article reprints • Make sure everyone gets your full contact information• Provide extra copies for attendees to share with friends and

family

4. Gather attendee info. through sign-up sheets, evaluation forms and door prizes

• Follow-up with attendees as sales leads and job referral sources

9. Produce a Newsletter

• Your news releases• Customer stories• Latest on federal/state/utility incentives• Reprints from other sources• Distribute in print at health food stores,

Chamber/Rotary meetings, etc• Distribute online via Constant Contact and watch who

click-thrus

10. Make the Most of Home Shows

• Cross-telling is Cross-selling

• Yellow boiler “as seen on energystar.gov”

• Solar? Home Performance is first step..”

• Whole House poster is key talking point

• Homepage on laptop

• Showcase testimonials and reprints

• Live radio interviews

• Clipboard with “lead sheets”

• Bring your appt. book!

Be Local – Act Global

• Get BPI Accredited like the “big guys”

• Follow national standards – before they are mandated

• Go Gold Star – whether or not HOME STAR happens

Your Marketing Launch

1. Email and call all your local papers, radio and TV stationsand ask if they need your help to produce a story on what local people can do to save energy, be more comfortable and reduce carbon emissions

2. Email and call all local civic groups and ask if they need your help to make a presentation on what local people can do to make their homes perform better

3. Position yourself NOW to be the local “go to” home performance expert to leverage local media outlet when they decide to run a story about something related to home energy/performance (i.e. HOME STAR, appliance rebates, utility rate increases, cold/hot weather records, global warming concerns).

4. Don’t build your business to rely on federal/state/utility incentives. Sell the fact that your services are worth paying full price.. for savings, comfort, efficiency, health/safety

1. Diversification- Selling more then one product helps prevent seasonality and drives more profits through add-on sales.

2. Sales Consistency- A pitch book or laptop presentation that keeps salesmen consistent and helps overcome hidden objections.

3. Marketing- Spend money to make money and have a message with a clear call-to-action.

4. Financing- Offering a low monthly payment option or no payment “gap” financing until they get their incentive payment or home refinance.

If the contractor, while in the home, doesn’t have the tools and training to close the sale,

it can be a lost opportunity

Top-Tier Contractors Are Consistent

Electric & Gas Industries Associationwww.egia.org

• Pitch book materials

• Training webinars

• Interest rate buy downs and promotions (6 months same as cash)

• Building Performance Institute Alliance

Organizations to Watch….

• Efficiency First! Lobbying for energy efficiency installation contractors….. Not the solar or low-income

• Building Performance Institute. Embrace national installation standards and diagnostics to prove you’re third-party qualified.

• Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Position yourself as community-oriented and the go-to guy for ANY “green” home energy upgrade. Be the weatherization agency for upper and middle income homes.

• Affordable Comfort. Building science-related training and networking

• Electric and Gas Industries Association. Business development to increase sales closes and operations efficiency

• Utility Exchange.org Home Energy Makeover Contests and Building Performance Contractor Exchange events/webinars