An HVAC service company’s reputation is its lifeline. This is true for contractors in all trades, whether they deal in flooring, plumbing, or any other part of the industry.
If you aren’t using the best materials on your jobs, you run the risk of your work being judged negatively by the products you are installing. When it comes to customer satisfaction and getting great reviews, don’t leave anything to chance. You want to provide good value for your customers, but it really doesn't matter how affordable you make your services if your customers become dissatisfied with the products you use.
At RectorSeal, we are strong advocates for a model that favors working with contractors who offer and install high-end equipment and top-of-the-line ancillary parts and accessories. These are parts and components that you can be proud to install and that your customers know are of high value.
Join us as we explain below just why this model works!
1. Customers Talk
We live in an incredibly connected world. Practically everyone owns a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop with internet access. This means that they can easily contact friends, look at reviews and share their own voice to the wider world as they so desire.
This can actually be very beneficial for business owners who do a phenomenal job of making sure that they take great care of their customers! This is also why so many service companies have blogs and show customer reviews on their websites. However, it also means bad news can spread too. Unfortunately, bad news seems to spread even more quickly and unhappy customers are often much more motivated to write negative reviews than satisfied (or happy) customers.
Further, some customers unfairly condemn a contracting business through guilt-by-association with cheaply made products that were installed on a job by an otherwise good HVAC contractor.
If you become known for using less-than-superb products, your service company might become associated with those same bad products. Don’t let this be you!
Customers talk, so safeguard your reputation by using only high-quality products from manufacturers who have proven brands, great product warranties and are easy to do business with. These are brands whose companies stand behind their products and have a lot to lose if they ever let their quality slip, sell cheaply made
products or bring untested, poorly designed models to market.
2. Basic HVAC Work Can Be Ugly
While nobody is denying how essential HVAC systems are to residential and commercial buildings, many customers consider a typical HVAC installation to be unattractive.
However, there are ways to make an installation look top notch. But, it requires a professional and careful installation and the use of high quality parts. At RectorSeal, we've built our business on helping installing contractors make HVAC installations look better and more professional, by offering the very best designed parts and accessories with the highest quality. This partnership is something we’re very proud of; it seems to work!
Customers care about how their house (or building) looks after you complete your work, so you should care too - - because your good name is at stake. You know from experience that high-quality parts often look nicer and are less likely to prematurely wear-out during their useful life. Aesthetics matter, even in the HVAC industry, which is commonly viewed by many as a “function-over-form” utility by most customers (that is, until they get a bad looking installation)!
3. You May Be Overestimating Already
Since at least the 80s, we have known that customers often view products and services in a much harsher light than those who manufacture, install or service those same products. It has become a part of popular culture in each generation to assume that “quality just isn’t what it used to be”, and in some cases this is true. But, often it isn’t really the case that quality is low. However, since customers’ perceptions are our reality and all that we have to work with, we have to approach our work with this in mind.
You probably have a high view of the quality of work that you do in your business and if you don't believe in your work, you probably won't last long in business. But, protecting your company’s reputation not only requires you to continuously do good work, but it also requires the use of good products that you use in your work. Any belief that you can keep a good name while not using high quality products can lead to tunnel vision and may cause you to be unaware of what the customers are seeing after they’ve hired you to do a job.
Be careful to not cut corners in the quality of products you use in your work because it may end up costing you more than you save. Your reputation and the perception that your customers have of you and your work are hard to regain if they are ever comprised because of the use of bad products. While most companies have areas of their business where they can save costs without a negative outcome, there are also things that can backfire and have negative consequences to your mid-range and long-term bottom line.
You don’t want to come off as “cheap” in the eyes of your customer. You don't want people to ever feel like they’re not getting a fair deal when working with you. You want them to think that dealing with you is a good value. Cheap means low-quality while good value means affordable and worth the payment to you.
4. Cheap Work Can Fail
While it can taint a contractor's reputation when the products they install look cheap or don’t perform optimally, total failure of those installed products causes an even worse outcome for the customer’s perception of the contractor.
Imagine how you would feel if the HVAC system you recently paid for started to look rusted, bent, dinged or damaged. Even worse, imagine how you would feel if it stopped working altogether!
These are the kinds of situations that prompt bad reviews, cycling all the way back to our point # 1 (customers talk). There is a reason that this is the first point; you must make sure that you do everything reasonably possible to keep your customers happy - - and it helps you to put the odds in your favor everywhere you can, to keep customers from associating you with bad work and cheap products.
Some people might tolerate mediocrity. But, outright product failure makes most people angry enough that they try and do something about it. That "something" is often bad reviews and negative word-of-mouth testimonials - - and they can affect you and your business in a very expensive way.
5. HVAC Products & Value-Added Features
Cheap products can usually “get the job done” at installation. But, even if these products work on a basic level, cheap products don’t often have great features.
To give an example, RectorSeal’s lineset covers are UV resistant, readily paintable, and more. While our products are affordable, we also have avoided any cost-cutting measures which would negatively impact our product design and their value-added features which appeal to homeowners and installing contractors.
The reality is that contractors who install low-quality products are usually not in a position to provide the benefits that feature-rich products offer their customers. If there is a feature that can make something more attractive, convenient or longer-lasting, it often cost more for the manufacturer to make - - and it is usually worth at least a marginal increase in price.
6. The Paradox of Going Cheap
Finally, there is an odd paradox to installing low-quality parts: It can be more expensive!
If you lose sales due to a bad reputation, have callbacks, or have to replace something more often due to a high failure rate, costs can add-up quickly. This is a costly way to operate which causes many newer companies to learn painful business lessons the hard way.
Saving on costs only works if you're actually saving when all is said and done. You cannot just look at the cost of your materials used on a job. If the features and quality of the products you install attract more profitable future sales and produce fewer product failures, then a marginally higher material cost is usually worth paying for.
This idea does go both ways though. Some products are overpriced for what they offer. If you're smart about it and you research the products available for your installations, you can make the best decisions for your business and your customers.
Quality Matters
Consumers care about quality. HVAC systems and their installations are substantial purchases for consumers. A slightly higher cost for a much better installation is a great deal in most people's eyes. After a beautiful installation with high quality equipment and accessories, they feel good about their decision, their new system and you, their installing contractor.
Work with high quality products that you can trust, provide your customers with excellent service at a price which allows you to be profitable and provides them with a good value - - and everyone wins. Your customers will brag about you and your work - - and your future business will benefit from you having plenty of profitable jobs to choose from.
At RectorSeal, we have a long history of carefully researched product development and maintaining industry leading quality standards. Continuously advancing, designing and testing innovative, reliable, quality products for the professional tradesmen has helped us build a highly trusted and revered name in the industry. Along with providing exceptional customer service and technical service, our trained, experienced professional sales representatives and dedicated technical trainers are available to help you with our products. Visit rectorseal.com today for more information on how we can help you with all your HVAC needs.
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