Hi Guys, Im the marketing manager for a UK company called ICS Heat Pumps. For the last 3 years we have been heavily engaged in promoting awareness in all types of heat pump. Sales are slowly picking up in the UK as companies and home owners start to realise the benefits of heat pump technology.

What I and my colleagues are interested in is knowing how other installers and suppliers go about generating sales? What campaigns have you implemented which have been fruitful? We are fully aware that education plays a big role in future sales and we have set-up training days and recruitment drives for local plumbers in an effort to reach people at "street" level.

Any input or thoughts on the future of heat pump technology would be appreciated.

Cheers Matt
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http://www.icsheatpumps.co.uk/

Good installs providing comfort and solid cost savings will result in referrals and word of mouth will sell the systems.

Screw up some installs, and you'll be in a deep public relations hole.

As for technology, I'm looking for inverter-based or other variable speed / load compressor technology allowing a unit to operate at widely varying load, perhaps down to 20% of full load or less.

I've never heard a Geothermal commercial in my area, even the guys who installed my Geothermal system push 90% efficient natural gas systems specials on there web site. Geothermal is hardly mentioned.  Few people can get over the sticker shock of geothermal to follow thru on a purchase.

I guess it's really not worth it to advertise aggressively when every lead generated too often results in you wasting your time giving a quote to someone that's not going to follow thru with a purchase. It's better to be lower key when people who are really interested find you.

 

It is surprising  how well this works

That is an interesting idea... Most of our converting business comes from referrals. But we do find a lot of people dont think a heat pump is an option for them (for example they may not know about air source heat pumps and how they are more suitable for terraced housing). So that's why were trying to educate people as well.

My advertising is word of mouth and internet. Pay per lead works well for me as does exposure on sites like this. The trouble with pay per lead is as TG suggests, it is time consuming and now might cost me $75 for the introduction, so curiosity seekers might find me a little stand-offish.
Utility company and trade shows work well also, but my bet is the internet.
j

i don't understand Pay per lead. What does this involve? I know when you click on an advertisement on a website a very small fee (a few cents I think) is kicked back to the website from the bussiness the link leads to. I don't know if the kick back is any higher if the clicker actually makes a purchase. I would guess a pay per lead would be when a consumer fills out a online form on a website that give them quotes from several contractors, but $75 sounds awfully high for a lead that may not generate a sale.

Weve been pushing the web side of things with PPC... That brings a lot of our enquiries but the conversion rate is very low. Its still worth it but doesnt bring us a huge amount. Were taking part in various UK expos and these have been great. The good thing about participating in events like this is the knock on traffic that they bring to your website.

Techgromit - check out adwords.google.com


You can dictate your own budget and if youre clever you can really make it work for you.

There are different companies, many you may have seen already when you google something in your area (plumbing, heating, roofing etc). Some will send you every inquiry that fits your parameters ($10 to $50) and some speak with the client, qualify them and weed out the casual and curious ($75). I'm sure everyone here knows that some one on a 30 by 70 village lot with a 750SF house is probably not going to spend the dough to get a vertical geo system- the high dollar referral service weeds out them and folks in the earlier stages of shopping (thinking about doing this down the road).
Advertising is of course very expensive and while $75 sounds high, the yellow pages for detroit metro could be more than $500/mo with no guarantee that you meet even one customer. Frankly the $75 is less important to me than the time. A recent inquirer insisted he was ready to buy and only later explained that they were researching different options for a fix and flip house. Because I sell fossil as well, I figured I might as well throw my hat in the ring, but fix and flip work is often lowest bid driven which of course is not a characteristic of geo.
This by the way is one of the many components of the "how much does a heat pump cost question," that is often over looked.
J

What about State Referrals? When I used the New Jersey energy star program to finance my system, they gave me a list of approved contractors. It might be well worth it to get certified by the state to get on that list, especially if it's free referrals.

 

Utility companies and igshpa as well as some equipment manufacturers provide some referral. State of MI does not, nor do they have geo specific licensing. While many of these are not strong leads, they are free as you point out, and a good addition to this discussion.
J

I'm an owner not a contractor. When I built my log home I found my geo contractor through a log home dealer that was using the hvac contractor in his own home. Several of the homes we looked at during the planning stage were using varoius geo systems. At that time(15 years ago) I also had troble finding log home financing as well. After my home was built and both the bank and my hvac contractor saw the quality of the work my builder did they started marketing through the seminars my builder holds. At that time when you said "log Home" most people thought of hunting shacks not the upscale homes most people are aware of today. I firmly believe geo works best in a home where it is part of the overall energy efficient design than as a retrofit. Your marketing will probably work better when it goes out to people who are already aware of the value added benifits of adding to their overall home plans. The price is also easier to swallow when it is part of financing a new hme than when replaceing a $7k system with a $20+k replacement when the furnace breaks. Also it is easier for the home owner to visualize the payback in a new home they intend to live in a long time or retire in. Energy efficient retirement homes are attractive because of the low monthly costs to people living on fixed incomes. That was a big apart of building my home. I didn't want big recurrent bills when I retired. I would try partnering with other contractors, designers, consultants that deal with PV, windpower, sip panel, log homes ect. These customers are less likely to freak when they see the price as they are already aware of the long term value of your product. Often they already know they want what you have to offer. They are just looking for a proven contractor.

Although installed Geothermal heating as part of the contruction process is ideal, most new homes are tract developments where they are using builder grade materials(i.e. the cheapest crap they can buy in bulk to meet mininum requirements). Unless the state takes steps to raise the bar, you will never see geothermal heating installed in vast numbers.

This is one of biggest complains I have with Condo, Townshouses and some housing developments, even if you wanted to upgrade items for you home, like your air conditioning for example, you can't because your house (and A/C) has to look like every other house in the development. I think one of the reasons builders get deals for materials is the supplier knows the end consumer will be locked into that part for life. So however crappy the system is, when they want/need to replace it, they are stuck with the same crap model/brand they had before. This is why I will Never live in a development with a homeowners association. 

     

Homeowner's associations, however, pose another place for advertising. Many have websites, and if you discuss with the HOA president, they like the idea of geothermal. Don't necessarily count them out.

Spend your time training your guys to be perfect gentlemen.
a perfect install and 1 muddy foot print = cust that will trash you to everyone he knows
second every cust you get ASK THEM TO RECOMEND YOU
As Im sure most people know a cust from a recomandation will be much more likely to close
some people just need to be asked

Off topic, but one thing about the States" raising the bar T.G. is that people don't know they want it. As a young inspector, I was disgusted with builders' code minimum work. That shifted however to disgust with people who took no time to educate themselves on the difference in quality from one house to the next. I concluded that some folks spent more time researching their next SUV purchase.
So states wont raise the bar until people insist on it and are willing to pay for it.
On topic- homeowner associations have moved more fossil equipment for me, but they do move a lot of it. One thing I was going to do was put info books at the local gym. Lots of folks there hit the community magazine rack before hopping on the tread mill. Accent the booklet with a free sign and a business phone #......
I'll let you know if it bears fruit.
J

I assume you know that all houses in the UK sold after October, 2008 are required to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

http://www.campaigns.direct.gov.uk/epc/

This also applies to rentals and commercial buildings as well.  In addition commercial buildings will also have to post annual information regarding energy consumption.

My UK colleagues have told me that there is some amount of renewable energy REQUIRED for some projects in some areas.  Unfortunately, I do not recall the specifics and this may only be in London.

Borehole cooling (I think that is what you call it;-) and heatpumps qualifiy as a renewable energy source.

If you are not capitalizing on this, you should be. 

EPCs are a EU Directive and it is up to the individual countries to formulate their own specific programs.  The UK is leading the rest of the EU in establishing their program.  There is currently a shortage of certified inspectors (another opportunity).

Bruce

Joe,

I'm still wrapping my head around the magnitude of your idea! I love it. There certainly are a lot of waiting rooms around where pamphlets could be placed.

What sort of info book are you thinking of? Just a little brochure/pamphlet? Or something with articles, too?

Clark,
Ive already "inadvertantly" left IGSHPA magazines lying around (with contact information of course), but Climatemaster has an information magazine or newspaper formatted brochure. I've not seen a similar tool from my Earthlinked supplier, but the point is the contact not the appliance (we'll pick the best one to suit them once we meet).
All I can tell you is that I've read such inane things as "muscle" magazine (any one who's met me will chuckle at that) or the "New Yorker's" exciting expose' on 6 figure vacations, just to take the pain out of treadmill time. As this gym is situated in a village of 4,000 surrounded by 20,000 residents (more than 1/2 of which heat with oil or gas), I'm hopeful that geo info will at be at least exciting as the "O" magazine.
I'll keep you posted.
J