When a worldwide pandemic occurs, it can have a detrimental effect on businesses and the livelihoods of everyone. To stay ahead of the game, The Unified Group hosted bi-weekly Sales Team Zoom calls to collaborate during these trying times. Harvey W. Hottel, Inc. and Cox Powell shared how they were successful in marketing and selling UV lighting and coil cleaning products to their customers and Ryan O’Hara, Technical Sales Associate for Service Unlimited, Inc., immediately utilized the examples he received from fellow members to develop an informational email to communicate with existing contract clients. The sharing of information allowed Ryan to pull material together from the other members that aligned with their vision and allowed Service Unlimited, Inc., to put something together in a few hours.
“When we started this marketing push, our goal was to get the phone ringing again so that our customers could start thinking about what they should consider for ensuring a safe work environment for their employees and customers as they reopened their doors. It was a scary time as our state and the surrounding states that we cover were in lock down,” said O’Hara. Ryan sent out email blasts to existing customers that contained information, attachments and links for products from Fresh-Aire’s website, which allowed clients to check out the products offered in detail. In addition, information for MERV 13 filters was shared with the importance of complimenting these filters with UVC. Service Unlimited Inc, sent out the email blasts on Friday and started receiving inquiries by Sunday.
“I split the quotes into two separate proposals. The first one was for a one-time coil cleaning, disinfectant and UV installation and the second quote included what the added cost would be to their existing PM agreement to go to MERV 13 and bulb replacement every two years. I broke this number out into the quarterly or monthly payment schedule that they are currently on. The UV bulb replacement cost broken into quarterly payments over two years is a pretty low number. So far 35-40% of our quoted UV proposals have closed with several large school proposals hinging on whether they will be opening in the Fall,” said O’Hara.
Having the down time to educate clients on these products was beneficial. “When this started, we were only looking to push the UV systems as there was more available documentation to back up the success of the product. The major down side is the 12-week lead time on these products. I have found that the UV proposal process can be time consuming to start as each system is custom, based on the size of the coil face, environment (goal) and cabinets; this requires a site visit to take measurements unless a submittal is available online. With recent studies, we are also looking at the I-WAVE products as they appear to be pretty effective, easier to quote and more readily available,” said O’Hara.
The benefits of member sharing and learning about new products and services during this time has benefited Service Unlimited in many ways. Business has resumed, clients are open for business again and the weather is 90+ degrees causing an influx of service calls and installs. Nice job to Service Unlimited, Inc., on your success with sharing the UV and coil cleaning information within a simple email blast!