The “typical contractor” is the reason the average ducted HVAC system only delivers 57% of its rated capacity.

The “high performance contractor” eliminates guesswork and delivers an unparalleled customer experience. David Holt, of National Comfort Institute, explains the difference — and how to be the high performer — in a clip from this week’s episode of the Cracking the Code weekly show.

Watch the clip from this week’s episode of Cracking the Code below, and visit EGIA.org/Show to watch the full show, before it goes in the members-only archive on July 16th.

Question: How important are service contracts for growing my business?

Gary Elekes; Founder, EPC Training:

Great question. Service agreements are how we refer to those. We try to teach the technicians to, nomenclature-wise, make sure the customer understands that it’s a club agreement, or we call them USA agreements. We try to not use the word “contract.”

And as we look at how important that is to the business based on the question that was submitted: Really, it’s probably the single most important marketing program you have as a business. Your existing customer base is going to buy an entire 67% more than a standard customer lead – what we would call a marketed lead — somebody who didn’t have a relationship. So if you just look at that, and said a service agreement is how I can create that relationship, there’s really a purpose as to why that 67% occurs.

You know, you’ve got the opportunity to be involved with the client in a trusting relationship, and certainly one that isn’t a demand service crisis call where people are emotionally distraught and not necessarily waking up in the morning saying “Oh, gee, I’m glad my condenser fan motor failed” or “my variable speed gas furnace motor failed.”

So the service agreement is a relationship model. While we’re going to do the technical work for certain, the principle here is customer experience. So we’re going to deliver the technical expertise of course, but what we have to teach our men and what we have to teach our company from a cultural point of view is what makes it important is that we’re able to create a customer experience where they feel good about the brand and the relationship. So when it comes time to talk about an accessory or it comes time to talk about an upgraded product, or potentially a repair vs replace or even just a financing deal. Those types of programs are going to go over better with a client that already has a relationship with you, and you’ve done business with, and they know that you’re trustworthy, and the brand experience is good.

So, to me, it’s the single most important part of the marketing platform. Once we get past brand and those types of things and start talking about execution of strategy, the service agreement platform is number one. Wally, I’m going to pass that on to you, I’m sure you’ve got some great comments on that.

This is the weekly Ask the Experts free excerpt. To listen to all of this week’s calls, or to see the schedule and register for future calls, click here.

Over four-plus decades in the industry, Mark Matteson has mastered the skills it takes to not just survive, but thrive as a salesperson.

In the latest episode of Contractor Coffee Club, Mark lays out the philosophies and strategies that have helped him achieve unrivaled sales accomplishments — and can help you, too. Plus, he discusses recent industry survey data on health benefits, and how benefits and culture factor into recruiting and retention.