How to Sell What Your Customers Can’t See
Welcome to allergy season. If you’re one of the 50 million Americans who suffer from allergies, this time of year can be fraught with symptoms—runny nose, itchy eyes, and shortness of breath to name a few. While some of the allergy-causing pollutants come from outdoors, many come from indoor sources. Pollutants like mold, dust and dander can be hiding in plain sight in indoor spaces and HVAC units. Just because your customers can’t physically see the irritations in the air, doesn’t mean this is an “ignorance is bliss” situation— they’re feeling the effects of poor air quality.
Even outside of allergy season, today’s customers have indoor air quality and cleanliness on their minds. Let’s discuss the top causes of poor IAQ and how to provide your customers with solutions to breathe cleaner air.
WHY ISN’T MY AIR CLEAN?
Allergens
Irritants like dust mites and pet dander—found on surfaces, fabric, furniture and decor.
Mold
Mold is a fungus that is found both indoors and outside. Outdoors, mold lives on rotting wood, damp leaves, and on grasses and grains. Inside, mold is found in the bathroom, near water leaks, in basements, humid areas, and even in the soil of overwatered houseplants. When a mold source is disturbed, it sends spores into the air where they make their way into your sinuses and lungs.
Scents, Chemicals, and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Indoor “scents”—candles, potpourri, perfumes and wax warmers all produce invisible particles that make their way into the air, clog up your HVAC system, and spur your allergies & asthma symptoms.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are a large group of chemicals that are found in many products used to build and maintain homes and indoor spaces. Once these chemicals are inside, they are released or “off-gas” into the indoor air we breathe. VOCs are found on items like new carpets, building materials, paint, and cleaning products.
Studies have shown that the most effective ways to improve IAQ are to reduce, filter, or remove the sources of pollutants and ventilate with clean outdoor air. Your customers may be experiencing allergy, or even asthmatic-related symptoms in their indoor spaces, and a proper analysis of their environmental pollutants is the key to better health. Let’s discuss 3 tips to effectively communicate these invisible irritants to your customers and improve IAQ.
Visually Document System Issues
When indoor allergens are present, your customer’s HVAC system needs to be in top shape in order to filter out particles and chemicals. If a customer is experiencing allergy or asthmatic symptoms, they may suspect that their units are not at peak performance, but it’s unlikely that a customer will know where or what to look for in order to diagnose the problem. When a technician can document a dirty, old or ineffective HVAC unit through a tool like XOi Vision, clear photos and videos simply communicate the root of the problem and sell customers on an upgrade of their system.
With XOi’s Journeyman™ Platform, a technician can accurately predict when an HVAC unit is approaching end-of-life status. It may be that the unit is just too old to properly ventilate pollutants out of the air. A solution like Journeyman allows you to be proactive and get to the root of the issue before allergy season arrives.
Inspect Those Hard to Reach Areas
A technician’s job is to get down & dirty in the ductwork to inspect for mildew, mold, and excess dander, but we can’t expect our customers to want to get their hands dirty. That’s why it’s important to have a tool that can seamlessly capture content in the moment—giving a customer remote access to areas where they cannot, or will not go. These visual reports can be sent to your sales team, serving as a tool to show current conditions and proactively recommend additional services needed for improvement.
Show Before & After
Encourage your customers to schedule an annual maintenance visit to get in front of any IAQ-causing issues before they arise. To ensure optimal performance, make sure these visits include:
- Having all ductwork cleaned
- Changing the air filters
- In humid zones, installing a dehumidifier can keep humidity levels in check. A good humidity level is around 40%.
Invest in technology that can clearly and accurately communicate the “before and after” effects of keeping up with HVAC maintenance. While a customer may not be able to physically see the indoor irritants, they will certainly feel the effects of a cleaner HVAC unit. With the aid of technology like XOi, a technician can confirm results and effectiveness during their service via customized, detailed reports sent directly to their home office and customers.
With so many factors negatively impacting indoor air quality, it’s important to be organized, detailed and proactive in identifying solutions to ensure a customer’s HVAC system is in top shape.
