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Establish a Primary Service Area (PSPSA)
Experienced and successful entrepreneur, Jackie Rainwater, discusses why it's important to designate a primary service area and how to do it the right way.
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Originally published: 07.01.07 by Jackie Rainwater
Maximizing the performance of sales professionals requires several key components. Some of the obvious ones are sales training, effective sales lead-generation and tracking programs, attractive consumer incentives, top-quality products, and professional installations and service. Refer to my June column for additional information.
A vitally important (although often underestimated) component of successful sales is the incentive and compensation plan. An effective plan should include the following attributes:
At Peachtree Heating and Air Conditioning in Atlanta, the hvac retail company I operated from 1990 until 2002, we had eight residential comfort advisers who in 2001 averaged $1,232,305 in retail sales (expressed in 2006
Our installed pricing was established at 52 percent gross margin (before deducting sales commissions), and our sales actually averaged a 50 percent gross margin. The average commission percentage earned by our comfort advisers was 7 percent of the amount sold. Each year, over half of our comfort advisers would exceed the annual sales objective and therefore earn an annual performance bonus.
There were added incentives, such as prizes or manufacturers’ incentive trips, for exceeding sales goals during certain periods of the year or for selling the most of certain promotional super-high-efficiency heating or air conditioning models during contest periods.
Each of our eight comfort advisers was issued the same number of company-generated sales leads. Self-generated sales leads and referrals did not affect the number of company-generated sales leads that individuals were issued. Consequently, the comfort advisers who did the most effective job of generating leads and soliciting referrals were always the top sales producers.
Jackie Rainwater is a 46-year veteran and former owner of Peachtree Heating and Air-Conditioning in Atlanta. He built his businesses on service agreements.
Jackie Rainwater is a 46-year veteran and former owner of Peachtree Heating and Air-Conditioning in Atlanta. He built his businesses on service agreements.
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Experienced and successful entrepreneur, Jackie Rainwater, discusses why it's important to designate a primary service area and how to do it the right way.
View article.
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Would you like to triple your customer referrals? Increase your sales closure rate 10%? Cut your installation warranty cost 75%? Add 1% to your installation profits? Reduce the turnover rate of your installation technicians to less than 5%? Boost the pride and morale of your co-workers and your company’s reputation?
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By properly managing the sales force, you can be certain that all sales leads are carefully tracked, and promptly pursued— thus bringing more money to the bottom line.
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Weather-driven sales certainly are a nice windfall when they happen. However, depending on temperature extremes to grow a viable hvac retail business simply doesn’t work for the long haul. In order to grow and prosper, the business must generate sufficient valid sales leads on a year-round basis.
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By educating customers about additional accessories, your company can increase sales and profit margins.
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