Key Questions For Increasing IAQ Sales During The COVID-19 Pandemic

We are in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Amid this chaos, there are good things you can take out of it, especially in the sales industry. The indoor air quality (IAQ) space may have been taken for granted before, but you can seize the moment to increase IAQ sales. Sam Wakefield covers two critical questions that will unlock that door and unlock everyone’s mind to wanting to hear and see more of your IAQ products.

This episode is going to be a good one. We’re talking about the two questions that will open everyone’s mind to want to see, hear or find out about indoor air quality products. We are smack-dab right in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Who in the world ever thought that this would happen? It has and the world is shut down except for us, thankfully. We are essential as if our egos weren’t big enough. At least here in the United States, we’re essential. Around the rest of the world, I know some of you are and some aren’t. I hope everyone is hanging in. In the United States, we had the President give us an actual executive order that said we are essential, which is awesome because we can serve people on a lot better level.

Indoor air quality products, purifiers, germicidal lamps, UV lamps, filtration, you name it, if you’re not selling multiplied times of those than you ever have in your career, then shame on you for not offering it because the world is doing our job for us. In the past, it’s always been a bit of a much longer education conversation to one, make people aware of what indoor air quality is and two, raise their interest enough that they would want to do something about the quality of air that they breathe in and what goes into their body. We don’t have to do that anymore. The world is doing it for us. In this episode, we’re going to cover two questions that will unlock that door and unlock everyone’s mind to wanting to hear and see more.

Every single time I offer indoor air quality products, most people tell me, “I didn’t even know this existed. I would have bought it years ago.” That tells me that as an industry, we have done a horrible job of educating people and letting them know what’s available because we’ve been scared of the ticket price. We’ve been scared to offer too many things and scared that people weren’t going to buy our project at all because we turned out to be, “We were more expensive than the other guy.” At the end of the day, it’s never about price. It’s about offering the right solutions for the people, for the homeowners, and your customers that they want. If you offer something and nobody else does, they know you’re an expert in something. They know you offer something that the other people don’t even mention or even talk about. Why would you not offer indoor air quality products?

That’s my soapbox. You’ve got to start offering more accessories and system enhancements. You’ve got to start offering surge protectors. You’ve got to start offering all the different things that we can do in a house. Offer it all every time. Be like, “I’m going to show you a list of some of the things we do. If you don’t want them, that’s fine. You can do it now, you can do it later. It’s no big deal, but if you don’t know they’re available, you don’t even know they’re available.” These two questions are simple. I guarantee you write these down, commit them to memory, and practice it in the mirror. Don’t be weird about it because we have a service that we can provide for people. We know the importance of indoor air quality of products. We know how powerful they are. We know how much they work. We know how well they work. The world is educating everyone for us. If you’re on the phone with somebody, if you’re a customer service or CSR, a service technician, the owner of the company, the installer, the comfort consultant, the project manager, these questions work for every single person. Everybody in your company should be selling IAQ products because it’s easy.

Question number one is, “With everything that’s going on, how important is indoor air quality to you?” In the first part of that question, there’s a purpose with everything that’s going on. When you show up for an appointment, people zoom in on what their specific problem is. They zoom in on whatever it is. If they called you for, their air conditioner is not working or their heater is not working or maybe they need a little bit of insulation or whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. Even if it’s just a maintenance check, I hope that on your maintenance plan, that you’re selling indoor air quality products because it’s awesome. It turns a maintenance plan into a profit center. Every time you’re in a house, it’s easy. Ask this question, “With everything that’s going on, how important is indoor air quality to you?” With everything that’s going on, that helps them remember to zoom out into the world. With everything that’s going on, they’ll think, “That’s right.”

Because while you’re there, they’re thinking about the project that’s going on but that helps them remember the situation. There’s situational awareness around the globe nowadays. Global crisis pandemic, the Coronavirus, but with everything that’s going on, how important is indoor air quality to you? You’ll have one person in a hundred that’ll say, “It’s not important at all.” That’s fine. Stop that conversation right there and no need to waste your time. Most people will say, “It’s important.” Your second question is, “Would you like to hear what we’ve done in our own homes to turn them into a sanctuary? Would you like to hear what we’ve done in our own homes to keep me and my family safe from what’s going on?” It could be as simple as, “Would you like to hear about some ways that we can improve the indoor air quality in your home?” If you don’t have anything in your home, be honest. If you’re selling into air quality products and you’re offering them, I would hope that you have them installed in your own house so you can represent it with integrity. That’s the best way to sell something is to be a user yourself.

Be like, “Would you like to hear about ways that we can improve the indoor air quality in your house?” The answer is going to be yes. Don’t ever ask people if they’re interested. If you ask them if somebody is interested, they’ll always say no because they have no idea what to be interested in. Just ask if they would like to hear about some ways that you can improve the air quality in their home or would they like to hear about what we’ve done to protect our families, to turn our houses into sanctuaries or a safe haven? Use whatever words you want. It’s less important about the specific words as using the words and asking. When you’re asking people that, they’re going to say yes, but here’s the thing. Notice I didn’t say, “Would you like to hear about some products that we have that make a difference in your house? Would you like to hear about my air filter, my air purifier or my germicidal lamp?” Don’t ever ask that. That’s dumb. That’s stupid. Stop using those words. Don’t use technical words with people.

People want to hear about their benefits. They want to hear generalities. They don’t care how it works. They want to know that it works. When you’re introducing something initially, don’t ask questions about products. The question is, “Would you like to hear about some ways that we can improve the indoor air quality in your home?” That’s a very general statement and question. They’re going to answer yes. When they do, that’s when you follow that up with a few more questions. Don’t jump right into vomiting about a certain product. Go into a few more questions. That’s when you start asking about, “Who in the home experiences allergies?” Notice that I didn’t say, “Does anyone in the house have allergies.” Someone always does and they’ll tell you who it is and then you follow that up with, “How bad? Are they on medication? What are they doing about it? What’s that like?”

You want them to open up and tell you about all of those concerns. “Who in the home has asthma?” Then ask about allergies and asthma, “What causes it? What is related to that?” You get them talking about the problems they have. If they don’t have any of those problems, say, “Great, that’s no problem.” All of these things we’re fixing or talking about, handle many things in your house that may be making you sick and you don’t even know it or you are just having the conversation. When you explain the products, talk about them in terms of the benefits that they offer. Don’t get bogged down in the technical details of all of your different IAQ products. Talk about them in terms of the benefit to the homeowner. When you’re in the home or even on the phone, it doesn’t matter. I’ve sold dozens of germicidal lamps over the phone without ever seeing the people or anything. Ask them the right questions.