Tips and Tricks for Selling Heat Pump Water Heaters

When a customer calls your office looking for plumbing services, how do you capture their business? Here are some useful sales tips and tricks that successful business owners have shared with us.

Boost Your Online Presence

Research shows that more than 80% of consumers start researching your company and satisfaction ratings online.

Tip: Maintaining and updating your website with relevant information can be just as important as getting another 5-star review. Hot Water Solutions provides free website tools to kickstart your heat pump water heater sales and show that you offer energy-efficient, forward-thinking solutions.

Offer Good, Better, Best Solutions

When a customer calls with a water heater problem, is your staff asking them if they have considered a HPWH?

Tip: Qualifying customers for a HPWH and sending a follow-up email with product information shows that you offer “Good, Better, Best” solutions. Giving the customer a day to review the information before the estimator shows up helps create a dialogue centered on choices, and research shows they select the HPWH 30–50% of the time.

Proactive Home Plumbing Reviews

After completing the service work on a call, conduct a “Home Plumbing Review” to provide a value-added insurance policy for your customer. Identifying an aging water heater can help the homeowner plan for a replacement before it becomes an emergency.

Tip: Do a quick 5-minute walkthrough to look for plumbing concerns that need addressing, especially the water heater.

Trick: Wondering how old your customer’s water heater is? Use our serial number decoder.

Follow Up on Aging Water Heaters

The Home Plumbing Review gives the installer an opportunity to see firsthand the condition of the water heater. If the tech finds the tank is in good shape, place a sticker on the water heater with your contact information for future reference.

Tip: For water heaters that are nearing 10 years or older, use your smartphone to take a picture of the location and nameplate. Enter the customer’s info on a spreadsheet and send them quarterly emails as a friendly reminder to replace their aging tanks. This list will provide your company with a ongoing list of prospects. When practical, use the location photos to quote the HPWH replacements over the phone.

Right-sizing

The trick to properly sizing a HPWH to meet a family’s needs is to provide plenty of stored-up capacity. The greater the capacity, the more likely the efficient heat pump will serve as the primary heating source for hot water recovery.

Trick: The Peak Hour Rating is the amount of hot water needed to supply the family during the hour when the hot water demand is greatest, and serves as a good rule of thumb for sizing a heat pump water heater: (# of bedrooms + 1) x 12 gallons. Example: (3 bedrooms + 1) x 12 gallons = 48 gallons. To meet this family’s needs, the installer should replace a 50-gallon heater with a 65- or 80-gallon heater to keep the elements off and ensure the heat pump does the bulk of the water heating.