Embed your brand throughout the sales process to win the job and drive long-term value. This matters more now than ever!
The missed brand opportunity
Most HVAC businesses spend a lot of time — and money — on branding basics, like logos, business cards, custom shirts, websites, and truck wraps.
These brand investments are important, but you may be surprised to know how many companies miss the opportunity to highlight their brand when it matters most: during the sales quoting process!
In this article, we’ll explain why branding during the quoting process matters. We’ll also share some practical tips on how to elevate your quoting with your brand.
Why Brand Matters during Quoting
Brand-driven quoting helps in four ways:
1. Highlight your Difference
Make your sales proposal stand out –and difficult to compare against competitors— by embedding your brand message throughout the quote.
2. Build Pricing Power
Customers will pay more for a service from a business they trust. Weaving your brand story throughout the sale and quoting process helps to drive that trust.
3. Promote Lifetime Value
Your unique brand can help you establish long-term relationships with your customers, and promote additional products and services that will help drive more business today–and in the future.
4. Close Beyond the Kitchen Table
Remote, mobile shopping has become the norm (and often the customer’s preference). Making sure your brand stands out — especially when you’re not in front of the customer — can make a major difference in your closing rates.
Five Tips to Brand your Quotes
1. Embed Your Brand in the Quote
Any respectable proposal, of course, begins with your logo and a brief introduction to your company.
But often your customer will look right past the information at the top of the page. In fact, E-Commerce studies have repeatedly proven that users skip right past anything they perceive as a banner or advertising.
This is why “embedding” your brand inside your quote makes sense.
Include unique, brand information about your company and team throughout your quote, not just at the top. Examples of this include embedding customer reviews, awards, or perhaps a description of your team and the unique installation and certification process that your company offers.
2. Brand is About Your Difference
As you build your proposal, look for opportunities to highlight differences. Perhaps this is a callout of your installation process, your service and maintenance plans, unique add-ons, or even the way you price your job.
This article provides many ideas about how to remind your customers about that difference, particularly during the proposal review stage.
One of our favorite ideas from the article is to “Price Differently.”
OnCall Air, for example, has features to help contractors get creative with interactive discounts and rebates to encourage financing.
3. Show Off Some Personality
Your team and your own personality reflect in your brand. Having that personality right into your sales proposal can help it become more memorable and stand out from the competition.
For example, you can use an email signature with a photo and a description of your industry expertise.
With OnCall Air, customers often create personal business profiles that include their photo, and a description of their unique expertise. These are often embedded directly into the proposal, so the customer doesn’t ignore these important brand differentiators.
After all, most sales are still personal!
4. Embed Relevant Reviews
We all know that customer reviews and testimonials are critical, and companies often already feature these reviews on their websites.
However, one of the most important times to highlight reviews is when your customer is considering the actual purchase.
This means that embedding key reviews directly into the proposal can make a substantial difference in your close rates.
And we suggest making sure that you speak to the customer’s neighborhood to make it as relevant as possible. Here’s an example:
5. Labels, Notes, and Fine Print
There are more subtle ways to embed your brand and personality throughout a proposal.
While many companies will label their proposals as “Good-Better-Best”, or “Gold-Silver-Bronze”, you can get more creative and use a label that is unique to your business (or even specific to that customer).
Additionally, when describing the services, we recommend emphasizing your brand where possible. So instead of “Install line set”, you can say “Line set installed by licensed Air Champion technician.”
If you pre-load these items into your proposal, it’s easy to make your brand stand out as your customer reads the details.
Here are a few examples of how you can customize proposals to stand out using subtle cues about your brand:
1. Proposal Labels
Use unique names for your proposal labels to make them more informative and memorable!
2. Work Items
Use the service description to reinforce your brand. Instead of “Install line set” say “[Company Name] licensed service techs replace, install, and test your line set”.
3. Terms and Conditions
Customers read the terms of service, so make the most of it to re-assure them about your unique brand difference.
Conclusion
Embedding your brand throughout your quoting process can help you differentiate yourself from your competition, take more control of your pricing, build long-term value, and resonate with your customer even after you leave the home.
We hope the tips shared in this article will help you win more jobs and establish stronger relationships with your customers.
To learn more about how OnCall Air can help you impress your customers and maximize your sales with brand-powered quoting, book a free OnCall Air demo today.
Now get out there with your new brand flair and close more sales!