Proven marketing tactics from leading home performance contractors nationwide. Discover the low-cost marketing tactics used by others to sell “whole house” energy efficiency improvements.

1. 10 Home Performance Marketing
Tactics Worth Stealing
ACI Home Performance
May 21, 2010
Ed Thomas, UtilityExchange.org
ethomas@utilityexchange.org
(970) 209-8347

2. Ed Thomas
• Director, UtilityExchange.org, an EGIA affiliate
• Utility & Contractor Exchange events & webinars
• Home Energy Makeover Contests & workshops
• Author, & Presenter, Home Energy, ACI, RESNET, ACEEE
• Managing Partner, Market Development Group
• Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Workshops
• Manager, Intermountain Energy, Delta-Montrose Electric Assn
• Over 500 Geothermal Heat Pumps Installed
Education
• Bachelor of Science in Communications from Butler University
• Masters of Science in Marketing from The American University

3. National Trends
• Insulation is as Sexy as Solar Panels!
• New homes to existing homes
• Single Measures to Whole House
• Prescriptive to Performance
• Dumb Meters to Smart Grid
• Flat Utility Rates to Time-of-Use
• Cash for Caulkers, HomeStar
• Home Performance with ENERGY STAR

4. Build –Your -Own
Market Launch Plan
Define Success!
• Where do you want to go in 2010?
• Where do you want to be in 2015?
Create a 90-Day Plan to Get There!
1. Define Yourself
2. Introduce Yourself as the Subject Matter Expert
3. Get into the Community
4. Celebrate your Customers
5. (Repeat application as needed)

5. 1. Expand how you use Business Cards
• Full color and professionally designed
• Mini-ad for your business
• Drive people to your website to learn more
• Everyone in the company needs a card
• Magnet for the refrigerator
• Peel-and-stick for HVAC system
• Rubber stamp special offers on the back
• Leave extras with:
• Trade allies
• Past customers
• Restaurants

6. 2. Build a Brag Book
• “The analysis you provided on our 100-year-old home gave us the information we needed to
make our decisions with confidence. The work you provided went far beyond our expectations of
quality.”
Harold & Linda – Homeowners, Ithaca, NY
• “We installed new equipment and the energy savings more than pay for it! We had immediate
positive cash flow, decreased maintenance costs, and increased property value; it was a no
brainer.”
Walter – Apartment Complex Owner – Syracuse, NY
• “Between the insulation and the furnace, it is a very different house. If you have an older home
or are contemplating buying one, this kind of work is an amazing way to make the cost of
ownership much lower.”
Simon & Tracy – Homeowners – Dryden, NY
Word-of-mouth marketing is
the most believable

7. 3. Draft a News Release
• About you as local expert
• First customer! 100th customer!
• Local representative for your state program, BPI, etc.
• Free resources on your website
• Available to speak to groups

8. 4. Enhance your Web Presence
• Google yourself
• Your storefront
• News release and Brag Book online
• Links to “other” energy experts
• Action steps
• Search engine optimization

9. Marketing Toolkit Access

10. 5. Distribute the News Release
• Media and Search Engines via
www.marketwire.com or www.businesswire.com
• Everyone you know via www.constantcontact.com
• Friends and Family via Facebook and LinkedIn

11. 6. Produce a Customer Open House
• During and after current customer project
• Email invites
• Door hangers
• Yard signs
• “Impromptu”

12. 7. Get on the Speaker Circuit
Topical and “How To” Speakers are needed at:
• Rotary Club and other Civic Organizations
• Home Shows
• Home Owners Associations
• Chambers of Commerce
• Adult Learning Centers
• Realtors and Code Officials
• Business and Trade Groups

13. 8. Produce a Workshop
• 20-45 min. on “10 Tips to Save Money, Be More
Comfortable and Make Your Home More Earth
Friendly”
• 1-2 hours on “Whole House Improvements: How to
Do it Yourself and/or Manage Your Contractors”

14. Tips for Organizing
Seminars and Workshops
1. Draft a brief description and flyer for group to use to promote your
“appearance”
2. Recommend RSVPs and/or a modest registration fee to demonstrate
“value”
• Allow host/sponsor to waive fee as appropriate
3. Script your presentation with plenty of customer stories
• Provide handouts and news article reprints
• Make sure everyone gets your full contact information
• Provide extra copies for attendees to share with friends and
family
4. Gather attendee info. through sign-up sheets, evaluation forms and door
prizes
• Follow-up with attendees as sales leads and job referral sources

15. 9. Produce a Newsletter
• Your news releases
• Customer stories
• Latest on federal/state/utility incentives
• Reprints from other sources
• Distribute in print at health food stores,
Chamber/Rotary meetings, etc
• Distribute online via Constant Contact and watch who
click-thrus

16. 10. Make the Most of Home Shows
• Cross-telling is Cross-selling
• Yellow boiler “as seen on energystar.gov”
• Solar? Home Performance is first step..”
• Whole House poster is key talking point
• Homepage on laptop
• Showcase testimonials and reprints
• Live radio interviews
• Clipboard with “lead sheets”
• Bring your appt. book!

17. Be Local – Act Global
• Get BPI Accredited like the “big guys”
• Follow national standards – before they are mandated
• Go Gold Star – whether or not HOME STAR happens

18. Your Marketing Launch
1. Email and call all your local papers, radio and TV stations
and ask if they need your help to produce a story on what local
people can do to save energy, be more comfortable and reduce
carbon emissions
2. Email and call all local civic groups and ask if they need your
help to make a presentation on what local people can do to make
their homes perform better
3. Position yourself NOW to be the local “go to” home
performance expert to leverage local media outlet when they
decide to run a story about something related to home
energy/performance (i.e. HOME STAR, appliance rebates, utility
rate increases, cold/hot weather records, global warming
concerns).
4. Don’t build your business to rely on federal/state/utility
incentives. Sell the fact that your services are worth paying full
price.. for savings, comfort, efficiency, health/safety

19. Top-Tier Contractors Are Consistent
1. Diversification- Selling more then one product helps prevent
seasonality and drives more profits through add-on sales.
2. Sales Consistency- A pitch book or laptop presentation that
keeps salesmen consistent and helps overcome hidden objections.
3. Marketing- Spend money to make money and have a message
with a clear call-to-action.
4. Financing- Offering a low monthly payment option or no payment
“gap” financing until they get their incentive payment or home
refinance.
If the contractor, while in the home,
doesn’t have the tools and training to close the sale,
it can be a lost opportunity

20. Electric & Gas Industries Association
www.egia.org
• Pitch book materials
• Training webinars
• Interest rate buy downs and promotions (6 months same as cash)
• Building Performance Institute Alliance

21. Organizations to Watch….
• Efficiency First! Lobbying for energy efficiency installation
contractors….. Not the solar or low-income
• Building Performance Institute. Embrace national
installation standards and diagnostics to prove you’re third-party
qualified.
• Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Position
yourself as community-oriented and the go-to guy for ANY
“green” home energy upgrade. Be the weatherization agency for
upper and middle income homes.
• Affordable Comfort. Building science-related training and
networking
• Electric and Gas Industries Association. Business
development to increase sales closes and operations efficiency
• Utility Exchange.org Home Energy Makeover Contests
and Building Performance Contractor Exchange events/webinars