4 Easy Steps to Sell More Service Agreements

Service agreements are often described as “the food” of your business. But a better description would be that service agreements are “the storehouse” of your business.

A storehouse is a place where valuables are put away for the future. Farmers have used storehouse for years. They put away grain and seeds for the future needs of their family, farm animals, and crops.

Here are the reasons why a storehouse is a better description of service agreements:

• They store future service calls: Companies that complain about low call volume also have a low number of service agreements.
• They store future income: With my clients, service agreements have proven to produce over 50% more income per call. See this study from Steve’s Plumbing.
• They store future growth: A 1-to-3 ratio seems to be a magic number for the future growth of a home service company. What I have found is that if a third of a company’s yearly calls come from service agreements, then growth becomes easier. As a matter of fact, growth is almost forced upon the company to meet current demands.
• BONUS: It is easier to sell the farm when the storehouse is full.

A healthy supply of service agreements is critical for any plumbing, HVAC, or electrical company. Building the service agreements in your home service business should not be hard. Your technicians should have a clear and easy path to selling service agreements, which you can find below.

Here are 4 Easy Steps that Boost Service Agreements

1. Introduce the service agreement to your client on the phone.

This will set your techs up for success. The CSR should include the service agreement introduction in her call reminder script.

“Mrs Smith, when John gets to your home, he is going to review with you our Service Agreement. There are 6 Key Benefits that every homeowner should have. One of those benefits includes savings on today’s service call.”

2. Stimulate interest before the diagnostic.

Before the tech starts his diagnostic, he should plant a simple seed about the service agreement.

“Samantha, this is the service agreement that Ashley told you about on the phone. I’m going to leave it here for your review. Take a moment and look over the 6 Key Benefits that every homeowner should have. When I’m done, we can review the agreement together.”

3. Tie the service agreement benefits into the diagnostic findings.

Most items in a home would last longer and perform better if they were well maintained. This equates to substantial savings for your client. Communicate this as you explain your diagnostic findings.

4. Perform a professional presentation of the service agreement at the close.

Richard Saxton of Steve’s Plumbing may be the best at tying in the service agreement when it comes to asking for the order. I’m going to give you a few of the points he uses on every call:

• Communicate how today’s total would have been less if the system were being maintained.
• Communicate each benefit one at a time. Fully explain the benefits, not just the features.
• Undersell the discount – “The discount isn’t why you should get a service agreement today. You should get the service agreement because of the money it will save in future breakdowns.”
• Show the side-by-side difference in the totals for a person with a service agreement versus someone without one. (This should be done even with clients that are on a service agreement. You will want to remind them of the value of their agreement.)

Implement these 4 easy steps, and experience explosive growth in your service agreements!

This blog was updated on Feb. 4th, 2020.

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