ST. LOUIS - With all the material handed out, suggestions made, tips offered, and networking experienced over five jam-packed days, you could say attendees of the 2008 AirTime 500 Expo went home thick with information and knowledge. Then again, “Thicke” may be more appropriate.

Looking for more ways to make members a step ahead of the competition, the association introduced a new Web program that will have Alan Thicke providing commentary on Websites of members who buy the offering. For a set price, members can have Thicke, as well as Bob the Technician, providing homeowners with information they need to know regarding heating and cooling.

“You have six seconds to convince a visitor to your Website that they should be interested in what you have to offer, and give them reason to spend more time on your site,” AirTime 500 president Terry Nicholson told his members. “Now you can put Alan Thicke on your home page in full video and let him invite your potential customers to learn more about your company.”

According to Nicholson, market research shows that the Internet is now the No. 1 resource consumers use to research products and services before they buy. However, not all of his members’ Websites, he could say, were necessarily exciting. To boost traffic and more, Nicholson opted to partner with .advancedMethod, a business experienced in video marketing on the Web.

As soon as a potential customer hits a member’s homepage, Thicke appears and speaks directly to the customer concerning the importance of HVAC and invites visitors to click on his picture to learn more. When customers click on Thicke, they see a full, large-frame video of the former star of ABC’s “Growing Pains,” now syndicated in over 65 countries. Thicke talks about his experiences with HVAC services and why it is important to choose the right company.

“And it looks like your site, with your logo, address, and phone number,” said Nicholson.

After Thicke talks about the importance of HVAC to the homeowner’s quality of life and the importance of dealing with a truly professional service company, he introduces Bob the Technician, who provides full video answers to 23 frequently asked questions. “The cost of this program is not much more than what most home contractor services pay for one qualified lead a month,” said Nicholson.

SELECT REPLACEMENT

Over five days, Nicholson kept the attention of AirTime 500 attendees with new material to bring back to their respective business. The first three days were a review of the association’s founding principles and strategies. It was meant for new members to see how they need to reconstruct their business.

Topics discussed included ways to make more money, poor image and self-esteem, the nuts and bolts concerning “straight-forward pricing,” and the value of club memberships. In addition to Nicholson, speakers included sales and business management consultant Don Jennings, BuyMax President Steve Mores, and AirTime 500 co-founder John Young, who zeroed in on his specialty, marketing.

Nicholson closed the final day of the expo by encouraging each residential contractor to become a replacement company.

“A service company earns a living, but a replacement company creates wealth,” he said. “But how you become a replacement company is a matter of choice.”

According to Nicholson, if one is in the residential repair business, one can become a replacement company by one of the following paths:

1. Performing repair and then converting to replacements;

2. Performing scheduled service and then converting to replacements;

3. Marketing for replacements; or

4. Acquire companies to get to the replacement.

He went through the pros and cons of each option. Most, he concluded, failed to focus on replacements. “If you depend on service revenue with few replacements, you will probably not ever achieve much more than business survivorship,” warned Nicholson.

If one has a business focused on scheduled service, Nicholson provided three paths to get to replacement business:

1. Perform preventative maintenance on systems still operating to generate additional revenue;

2. Perform scheduled service to build a club membership base to lead to replacements for the future; or

3. Perform scheduled service to generate replacement revenue today. In regard to the last path, Nicholson said a contractor can focus on converting systems “that are in the replacement opportunity zone” into replacement sales.

“It’s usually easier to generate scheduled service calls than it is to generate replacement leads,” said Nicholson, providing a positive before providing a warning. “If you do not eventually convert club memberships into replacements, you will probably never achieve much more than survivorship.”

If one has a business which banks on replacement marketing, this entails advertising to a homeowner that now is the time to consider exploring investment in a new comfort system.

One of the cons here, he said, included the fact a company would need salespeople with strong communication skills. Also, if you stop marketing, the revenue stops.

Yet another way to get into replacement is via a replacement acquisition focus. This means acquiring competitors to generate replacements from their customer base, explained Nicholson.

The pluses to this business approach are that one may acquire excellent customers and employees, and the process does fuel growth. However, Nicholson warned that replacement acquisition may require an extensive outlay of cash and existing employees may not fit your culture.

And the bottom line is the same, he said: “If you don’t convert the database of the acquisition into replacements, you will probably not achieve much more than survivorship.”

AWARD-WINNING COMPANIES