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It's On My Heart
Greetings!
This month I have a message that is time sensitive, and also eternal. We have been given a gift. One of the realities of a gift is that we must receive it. If we just leave it sitting there on the table, we will not get the value, the enjoyment, the improvement to our financial status.
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Here's A Gift
Here is the gift: a tax credit. Specifically a 30% credit up to $1500 to a household, onetime credit for the two years 2009 and 2010. $1500 total for the two years. This is a good thing.
Now this is the part that is not so good. That credit is for almost any energy saving home improvement. Windows, doors, insulation, high efficiency water heaters, high efficiency furnaces, high efficiency heat pumps and air conditioners, all kinds of stuff. Go to energystar.gov for a complete list. It gets even better for some items, such as geothermal and solar panels. They have a credit of 30% with no cap. That is big, a real inducement to installing products of that sort.
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Here's Where I'm Going...
You must take action to receive this gift. Today! Now! You must be sure each employee knows the program completely. They have to be able to answer questions the customer's will have about this exciting program. Clear answers. Even better if they have something in writing to show them. There is massive confusion regarding the details, the regulations have been changed, and we had a program similar in 2007. In fact, the regs have been changed since the program was announced this year. I searched for forms, not available yet on the sites I visited. There were forms from the last credit, not from the 2009 program. They may be by the time you read this, I hope so.
Here is what I would do.
I would check all the government sites and try to get the very best, latest info possible. Then I would have a meeting and share that info with my entire company. Everyone. Then I would prepare a flyer for each tech to put in the hands of each customer they see, they need to make a big deal out of this.
I would also put together a direct mail piece to send out to the folks I have been sending out direct mail to. Direct mail is best used on a regular basis, same target customers several times a year. If you are thinking this would be a great way to start a direct mail campaign, it will produce very marginal results in most cases. Response rates of 1/2 of one percent are common on a first time mailing to people who are not your customers. It can be 2-5% to folks you have done work for and mailed to several times in the last year or so.
Get the news out, and check your facts carefully.
There is a lot of mis-information going around about this; help the customer sort it all out.
And finally, hurry. Window people are hitting this message hard, and the customer only gets $1500 total. Per household, not per project. I just talked to a window salesman in Dallas, their business is up 40% in February, looking for more in March. Yesterday I was in Ohio for ACCA, saw a few minutes of the Good Morning America show on Thursday. Had a great commercial on windows and how the government had a stimulus package that applied to the consumer when they bought windows from this company. Made it look like that was the only way to get the credit, buy some new windows. So hurry, when you put the tax credits on top of some manufacturers rebates, add in utility rebates in some areas, it may be cheaper to buy a 16 seer two stage unit than an entry level 13 seer.
Pretty neat, but ya gotta sell them on it.
Now, I need to add another section to this newsletter, one that illustrates the concept of an eternal gift. Karie Johnson is a manager with Carrier Corporation, and a friend. I saw her in Las Vegas while I was doing a program this last week. I asked her how she was doing, and she told me she was exhausted. Turns out she was at home a few nights earlier, and heard a huge crash just outside her yard. She ran outside and saw a horrible accident. Really bad, and she was the only adult on the scene. Actually, other adults showed up later, they just never got involved. She found a teen-aged boy who was just barely alive, and managed to stabilize him until help arrived. She was working with the boy when the ambulance drove by, missed the turn to where they were. She asked some of the others to show them where they were, no one stepped up to get involved. Authorities finally came to the scene; she helped until it was obvious there was not anything else she could do.
She couldn't sleep the next two nights, just the thoughts of those young lives changed forever. The next night she got a call from the mother of the teenager she had stayed with. She said her son was still in the hospital, but looked like he would make it. The doctors were sure that if Karie had not been there, and gotten involved he wouldn't have. She asked Karie if they could come by (he would be in a wheel-chair) and let him thank her personally for saving his life.
How do you thank someone for saving your 16 year old son's life? It's every parent's prayer that you don't have to. I am grateful today for people like Karie who step in when it is dangerous and help out in the best way they can. I can guarantee you that she did not do it for any personal glory; she told me that she did not need or want to have this mentioned at all. I told her there are some people out there who need to hear it.
So be available to get involved just as Karie did, you may be the person to help deliver the best gift of all, the gift of life.
...Thanks for being part of my business family, we'll talk later.
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Jim Hinshaw
1281 E. Magnolia, #D-145
Fort Collins, CO 80524
NEW Phone:
970-635-5675
NEW Fax:
970-635-5676
Cell:
602-369-8097
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