Did you know that there’s a simple secret to avoiding a rough shoulder season? What if we told you that the same thing would also improve your brand recognition, customer loyalty, and revenue all at once? Well…let’s talk about maintenance memberships!
What is a Maintenance Membership?
Club memberships, maintenance agreements…maintenance memberships have lots of different names, but they all refer to the same thing. In general, these are contracts offered to your customers that provide them with a set amount of time when you take care of maintenance for them. This could be offered for HVAC systems, water heaters, roofs, plumbing, or just about anything that needs professional upkeep!
In most cases, these contracts are a flat rate that the customer pays, and the company covers a predetermined range of repairs and maintenance that may be needed. It’s very common for the company to add additional perks such as priority scheduling, discounts on repairs, and so on.
What Makes Maintenance Memberships So Valuable?
If you’re here and you’re thinking “But I already have a maintenance membership, so what?”, that’s the wrong mindset! In all likelihood, you aren’t leveraging it to its full potential. How often are your techs and comfort advisors promoting the program to your customers? And more importantly, how often are you talking about the program to your team?
Whether you already have a maintenance membership or you’re thinking about starting one up, let’s take a look at what makes them such a valuable addition to your business offerings.
1 — Customer Loyalty
When you have a customer that has signed a maintenance agreement with you, that means they are locked up! If they have an issue you can solve, you’re always going to get the call. That’s a huge win for your business.
2 — Brand Loyalty
In addition to customer loyalty, you’re also going to be cultivating strong brand loyalty. When you’re the one always answering the call, that gives you many opportunities to be in front of the customer to “wow” them. Developing that trust in your brand by always being at top of mind isn’t just a win today, that’s setting yourself up for sustained success.
3 — Increased Sales Opportunities
A maintenance membership is a guaranteed foot in the door! That’s maybe the most valuable thing of all here. If your techs are good, they’ll be able to seize this opportunity to find ways they can further improve your customer’s life. Maybe it’s tuning up the AC system and noticing they have pets and children and would benefit from an air purifier. Or perhaps it’s an electrical inspection, and noticing they’d do well with a panel upgrade. This is your chance to recommend great new products and services face-to-face!
4 — Customer Satisfaction
Being able to keep your customer’s equipment maintained means you get to keep them happy! It also gives you lots of chances to show them you’re able to keep things from breaking down when they need it most. Best of all, if it does, they know they can call on you for help. You get to be the hero, and that’s what your customers will appreciate the most.
5 — Offset Shoulder Season
The dreaded shoulder season…every company has that time of year when you’re scrambling to find calls. If you have lots of customers who are on a membership agreement with you, that’s the right time to take advantage! You can fill the board with these maintenance calls, and use the off-time to really deliver for your customers. Plus, these maintenance calls can often turn into additional calls or higher tickets. Even better!
Maintenance Memberships Help You Grow!
If you don’t have some type of membership program, now’s the time to start. You’ll have to figure out a price structure that makes sense for your organization and implement the process, but once you do, you’ll wish you had sooner. If you already do have one, now’s the time to take a closer look at it.