Results of Charlie Greer's One-on-One Field Training for HVAC Service Technicians

Charlie's Schedule

Pricing for Charlie Greer's One-on-One Field Training for Service Technicians

Note:  These figures are presented to satisfy your curiosity.  Charlie Greer no longer runs calls with service technicians.

HAMILTON, ONTARIO (06/03):

I worked with an elite group of twelve techs in a company with about twenty-five service techs in total.  This works much better than packing the room full of every warm body in the building, which is what most of my clients want to do.

I ran calls with five techs, one day each.

My first official visit to Canada.  This company is located in Hamilton, Ontario.  I found the selling no different in Canada than anywhere I've been in the United States of America.

Initially, this company was attempting to sell a Plumbing Service Agreement for $99 that provided customers with a very small, inconsistent discount.  At least they were trying to, with very little success.  I tried it myself on Monday, but to no avail.

Step number one was to reduce the price of the Plumbing Service Agreement to $69.  That helped tremendously.  My conversion ratio for service agreements went from 0% to over 60% overnight.

Their next step is to re-print their price books to reflect a full 15% discount for service agreement customers, which I will remind you costs nothing.  If you need help on setting up a price book click here.

For the record, the people of Canada, from the techs I worked with to the customers we served to just people in general, were friendly, cordial and all around nice.

Here are my final results:

Number of billable calls:	10
Conversion ratio:	90%
Average number of flat-rate tasks per call:	2.6
Total $:	$5,545
Average $/call:	$5.54.53
Average $/hour*:	$205.38
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	10
Number of service agreements sold:	5
Number of Bio Cleans sold:	7

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that week had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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O'FALLON, IL (3/01):

My first official act was the redesign their price book to make it easier to sell service agreements.  Naturally, this also included a price increase.

Here are the results of one of the easiest weeks I've had in the business to-date:

Number of billable calls:	8
Conversion ratio:	100%
Average number of flat-rate tasks per call:	6.75
Total $:	$7,638
Average $/call:	$954.75
Average $/hour*:	$155.88
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	7
Number of service agreements sold:	7

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that week had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ (2/01):

I met with the owner on Sunday.  My first official acts were an across-the-board price increase on service, where we eliminated the "service agreement price column" from his price books and re-labled the "premium (overtime) rate" column as "standard" and made the "standard" price column his new "service agreement price column," and to reduce the price of his plumbing service agreement to make it into an offer consumers couldn't resist.

The techs were shocked.  They were certain we'd be thrown out of every house on every call until the owner and I came to our senses.

As usual, I had a great week and so did they.  They are not being thrown out of the house and, because of the price increase,  it's become much easier for them to hit their sales goals!

At the Friday morning meeting, I had to mention to them that, after running calls for a solid week, the only place I'd encountered the "price objection" was from them, not from their customers!

Needless to say, they've already booked a return trip.

Here are the figures:

Number of billable calls:	9
Conversion ratio:	100%
Average number of flat-rate tasks per call:	5.22
Total $:	$11,212.51
Average $/call:	$1,245.83
Average $/hour*:	$196.71
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	8
Number of service agreements sold:	8

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that week had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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DENVER, CO (1/01):

Any detective will tell you, the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime!

The was my second trip out to this company.

Their "standard" hourly rate is $322 per hour.

As usual, it was a very successful week, despite having to run calls where we had to call the landlord and sell it over the phone, calls where the landlord couldn't be reached and the tenant paid the bill, calls where the home was on the market for sale and calls that got off to a bad start but ended well.

The figures on my last trip out here were good, and there was some concern as to whether or not I was simply "lucky" that week.  After all, I'd sold a $1,000+ drain cleaning job!  Well, I beat them.  I even sold another $1,000+ drain cleaning.

A return trip has already been booked.  My client says says, "When you take the increase in sales generated by his visits, Charlie Greer doesn't cost me a dime!"

Here are the figures of another great week of doing nothing but plumbing:

Number of billable calls:	8
Conversion ratio:	100%
Average number of flat-rate tasks per call:	3.63
Total $:	$6,179.75
Average $/call:	$772.47
Average $/hour*:	$184.47
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	7
Number of service agreements sold:	5

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that week had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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DALLAS, TX (11/00):

This company was not using my system for selling plumbing agreements at the time I ran these calls...and it shows.  I sold one agreement sold out of four opportunities.  They're converting to the Charlie Greer system, are in the process of re-printing their flat-rate books, have booked a return visit, and we'll look forward to my usual high sales ratio of service agreements at that time.

Number of billable calls:	5
Conversion ratio:	100%
Average number of flat-rate tasks per call:	2.4
Total $:	$2, 820.50
Average $/call:	$564.10
Average $/hour*:	$188.03
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	4
Number of service agreements sold:	1

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that week had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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Number of billable calls:	8
Conversion ratio:	88%
Average number of flat-rate tasks per call:	5
Total $:	$8,084.19
Average $/call:	$1,010.52
Average $/hour*:	$269.47
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	8
Number of service agreements sold:	7

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that week had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (10/00):

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that day had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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WINDSOR, CT. (9/00):

This company, in addition to plumbing, is also an oil service company.  I spent one day running calls with their oil service tech.  In order to keep these figures pure plumbing, I'm only going to include the plumbing calls I ran.  I believe this company has managed to find the correct balance between "pricing for profit" and "pricing for customer retention."  They're at about $200 per hour (standard rate).  Their prices being reasonable helped me to get the highest average dollar amount per service call yet.  Here are my figures for four days of running calls.:

Number of billable calls:	8
Total $:	$5,811.10
Average $/call:	$726.39
Average $/hour*:	$226.67
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	7
Number of service agreements sold:	4

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that day had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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DENVER, CO (8/00):

Number of billable calls:	8
Total $:	$5,345.61
Average $/call:	$668.20
Average $/hour*:	$165.76
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	7
Number of service agreements sold:	5

*Average dollars per hour is the total dollars generated divided by the number hours I would have been paid for that day had I been working on an hourly wage.  This takes into consideration windshield time, "no-shows," traffic jams, call-backs, etc.

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FT. COLLINS, CO (8/00):

This was an older company that had just gone to flat-rate pricing and was going through the usual learning process that entails.  My primary goal for the week was to help their techs become more familiar with the use of the flat rate system in the field and to overcome their basic reluctance with the whole process.  I also proved to them that they can collect on every single call!

The interesting thing about this trip was that, prior to my arrival and working in the field with the techs, they were under the impression that the flat-rate system had raised their prices to where they were no longer competitive and were actually over charging the customer.

As usual, it was a great week.  By the time Friday rolled around, the techs realized that, all through the week, the only people who had raised the "price objection" to me was the techs themselves!  This is a typical example of how presentation skills will overcome any "price objection" the customer might raise before it even happens.  In a way, this was almost the easiest week I've ever spent in the field.

Here are the results of the week:

Number of billable calls:	13
Total $:	$7,535.82
Average $/call:	$579.68
Average $/hour*:	$228.36
Number of opportunities to sell an agreement:	11
Number of service agreements sold:	8

Results of Charlie Greer's One-on-One Field Training for HVAC Service Technicians

Charlie's Schedule

Pricing for Charlie Greer's One-on-One Field Training for Service Technicians