By Andrew P. McCoy and Fred Sargent
Published On January 15, 2024
Selling multiyear maintenance contracts is an everyday event for mechanical contractors’ service departments. It has never been that easy for electrical contractors. However, there are far more types of eligible systems and potential tasks in electrical service and maintenance than any other kind.
When we rolled out electrical service and maintenance 2.0 in our August 2023 column “A Bold New Dimension to Business,” we explained how electrical contractors could have a service offering to take to market with a brand-new rate of success. Below, we expand on this new sales strategy, but first let’s revisit what “Version 2.0” is all about.
A quick review
Version 2.0 contains all the elements of a traditional service and maintenance agreement, but it adds a critical “peace of mind” component—uninterrupted operation. Under the terms of the agreement, the EC will install and maintain on-site generators, batteries, solar panels or some combination thereof to guarantee uninterrupted operation of predetermined systems in customers’ facilities.
That guaranteed operability will protect specifically designated systems against power outages. With Version 2.0, an EC would wrap customers’ systems in the security blanket of an individual or shared microgrid to achieve guaranteed operability.
Remaking the customer experience
By offering guaranteed operability, Version 2.0 will remake the decision-making and fulfillment phases of the customer experience.
Customers may produce rational justifications as to why they selected a particular product or service in any given situation. But customers’ buying decisions, even in a business-to-business transaction, are almost always rooted in emotional responses to the alternatives they are examining. The bridge between one’s physical senses and emotions is apt to play a decisive role in the selection of products or services.