Growing E-Commerce for HVAC Companies

I’ve had great success over the years in helping grow internet sales for two companies. It is possible for a distributor to double internet sales in a single year — even if its website’s technology is slightly lacking that of its competitors. You might think that that is unrealistic but, trust me, it is not.

If you are not working for a large national distributor that has poured millions of dollars into its website, you may be thinking that it’s going to be hard to keep up as a regional player. But that simply is not the case.

It all comes down to salesmanship. You just must sell what your company is capable of doing with its business-to-business (B2B) website. If an HVAC contractor is already doing business with you and you have their business, all you have to do is convert them over to your website, which is easy to do even if your site does not have all the bells and whistles that the sites of some of the larger competitors may have.

You simply show the contractor how to navigate your site so that they can quickly and easily place orders. I’ve had to build extensive kits or create buying lists so that our customers do not have to search for parts that they might need, and this helps ease the online buying process.

Other supply houses may have quicker search engines that can locate what the contractor might be looking for or suggest other things that they might need. I have been at a disadvantage in the past when our B2B site did not have some of the functionality that other sites might have had. You can still overcome these issues if you are a solid salesperson who knows your product, which in this case is the functionality of your B2B site. You need to master all the features and benefits that your site offers, and show your contractors how they can use these to help them run their businesses.

All B2B sites are designed to help contractors to more easily run their businesses. It comes down to how well and thoroughly you show your contractors what your site is capable of.

It is the key to the rapid growth of internet sales, more so than a flashy special or increased functionality on the site. It’s about presenting your site to your contractors and helping them change their buying patterns so that they can take advantage of what ordering from the internet offers. Once your contractor gets used to your website and to ordering from it, he will become stickier to your company and less likely to make a change.

It is very similar to shopping at a grocery store and getting comfortable with where everything is located. A new grocery store could open that might have some features that are more attractive than those in your current store, but if your comfort level at that first store is high, it is unlikely that you will change your purchasing behaviors. Your contractors operate the same way; it is what they’re comfortable with and used to that is important.

You need to implement this technique — selling your customers on your site — sooner rather than later so that you can get them comfortable with what your website can provide. If not, you leave the door open for a competitor. A smart competitor will exploit the fact that your customers are not reaping the benefits of ordering online, and will use this as a wedge to separate them from you. You need to get your customers used to ordering off your B2B site before they get swept away by another company that has taught them about this benefit.

If you combine your ability to sell with superior marketing and advertising and customer discounts for HVAC equipment, parts, and supplies ordered online, it will further enhance your growth.

Once a customer’s buying behavior has changed, your company’s internet sales are set to grow, because that customer’s sales will move to online sales.

The way to rapid growth is to target your largest accounts and convert them to internet sales. If they are calling your counters, or coming in constantly, your cost to serve those contractors will be higher than if they purchase online, but if you can get them to order online, it will greatly enhance your overall profitability, so converting your largest customers to online sales is incredibly important.

I have made a practice of targeting large accounts and urging them to switch to online purchasing, and have had great success in a focused approach to converting contractors, one by one, to the internet. I know others who use a shotgun approach, but I do not find that nearly as effective for rapid growth as targeting key accounts at which employees value my opinions and treat me like a trusted advisor. Those are the customers that I can easily convince, by teaching them and their key staff members how to use internet purchasing to increase their productivity.

We have a B2B committee that meets monthly to review our sales growth and plot what actions we need to take to enhance B2B sales. Our company aggressively pursues ways to increase and enhance internet sales. We far outpace the industry in this key category. The reason is that what gets tracked gets done.

I would suggest looking at your company’s internet sales and creating a stretch goal and a plan for achieving that growth. If you are below the industry’s internet sales standards, then you need to take this seriously and start working.

It is important to pick a strategy, implement it, drive it forward, review it, and make adjustments. Sales is sales; be smart and grow this profitable business, or be left behind.

Happy selling.