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Western
HVAC News
Noritz Revamps PROCard Incentive
Program with New App To Drive Homeowner Sales Leads to
Contractors.
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 The
goal: Help contractors raise their marketing profiles
among local homeowners, while providing faster installations
and service to these customers.
Noritz America recently unveiled a dramatically upgraded
version of its 13-year-old PROCard trade incentive program,
going beyond rebates-for-purchases to offer a robust
lead-generation service for plumbing and HVAC contractors.
The overarching goal of the revamped program is to deliver
more sales leads more quickly to installers and technicians
in the field, better enabling them to grow their businesses
through tankless water heaters.
“The power of this new program is in how it allows any
contractor — regardless of company size — to build a higher
marketing profile in his locale by more aggressively
pursuing tankless water heater installation and service
work,” explains Jason Fleming, Marketing and Customer Care
Manager at Noritz.
Contractors will be able to receive and respond to consumer
leads at the PROCard.Noritz.com website, using any digital
device: tablets, PCs, Macs and smart phones. But the key
aspect of the new program is the new PROCard app that will
deliver leads to a contractor’s cell phone more quickly, so
that he can, in turn, respond with equal speed — both to
Noritz and to the prospective customer.
The revamped program operates as follows:
•If not already a PROCard member, a contractor must register
on the program website.
•A homeowner contacting Noritz online or by phone will have
the option of selecting one or more installers on the
brand’s website. Contractors will be listed according to
their Noritz Power Rankings, which will reflect the depth of
their involvement with the brand, its products and programs.
•As an alternative, the prospect can ask Noritz to recommend
potential installers in his or her locale. Noritz will
select up to five, based on their Power Rankings.
•If selected by the prospect or Noritz, the contractors will
be immediately notified.
•The contractor accepts/rejects the lead online or — more
quickly — via the app.
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•In this
first-come/first-served program, a contractor’s accepting the
lead will automatically foreclose that opportunity for the
other, selected contractors. (However, the consumer has the
option of contacting multiple contractors to submit bids.)
•Once the contractor who accepted the lead completes the
installation or the service work, he registers the activity by
going online or by scanning a QR code on the water heater with
his smart phone. The QR code feature is new for Noritz.
Each registered installation boosts the contractor’s Power
Ranking, which is based on a number of other criteria as well:
•Customer reviews: In
the past, a customer would need to go online to complete a review of
a contractor’s work, usually at his request. Under the new PROCard
program, an email will be sent to the homeowner with a link to rate
the installation. “There should be a lot more reviews under this new
process,” says Fleming.
•Website activity: Every time a contractor logs into the PROCard
site, the system records it — the more, the better.
•Response time to leads: Noritz will be able to track the interval
between contractor acknowledgement and acceptance/rejection of the
lead — the faster, the better.
•Training activity: Contractors will receive credit every time they
attend a Noritz workshop in person or take an online course on the
Noritz University website. “Our Product Trainer Team will soon
launch a campaign to train as many contractors as possible
nationwide,” says Fleming, “and we look forward to crediting those
trades people for their participation.”
A vital component of this new program is, of course, the ready
availability of qualified, homeowner sales leads. Noritz currently
receives several thousand leads per week through a variety of
channels: telephone, e-mails, online chat, advertising, and trade
show and home show exhibits. All such leads, regardless of source,
will now be routinely processed through a single program: PROCard.
“We cannot predict the precise impact on an individual contractor’s
business because of all the variables involved,” says Fleming. “But
with the internal changes we have made and our ongoing efforts to
drive consumers to our website, the number of leads flowing through
our system to contractors should rise substantially.”
Fleming recognizes that the PROCard program’s shift in emphasis from
rebates to leads is a bit unusual for the plumbing industry. But
numerous conversations and focus-group discussions with Noritz
installers in recent years have left him no doubts: “Contractors
love and want the rebates, and we certainly understand that,” he
says. “But what makes the biggest impact at the top and bottom lines
of their businesses is getting more work in the form of more
tankless installation and servicing opportunities. The need for good
leads in this business is strong and constant.”
For more information on the Noritz PROCard Program, visit
https://procard.noritz.com/procard/.
To download the PROCard app for Apple, please visit
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/procard/id1110311645?mt=8.
NORITZ AMERICA CORPORATION, a subsidiary of Noritz Japan, has
corporate offices in Fountain Valley, Calif., and Atlanta, offering
a full line of tankless water heaters to meet the hot water demands
of residential and commercial applications. Noritz supports its
products with a national network of skilled representatives and
employees who are committed to providing the finest products and
services to our communities by helping consumers live in a more
comfortable, efficient and healthy lifestyle.
For more information on Noritz America and the entire line of
Noritz’s ENERGY STAR® tankless water heaters, please call (877)
986-6748 or visit our website at
www.Noritz.com.
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