Myth #2: My customers are not interested in monitoring!
Reality: They are really interested; they need to learn about it and see the value
In the 20+ years of selling generator monitoring, not once has a generator owner said, “that’s a dumb idea”. – Andy Briggs, President of Power Telematics Inc.
The reality behind monitoring is that it’s a smart investment for both the generator owner and dealer. For the owner, it gives them confidence and peace of mind knowing that they will be alerted (via email/text/voice) with real-time updates from their generator. They instantly know when the generator is running correctly for an exercise, running during an outage or when the machine shuts down for a fault.
For the generator dealer, not only does the customer get alerts for any problems, but you do too. When you partner with Power Telematics, these notifications are customized to come from YOU, the generator dealer, to promote YOUR business. Pair that with the live Tracking Map on Power Link, the dealer can see all of the generators they service at once to map out a proactive service plan to help their customers. Monitoring more generators means greater visibility into your service business and gives you the flexibility to bring on more customers without adding more technicians.
With both the owner and dealer in sync with each other, not only is the reliability of the generator maintained, but the partnership is strong. Don’t be fooled into thinking your customers aren’t interested because the reality is they know how important it is to keep their generator operational. Remember, it costs you nothing to offer it and you gain a lot if they say yes.
How to justify the cost…
For generator service companies, when asked “if the monitoring system were free, would you put it on every generator you service? The answer every time is “absolutely.” The same question asked to a generator owner would result in the same answer. The value is real, but the price must be justified.
Historically, generator monitoring has been very expensive. Larger commercial or critical generator application owners have no problems justifying the expense, regardless of the price. The generator absolutely must work when needed. However, residential owners, who see the value, can’t afford it or don’t need high-end monitors. In the past several years, new technology has evolved and the price for monitoring products has continued to decline. This allows monitoring providers to offer more cost-effective solutions. This gap between “price versus perceived value” continues to shrink. Right now, a very high percentage of generator owners are gladly paying for a simplistic monitoring solution that is reasonably priced. The value is real, because they simply want to be assured that their generator will work during the next outage.
Technology is changing the generator industry. Many generator manufacturers have started to embrace monitoring as a core part of their product offerings; particularly for home standby generators. Monitoring is a rapidly growing trend and is the future of this industry. If you’re not sure where to start, then the best approach is to look at simple, cost-effective solutions with a fair and reasonable profit. Simple monitoring is easily accepted by the generator owner and many of your customers will say yes if it is offered.
If you have any questions on monitoring or how to get started, please call Power Telematics at 678-992-5501 or see our article on “How to Sell Monitoring.”