BPI's Marketing Hub
Jon Siemen Memorial Scholarship Applications Due November 30th
By Hannah C. Wood
Can you answer "yes" to any of the following questions?
- Are you or any of your employees interested in obtaining one of BPI's Home Energy Professional (HEP) certifications*?
- Are you required by a program to have a member of your staff certified as an Energy Auditor, Quality Control Inspector, Crew Leader, or Retrofit Installer*?
- Would you or your employees like to take the exams for free?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you might want to check out the Jon Siemen Memorial Scholarship. The Jon Siemen Memorial Scholarship has been developed to honor the life, memory, and work of Jon Siemen, who passed away in March 2015.
The Building Performance Institute, Inc. will be awarding this scholarship to four recipients annually; one recipient for each of the four Home Energy Professional (HEP) certifications.
Recipients of the scholarship will be able to take the written and field exams that are applicable for the certification designation indicated on the application, at no cost.
BPI will also work with each recipient to help them obtain training for that certification at reduced or no cost. Applications can be submitted year round, but the deadline to be considered as a recipient of one of the four scholarships in 2017 is Wednesday, November 30, 2016 by 5pm. Any applications submitted after November 30th will be considered for 2018. Please contact Meghan McCormick with questions.
*Updated 4/21/2017: The Siemen scholarship is open to other BPI certifications for the 2017/2018 cycle, in addition to those noted above.
Industry News
Building Performance News and Discussion
By Quinn Korzeniecki
BPI News
Over 25 jobs seeking BPI certified professionals have been added to the BPI Green Jobs Connection website in the past few weeks. Check them out!
Do you have an opinion on how the future new BPI professional website looks and feels? BPI is seeking out contractors, program managers, and other industry professionals to join a web input committee. We want to ensure that the website is user friendly and informative for all audiences. Email qkorzeniecki@bpi.org to join the committee.
Industry News
Final ICC 2018 codes could recognize air permeable insulation options in unvented attics and buried ducts.
AccuWeather predicts the 2016-17 winter to be the coldest since 2010-11, increasing the demand for HVAC professionals skilled in gas, heating oil, and electric heating systems.
Nationwide, schools are upgrading to energy efficient HVAC systems and building management systems (BMS) in an effort to improve indoor air quality, which affects student and staff attendance, comfort, and performance.
Federal, State, Local News
Despite the lack of energy efficiency standards in the Midwest states like Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, state and local governments are pushing to increase focus on these mandates.
California's Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has sent out a request for proposals (RFP) to create a residential pay-for-performance pilot incentive program for energy efficiency to reward homeowners for investing in energy upgrades.
Milwaukee won a $750,000 federal grant to cut energy use by 20% by 2020 in downtown buildings by offering energy-saving programs that can help building owners pinpoint financing to pay for upgrades over time rather than upfront.
Tech Talk
No ventilation in a bathroom? Read Allison Baile's account on how he installed an exhaust fan during a bathroom remodel.
Learn how to properly air seal a dropped soffit (even a tight soffit) in this 3-minute video.
About the Author
Quinn is the Senior Communications Associate for BPI. Would you like to write articles to engage homeowners about home performance? Contact Quinn to contribute to BPI's Homeowner Blog.
Marketing Corner
It's Not about the Sales Process; It's about the Follow Up!
By Tom Grandy
I was the general manager of a trades company for many years. Sales people would come by the office on a somewhat regular basis. Each would make their sales presentation, then leave. More than a few times, I was actually interested in what they had to offer but a seemingly strange thing consistently happened: they never called back!
I guess the assumption, from the sales person’s perspective, was that if I was really interested I would call them. Wrong! Remember I was the general manager, like many reading this article, and my days were very structured. After a few days, I would simply forget about the product or service. The potential sale, from an interested customer, was lost. Why? Lack of follow up.
How do you feel when you get a follow up call from a contractor? You probably feel "special" since the vast majority of the trades industry does NOT follow up. When the sales person calls back as scheduled customers are often amazed! That one bit of integrity can often close a sale.
Follow up is the consistent, planned contact with a potential customer that is only concluded when the customer responds in one of two ways: the customer accepts the offer and the work is scheduled or the customer tells the sales person they either have selected someone else or they have decided not to have the work done.
Your company may not be the customer’s number one priority. It's not that the customer isn't interested; it's that they are busy with 28 other things that are more important in their world, but have nothing to do with you. I can honestly tell you that well over 90% of the work on my schedule comes because I followed up as opposed to the customer taking time out of their busy schedule to call me.
Follow up calls show the customer you are interested. If the customer has received three bids, the company that calls back is indirectly telling them they want to do the work. On the other side of the coin, if you don't call back, the customer assumes you are either not interested and/or are too busy to do their work.
As long as the customer allows you to continue to make follow up calls within the time periods they specify, it means they are still interested in having you do the work. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease so be sure you are a polite, but squeaky, wheel.
Stump the Chump
Let's Play Stump the Chump!
By BPI
Did Someone Stump the Chump?