When training salespeople, I always wonder what their response is when I hear them say one of their questions they ask their customer is… “Who in your home suffers from Allergies or Asthma”.
I ran an IAQ department for many years in the 90’s and in the early to mid 2000’s. Bear with me while in this article I’m going to break down how it is that you “speak” to a customer about the response to that question. This is not intended to be a technical explanation as much as it is how to explain in laymen’s terms the application of products to problems. Keep in mind you can have the best device in your home for stamping out mold and the customer can still get sick from the safety of the office they occupy for up to 8 hours a day. NO PRODUCT CAN COMPLETELY (100%) MITIGATE ISSUES WITH AIR QUALITY!!!
There are 6 aspects of Indoor Air Quality
Bio-Aerosols
Particulates
Volatile organic compounds
Humidity Control
Source Removal
Ventilation
Discovery
When you ask the customer the question, and they name someone in their family, you will then want to ask them to tell you about it. So, the second question is what are the allergies? Because not all IAQ products will help with each of the categories of the spectrum. You cannot install a filtration system and expect that it would take care of a mold allergy. While it might clean the air, the mold will continue to grow in the environment.
Bio-Aerosol
The COVID virus will fall under the Bio-Aerosol category. BIO means living and Aerosol means Airborne. So in this scenario, an Ultra-Violet light that deals with Bio-Aerosols would be the appropriate solution for this issue. A UV light helps to sterilize any airborne virus or bacteria that may be in the home.Keep in mind there are different kinds of UV lights that work at different UV levels. A UV light will sterilize anything with that passes by the light at some pass rate. Effectively it cleanses the air when the air passes over and over the light constantly.
Particulates
Dust will fall in the Particulate category. The presence of dust in a home sometimes causes issues with allergies.I myself am allergic to dust and dust mites.A dust mite is a bio aerosol. Since it is living and can be aireborne. However if you control the source which is dust, then you minimize the attachment of the mites that accompany it. So in this case a UV light, equipped with a filter would be most helpful.
VOC’s
The most common Volatile Organic Compound in a home, especially a new home, is formaldehyde.Formaldehyde and other similar chemicals are present in cabinets, carpet, woods, furniture and generally allow off gassing for many years. The appropriate solution for a VOC issue is any product that performs the Photo-Catalytic Oxidation Process. What happens in this process is, the PCO device turns the VOC into a non-voc.Generally, those substances are carbon dioxide and water vapor.
Humidity Control
Humidity control whether it is adding humidity or removing humidity much depends on what area of the country that you live in. Northern climates generally need humidity added to the air. Southern climates are reverse of that. They require humidity removed from the air. The magic about humidity control is there is a range at which some bio-aerosols struggle to exist. Anywhere between 45% and 55% relative humidity is the optimum range for human existence.
So, if you find yourself in a southern climate, you can choose from all types of de-humidification solutions. The air conditioner itself is a dehumidifier and when properly installed with the right devices it can remove humidity faster than anything else we could supplement.
Inverter technology allows the HVAC system to sometimes operate down to 40% of it’s capacity allowing for higher efficiency while increasing humidity removal. This in itself will not only increase the EER or efficiency, but it will also make the customer MORE COMFORTABLE. Think again, if you believe that your customer won’t purchase this option because it costs more. Just offer it!!!
Humidification is when we add humidity to the air. The importance of this is to raise the level of humidity in the air above the danger zone where viruses can penetrate mucous zones in the nasal passages of the occupants. There are many types of humidifiers, By-pass, Steam, Whole house etc.,Choose the one that best fits the application that works for their home.Keep in mind that humidification requires maintenance. A humidifier in the summer time can grow mold and bacteria that requires attention pre-winter.
Source Removal
Whether you believe in it or not, and whether you perform this service for your customers, You would have to agree that dust will collect in a duct system. And certainly you can replace the duct work with new shiny and fresh metal or flexible ducting. In 2006, I heard one of the best responses when it came to Source Removal or Duct Cleaning. This lady asked one of our owners if duct cleaning was a sham because someone else told her she just should replace the duct work. And she replied with this…. “Every few days at our house… we like to wipe things down to get rid of the dust!!! Now if I went off of their theory of every time something got dusty I just replaced it, that would mean that every week I would be buying new furniture.”
I’m not here to advocate either way if duct cleaning is effective. I am here and will tell you I have personally operated a duct cleaning machine. When performed correctly with the right device you can safely and efficiently remove nearly 99% of dust and debris from a duct system.
Ventilation
Ventilation is where you exchange air from outside and bring it inside exchanging the energy of the air from outside to inside. It is intended to dilute air and bring in fresh clean air to the space. This is very important when in a time where we are being quarantined in our homes due to a pandemic, the air inside can be 80 times more polluted than the outside air.
Ask Your TM
If you use our program, I would recommend putting these items below in your upgrades area. You can attach videos of the products with embed codes.I always say that the product solution tells their story better than you can. Just copy their statement of what the product does and slip it into the details of the upgrade. Then assign a price to the product and you will see by simply offering these solutions the customer will purchase those upgrades. All we really have is our health and our family. Just give them the opportunity to say NO, I’d rather not spend money on that.
This article is not intended to favor one product over another. You should check with your territory manager as to which product would work best with your customer’s particular problems.
Thanks for spending the time reading this article. Good luck and Good Selling!!!
DeWayne Gibson
NEED HELP?
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