By Grant Olewiler

Why is it that more than 65 percent of the CE Pro 100 companies are not offering central vacuums? Is it the ugly step-child the industry only offers when it’s absolutely necessary? Is the category not sexy enough? Is the price point too low to include in a package?

Our company participated in a recent CE Pro 100 Summit and even offered a free vacuum system for each of the participants. Yet, they still didn’t pursue the offer.

How do you reconcile this with regular statements from industry leaders that claim that central vacuums are one of their most important category products?

It’s time for the industry to wake up. Maybe you’ll never get excited about selling vacuum cleaners, but you should have a proper perspective of this as a “must have” item.

In Canada every home has the central vacuum pipe-work automatically installed during construction. This year in the U.S. a paltry 145,000 central vacuums are projected to be installed, according to Appliance Magazine. That’s pathetic compared to the over 12 million portable vacuums sold.

Central vacuums have been clinically proven to provide one of the greatest health benefits for allergy and asthma patients because the air is exhausted outside the home. The aging population loves the lightweight convenience and versatility, especially in multi-level homes. The product fits the green initiative perfectly with tremendous efficiency.

Get Educated

So why doesn’t the average CE pro install them? I believe the acceptance of this product centers around education and information.

The major gaps in knowledge are related to the profit potential, ease of sale and installation and technical aspects. No one wants to add a category that will contain a huge learning curve, but central vac offers one of the easiest entry pathways.

Profit Potential

A central vacuum installation in a 3,500-square-foot home sells for about $2,500 with about $800 in component costs in the U.S. A pro should be able to complete the installation in less than eight hours. Do the math. The quick-added profit is hard to argue with.

We are told regularly that dealers love the central vacuum because it does not require any tweaking after you leave the home. In fact the accolades for the central vac are higher than most other installed devices. The central vacuum is often what brings in the referrals of new clients.

Ease of Sale

Matt Panter of Waco, Texas-based Panter Home Theater received an Internet referral for a Silent Master Central Vacuum on George Bush’s home and ended up doing over $30,000 of electronics because of the quality of the lead. The central vacuum can be your entrance into projects you never knew existed.

Upon gaining the clients’ trust on any one of your trades, the add-on sales are far easier.

Ease of Installation

I believe this is the major barrier keeping CE pros out of the C-Vac market. Having exhibited at 12 CEDIA Expos and almost all EHX events, I’ve had the dealers come up to me excited about selling central vacs but lost with the installation. New or existing construction projects are actually quite easy with the aid of training manuals and videos. Or subcontract out the installation to other experts in the area who would love the additional work. They can often assist with ongoing maintenance as well.

Technical Aspects

“CFM,” “waterlift” and “airwatts” are all Greek to the average integrator. Take an hour to browse the thousands of educational pages. Over 12,000 product reviews there can help you understand what the clients appreciate and what they don’t like. And if you can’t find an answer, technicians can respond to your e-mails.

Don’t let a lack of education keep you from adding this great category to your package of products. Give central vacuums an opportunity to prove themselves and you’ll find a bright spot in these tough times. The market for existing home central vacuum installations is unbelievable and now is an ideal time for you to educate yourself on it.

Come out to California and I’ll train you myself!

Depending on how much a central vacuum is used, the motor(s) may last decades or just a few years. When a motor goes bad, some of the common signs include an electrical “burning” odor, only a click is heard, and the motor can turn on when the central vacuum unit is bumped. Depending on how old the motor is when it goes bad, you may want to consider only changing the motor brushes. Motor brushes are much less expensive to change than an entire motor; however, they may not always fix your problem. It may be that the motor ware is so great that the whole motor must be replaced.The most common central vacuum motor brand used is Lamb Ametek. Builtinvacuum.com carries the most popular Lamb motors and some of the lesser popular central vacuum motors as well. Removing and replacing a central vacuum motor is easier than most may think, and shouldn’t take an owner too much time to accomplish.

At MD’s website search brands to find out what motor is inside a unit or if an owner knows what motor they need, they can more than likely find it on MD’s motor pages. Many of MD’s staff have decades of central vacuum experience and can troubleshoot motor issues in a matter of minutes. Builtinvacuum.com provides contact forms, or you can give MD technicians a call, toll-free, for a quicker response.

Now here is a great way to advertise. Tom Proctor of Vacuum Cleaner Hospital in Chapel Hill, N.C. has gotten serious about using his installation vehicle as an advertising medium. Using classy graphics and tasteful placement he literally gets noticed by thousands of potential consumers every day.

This truck also matches the professional image portrayed in his shop; one of quality, excellence and neatness. Hey, we sell vacuum cleaners so we should be clean, shouldn’t we! This factor was driven home to me in our own factory about five years ago when the employees on our manufacturing floor figured out that they too must keep a clean shop because we sell cleaning devices! Do we believe in “clean” or not?

So if you boldly display your company logo and name on your truck, be sure to present a 100% professional image. I know of a few installers who specifically do not put their names on their trucks because of their bad driving habits! Is that the image you want to portray?

And keep the interior of your installation vehicles clean and organized as well. I used to actually use this as an interviewing technique when hiring installers. If they kept their own personal car clean it was a sign to me that they were conscientious and would also treat all my clients’ homes with respect. It might take a few extra minutes at the end of every day but it also will guarantee you time-savings every day of the week.

Drive courteous, care about others, and your bottom line will see the results.

I strolled into State Vacuum in Tampa last week to check on our local dealer while I was in the region attending an ASTM meeting.  This is not a procedure I normally fine adequate time for, but wish I could do more often.  State vacuum has been in the business for over 61 years and selling MD Central Vacuums since the late 1970’s!  David Epstein took over for his father Bernie (of whom is named the Bernie Epstein VDTA Scholarship) and David has continued to build on the incredible reputation of his family.

Seeing my visit was not a formal one, David continued to conduct business and personally greeted almost every client who came through the door, Most of whom he knew by name.  He was not put off by a customer’s request for simple paper bag replacements but carefully walked her to the back of the showroom and identified the parts by memory.  I watched him strategically sell two portable vacuums in a matter of about ten minutes, quickly moving one client who’s heart was set on the “Consumer Report” best buy.

Sure enough two guys came in looking for a central vacuum and David walked them through their options.  He quickly identified that they were already internet shopping and put them in models comparable to what they were considering.  Of course, he showed them reasons for considering a higher-quality option.  As I watched the prospective client walk through objections, I noticed a few clear hot-buttons.  One was accessories and the other was a need for a shorter hose.  When David explained the Quick-Click hose which normally uses a 20 foot hose with a 10 foot extension, they instantly found a solution not offered elsewhere.

In a matter of 15 minutes I saw firsthand David’s ability to accurately decipher needs, his proper application of knowledge, and his personal attention that must be the hallmark that has made State Vacuum an institution in the city of Tampa.

So for the rest of you MD dealers, keep your eyes open, we may be stopping in on your shop as well!  It’s great to have such confidence in all our MD dealers.

Last week, MD Manufacturing successfully completed its first-ever webinar training session: How to make an Awesome Sales Pitch! The excitement about this new training vehicle has been building among MD staff for quite some time. After months of research and planning about how to best conduct these online seminars in order to best educate our dealers, MD finally rolled out its very first webinar. We were able to connect with dozens of our dealers who were very pleased with this excellent new training vehicle. The session was an attractive accomplishment and we are very excited about the opportunity we will have in the future of hosting these webinars to train MD dealers on a regular basis, beginning in the early part of 2007.

Today’s session was loaded with important information in the sales arena, some excellent dealer interaction mixed with Grant’s jokes and just a lot of plain fun. It was an all-around enjoyable time for the MD leadership team, MD staff, and MD’s dealers. Grant’s enthusiasm and experience led the way during the presentation. He was accompanied the expert detail and precision of Mike Kretsinger (Vice President of Employment Development) along with the clarity and comprehensive data that Andrew Bransby (Web Designer and Director of E-Commerce) served to deliver. This amazing team of guys, along with our attendee dealers, made the entire event a remarkable time!

Since this was MD’s first-ever webinar, there was not enough time to go through all of the information for the complete “How to Make an Awesome Sales Pitch” presentation. The goal of last week’s webinar was mainly to experience the capabilities of the webinar software, connect with our dealers, and determine if this kind of communication is helpful for educating our dealers. After going through the webinar and receiving dealer feedback on the format, we are convinced that this is one of the best vehicles available for communicating with our dealers on a regular basis. We are currently looking for ways to improve this venue, and would love to receive as much dealer feedback as possible to ensure that this new format for training continues to be a great success. At the end of the session, we included a brief survey for our dealers to quantify the webinar’s usefulness. Every single participant expressed that they will likely be returning the next time we offer a similar session! And our dealers also indicated that the information was relevant and would be put to immediate use. .

If you are one of our dealers who attended our webinar, thank you so much for attending and making it a great success. We will be sure to let you know how we plan to organize and conduct this MD dealer webinar track at the beginning of 2007, which will allow us to compile a progressively growing library of webinar media content that will serve our dealers for years to come as we strive to give them the best tools possible to make them most successful in their businesses.

Home shows provide incredible advantages for Central Vacuum dealers and prospective buyers! They are great avenues for showing off the countless benefits of a CV. And there is no better CV to show off than those from the MD Manufacturing! 

If you are a CV dealer, have you ever set up a display at any Home Shows? They provide excellent opportunities to teach new salespeople how to get a higher dollar for quality products. It is really quite amazing to see people excited about the benefits of the products offered. Doing a CV product demo with a quality electric brush such as the Stealth will really show potential customers major product differences. You show off the CV’s power by picking up a handful of quarters while not even wincing as they make the loud racket going up the brush and through the clear tubing on the wall behind you. You can jam the brush with a rag and show how it cannot break a belt.

Meanwhile, your competitor, using an air-driven brush, can barely demo his product and you can even hear his loud turbine “whine” as you are giving your spiel. I even stop talking for a second and say, “Hear that loud whine? That’s one of the other central vacuums here at the show.” Immediately they recognize that they don’t want the other product.

Take advantage of the next Home Show in your area. It is one of the best places for any of the CVs from MD Manufacturing to be showcased. Conscientious customers will be introduced to MD’s outstanding product line, which stands out widely against the competition, allowing these central vacuums to practically sell themselves.

Throughout the United States, the average price charged for central vacuum inlets is around $85-90 on new construction houses (electrified) and approximately $140 in existing homes. VacPans sell for anywhere from $125-150 each. These prices, however, vary based on the cost of living in a certain location, real estate value of homes, etc. For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, new construction valves go as high as $150. On the other hand, near the Canada border prices can be very low per inlet.

Most central vacuum dealers will charge retail price for the equipment. Conversely, for a dealer working with homebuilders or housing developers, it is not unusual for him to provide them with a small discount on the equipment. This can be done because they will naturally become repeat customers, not requiring the cost of additional advertising.

Direct job-site marketing to homebuilders is also a great return on an investment. Showing up on the jobsite of a building location and offering knowledgeable solutions with a professional approach can easily win builders. There are also many areas of the country that make lists of projects available to the community which have applied for building permits. These lists  are public record and companies make a living recording this data and selling it to people who want to sell to the homeowners. (See www.buildingsunderdesign.com)

I used to love showing up at job sites on Saturday mornings to find the homeowners. They are the ones that will quickly get you a following! Across the nation home shows are also great forms of marketing. For this to be most effective, you need to have an active, flashy booth that draws people in. You cannot simply sit on your hands and wait for people to come up to talk to you. Central vacuum marketing takes a lot of work, but will build long-term customers who will certainly be more satisfied with a central vacuum than the alternative.

There are reasons why someone would sell a portable vacuum over a central vacuum. But there are far more superior reasons to sell the central vac.

If a customer comes into a vacuum store showroom looking for a central vac, a dealer could easily convince him that he does not need one and switch him over to a quality portable vac. The customer would pay for the vacuum, and walk out of the store leaving the dealer a few hundred dollars in profit. Sale completed, the customer is happy and the dealer has been well paid. To sell a central vac, however, takes more work, requires the dealer to be far more convincing (and convinced of the superiority of the central vac) and most likely, even if the customer does want to buy a central vac, he leaves you little if any deposit or payment because his home may not be ready for the central vac for months down the road. The portable vac usually is the surefire sale, while the central vac is the “tough” sale.

This happens regularly every day! Unfortunately, the central vac is “disruptive technology” and needs to be sold more through relationship rather than brute sales tactics. The central vac is a completely different way of cleaning and the customer needs to be assured that the product will exceed their expectations. This is done through word-of-mouth, testimonials, and in-store, hands-on wow-factor.

The advantages of a central vac to a dealer can far outweigh those of the portable vacs. Of course, the large boxes portable vacs come in slowly inch dealers out of their precious real estate and counter space. And everyone seems to offer those portable vacs! A vacuum dealer must be unique, offering something that others cannot. This is why products are invented and businesses get started in the first place! At some point, there was a need in the community and the store founder or product inventor identified a way to make it a profitable opportunity. Since central vacs are sold more through relationship, dealers have good opportunities of getting the sale. And while a select few will buy central vacs over the internet as replacements, most customers will not purchase an installation over the internet from a company halfway across the country! Central vac sales make a profit far greater than portable vacs, the potential for referral sales also skyrockets, and customer loyalty (given excellent service) is unsurpassable!

Advantages of the central vac owner over the portable vac owner have been given here and here on the MD website. But they also have tremendous resale value, they only require emptying once or twice per year, they aren’t carried around the house and thus last much longer, they don’t beat up the baseboards and furniture as easily as a portable and you don’t have to live with a smelly closet where the portable vac is normally located. The central vac’s versatility allows the user to take full advantage of the suction in far more places of the home and its lightweight nature reduces back stress and fatigue. Most manufacturers offer an extra inlet on the unit for cleaning out the car as well.

Operated properly with a crushproof hose, electric beater brush and powerful motored system, the central vac will provide a far-cleaner environment. The UC Davis Study clearly proves that the central vac is healthier. The evidence then is quite overwhelming: the central vacuum is a far more superior product to handle.

Who would have ever thought that the VacPan concept would have gained such great popularity? Most long-term central vacuum installers initially abhorred the idea because they envisioned the headaches associated with installation, but homeowners decisively created a fantastic market for new alternative uses for the central vacuums. Why, some homeowners have even installed central vacuum systems without a hose; only using VacPans!

Introducing VacnSeal
VacnSeal promises to be the next step after VacPan! This patented novel product combines the convenience of a central vacuum with a food preservation system. Simply install it under a kitchen counter or in a cupboard and connect it to the existing central vacuum system via standard 2” tube or the conveniently available ½” tubing. The homeowner simply flips the arm down, places their Ziploc baggies of food under the nozzle and give the VacnSeal a gentle tug. Seal the baggie between the thumb and forefinger while removing the baggie from the suction arm and foods are conveniently preserved. The suction arm then folds back up under the counter until its next use. Yes, there exists many other countertop food-sealing devices but VacnSeal is the only one to use the central vacuum to eliminate noise and save counter space. It also the only one that will work with standard freezer bags.

“We believe 80-90% of all homes will desire this added benefit” states Gary Hughes, inventor of the device for M.D. Manufacturing, Inc. Gary thought of the idea after observing his wife suck air out of Ziploc bags by using a drinking straw. After two years of careful research, the VacnSeal will be introduced for the first time to the central vacuum market at the VDTA Trade Show in Las Vegas, February28th through March 3rd. In fact, the first 300 companies to provide MD Manufacturing with their business card will actually receive a free sample.

Storing FoodsThe life-giving oxygen we all breathe is vital for all life to exist. Unfortunately, oxygen also has a degrading effect on food and promotes micro-organism growth that helps to ruin food when stored. These micro-organisms are responsible for many problems including disgusting fuzz on food, miserable smells or tastes, and slimy textures. By removing all the air possible within reason and the moisture it contains, these microorganisms stand a much poorer chance of surviving. Mold, reduced nutritional value, bad flavor, and waste are a result of storing unsealed food in our refrigerators and pantries. All of us have tasted stale crackers, chips, cereals, seen moldy cheese, and more. Vacuum packaging with the VacnSeal system will keep your foods fresher longer, especially in areas with high humidity - VacnSeal guarantees it!

Value
Do you realize the cost of foods that are discarded due to inadequate packaging? Add to that the cost of traveling to the store to purchase a new block of cheese and any illnesses that might be contracted from food poisoning and the VacnSeal could easily recuperate the entire cost of the central vacuum in just a few years! Retail priced at $59.95 plus installation, this is sure to add excellent bottom-line revenue to each and every sale.

Easy Installation
Unlike the VacPan, the VacnSeal is a breeze to install. Either locate a regular central vacuum mounting plate such as Hayden #1041 or Canplas #765566W in the cabinet above the VacnSeal location or use VacnSeal’s new 2” x ½” reducer and run their flexible ½” clear tube down inside the cabinet. The VacnSeal can then install underneath the upper cabinets or even inside of a pantry. A low voltage wire also accompanies the device. It will operate effectively with every brand of central vacuum ever produced.

Thoughtful Features
VacnSeal’s pending patents cover a multitude of brilliant ideas. First, it contains an internal filter which is easily removable in the unlikely event liquids are sucked up. The arm and nozzles are easily removed for safe dishwashing. It even contains a secondary filter in the Wall Plate Cover to insure that no dust or debris backflows thru the system. Additional components allow the VacnSeal to be mounted vertically including a 90 degree neck for either left-hand or right-hand operation. In fact, you can easily install it on the door of a pantry with the optional ½” clear flex tube. It comes packaged with an extra inlet valve extension and all hardware for a convenient installation.

Point-of-Sale Packaging
Because this item would be a fantastic add-on for all existing central vacuum systems, it would be a great do-it-yourself-kit. Packaged in a beautiful box, it will look great in your store counter for all after market sales. Complete with step-by-step instructions, the VacnSeal is supported by an extensive website detailing all aspects for your clients.

Another Innovative Product from M.D. Manufacturing, Inc.
M.D. Manufacturing of Bakersfield, Ca is making this product available to the entire industry. Ask for it by name from your Central Vacuum Manufacturer or supplier. You can also contact them directly at 1-800-525-2055 or sales@Vacnseal.com. M.D. Manufacturing has been providing quality products to the central vacuum market since 1961.