EnerBank USA in the News

While job satisfaction is high among the skilled trades, contractors report feeling the effects of the great resignation. According to the second annual The Skilled Trades in America report from Angi, 83 percent of workers are either somewhat or extremely satisfied in their choice of work.

How offering payment options will boost sales and increase job sizes.
We’ve all been there. After a few days of back and forth, you and your team have assessed your customer’s needs, the size of the job, and the cost of the equipment needed to complete the project.

Employee commitment and connection to a company are not easily achieved. “Only one-third of U.S. employees are engaged in their work and workplace. And only about one in five say their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work,” according to Gallup’s recent State of the American Workplace Report.

Being an HVACR salesperson is a very stressful job, and needless to say, making sales over the past 18 months has been even more stressful. While the HVACR industry has remained a predominantly in-person or onsite sales process—it’s difficult to bid many projects over Zoom—many sales processes have changed or adjusted to comply with government restrictions related to COVID-19.

As a busy solar installer, you may not have the time or ability to create a loan program from scratch. That’s where a financing partner comes in. An experienced lender can handle the heavy lifting of financing while you focus on your business. This includes creating specific loan products, marketing materials, online tools, employee training and more.

he biggest topics over the last year or so in the HVACR industry have been the supply chain and labor markets. They’ve combined to create a perfect storm of challenges for the HVACR industry. Also, during this time, demand for HVACR products has increased then remained steady. The forecast is to continue to remain steady.

When you think of the word brand, what comes to your mind? Some people may think of the name of a business, a distinct logo, a memorable tagline, or even a unique social media presence. However, a brand is so much more than just a singular factor — it’s the face of your company, the reputation of your business as a whole, and how you distinguish yourself from the competition.

Whether you’re new to offering payment options to homeowners or are just trying to get better at it, you may be wondering which of your customers may be ideal candidates for payment options. The simple answer is more than you think. Research has shown that one of the most effective methods for offering payment options is to offer them to every single customer.

Many contractors in the home improvement industry, including wood flooring contractors, view their customers as “cash only” customers, bidding projects based on their cash budget for a flooring project.

Successful roofing companies regularly provide their sales teams with valuable marketing tools and training to close more sales. One of the key tools the team should have in their arsenal is the ability to offer flexible payment options to their customers.

When new team leads are promoted, I interview them to discuss the challenges of being a leader. I usually mention something a mentor told me long ago about success in life and the workplace — focus on these three traits: be honest, hard-working and smart.

Do you view your people by what they currently do or by what they could become? If you can view people by what they can become, you can help ensure the future management and direction of your company. While viewing your employees’ potential and then developing them into future managers might seem simple at first, the day-to-day demands of our jobs and responsibilities get in the way.

If you’ve been in the workforce for some time, you’ve probably experienced mixed styles of management during different parts of your career. You can likely point out leaders in the landscaping industry who took the time to focus on your strengths while encouraging you to reach for excellence.

One of the toughest tasks for many home improvement professionals, including HVAC contractors, is finding ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. And, while many HVAC companies focus on their product offerings: a variety of solutions,

Just a few years ago, companies only had to worry about delivering good customer service. Satisfy the customer, and they’ll tell three friends. Make a customer upset, and they’ll shout it from the rooftops to anyone who’ll listen — on average, about 10 people. This adage was critical for companies before the internet and social media.

If you’re a trained learning specialist, setting up an effective training system is relatively easy. Most contractors don’t have that luxury. However, someone in the organization—the owner, sales manager or HR person—can implement some training principles to achieve a big bang for the buck.

Across the home improvement industry, including the window and door industry, research we conducted revealed companies that offer payment options to their customers can increase leads by 50 percent, nearly double their close rate (assuming a 25 percent baseline), and increase project sizes by as much as 44 percent.

Employee training. It’s possible that these two words together have a bad connotation with you or your management team. Maybe it’s because you sent an employee to an expensive conference. They came back with lots of good ideas, and then everyone went back to the same old ways.

CoThe home improvement industry is significantly behind almost any other industry in using payment options. Only about 25% of all home improvement projects are financed, compared to about 55% for used cars, furniture, jewelry, appliances and others.

Banks are a part of life for just about every consumer — only 7% of Americans don’t have an account. For most, it’s a necessity to manage money, build wealth and gain access to credit. Accordingly, we depend on the security of our financial institutions.

Many of the most successful contractors consistently offer a choice of payment options to homeowners — because it’s good for business.

Two key areas prevent project failures and lead to your project’s success—preparation and execution.

The intense growth of solar installations has slowed recently, yet solar’s potential is still significant. Forecasted numbers indicate that the solar market is starting to behave like other, more mature industries.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we do business, and the economy took a severe hit from the response to slow the spread. Fortunately, the HVACR industry was declared essential, but that didn’t mean it was business as usual.

As the owner of Blue Taurus Construction, a leader in home remodeling, HVAC, storm restoration, and fire and water …

Managing people is a difficult but rewarding job. At our own company, EnerBank, we like to develop and promote people from within whenever possible. We spend a great deal of time developing employees at all levels, in fact, because we view them through the lens of their potential, knowing they could possibly be the future leaders of the bank.

A development venture between Houston-based Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate commenced construction …

Mr. Fellows honored for successfully balancing interests of multiple EnerBank stakeholders to find win-win …

Salt Lake City— A development venture comprised of Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate today announced the start of construction on 650 Main, a 10-story, …

Developers broke ground Tuesday on a 10-story office and retail project in downtown Salt Lake City, called …

As I visit home improvement contractors nationwide, and perhaps especially in solar, many of them worry about how much cash each client has to pay for the project. While accepting cash only may seem like a good financial strategy upfront, you miss the immediate and long-term opportunities of adding payment options to your sales strategy.