[borland]

> > How are you going to build your service network? > Compensate the contractors fairly and act as lead gen.

I used to work at a company which makes security and access control systems (swipe cards, electronic locks, etc).

They created a consumer-level system (as opposed to the big Enterprise ones they were known for) and tried to create a distribution model which appears to be how you're thinking about it. The idea was they'd build a network of contractors ("Installers"). Customers would buy direct from the company, who would then forward a request to your local installer (lead gen). The company would cut the installers in for some percentage of the ongoing subscription revenue cost, plus whatever margin they added at install time.

This failed miserably. The company learned within the space of a couple of years, that all the good installers want to build a relationship with (and critically, to bill) the customer, they don't want to be a behind-the-scenes referral on someone else's website. Few signed up, and the ones that did, weren't incentivized to prioritize it highly. They put it lower down on their job lists, which led to customers having to wait a long time and experiencing poor service in some cases. Not great. The company also struggled tremendously to drum up interest. Because security systems (like HVAC) come with maintenance/repairs/etc, the market had evolved into one centered around companies/individuals looking around at their local providers first, picking the "best" one, and then choosing a product based on what the provider was offering or what they recommended, much like you would with a Plumber or Electrician.

Maybe the HVAC industry is sufficiently different from Security and this model might work for you? From what I saw though, there's a lot of overlap there and I'm not optimistic.

After a year or two, the company pivoted to a model where they formed partnerships with contractors/installers and moved away from the direct-to-consumer model. At the time I left, this was proving much more successful of a model. The partnership model involved more revenue share, training, and a bunch of other stuff I wasn't involved in, but critically, it meant that when an end-customer went to their local security system provider and asked them what was good, they'd be highly likely to recommend my ex-company's product. That was the clincher.

I hope that's of some use @cmui

[r3trohack3r]

A flip-side from the consumer perspective.

The company who installed the windows in our house operated this way. They have a network of contractors for installs.

The contractor that showed up was accompanied by their general contractor who managed the relationship with the window company and customer.

The general contractor came with business cards, was friendly, and kicked off a 15 minute conversation where we walked around the house and made a list of everything they could help with later down the road.

The lead for them wasn’t the window install, it was follow up business once they built a relationship. The window install was an ad for them.