Totaline sales associates help customers take advantage of FREE STUFF

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Feb. 1, 2009 – Launched as part of their 20-year anniversary celebration in 2008, Totaline® sales centers have continued their popular FREE STUFF program this year. FREE STUFF 2009 is bigger and better, with more items available and all offers accessible year-round. For some Totaline sales centers, the program has met with phenomenal success. How have these distributors used the program to their advantage, and what tips do they have to make FREE STUFF work for you?

Gail Tribble, Parts and Supplies Territory Manager for Valair/Carrier in Fresno, Calif. is one distributor who has found great success with the FREE STUFF program. Tribble has worked in HVAC/R sales for nearly 25 years, and said that providing excellent customer service is the key to FREE STUFF success.

“The counter person needs to tell every customer about FREE STUFF,” said Tribble. “Help them to fill out paperwork, remind them to look at the FREE STUFF calendar, and know what they are buying. The counter person needs to know what's up. When they know the offers, they know
how to help the customers make purchases that will get them FREE STUFF,” she added.

Tribble said that the FREE STUFF program is a “great, great idea”, and that the customer response has been positive. “Everybody likes getting something for free,” Tribble said. “The customers are very pleased that all they have to do is mail in the certificate and the product is shipped right to them.”

"Gail has done a remarkable job with this program,” said Totaline Marketing Manager Mike Dziok. “As we revised the FREE STUFF lead tracking tool, I thought about including 'Gail Tribble' as one of the main options folks can choose. So many have written her in under "other", I seriously considered it."

Another distributor who has enjoyed FREE STUFF success is Mike Coates, Regional Parts Manager for The Habegger Corporation. Located in Cincinnati, Ohio, Coates said that communication with customers is an important factor in making the FREE STUFF program work.

“I gave out a whole lot of calendars,” Coates said, referring to the 2008 calendars that outlined all of last year's FREE STUFF offers. “That was one method that helped connect the dots with the customers.”

Like Tribble, Coates said that good customer service is an important factor in the program's success. “One of our counter sales people always has fun with the guys when he explains the FREE STUFF program,” said Coates. “He walks people through the offers and shows them how to go through the website.”

Darren Hamilton, Parts Manager for the Columbus, Ohio region of The Habegger Corporation, agreed that the counter salespeople are vitally important in the success of the FREE STUFF program.

“The FREE STUFF program is 100 percent counter-driven,” Hamilton said, adding that the success of the program in his region is largely due to how Totaline salespeople present the program to the customers. “They handle a lot of the paperwork internally,” Hamilton explained. He said that the counter people in the sales centers often walk the customers through the offers, and frequently help them complete them in-store.

Hamilton also said that the quality of the FREE STUFF offers is also an important aspect in the program's success. “One of the best features of the program is the value of the products offered,” Hamilton said. “Having the offers be of nice quality is helpful, and it really appeals to the guys in the field.” And the techs in Columbus do love the FREE STUFF program – according to Hamilton, between 25 and 35 offers a day are completed in his region.

Dziok expressed that he is pleased with both the success of the FREE STUFF program and the distributors who make it work. “I give a lot of credit to the forward-thinking distributors who are out there explaining FREE STUFF to the counter salespeople,” said Dziok. “Their hard work has helped the FREE STUFF program grow, and have really helped make this effort a great success.”

About Carrier Corp.
Carrier Corp., headquartered in Farmington, Conn., is the world’s largest provider of heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions. With 2008 revenues of $14.9 billion, Carrier has approximately 41,000 employees worldwide and operations in more than 170 countries.

Carrier is part of United Technologies Corp., a Hartford, Connecticut-based provider of products and services to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. Visit www.carrier.com for
more information.

Posted February 2, 2009

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