No one becomes an onsite installer to gain public status. It’s a profession that always has been underrated for its importance and for the skills it requires. It’s similar in that respect to being a municipal wastewater treatment plant operator.
But at crunch time – at the point of customer contact – what can an installer do to convey credibility? Presentation skills, a professional appearance, references, a sharp-looking vehicle, and similar attributes can help. But what about before that, when perhaps a customer is perusing listings in a phone directory or scanning ads in a newspaper or on websites? This is where some kind of “seal of approval” comes in handy.
The onsite industry really doesn’t have such a thing, at least nothing that is widely recognized and immediately understood. Maybe it ought to.
How others do it
Other industries have markers that convey instant credibility, both because the markers themselves have substance behind them and because industry associations promote them heavily.
If you’re in the home remodeling business, your advertising may tout your membership in the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). If you deal in real estate, you may emphasize that you are a Realtor – a label available only to members of the National Association of Realtors.
If you sell life insurance, you might proudly list the letters CLU after your name, indicating that you have passed tests to become a Certified Life Underwriter.
These kinds of designations don’t automatically mean that the holders are peerless professionals at the tops of their fields. But they do tell prospective clients: Here is a person who takes his or her profession seriously, who devotes time to learning, who subscribes to certain standards of professional excellence and ethics.
The designation immediately means something to a prospective client, even if he or she doesn’t know everything that stands behind it. After all, as consumers, we want to have a certain level of confidence in a person to whom we entrust our money or property.
How might it work?
Is such a thing possible in the onsite industry? Could there be a “seal of approval” that goes beyond the holding of a license? What if the industry were able to confer on practitioners a designation such as Clean Water Professional?
For the label to be credible, it would need specific, easily verifiable criteria. What might those include? Well, perhaps a Clean Water Professional would need to:
Belong to at least one national and one state industry association relevant to the field
Earn a specified minimum number of continuing education credits each year
Attend at least one national and one state trade show or conference in the industry each year
Hold a national onsite installer credential
Hold the highest installer certification in his or her home state
Belong to a local Chamber of Commerce or other business association
Have an unblemished record of environmental and code compliance for the past three years
Officially subscribe to an industry code of practice and ethics
Making it known
All these requirements are specific and readily verifiable. A central clearinghouse could receive each candidate’s documentation and re-issue the designation annually upon satisfaction of all items. Those qualified would be allowed to use the designation on their business cards, on their websites, in their advertising, and in their literature.
Those seeking the designation would pay an annual fee to support the collection and management of the data. Part of the money would go toward promotion of the designation through advertising venues regularly seen by prospective customers: in newspaper home sections, in homebuilding and remodeling websites, at community home and remodeling shows.
Suddenly onsite installers are perceived by the public as more than backhoe owners and ditch diggers. Suddenly those who are most serious about the industry have a way to stand out – clearly and simply – from those who operate on the margins.
Perhaps this is a cause worth adopting for one or more of the onsite industry’s leading professional associations. Why not explore it? n
