How to run the Evaluator, the words we use, the systems we recommend and why, the maintenance plans we offer, and how we sell the Empower way — by being right, not by being pushy.
Before a single button, understand what we are and what we are not. Everything in this manual flows from it.
Empower Service is a locally owned and operated company on the Front Range, and we are in this for the long haul. We are not a fly-by-night outfit chasing one big ticket. Our growth comes from doing right by people and earning the next 15 years of their business and their neighbors' business. That is the whole strategy.
Our promise is three words: quality without an upsell. We win by being the most technically correct option in the driveway, by delivering exceptional service, and by building trust that outlasts any one sale. We don't manufacture urgency. We don't sell people things they don't need. We don't bury the truth in fine print.
We win by being right, not by being pushy. Technical improvements. Exceptional service. Trust that compounds. We are here for the long haul.
Why does that matter to you, the salesperson? Because it changes how you measure a good day. A good day is not the biggest invoice. A good day is the customer who says "you told me the truth and the house is comfortable" — and then refers their sister. That customer is worth more than any oversold job, and they only happen when you sell the Empower way.
Five rules. Memorize them. They are the difference between a salesperson people trust and one they tolerate.
Throughout this program you'll hear four people in your ear. Learn whose voice to listen to, and when.
The Evaluator is the iPad app you run in the home. It walks you from the front door to a signed proposal in twelve steps. Each step feeds the next, so fill them in order and the recommendation, the pricing, and the comparison build themselves.
The Evaluator makes the recommendation come from the house — the fuel, the equipment, the panel, the ducts — not from a quota. That's "right, not pushy," built into software.
Name, phone, email, and the address. The address triggers a property lookup (year built, square footage) that seeds the sizing math and flags pre-1980 homes for asbestos testing. Confirm what's auto-filled — verify, never assume.
Get the email here. The proposal, the comparison sheet, and the Care Plan all go out cleaner when you have it up front.
Who provides gas and electricity, and whether the home has gas service at all. This one field drives a lot: it decides whether dual-fuel is even on the table and which rebates apply. If there's no gas, say so honestly — the home will run an electric-backup heat pump and you'll disclose that.
What's there now — furnace, AC, heat pump, boiler, baseboard. Capture brand, model, and age. Use the AI identify from a photo of the nameplate; then verify the read. The existing equipment is what powers the "direct replacement" recommendation, so get it right.
The part green reps rush and the Operator never does. Three things:
This is where the price gets honest. The Operator's rule: price the job you actually see, not the easy version.
Heating fuel, cooling type, and the utility bills. The AI bill read pulls usage so the savings estimate is grounded in their real numbers, not a brochure. Many fields here auto-fill from your photos — the app shows an "auto-filled, please verify" banner. Verify.
Their complaints (hot/cold rooms, humidity, dust, indoor air quality, noise, high bills, frequent repairs) and their goals (lower bills, comfort, reliability, environment, direct replacement, and more). Tap to select; tap a goal's ★ to make it the primary. The recommendation leads with the primary goal.
Install location, exterior, panel, equipment & nameplates, access. Photos protect everyone — they justify the price to the customer and brief the install crew. The Operator wants the crane lift and the tight crawlspace on camera before the truck rolls.
The app auto-picks a system type from the fuel, the existing equipment, and the goal, and shows a Why this recommendation note explaining the basis. You can change the type. Each system shows a sizing check (tons, BTU — not a final load calc) and a Good / Better / Best lineup. Tap the ⓘ on SEER2 / HSPF2 / AFUE to explain efficiency in plain words to the customer.
When gas is available and the home is ducted, the app leans to dual-fuel over an electric-backup heat pump — gas backup removes a big electric load (often avoids a 200A upgrade) and holds heat in deep cold. No gas? It correctly stays a heat pump on electric backup, and says so.
Modeled heating-energy and bill impact from their real fuel prices. Be honest about what it shows: electrifying cheap gas rarely slashes a bill — comfort and reliability may be the real win. Say that.
The system price plus upgrades, each a card with an ⓘ (why it matters + customer value) and an editable price you set from what you saw on site. Upgrades: electrical (sub-panel / 200A service / smart panel), duct sealing, ductwork replacement, line set, indoor air quality, zoning, and computed access. Tap the duct-sealing training button for how it works.
Up to three columns from one engine — like-for-like, a cold-climate heat pump, and dual-fuel where there's gas. Each shows gross, itemized incentives (estimates, subject to verification), net out-of-pocket as the headline, the estimated monthly, and estimated annual heating energy. One-tap 8.5×11 print. This is the Closer's best friend: let the customer see the choices side by side.
Line items, net, deposit/balance, financing, a signature pad and acknowledgment. Printable and shareable. This is also where you offer a Performance Service Plan — Year 1 included free with the install (Lesson 6).
The vocabulary. You don't need to be a technician, but you must be able to explain each of these to a homeowner in one honest sentence — and know what it means when the tech says it.
How much cooling a system makes — 1 ton = 12,000 BTU/hr of heat moved. A typical Front-Range home is 2–4 tons. Bigger isn't better; an oversized system short-cycles and dehumidifies poorly.
A unit of heat. We size heating in BTU/hr and cooling in tons (which are just BTU in disguise). It's the "how much" of comfort.
Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (2023 test standard). Higher = more cooling per dollar of electricity, like a car's MPG for AC. Customer sentence: "It's the gas mileage of your air conditioning — higher saves more in summer."
Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (2023 standard). The "MPG" of a heat pump in heating mode. Higher = more heat per dollar of electricity over the season.
Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency — the percent of fuel a furnace turns into heat. A 96% AFUE furnace puts 96 cents of every fuel dollar into the house; 4 cents go up the flue.
An AC that runs both ways — it moves heat out in summer and in in winter. One system, heating and cooling, very efficient. Cold-climate models keep working in Front-Range winters.
A heat pump paired with a gas furnace backup. The heat pump carries most of the season efficiently; the furnace takes the deep cold. Our preferred setup when there's gas — it avoids big electric backup loads and holds comfort.
Electric resistance heat that backs up a heat pump when there's no gas. Effective but a large electrical load — often the thing that forces a 200A service upgrade. Why we lean to dual-fuel where gas exists.
The math that sizes a system to a specific house (Manual J). The Evaluator does a screening estimate; the office confirms with a real load calc before install. Never promise a final size off the screening.
Sealing closes leaks in existing ducts (mastic or an Aeroseal-style spray from inside) — recovers 25–40% of lost air for a fraction of a tear-out. Replacement is for ducts that are truly failing or badly undersized. Try sealing first.
The air-quality package — electrostatic + UV purifier and/or a high-efficiency media filter (Aprilaire). The fit for dust, allergy, and air-quality complaints. Cleaner air, cleaner coil.
Our standard charge to roll a truck and diagnose ($95). Plan members have it reduced or waived on member visits — a core plan benefit.
The price after rebates and incentives — the number the customer actually pays. Always the headline. Incentives are estimates, subject to verification; say so.
We win by being right, not by being pushy. Technical improvements. Exceptional service. Trust that compounds. We are here for the long haul.
Read Section 01 and 02 again. This lesson has one job: make the why reflex, not theory. When you're tired and a customer is wavering, the rep who reaches for pressure loses long-term; the rep who reaches for clarity and the honest recommendation builds a book of business that refers itself.
The long-haul math, in plain terms: a pushy sale might win one invoice and lose the next three referrals. An honest sale that's a little smaller wins the customer for 15 years — the replacement, the maintenance plan, and the neighbors. Empower grows on the second kind. That's not a slogan; it's the business model.
We win by being right, not by being pushy. You can't be right if you don't understand the equipment. Learn the words.
Go back to the glossary (Section 05) and learn it cold. You don't need to be a technician — you need to explain each term to a homeowner in one honest sentence and understand the tech when they speak. This lesson tests that.
We win by being right, not by being pushy. The Evaluator makes "right" come from the house. Fill it in order, verify every auto-fill.
Re-read Section 04. The whole point is order: customer → utility → systems → site → energy → goals → photos → recommendation → savings → pricing → compare → proposal. Skip the site conditions and the price is wrong. Skip the bill read and the savings are fiction. Do it in order and the app does the heavy lifting.
We win by being right, not by being pushy. The right system is a technical decision — learn the logic so you can defend it honestly.
The Evaluator auto-picks, but you must understand why, because you'll explain it and sometimes adjust it. The logic, in plain terms:
| The home | Lean toward | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Gas heat, ducted, "direct replacement" | Furnace + AC like-for-like | Straightforward; matches what works and what they expect. |
| Gas available + ducted, going to a heat pump | Dual-fuel | Gas backup removes the big electric-strip load, often avoids a 200A upgrade, holds heat in deep cold. |
| No gas, ducted | Cold-climate heat pump (electric backup) | Only honest option; disclose the electric backup load and check the load estimate. |
| Electric baseboard, no ducts | Ductless mini-split | No ductwork to add; zone-by-zone comfort. |
When a home is converting off electric baseboard, that big electric load is being removed. The load calc credits it: a home that carried ~152A with baseboard can drop to ~89A after a heat-pump swap. Translation for the customer: "Removing your electric resistance heat usually frees up capacity — you may not need a service upgrade at all." That's a technical truth that builds trust.
We win by being right, not by being pushy. Every upgrade must answer one question: does it genuinely improve the customer's comfort, safety, or cost?
Each upgrade card has an ⓘ (why it matters + customer value) and an editable price you set from the site. The discipline: recommend an upgrade because the house needs it, priced for the real job — never to pad the ticket.
We win by being right, not by being pushy. The Care Plan is the long haul in product form — real maintenance, real discounts, a relationship that lasts.
Our Performance Service Plans are annual maintenance memberships built around documented performance, not a discount card. Every tier includes two comprehensive seasonal performance visits (spring & fall) with full safety & combustion analysis, electrical/mechanical inspection, and refrigerant verification. That measured maintenance is how we find a cracked heat exchanger in October instead of a no-heat call in January — and how we stay a customer's HVAC company for the next 15 years.
| Feature | Stewardship $450/yr |
Performance Most selected $720/yr |
Signature $1,080/yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 seasonal performance visits | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Safety & combustion testing | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Refrigerant verification | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Priority scheduling | ✔ | Front of line | Dedicated |
| Repair savings | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| Static pressure testing | — | Every 2 yrs | Annually |
| Airflow verification | — | ✔ | Advanced annual |
| IAQ testing | — | — | Annual |
| Diagnostic fees waived | — | With repair | Always |
| Overtime charges | No overtime rate | No overtime rate | Never charged |
| Replacement loyalty credit | — | $750 (after 2 yrs) | $1,500 (after 3 yrs) |
| Transferable | — | — | ✔ |
| Year 1 free with new install | — | Included | — |
We win by being right, not by being pushy. The close is just clarity plus an honest ask.
You've diagnosed honestly and priced honestly. Now present it so the value is obvious and the decision is easy. The flow:
We win by being right, not by being pushy. Technical improvements. Exceptional service. Trust. The long haul.
15 questions across everything. You need 80% (12 of 15) to pass. Take it closed-book the first time, then review anything you missed.
The one screen to glance at before you knock.