How Can I Become a Certified Irrigation Contractor?

When you hire a contractor for a project at your home or business, you want to make sure that they are a credible and competent company or individual who is an expert in the field. One of the best ways to become more credible and to earn the trust of potential customers is with a license or certification, proving that you have studied the ins and outs of a particular industry and that you are qualified to assist with those projects. For landscapers and irrigation specialists, becoming a CIC (Certified Irrigation Contractor) helps you stand out with a competitive edge in your industry. Here at Hydro-Rain® we manufacture the highest quality irrigation products, and often work with CICs. Let’s take a look at what the requirements and benefits of becoming a CIC are.

Requirements to Become a CIC

In order to earn and maintain your certification, there are several important requirements that you must meet. These include:

• Register for the exam with the Irrigation Association
• Pass the exam (recommended three years of related field experience)
• Comply with the Select Certified Code of Ethics
• Remain in good standing (continuing education every 2 years)

Part of being in compliance with the Select Certified Code of Ethics includes using responsible procedures for irrigation systems, including the design, installation, management, and maintenance. This is where our irrigation products can help, since you can rest assured that the quality of our products will make your job easier, allowing for you to stay compliant and maintain your certification. You can register for the exam at a date and time that works best for you.

Benefits of Becoming a CIC

Becoming a Certified Irrigation Contractor can be beneficial for your career in the efficient water management industry. Some of these benefits include:

• Gain the trust of potential customers and reassure existing customers
• Gain more credibility within the industry and potential employers
• Demonstrate your commitment to your craft and industry

According to the Irrigation Association, earning a certificate to be a CIC can also quality you for the EPA WaterSense program, which can even further benefit your credibility as an industry expert. Completing the WaterSense program and earning that certification can get you listed in the EPA’s online directory, and even qualify you to use WaterSense promotional labels directly on your business cards. Learn more about the WaterSense program.

Contact The Irrigation Experts

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us today or visit the Irrigation Association CIC page here for more information! Hydro-Rain® is built for speed and is an irrigation contractor’s best friend. We offer a contractor-grade line of products to make your life easier, and in turn keep your customers happy. Reach out to us for all of your irrigation needs and we will reply to you shortly. Our commitment to the essential values of integrity, lasting relationships, and fair dealing is at the heart of Hydro-Rain®, so let’s work together to bring your customers the best technology in irrigation.

How Do You Troubleshoot a Wireless Irrigation Controller?

Do you have clients who have trouble with their wireless controllers? If so, you’re not alone, and you could probably benefit from some tips on how to troubleshoot their devices and WIFI network to resolve the issue. Fortunately, there are several easy steps for irrigation contractors such as yourself to take in order to test their WiFi and get their wireless controllers back in action. At Hydro-Rain we manufacture irrigation products that are built for speed, allowing you to meet the demand of your customers. Let’s take a look at five steps you can take to troubleshoot wireless irrigation controllers.

1) Measure the Signal Strength of Your Wireless Controller

The Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measures how receptive your wireless device is when receiving a signal from a router or access point. Essentially, this measurement can help you to determine how much signal you are getting. There are apps such as Airport Utility (created by Apple for iPhone users) that allow you to check the RSSI values once you enable the “WIFI Scanner ” setting in your iPhone. Solid objects can actually absorb WIFI signals, including walls and windows, which can cause your signal to be bad (and for you to have low RSSI values). You can even do a much simpler test of seeing how many WIFI bars your smartphone gets when next to your irrigation controller. Measuring the signal strength at the location of your sprinkler controller is important to determine if that is the problem.

2) Move the Location of Your Wireless Devices

The second step you can try piggybacks off of the first. If you find that your device has a very low RSSI value (therefore a bad signal) you should consider moving your devices. If your router or other WIFI device is stowed away under a desk, inside of a closet, or blocked by wall or furniture it weakens the signal strength. Similarly, if your controller is tucked away behind a thick wall or large furniture it will weaken the signal received from the router. If your router is already in an open space in line with your sprinkler controller, you can try simply restarting the router and/or the controller. Sometimes the oldest trick in the book of unplugging, waiting ten seconds, and plugging back in is all devices need. Connected Controllers can even be managed remotely on your smartphone, so the connection of your phone might also improve by putting your router in a more open space.

3) Update Router and WIFI Network

The next step for troubleshooting irrigation controllers is to make sure your clients have updated their WIFI if any of their network settings have changed. Similarly, have them make sure to update their router firmware. Many people purchase routers through an ISP, so they may need to contact them to confirm that the firmware is up-to-date. If the WIFI network and router firmware are updated, you can also try changing both the frequency and channel of the WIFI network.

4) Changing WIFI Frequency

For frequency, while 5G networks have faster speeds, they tend not to have as great a range and are not able to penetrate through solid objects very well. 2.4G on the other hand is not as fast of a signal usually, but it has a wider range. A full strength connection of 2.4G will work better for your sprinkler controller than a weak signal connection of 5G. 

5) Changing WIFI Channels

For the channel, it can be helpful to change the channel to prevent interference from occurring by neighboring networks. Each 2.4G frequency has multiple channels (11), but only channels 1, 6, and 11 do not overlap and are therefore a better bet for a solid signal to your device. This shouldn’t be as much of an issue on 5G. Eliminating other networks can help as well. Sometimes wireless devices pickup on nearby WiFi signals, and if you aren’t using them it is best to remove them to prevent any possible interference with your wireless controllers.

Contact Us For The Speed You Need

Hydro-Rain® is built for the speed, and since your customers demand speed, your business must demand it as well. Contact us today for all of your irrigation needs and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Our commitment to the essential values of integrity, lasting relationships, and fair dealing is at the heart of Hydro-Rain®, so let’s work together to bring your customers the best technology in irrigation.

When it comes to the sale of any product, you know just how important it is to land the pitch. But when attempting to understand how to “nail your pitch,” you must first understand the intricacies and moving parts of that pitch. It’s never a one step process, and making sure that each step is executed to the best of your ability is of the utmost importance.

This is especially true for effectively closing a sale on the irrigation products. Making sure that you’re hitting every point will help you to close your sales more frequently, leading to more of your success, and at Hydro Rain, we know that your success is our success.

Let’s take a look at the top 6 most effective ways to close your sales on irrigation products.

Our Most Effective Sales Tactics:

Here are the most effective ways to successfully close your sales.

1) The Introduction & Hook

This is arguably the most important part of your sales pitch, as it is extremely important not only to get the customer excited about the products, but you’ve got to hook them. You can so by making sure you engage them with questions about their pain points and what it is they’re looking for. 

2) Establishing Benefits Over Features

Why is this important? Simply put, people care more to hear about how something is going to benefit them rather than the in’s and out’s of what a product can do. In fact, by first presenting the features of a product, you may bore the customer, leading to them disengaging with you. Talk to your customer about how the product will give them the best return on their investment.

3) Active Listening Tactics

It’s important to make sure that you’re truly listening to the needs of your customers rather than just hearing them. Hearing your customer doesn’t allow you to dive into what the real issue is. When you actively listen to your customer, you can find out what problems they truly have and offer to solve them with the functionality of the product you’re selling. 

4) Overcoming Objections

This is truly the test of any salesperson. It’s important to know that you’re going to get push back on every sale you attempt. While some sales may be easier than others, closing the deal isn’t something that will just fall into your lap. It’s important not to take no for an answer. Oftentimes, consumers will need to say no to a product or sale seven times before they will say yes. Be persistent and the close will come. 

5) Closing the Sale

Now that you’ve worked through using the other sales tactics, it’s time to bring them all together at once to finalize the sale. At this point, it’s simply time to coax the customer into finishing up the deal. Being straight to the point and concise is of the utmost importance with this step. 

6) After the Sale

It’s important to make sure that you’re going to be there for the customer for every following step thereafter. This not only helps solidify this sale, but can help to establish rapport with the customer for future sales.

In Conclusion:

When using all 6 of these sales tactics, you can successfully increase your overall monthly sales, thus increasing your yearly sales. Using these strategies can lead to success for you, which means success for us.

For more information on developing your business, increasing your sales and much more, stay tuned for more information to come or give us a call today to get started with HydroRain and selling these products.