Frequently Asked Questions

Who needs ECOTHERM products and services in my territory?

ECOTHERM products and systems are mainly installed at hotels, hospitals, industry, apartment houses, universities, schools, airports etc.

Are ECOTHERM products and/or systems competitive in my territory?

ECOTHERM has already sold products and systems all over the world (Mexico, Europe, North Africa, Middle East, India and China).
ECOTHERM has a lot of self-developed and patented components, which make are systems unique, offering unique advantages to the client, and which can save up to 95% of the floor space and therefore equipment compared to competitors. So - yes - a single tank manufactured in Europe is more expensive than e. g. in Asia. But when you save 95% of the storage volume, we can sometimes also be the cheapest supplier.
Of course especially the systems have to be designed according to the local needs of the market.
Therefore ECOTHERM needs a smart partner, who evaluates and compares local products in order to design a perfect system. The ECOTHERM support center assists.
ECOTHERM can create suitable and competitive solutions for all markets - worldwide.

Why shall I pay any fee to start selling ECOTHERM products or systems?

An ECOTHERM franchisee benefits from the franchise system (see page "Benefits").
The ECOTHERM system will save time and money and will be the basis to be more successful (see page "Franchisee vs. distributor").
A franchisee especially saves human ressources and time for generating quotations. Moreover as a franchisee he significantly increases his chances to get orders.
Therefore the franchisee has to pay a franchise fee.

If I will earn enough money with ECOTHERM, then I am ready to pay ECOTHERM franchise fee, but not in advance.

ECOTHERM has the philosophy that ECOTHERM and its sales partners shall be equally strong (see page "Mutual investment").
So ECOTHERM is ready to invest in any partner, who is ready to invest in ECOTHERM.
But it is not fair to expect that ECOTHERM will cover 100 percent of the major investments and takes 100 percent of the risk, while the partner will take 100 percent of the achieved profit.

I invest a lot of time and also money to arrange meetings, make presentations and to get orders. What is ECOTHERM investing?

Please visite the page "Mutual Investment"

Can I earn the money, which I have to invest starting and operating ECOTHERM in my territory?

Yes, you can easily.
ECOTHERM defines sales target together with the franchise partner according to the potential of the territory and according to the sales organization of the partner.
You also have to consider that ECOTHERM will save you at least one employee in your organization, which equals the monthly fee - and even more.

I have a lot of promising contacts in my territory, I open all doors for ECOTHERM, I make ECOTHERM well-known in my territory, I make ECOTHERM a big brand in my territory. So ECOTHERM should pay some money to me, not I to ECOTHERM.

When a brand, which is well-established in other countries starts in a new country, the local partner will heavily benefit from the approved business model, references, experiences, templates etc.
If McDonalds would start in a country completely new, also nobody will ask them to pay money for the local partner.
It is the same with ECOTHERM.
If someone would instead start its own business to sell hot water, steam and solar systems, he would have to invest years only in product development, to built up references, create marketing materials etc.
All this - and much, much more - comes along with the ECOTHERM franchise system.
So if you really now still think as described as in the above starting sentence, then you are not the right partner, since you do not see the value of using an approved and existing franchise model instead of starting your own business
See also page "Franchisee vs. Distributor"

How do I really know, if I can sell ECOTHERM products & solutions in my territory?

When you are really interested to start as ECOTHERM's franchisee, then we proceed as follows:
- We define a certain time slot of about 3 days.
- You arrange meetings with your contacts, where we give you the optimum profile of contacts we should look for.
- We present together with you ECOTHERM and present us as upcoming team.
- We try to get inquiries for projects and generate quotations.
- Then we see, if the client likes the quotation and at least considers to place an order.
- This way, we experience if you have the right contacts for our business.
- You experience, how you benefit from being our franchisee. You just have to open the door - and we start to develop the market for you, since we join you for presentations, work out the design of the system and the quotation.

Why shouldn't I just start as ECOTHERM distributor?

As ECOTHERM distributor you do not get any special support. You can have some brochures, get basic information about our products, and when you send an inquiry, we will work out a quotation.
But you will have higher purchasing prices than a franchisee.
You will have no local sales support.
Your inquiries have less priority compared to inquiries from a franchise partner, and can sometimes not be handled.
We will not develop the market together with you.
You need more ressources at your side to promote ECOTHERM.
You will - most likely - contacts not exactly the right customers, will not create the optimal quotations, use not the perfect arguments, cannot consultant the client optimally etc.
So after all you will earn less money with minimum the same investment.
See also page "Franchisee vs. Distributor"

I never heard of a franchise model for industrial solutions. Does it really work?

We have made a worldwide study together with the University of Applied Sciences in Upper Austria, where several master students from the study "Global Sales and Marketing" have compared our franchise system with others.
There are some other franchise systems related to industrial solutions.
So ECOTHERM is not trying something completely new.
But the result was that our set of services is outstanding - adding uncomparable value to the franchise.