As an HVAC services business, you have something people need. They need help with their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. You provide high-quality HVAC services. There are plenty of homeowners and companies in your local area that need your help with managing their climate control systems, whether installation or maintenance. So how come you’re not overrun with new customers?
It sounds like your potential customers are struggling to find you and make the decision to work with you. That means it’s time to work on your marketing strategy so it reliably attracts and converts customers. We know a thing or two about that as at Podium we offer an all-in-one growth solution that thousands of home services businesses use to generate new leads through their websites, positive online reviews, responsive conversations over text messaging, and more.
Here are our best strategies for quickly and easily generating HVAC leads.
11 Expert Strategies To Get HVAC Leads
If you’re an HVAC business owner who has appointment slots to fill, try out these lead generation strategies and digital marketing techniques to get more inquiries and bookings every month.
1. Improve your website communication channels.
Is your website a dead end? Most businesses know they need some kind of online presence so set up a website. They may even put online marketing strategies in place to drive traffic to the website. But the website isn’t optimized to convert people who are actively looking for HVAC contractors. Website visitors fail to become paying customers.
An easy way to improve the conversion rate of your website is to add a webchat. This gives leads a simple and user-friendly way to reach out to you directly when deciding whether or not to work with you. Your HVAC website should be a conversation starter. It only takes a few seconds for visitors to click off your site because they can’t find the information they need. Make sure your website is generating leads by trying out our webchat on your website now.
2. Rank higher for related Google searches.
When consumers are looking for help with something, where do they go? Google! They use the search engine to find information on how to solve their problems including how to find trust-worthy HVAC companies. So it’s worth investing time and effort into search engine optimization.
Following SEO best practices will allow you to rank higher on Google searches when potential customers search for relevant terms like ‘air conditioning installation’. Get the best results by optimizing for local SEO, making sure you rank high for search terms related to your service area, and therefore you get in front of qualified leads.
You do need to be consistent over time to get results from SEO. Alongside your SEO efforts, you could look at Pay-Per-Click ads. With PPC Google ads, you can show up at the top of Google search results by paying every time someone clicks on your website. Businesses on the first page of Google get leads.
3. Leverage local listings.
In the HVAC industry, there’s no point in using marketing campaigns to attract just any leads. They need to be located in your local service area. You can get in front of local HVAC service leads by making profiles on local listings websites. Business listings sites like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and other local listings directories allow you to share what you do, who you do it for and your contact information so interested leads can reach out. As it’s a secondary trusted site linking back to your website, profiles on local listings help with your local SEO efforts too.
4. Get 5-star reviews and ask for referrals.
When looking for a service provider, consumers need to trust you to work with you. After all, your customers are welcoming you into their home or business. They want to make sure the job is done right! You can increase the level of trust potential customers have in you and attract more sales leads by gathering positive customer reviews consistently. 5-star reviews on places like Google Reviews will do a world of good for your marketing efforts. You can even use the testimonials on your website and in your content marketing.
For the best results, have an online review strategy. Regularly, ask customers for reviews and referrals, and respond to customer reviews. We make it easy with our free Google Review Link Generator that you can include in your email or text message requesting reviews.
5. Be quick in providing estimates.
The best HVAC businesses get estimates over to potential customers quickly. Most likely, the lead is considering multiple contractors so if another business gets there before you, you’ve lost the sale. Responsiveness is key to turning inquiries into HVAC sales.
Minimize the time it takes to get quotes to potential clients by utilizing online tools. If you need an onsite visit to give an accurate quote, add an appointment booking tool to your website so customers can book a time that works for them then and there. No faffing around! You could even offer online consultations through video conferencing software like Zoom to make it super convenient.
6. Answer quickly to customers.
While you can skip the back and forth of deciding on an appointment date with an online booking tool, there are other situations when leads and customers will need to reach out and have a conversation with you. Once again responsiveness is important. It improves the customer experience, leading to more happy customers and more good reviews.
Instead of relying on phone calls to keep in contact with your customers (because they can be lengthy and inconvenient to busy customers), utilize text messaging. It’s quick and easy for both your business and your customers. Your sales team can follow up with leads so much quicker if they just have to send a message, not make a phone call. We’ve got a load of text message templates to get you started.
7. Utilize social media.
While social media can be used to keep up with current customers and remind them of how you can help, it can also be used to get in front of new potential customers. The algorithms of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram curate the feed of their users with a mix of content from accounts they follow and content from accounts they think they will like – that’s where lead generation comes in.
What kind of content does your ideal client show interest in on social media? Posts about events in their local area? Posts about home improvement projects? Whatever it is, create content aligned with those interests so leads can find your business and keep interacting until they are ready to work with you.
As well as working on organic social media content, you can run paid campaigns. They work well for small businesses because you can put a cap on your ad spend so you don’t go over budget. Additionally, you can specify the types of accounts you want your ad to be shown to so you don’t waste money on people who will never buy from you. So many people spend time on social media these days, so why not meet your customers where they are?
8. Partner with local influencers.
With the rise of social media came a new form of HVAC marketing. As well as leveraging marketing efforts on your own social media account, you can leverage the audiences of accounts that already have thousands or even millions of followers. Wouldn’t it be great to get your services in front of that many people? You can with influencer marketing.
You can pay these accounts to recommend your HVAC services to their followers. Their recommendations create an extra level of trust. Just make sure that their followers match your target audience such as being located in your service area so they have the potential to convert. For example, there’s a cafe in your local area that has a strong social media following and you pay them to create content around how you have helped them to keep their customers cool in summer.
9. Use lead generation tools.
Lead generation has multiple moving parts. There are a lot of contacts to keep up with coming from various sources. You don’t want anyone to fall through the gaps. You can use lead generation software to systemize and optimize your marketing efforts. You can even automate some processes such as follow-up email marketing campaigns.
For example, at Podium we have a CRM that tracks all of your contacts and their history with you. This enables you to keep track of who to follow up with, when, and what services, in particular, they have shown interest in.
10. Optimize your website for mobile.
Cell phones are an important part of our daily lives. So there’s a good chance your leads will interact with you while on a mobile device. Especially if they are looking for local HVAC contractors on Google Maps or have discovered your business through a social media campaign. Your website needs to work for mobile visitors as much as it does for desktop visitors.
When optimizing your website for mobile devices, consider your web design. Does it look good and is it easy to navigate on a larger horizontal screen and a smaller vertical one? Sometimes the layout can look messy or buttons are hard to find.
Also, consider the next step mobile users will take in your customer journey. Instead of getting in contact with you by typing out an email, they might prefer to give you a call or send you a text message. That means it’s a good idea to have your company phone number placed on your website. You don’t want to lose leads because website visitors can’t find the information they are looking for!
11. Craft attractive SMS campaigns.
Text messaging campaigns are a great way to get more inquiries from potential customers. First things first, text marketing has a 98% open rate. With marketing campaigns, you can’t get any better! Also, you can send tailored marketing messages out en mass to specific segments of your audience while personalizing them with their name and other details, making the campaign even more compelling. It’s super easy to get results from because you can automate key interactions such as a welcome campaign for new leads who join via your opt-in form.
We offer all that and more in our text marketing tool, enabling you to be responsive to new leads and help them convert as soon as possible. You don’t even have to come up with text marketing messages from scratch with our 500 ready-to-use text templates. Connect with potential customers through the communication channel they prefer – statistics show that’s text marketing – and see the inquiries flow.
How to Get HVAC Customers
If you’re going to drive new customers and increase your revenue, you need to have all your ducks in a row. That’s what we help you to do at Podium. We help you to optimize your lead generation efforts from the first interaction through our webchat function that captures visitors all the way to collect payments for scheduled work over text.
All contacts – new and old – are stored in our customer contact CRM with the details of their interaction history and you can view all current conversations across all communication channels in our omnichannel inbox.
Using the Podium platform to run your lead generation system gets results. Such as Mountaineer Heating and Cooling capturing 20% more sales calls weekly and earning $96K additional revenue per month.
If you’re ready to get more HVAC customers with ease, sign up for our free trial and see what’s possible for your business with the power of Podium.
HVAC Lead Generation FAQs
Q: What is the average cost per lead in HVAC businesses?
A: Generally, the cost per lead for HVAC businesses is around $250-$300. If you are a small business that would like to increase your profit margin and find it easier to win new customers, optimize your lead generation efforts with our top digital marketing techniques for attracting high-quality leads.
Q: How do I find commercial HVAC leads?
A: Various HVAC marketing strategies can get you in front of your ideal client. To attract commercial HVAC leads, in particular, rank for keywords they will search for when looking for a contractor in your service area. Ask your previous commercial customers to leave you reviews. Make your website user-friendly, for example, by adding a webchat function.
Q: What are HVAC leads?
A: HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. It’s all about maintaining air temperature and quality in homes and business buildings. So HVAC leads are potential customers who have shown some kind of interest in an HVAC business such as people who have Googled local HVAC contractors.
Q: How much is a lead generator fee?
A: There is some variation in terms of how much HVAC lead generation companies charge for their services. You can expect to pay a retainer of at least a couple of thousand dollars and for it to end up costing at least $200 per lead. So as a small business, it might make sense for you to start your lead generation efforts in-house with the support of intelligent digital tools.
