When it comes to marketing and selling your High-Performance HVAC services, it isn’t all about the technologies you use or products you install. It’s about communications and relationships. It’s about listening, gathering information, and finding ways to solve customers’ comfort, health, and energy problems in their homes and businesses.

According to sales and marketing guru Chet Holmes, “You will attract way more buyers if you are offering to teach them something of value than you will ever attract by simply trying to sell them your product or service.”

To see how many readers of High-Performance HVAC Today market and sell their services in this manner, we surveyed the 15,000-subscriber base last month. Here are some things they told us:

Sales and marketing survey results on lead generation

First, of all the respondents, 83% are HVAC contractors. At least 66% spend the time and money to train from half to all of their technicians in High-Performance HVAC. These technicians test, measure, and diagnose every system they touch in the field – from both a service and installation standpoint.

Data Collection

High-performance technicians collect information that results from testing and measuring in several ways. Respondents tell us data collection includes writing the data down on paper (55.6%). Others use a mobile app like AirMaxx™ or AirMaxx Lite™ (33.3%). Still others use software like ComfortMaxx™ (11.1%). Some use other digital means for capturing data (44.4%).

Respondents told us that using apps or software helps them crunch the numbers more accurately. Software also provides them a means for communicating results to their customers in an easy-to-understand fashion. Only 22% said they take photos of customers’ systems. Some choose to share that information after the visit (33%) or during the visit using printouts or PDFs on mobile devices (44%).

Our survey also shows that 55.6% of respondents include high-performance HVAC testing and measurement activities in their service/maintenance agreement programs.

Sales and Marketing Approaches

While so many marketing experts and consultants heavily promote the idea of sending messages to consumers through digital media, nearly most of the high-performance HVAC contractors who responded to our survey still focus on more traditional marketing and promotional techniques:

  • 88.9% depend on word-of-mouth marketing. Around 22% say they like to use local newspaper and magazine advertising to promote their company and its services
  • 33% say that leaving brochures and pamphlets provided by third-party experts helps justify high-performance contracting. They also say this is an excellent add on to the data points from testing and measuring
  • Social media and other digital marketing approaches (email, blogs, electronic newsletters, and so on) are used by just over 44% of our respondents.

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