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HVAC Mastermind Wisdom

Getting and Keeping Customers for a Lifetime

Tom Piscitelli, President, TRUST® Training and Coaching

The average transaction at a big box hardware store hovers around $30. An oil change can be as low as $45. Nowadays, fast food prices exceed $10, and coffee—if you can call a double mocha half-split with one pump of chai "coffee"—costs around $6. Can any of these businesses thrive without repeat customers? Absolutely not!

The HVAC industry cannot depend solely on service agreements for repeat business. Every year, millions of customer interactions happen where we maintain, service, or sell something, perform well, collect payment, express gratitude, and then walk away. There must be a better way.

All retail businesses recognize that selling to a customer for the second time is significantly easier than securing the initial sale. The legendary Ron Smith said, “Get… and keep customers.”

You have the chance to enhance every customer call. What strategies can you employ to keep them coming back?

Here are some fundamentals the Comfort Advisor can follow:

Under-promise and over-deliver on your installations. Make certain that each job is completed to the highest standard. This method lays the groundwork for a lifelong customer relationship

Follow up after each installation to ensure your customer is satisfied. Ask for a testimonial or referral and offer a thank-you gift.

Send a thank-you card personally signed by the owner. Please include a note expressing your appreciation for their business and referrals.

Train and manage your technicians to ensure that every customer knows their business is valued during each maintenance and service call. Every single one.

Send another thank-you card on the anniversary of all new or replacement installations each year. Include another note expressing your appreciation for referrals.

Here’s what the best-in-class retail companies do:

Real estate agents use direct mail companies to send monthly postcards, letters, calendars, and emails to their mailing lists. Why? Because they understand that they can’t depend on even their best clients to remember them years after buying one house and getting ready to purchase another. They ensure their name remains at the forefront of their customers’ minds.

Oil change companies send reminder notices when calculating when you are due for your next oil change.

Your dentist calls you every six months to remind you it’s time for a checkup.

One of the country's fastest-growing and most profitable HVAC contractors has achieved exceptional growth by sending monthly newsletters to every customer for over a decade.

Conclusion

I’m not suggesting that these old-school guerrilla tactics should replace building a great website, optimizing it, improving your Google ranking, or anything like that. I’m simply encouraging you to remember the importance of consistently reaching out to customers, sometimes on a personal level, and regularly engaging with them through these proven and effective methods.