It takes a lot of work to sell HVAC equipment. This is old news, right? However, successful companies never stop looking for new methods to better themselves in the marketplace. Their management is constantly trying to improve the company for the sake of expansion. This may involve employing the appropriate people at the right time, automating some administrative work, or investing in training.
Step-by-step analysis of a complex procedure is one method for spotting places for improvement. The easiest strategy to increase sales is to imagine yourself as the buyer and act accordingly.
Buyer's process in the context of selling HVAC systems
Your HVAC sales process will be focused on you, the seller, while the HVAC buyer's journey will be customer-centric.
There are six steps to the HVAC sales process:
- Inquiry
- Survey
- Proposal
- Follow-up
- Winning Proposal
- Customer Experience
To complete all these steps each time may be unnecessary. If you run the type of HVAC business that doesn't conduct site visits or uses flat-rate pricing rather than bids, feel free to modify the procedures to suit your needs.
Remember that the ultimate step (Customer Experience) is actually the point at which you begin working. Everything prior to that is included in the price as well.
Check out our guide to Customer Service to learn more.
Alternatively, the customer's perspective on the buying process is typically defined as follows: awareness, consideration, and decision. They become aware of the issue, then they weigh their options, and lastly, they make a choice.
To simplify things, let's divide the HVAC buyer's journey into four distinct business phases:
1.Attract (clients who are at the Introductory stage
- Convert (by being the primary candidate with in Consideration stage)
- Put an end to (the decision-making process for the client).
4.Achieve (both the expectations of the customer and their desire to become an advocate for your company)
If you look at both of these charts together, you can see how the steps in selling HVAC equipment generally map to the various points in the buyer's journey:
Attract through Inquiry and Survey
Convert through Proposal
Finish the Sale by Following Up and Accepting the Proposal
Fascination through a Superb Personalized Service Experience
Sitting down and analyzing your workflow in light of these steps should help you zero in on the areas that need the most attention as you strive to expand your enterprise. Keep reading and I'll show you the ropes when it comes to the two most effective techniques for drawing in new customers.
- When it comes to your HVAC sales process, you should think about purchased leads vs. organic leads.
Customers who are interested in what you have to offer can be categorized as leads (or prospects) and can be acquired in two main ways: through paid advertising (such as purchasing email leads, PPC ads, or social media ads), or through organic search engine results (website traffic, blog content, organic social media, etc.).
Paid leads are preferable to organic leads if you're seeking to scale quickly and need a reliable source that can provide the exact quantity of customers you require.
If you're looking at the big picture, though, organic leads will prove to be more fruitful. Even while it may require an initial investment in high-quality material (here are some reasons why you should start a blog), doing so will aid in the development of a reputable name for your business and the formation of genuine connections with your target audience. If you compare the cost of this strategy to that of paid leads, you may find that the latter is more expensive in the long term.
3.Improving the HVAC Purchase Process with Content
Customers will visit your website frequently throughout the buying process, but notably in the Attract phase. You should provide them with all the information they require and show that you run an honest firm.
Customers have many options, and your website and content will go a long way toward convincing them to choose you. You'll have more success generating leads and closing purchases if your website is well-designed and simple to use, includes a booking gateway, and answers common questions in a blog.
Pathmonk, authorities on the internet user experience, recently featured Commusoft's Content Manager, Cristina Maria, on their podcast, where they probed her with probing questions about how to optimize the buyer's journey using content. In particular, she suggested the following two actions:
- Identifying your target audience.
- Creating HVAC sales content for your target audience, not for yourself.
3.1. The importance of knowing your audience
Putting oneself in the customer's position is one of the most useful techniques I've picked up for improving the buyer's journey. Interestingly, I mistook my actions for doing something else and only later recognized my mistake. My focus remained on me rather than the user. It's possible that I was blind to the extent to which my own prejudices informed my choice of audience.
Do most of your installations belonged to homeowners? Or do you like more low-key roles like maintenance? Do commercial contracts contribute significantly to your company's revenue? You may get a sense of who your broad target demographic is by answering these questions, but you should also dig a little deeper.
Explain in detail who you would like to reach out to if you choose to focus on homeowners. Where would you expect them to reside, a big metropolis or a rural town? Who are they, Generation Y or the Boomers? What is the average size of their dwellings? If you can visualize your target market, you can better meet their demands before, during, and after the project is completed.
If you're having trouble deciding what to put on your website, consider the questions below and how the answers might aid your target audience.
Do, for instance, you concentrate on attracting a younger demographic?
Modern consumers place a premium on efficiency, innovation, and ethical behavior. For Millennials in particular, selling yourself as a service that allows them to accomplish anything online, showing you care about important social issues, and discussing simple solutions on your blog will go a long way toward winning them over.
3.2. Producing HVAC advertising material for readers, not search engines
Focusing on the why rather than the what is a simple method to ensure you're writing content for your audience (and not yourself).
Even if you've invested in scheduling software to help you keep track of your appointments, you should consider keeping your same-day service guarantee for unexpected breakdowns. Why? Given the unpredictability of emergencies, of course you would. Customers don't want to have to rely solely on your scheduling software, but rather, on the assurance that they can always count on you to respond quickly and effectively to their needs. It's not about you, but about your consumers' needs being met.
4.Proposal-writing HVAC sales pitch
The buyer should feel informed and in charge after reading the proposal. Instead of just emailing clients a pricing list, your HVAC sales pitch should emphasize how and why you can provide it.
Providing customers with more information and choices will make their experience much more satisfying and easy. You'll rapidly separate yourself from the pack and those rival businesses who aren't willing to match your level of service.
Further, you must prove in your sales presentation that:
- You care about providing excellent service and a superior final product.
- You trust that the client is savvy enough to make a good decision on their own based on your advice.
- Although there may be rivals who are willing to do it for less money, you may provide a better service at a fair and profitable rate.
- It's crucial that they respond quickly to your offer if they want to take advantage of it.
5.Interacting with prospects at the optimal time
If you don't respond to a customer's enquiry within two hours, they may decide that your company doesn't exist or that they're not worth responding to. The buyer's adventure has ended with disappointment.
In order to achieve anything, recognition is essential. Customers like any form of confirmation, even if it's only a boilerplate “We've received your request” message.
In order to enhance the possibility of sealing the contract, it is important to maintain contact with the consumer throughout the sales process. The ideal reason to get in touch with a lead is to:
Set up a survey within the first two days.
- A proposal should be sent to them immediately after the survey has been completed.
- If they don't sign, follow up with them and maybe provide a time-sensitive incentive (like “10% discount if you agree before the end of the week!”).
- Put up a sign saying their proposition was accepted.
- recorded, and a representative will be in touch to set up the appointment.
- Ask for comments on the sales procedure by sending an email.
One might reasonably conclude that this is an excessive number of emails. You'd be totally correct in thinking that! However, you can automate the sending of these with HVAC software or set a reminder in Google Calendar to ensure they get sent out on time.
Successful companies understand that timely communication is the difference between success and failure.
Improving Your HVAC Sales Process: What You Can Learn
It will take some experimentation to find the best way to run your sales operation. Just like anything else, your proficiency will increase with practice. It may seem unreasonable, though, to expect engineers and office managers to be excellent communicators and salespeople in addition to performing their primary duties.
Finally, you don't need to be an expert, but you do need strong communication skills, especially when negotiating rates, to keep prospects in the pipeline. Since the timing of your message can determine whether you gain or lose a customer for life, it's important to get it right.
