Every year you plan for a big summer. You hire the team. You fill the pipeline. Then the weather does not cooperate. When summer doesn’t hit, you need a survival plan. Here are seven strategies plus two bonus moves that keep HVAC sales alive, protect cash flow, and fill your pipeline when the heat never shows up.
Strategy One: Build an Offer That Is Not Money Off
The first move in an HVAC summer slowdown is a special offer built from your pricing guide, not a discount. Pick the easiest equipment upgrade that gives real client value and offer it for one dollar with clear legal disclosure.
Everybody runs money off when it gets slow. You will not.
Here is what you need to know. Open your pricing guide. Find the upgrade that takes the least work but still gives real value. A single stage furnace to a variable speed. A one stage air conditioner to a two stage. An 80% furnace to a 90% furnace.
Now build the offer. For one dollar, the client gets the upgrade. Add the asterisk: any extra work like thermostat wire, line set, or exhaust flue gets charged separately. Talk to an attorney so you stay in compliance with the law.
Then take it to your sales team. Summer didn’t hit, so the commission plan changes. No discounts. Financing and easy payment plans only. Have them sign off on the plan. Black and white. Then send them out to have the conversation.
Strategy Two: Teach the Entire Company the Offer
An offer only moves when every person in the company can present it. Train the front office, call center, and CSRs, script every phone call and email, and put the offer on your hold music and phone tree.
One offer means nothing if only two people know it.
You are going to teach everybody. Front office. Call center. CSRs. Your on-hold music. Your phone tree. Every message that leaves your company carries the offer you built in strategy one.
Script it for phone calls. Script it for emails. Script it for follow-ups. Bring the team in and run frequently asked questions. Run should-ask questions. Role play until everyone can have the conversation. When the whole company talks about one offer, the offer starts to move.
Strategy Three: Use an Unadvertised Same Day Bonus
An unadvertised same day bonus is an upgrade package worth $1,500 to $3,000 that clients only receive by moving forward today. It never appears in your ads or literature, which protects it from being copied by competitors.
The old school move was a same day discount. Five percent off if you move forward today, with a clean FTC-compliant letter. Call it an efficiency bonus. It only exists today. Call back later and it is gone.
Here is the better version. Build an upgrade package instead. A UV light and a filter. A UV light and a larger return. Whatever fits the equipment. Detail the real world value and say it out loud: move forward today and you get this package worth $1,500, $2,000, or $3,000.
The hard truth is this only works unadvertised. Put it in your ads and your competition copies you in 21 to 30 days. They will secret shop you. It is part of the gig. Keep it off your literature and it keeps working.
Strategy Four: Call Every Lead You Did Not Sell
Pull every unsold lead from your CRM going back three full years, then have CSRs, sales people, and the sales manager all call to present the new offer. Add texts, emails, and postcards to reach a couple hundred waiting prospects.
Your CRM is full of money you left behind.
Pull a list of everybody you did not sell. Go back one year. Go back two years. Go back three years. Then have the whole team smile and dial. CSRs call. Sales people call. The sales manager calls.
Send text messages. Send emails. Send postcards if you have to. There are probably a couple hundred of these leads sitting in your company right now. That is a couple hundred chances to explain the new offer and make deals happen.
Strategy Five: Call Your Old Partial Replacements
Partial replacements are furnace-only jobs or condenser and coil swaps already flagged in your CRM. These clients trust you, half their system is aging, and where legal in your state they are one of the fastest upgrade lists to work.
This one hides in plain sight.
Flag every partial replacement in your CRM. Furnace only jobs. Condenser and coil swaps. These clients already trust you, and half their system is aging out.
Where it is legal, call them and offer the upgrade. California rules get strange here, and federal rules apply too, so check what applies in your market. When the law allows it, partial replacements are one of the fastest lists you can work when summer doesn’t hit.
Strategy Six: Sell Duct Work, Insulation, and Add-Ons
Duct work, insulation, and indoor air quality packages create revenue that does not depend on hot weather. Partner with a local insulation company at tiered volume pricing and your team can sell home performance without adding new crews.
Plenty of companies make good money on duct work alone. You can go further.
Add insulation. Add home performance. Add an indoor air quality package. California has talked about home performance for 15 years. In other parts of the country this is a brand new conversation, which means open ground.
Do not do insulation? No problem. Go to a local insulation company. Tell them you need remove, seal, and re-blow on every duct job. Ask if they want the business. They do. Then set tiered pricing: the more volume you bring, the lower their rate drops. Tie it back to strategy two so the whole team sells it.
Strategy Seven: Build Referral Deals With Non-Competing Companies
Map the best-reviewed fencing, roofing, and plumbing companies in your market and offer a referral exchange. You build all the scripts, messages, and phone processes yourself, because referral deals only survive when one side does the work.
You do heating and air. Somebody else does fencing, roofing, and plumbing. Their clients need you before, during, and after their work.
I want to share something with you. Most referral deals die because nobody does the work. So you do all of it. Map the best-reviewed companies on Google and Yelp. Call them. Some hang up. Call the next one.
When one says yes, you build everything. The scripts. The message. The phone call. Pretend you dropped them in a new country and you are starting from zero. Nobody else will put in this work. That is exactly why it wins.
Bonus Strategy Eight: Pay More for Self-Generated Leads
Double what you pay technicians and sales people for self-generated leads. Purchased leads cost $400 to $2,000 each, so paying your own team $200 per lead still leaves you about $1,800 ahead on total acquisition cost.
Normally you pay an extra 2% for a self-generated lead. Pay four.
That sounds expensive until you run the real numbers. Purchased leads cost $400, $800, $1,200, even $2,000 each. Pay a technician or sales person a couple hundred bucks for a lead they brought in and you are still about $1,800 ahead. Think in total acquisition cost, not commission percentage.
Then arm them. A pop-up tent. A table. Chairs. A cooler with ice water. Send them to neighborhoods where you have already done easy single day installs. Script the whole process and set appointments on the spot.
Bonus Strategy Nine: Run Street Teams and Pop-Ups Every Year
Street teams and pop-up tents work in slow summers and busy ones, so run them every year. Send scripted teams to the neighborhoods where you have replaced the most equipment and reward the people who bring their own leads.
Here is the move that separates survival from strategy. You run this even when it is busy.
Radio stations do it. Interns, a van, speakers, stickers, and a street team. You can do the same with your sales people and technicians. Tell them: bring your own leads and get paid extra. They will buy their own tent, table, and cooler, because now it matters to them.
Figure out which neighborhood holds your most replaced equipment. Show up there. Do it every single year, hot summer or not, and the slow years stop hurting.
What to Do Right Now
Start with strategy one today: build a one dollar upgrade offer from your pricing guide that is not money off. Teach the entire company tomorrow. Then work your old leads and partial replacements while the referral and street team plays build.
Summer didn’t hit. Your close rate needs help. Residential demand is soft and maintenance agreements are not filling the gap. You now have nine ways to get your HVAC business moving.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Should HVAC Contractors Do When Summer Doesn’t Hit?
Build a special offer that is not money off, teach the entire company to present it, and work your CRM hard. Call old unsold leads, partial replacements, and add duct work, insulation, and referral partnerships to fill the pipeline.
Why Is Money Off a Bad Offer During an HVAC Summer Slowdown?
Everybody runs discounts when it gets slow, so money off makes you look identical to every competitor. An upgrade offer, like moving a client from a single stage furnace to a variable speed system for one dollar, gives real value and protects your margin.
How Does an Unadvertised Same Day Bonus Work in HVAC Sales?
You offer an upgrade package worth $1,500 to $3,000, such as a UV light and filter, that the client only receives by moving forward today. It stays off all printed literature and advertising, because advertised bonuses get copied by competitors within 21 to 30 days.
How Far Back Should You Call Old HVAC Leads?
Go back three full years. Pull every lead you did not sell from your CRM and have CSRs, sales people, and the sales manager all call. Add text messages, emails, and postcards. Most companies have a couple hundred of these leads waiting.
What Are Partial Replacements in HVAC and Why Do They Matter?
A partial replacement is a furnace-only job or a condenser and coil swap. These clients already trust your company and half their system is aging. Where legal in your state, they are one of the fastest upgrade lists to call when sales slow down.
How Do You Sell Duct Work Without Doing Insulation?
Partner with a local insulation company for remove, seal, and re-blow work on your duct jobs. Negotiate tiered pricing where their rate drops as your volume grows. You keep the client relationship and add insulation and home performance revenue without new crews.
How Do Referral Partnerships With Non-Competing Companies Work?
Map the best-reviewed fencing, roofing, and plumbing companies in your market. Call them and offer a referral exchange, but you build all the scripts, messages, and phone processes yourself. Most referral deals fail because nobody does the work, so doing the work is the advantage.
How Much Should You Pay Technicians for Self-Generated Leads?
Double your normal rate. If you pay an extra 2% now, pay 4%, or add a few hundred dollars per lead. Purchased leads cost $400 to $2,000 each, so paying a technician $200 for a lead still leaves you about $1,800 ahead on acquisition cost.
Do Pop-Up Tents and Street Teams Really Generate HVAC Leads?
Yes, when they are scripted and placed correctly. Send teams to neighborhoods where you have already completed easy single day installs. Bring a tent, table, chairs, and ice water, answer questions, and set appointments on the spot with a full scripted process.
Should You Run These Strategies Only During a Slow Summer?
No. The strongest companies run street teams, pop-ups, and self-generated lead bonuses every year, even when it is busy. Preparing annually means a cool summer becomes an inconvenience instead of a crisis for your cash flow.
Full Transcript
Every single year, HVAC contractors prepare, so that they can have the best summer ever. What they do is they hire the teams, they go after HVAC sales to fill the pipeline for lead generation, and hopefully they got a closing rate that’s going to be amazing, so that they can have cash flow. And then sometimes, even with all the effort, the weather does not cooperate. It could be nice and chilly when it’s normally 105 degrees outside, so what can you do when summer doesn’t hit, and what is an HVAC contractor survival guide that you can use? This is a fantastic question. I’m Scott Sylvan Bell, coming to you live for HVAC Technician Sales Secrets on a perfect day to talk about sales opportunity, and when summer doesn’t hit. If you didn’t know, for 10 years I was a corporate sales trainer and communications director for one of the largest privately owned companies on the West Coast, and my role and responsibility wasn’t just sales training, it was also to make sure that the sales team and technicians were busy, so we would come up with different strategies to stay busy when the rest of the market wasn’t, so I’m going to give you seven, seven different ways to prepare for summer, or be ready for summer, if your weather just does not cooperate. So, let’s start with strategy number one. You need to come up with an offer, and it can’t be money off, because everybody’s going to do money off. So, here’s what you do: is you take a look at your pricing guide, and you say, “Hey, what system can we upgrade with the least amount of work, we’re still giving value to the client. Okay, so I’m going to give you a couple of examples. It can be from a single stage furnace to a variable speed, it can be from a one stage air conditioner to a two stage, it can be from an 80% furnace to a 90% furnace. Okay, so you’re going to get the gist in your price guide. You’re going to want to take a look and say, hey, what is it going to take for us to do that upgrade, right? So, if you’re going for more speeds on a compressor, you might have to upgrade the thermostat wire. If you’re going to a different type of system, it might be that you’re replacing the line set, it might be that you’re replacing the exhaust flue. So, what you do is you come up with an offer that says, for $1 you can get an upgrade to whatever the product is that you’re going to offer, with a little asterisk, if there’s any upgrades that need to be done, those are going to get charged separately, right? So you want to stay in compliance with the law. If you got questions, go and talk to an attorney. Then what you’re going to do is, you’re going to go to your sales team, and you go, “Sales team, summer didn’t hit, we have to modify our commission plan. Normally, the system would pay 10 or 12% you know, but here’s the thing. No discounts. These are the financing or easy payment plans that you can use, and this is what you’re going to get paid. Like, that’s it. That’s black and white. That’s the way it’s gotta be. There’s no changing, there’s no modification. Like, this is the plan, right? And so you have them sign off on the commission plan, and then you have them go out and have this conversation with the client strategy number two, for when it’s not busy, what you can do. You’re going to come up with a special, and you are going to teach everybody in the company. You are going to talk to the front office, call center, CSRs, whatever you happen to call them, all of your on hold music, your phone trees, everything that you put out is going to have some sort of whatever offer that you came up with, right from strategy number one. You’re going to have a crafted offer. Part of the strategies everybody talks about it, right. It’s scripted for the phone conversations, it’s scripted for emails, it’s scripted for follow-ups, anything and everywhere that you can.
When you haven’t sold a new system, what you’re going to do is you’re going to teach the entire team to have this conversation, you’re going to bring them in, you’re going to have frequently asked questions, you’re going to have should ask questions, you’re going to role play, and then what’s going to happen is everybody’s going to have this conversation. Strategy number three, we are going to talk about unadvertised same day bonuses. So the old school way of doing sales was a lot of companies would do a same day discount, right? They would do 5% off if you would move forward today, and they would have a really nice letter. They would say, ‘Hey, based upon FTC rules, here’s what we’re going to do when you move forward today. We are going to give you a 5% discount. We call it an efficiency bonus. And because we are being efficient, we’re able to offer you this number. And so, because we can offer you this number. It is only extended today. If you call back later, I can’t offer it to you, right? So this is an entire scripted process. You could use this version, or you can say, “Hey, we got an upgrade package, and your upgrade package could be a UV light and a filter, or UV light and enlarging a return, whatever the upgrade package is that make sense for the piece of equipment that you have going on, and what you’re going to want to do is you’re going to want to detail out what the value, the real world value of those things are, and you’re going to say, hey, by moving forward today, you’re going to get this package worth at least $1,500 worth at least $2,000 worth at least $3,000 when you move forward today, right? But you’re not. Once again, this is an unadvertised bonus. You’re not putting it in the documentation. It’s like one of the perfect, but wait, there’s more. If you advertise this, it does not work the same. If you go down this path of saying, hey, we got this thing for you, you’re going to get ripped off, right? You. Got to know that your competition is going to look at what you’re doing, and they’re going to look at your ad, and they’re going to say we’re going to rip you off, and you’re going to get secret shopped. So, you probably have about 21 to 30 days before you get copied in this. Okay, it’s part of the gig, simmered down. You just got to know that it’s going to happen. Strategy number four. What you’re going to do is, you are going to go to your CRM, and you are going to make a list of everybody that you didn’t sell, anybody and everybody that you didn’t sell. And you’re going to go back a year, you’re going to go back two years, you’re going to go back three years, and you are going to have your team smile and dial. You are going to have your CSRs call your sales people, call your sales manager call, and you are going to do everything you can to explain this offer. You are going to send text messages, you’re going to send emails, you might even send postcards. There’s probably a couple of 100 these inside your company, and because you have a couple 100, it is the perfect opportunity for you to go out and make some deals happen. Strategy number five, when it comes to you getting more sales when summer doesn’t hit, you’re going to call all partial replacements. One of the things that you absolutely should be flagging inside of your CRM is when you just do a furnace only, or when you change out a condenser and coil. Where legal, California laws are kind of crazy for the way that this works, or where the Fed works, but you might have the opportunity to upgrade some people who just got a partial replacement strategy number six, number six, duct work. Right, there are plenty of companies who make pretty darn good money by selling duct work. So, when I say ductwork, I’m not just saying, “Oh, we’re going to stop at duct work. We’re also going to talk about insulation. You can also talk about home performance. In California, they’ve been talking about this for 15 years.
Other parts of the country, this is a brand new conversation. So, you’re like, “Hey, Scott, we don’t do insulation. I got you. What you do is you go to a local insulation company and you say, “Hey, listen, we are going to need you to remove, seal, and re-blow into the attic when we do duct work. Do you want to team up with, do you want business? And they go, “No, that’s crazy. We don’t, of course, they’re going to say we want business. So you strike a deal with them, and you say, “Hey, listen, what’s your normal pricing? And they say, “We usually charge $3 a square foot, and you say, “Great, we don’t want to pay $3 a square foot, we’re going to bring you a bunch of business, and we’re going to tier it. And so, like, when we bring you this much business, and you’re going to drop the price, and we bring you this much, you’re going to drop it more, and when you bring this much, you’re going to drop it even more, right? You’re going to do tiered pricing, you’re going to do tiered discounts based upon the volume that we bring you, and we’re going to bring you a lot of volume, because if we go back to strategy number two, you’re going to teach the entire team, everybody knows that they’re going to have this conversation. Okay, so you got duct work and add-ons, strategy number seven. What you’re going to do is you’re going to go to non-competing companies. Great, you do heating and air, go to a fencing company. Great, you do heating and air, go to a roofing company. Great, you do heating and air, but you don’t do plumbing, go to a plumbing company. Right there, there’s people who do work before, during, after, instead of you. You go and make a deal, you just start mapping out all these companies, and here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to call the first company, and go, that sounds crazy. Why would we do that? And then you’re going to go click, and then you’re going to call the next company, and you’re going to have this scripted. Hey, here’s what we’re trying to achieve. I want to be able to exchange referrals for you. You exchange referrals for me, and we’re going to have this conversation. They’re going to go click, and then you’re going to call the next company. You’re like, ‘Hey, Scott, how do I know which company I’m going to call? Well, you go to Google, you go to Yelp, you go and you take a look at the reviews, and you say who’s got the best reviews in town, and you start mapping it out, like, hey, you are the best, you’re, hey, just so you know, we researched you, we looked a lot in your company, you’re the type of company we want to work with, here’s what we’re trying to achieve, and since you’re doing everything, you’re going to have to do all the work. Just heads up, it’ll fall apart unless you do all the work. You’re gonna, you’re gonna want to help them with scripting, you’re gonna want to help them with the message, you’re gonna want to help them with the phone call. You just pretend you’re dropping them off in a different country, and like, we’re gonna have to start from zero. You are going to have to put in all the work, but here is where you win that everybody else doesn’t, because nobody wants to do this. They want to call a company, say, “Hey, we want to trade referrals. They go, “Great, we’re going to trade referrals, and then nothing ever happens because they didn’t put in the work right. And then bonus number eight. Grant, glad you stuck around. Bonus number eight, eight. Now I can count. I put up seven fingers. We need to put up eight. You’re going to increase the offer that sales people and technicians make on self-generated leads. Okay, you’re going to say normally we pay an extra 2% Who cares? Pay four. Like Scott, you have any idea what we’re paying technicians? Hey, listen. Or you have any idea of what we’re paying sales people? Listen to this. You know what you’re paying to not have a guy go out and install a system today.
You know what you’re paying by having all those vehicles sit in the yard, right? I get it. I don’t want to pay an extra 2% for a self-generated lead. Okay. Well, what, what, what better strategy do you have? I don’t want to pay a couple extra 100 bucks. Okay. Well, I’m going to share this with you. If you go to your local place, where you get leads, leads are probably costing you 400 800 1200 $1,600 $2,000 for leads, and if you’re paying a sales guy or technician 200 bucks and you’re not paying $2,000 a lead, you’re still about $1,800 ahead, right? So you got to start thinking about what is the entire acquisition cost, so you tell the sales people, go get a pop-up tent, go get a table, go get some chairs, and go to a neighborhood where installs are easy. Don’t go after the hard installs, go after the single day installs. Go park in the neighborhood where you’ve already done a bunch of installs, and go to the park and grab some lemonade, and grab a cooler, and bring some ice water, and you’re going to have people who come up and hate, like, blah blah blah blah blah. So, what you know, you’re gonna get, you’re also gonna get people who pull up and have questions, right? And you’re going to be very nice to those people. You’re going to have appointments set, you’re going to have this entire process scripted. And here’s the thing, this is an HVAC survival guide, so you’re working for strategies that are not always the best in the best situation. You’re like, “Hey, Scott, what is strategy number bonus strategy number nine? You do this even if it’s busy, you do this and you prepare every single year, right? You, you can have a like radio station to do this. What they’ll do is they’ll grab some interns, they’ll grab a van, they’ll grab some speakers, they’ll, they’ll grab a radio, they’ll grab some stickers, and they’ll, they’ll have a street team. Right, I have literally seen street, I’ve gone out of state, and I’ve seen people do street teams, right. And if you tell the salesperson, you tell the technician, you bring your own leads, we’ll pay you extra, you’re getting cream on the top, they’ll buy their own tent, they’ll buy their own table, they will buy their own cooler, they’ll buy their own bottles of water, because to them it’s important. So I’m going to recap all these strategies for you. Strategy number one: come up with a special offer that’s not money off. Strategy number two: teach the entire freaking company, everybody knows. Strategy number three: unadvertised same day bonus. Do not put this on your literature. Strategy number four: follow up on all of your old leads. Strategy number five: call your old partial replacement. Strategy number six: go for duct work and add-ons. You can have an indoor air quality package, you can have an insulation package. Strategy number seven: go to non-competing companies and build a referral program, but you’re going to have to put in all the work, because nobody else is going to understand this strategy. Number eight: self-generated leads, pay more as a percentage, pay more as a couple 100 bucks, so you can get those leads, and it’ll be surprised how excited sales people get. And then strategy number nine, this is the bonus. Strategy number nine: have a street team, have pop-ups. Tell, tell the people, go out into a neighborhood where, and, and you could do this. You can figure out what neighborhood you replace the most amount of equipment in. But if you’re sitting there and you’re like, ‘Hey, Scott, summer didn’t hit, we got to increase our close rate, we got to get some residential demand, we need maintenance agreements. You know, we, we are an HVAC contractor, and we are an HVAC business owner, but gosh dang it, we’re not getting leads. Well, if there’s an HVAC summer slow down and summer just doesn’t hit, I’ve given you nine solid ways to get your business moving. You got one of three things to do from here, just one of three. Find the subscribe button, click on it, and every time I send out a video, you’ll get an update. Two hit follow three, share this video with a friend. We’ll see you soon. Thanks for watching.
