10 Ways To Get More HVAC Leads
Are you having a hard time getting HVAC leads? It’s a common problem for many businesses, including HVAC companies.
About 65% of businesses consider lead generation and website traffic to be the biggest challenge they face, and 77% of service businesses say that lead generation is also their top marketing priority. That says a lot considering the other challenges they face. There are ways to generate leads that are high-quality and you can convert into paying customers.
Do you want to learn how to get HVAC leads? Keep reading to discover the top tips to get the best leads to your HVAC business.
Know Your Target Audience
Before you jump into any marketing efforts, you have to have a solid foundation. Without the foundation, you could be throwing spaghetti against the wall hoping that it sticks. A good foundation starts with understanding your target market, your HVAC company’s brand, and why someone would call your HVAC company.
Your target market is essentially your ideal client. Do you generally want to work with commercial companies or residents? What are their main challenges? How can you help them? The reason why knowing your target market is important is that people will approach looking for HVAC service providers differently. A property manager at an apartment complex will have different needs from a suburban family looking to have their HVAC system repaired.
Your brand is what people think about your HVAC company. It’s not your logo. Your brand is the connection you create with your target market. Reliability and professionalism could be important components of your brand. Finally, there’s the million-dollar question: why would people call your company? This is the one thing that matters to your target audience that your competitors don’t. That’s known as your unique selling proposition.
Do you know where people will go when they need an HVAC company? They’ll turn to a search engine, most likely Google. If your business isn’t listed on the first page of results, it doesn’t exist. The majority of people will stay on the first page. If you’re on the second page, you don’t exist. You can optimize your site for search engines, which will help your site appear higher in search results. You must also make sure you dominate the search result when anyone searches your business name. Don't make it hard for them to find your website. You can do this by creating and managing your Google My Business profile and listing.
Google My Business Listing is a free tool that lets you promote your business profile and website on Google search and maps. It makes it easier to connect with your customers, post updates, and see how customers interact with your profile on Google.
Benefits of creating and managing your Google My Business Profile:
- It lets you appear in maps and local packs listings (a section of local content appearing on the first page of SERPS)
- It lets people leave reviews of your business or service (and social proofing can be a great conversion driver)
- It provides valuable insights you can use for site optimization
- It's free and easy to use
Implement Remarketing For Referrals
The mistake that many business owners make is that they just assume that people will refer business to them. They also assume that they can live off of that referral business. Do you know how many people would give a referral? About 83% of customers.
Do you know how many actually do? About 29%. The reason why they don’t give referrals is that no one asks them to. This is great news for you because you easily create a system to ask for referrals. The first thing you can do is to ask. Ask for referrals in your emails, pick up the phone and directly ask customers.
Finally, have a system in place to show appreciation to people who refer business your way. It could be something simple like a plant or a gift card to a local restaurant. People are more inclined to refer more business to you when you show that you appreciate the gesture.
Try Pay Per Click Ads
There is a lot of value in referrals, but if you want to grow, you need to be more active in generating leads. Combining a solid referral strategy with pay-per-click ads will go a long way to help you grow your business. People will do research about your business before they pick up the phone to call. You can use pay-per-click ads on Google to get your site among the top search results. That will increase the likelihood you'll capture some of that traffic.
How does pay per click differ from SEO? SEO does take a while to build momentum, and it is an effective way to build trust with potential clients. Pay per click is more immediate. Once you turn on a campaign, you should start to see results because your ad appears ahead of organic results.
Optimize Your Website For Conversions
When you use different tactics to drive traffic, you want to make sure your website is ready for that traffic. People will form an opinion about your business within a few seconds of visiting your website.
They’ll decide whether or not they want to do business with you. If your website takes too long to load, they’ll form a negative impression of your company. You want to make sure your website is set up for speed, ease of use, and it's structured for search engines.
Use the Power of Social Networks
Over 40% of local home service businesses stated that they consider social media marketing to be the most effective channel for generating leads. Who are the people in your neighborhood? Thanks to Nextdoor, and other social media networks, people are starting to find out. As an HVAC provider, you can also advertise directly to them. If you target residential customers in a specific area, this could be a great way to get in front of them.
Test Out Facebook Ads
You may think of Facebook as a way to connect with family or to share the most embarrassing pictures of your kids. Facebook is a powerful lead generation tool for your business. The reason why is because it is inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising.
It also allows you to deliver highly targeted campaigns. For example, you can target homeowners in your area in the fall and spring for maintenance before extreme weather sets in. That type of tactic can generate reliable customers that contact you for regular maintenance, repairs, and they can refer business your way, too.
Try Google Local Service Ads
These types of ads are similar to PPC ads. The main difference is that they’re targets to service providers like HVAC services, plumbers, and electricians. With these ads, Google helps you get the job. On standard PPC ads, users will perform a search, see your ad, click through, and hopefully take the next step and call your HVAC company. You have to have a lot of pieces working seamlessly together to capture that lead.
Plus, the user still has to take action. Google service ads take a number of steps out of the process and they qualify the leads for you. Plus, these ads feature you as a Google Guaranteed provider. That ads a level of trust with consumers, making it more likely that you’ll get contacted.
Someone is likely to search for HVAC providers near me. The top of the results will list advertisers who were carefully screened by Google to advertise as a local service provider. Google will verify your license, insurance, and perform a background check on your business. Google will also ask users to specify the type of service they need and where. Some of the services for HVAC providers include vent installation, thermostat installation and repair, ductless HVAC services, heating repair, and AC repair.
Always Add Value
There is a lot of competition among HVAC companies. The most memorable and successful companies go a long way to being helpful. You can do that through website content or video content.
People are always going to try to fix the issue themselves before calling your HVAC company. Let’s say that someone’s HVAC system is creating a high-pitched sound when the heat runs. They’re going to look up what that sound is and how it can be fixed. You can position your company to be a valuable resource to help people diagnose and solve the issue themselves.
If they can’t, they’re more likely to call your HVAC company than anyone else. If they do, they’re more likely to remember your company because you were so helpful. In one simple step, you earned their trust and possibly created a loyal customer, even if they don’t call your business right away.
Test and Measure Results
A mistake that many people make with they try to generate leads is that they don’t measure results. They have no way to tell if a campaign is working or not. They also don’t test their campaigns to see where improvements can be made. They assume that what they have is enough.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different aspects of a campaign. For example, if you run a pay-per-click campaign, you can test different headlines to see which one gets the best response. When you do run tests, only test one thing at a time.
Are You Ready to Get More HVAC Leads?
It’s not easy to run an HVAC business. In order to be a successful business, you need to make sure that you are taking steps to get in front of your customers. Learning how to get HVAC leads really comes down to having a good foundation. You have to have some of the basics down like your brand, your target market, and your unique selling proposition. That helps you narrow down your advertising channels and home in on various ways to reach them. Once you have the basics down, you can implement some of the creative ways listed here to get more HVAC leads.