A Residential HVAC Sales Process That Maximizes Profit

Many residential HVAC contractors struggle with their sales numbers, not because they don’t have enough leads, but because they don’t have an effective, well-defined sales process to convert those leads into actual paid jobs.

A successful sales process helps HVAC businesses:

• Nurture existing customers (which costs less than finding new customers) with high-quality customer service, super-efficient estimates and follow-ups, and targeted upselling.

• Drive new HVAC leads from potential customers via smart marketing strategies and sales process analytics.

In this post, we’ll outline the factors HVAC professionals believe drive low sales, then explain what a successful sales process looks like and provide a step-by-step guide to implementing one that grows revenue.

We’ll also show how ServiceTitan helps business owners and sales managers put HVAC sales best practices into action.

Table of Contents

• 3 common reasons HVAC contractors say their residential sales numbers are down

• How to implement a successful residential HVAC sales process

• How ServiceTitan optimizes residential HVAC sales for maximum profit

3 Common Reasons HVAC Contractors Say Their Residential Sales Numbers Are Down

In our experience working with hundreds of HVAC companies (and other service trades like plumbing and electrical), business owners tend to attribute their HVAC sales frustrations to three main pain points:

• Not having enough high-quality leads

• A lack of consistent sales results from HVAC technicians in the field

• Competition from online HVAC sales and lowball pricing from other contractors

Vying for customers with online sellers and price-cutting local competitors is inevitable. But at ServiceTitan, we’ve found that a deficit of sales is not due to lack of leads. As we said above, the real problem is not having an effective, well-defined sales process that helps their technicians and/or sales team convert more of the leads they already have, and which ensures they’re not leaving money on the table.

In the next section, we’ll walk through how to implement an effective HVAC sales process that maximizes potential leads from existing customers and brings in fresh leads from new customers.

How to Implement a Successful Residential HVAC Sales Process

1. Deliver outstanding customer service at every stage

2. Delegate the right jobs to the right techs

3. Conduct the ideal sales call to build trust with customers

4. Use cutting-edge technology that benefits customers and the business

5. Improve close rates with Good-Better-Best proposals & flexible financing options

6. Follow up effectively to produce tons of additional revenue

7. Invest In HVAC sales training to empower technicians

8. Use smart HVAC marketing to build your customer base

9. Track results and optimize tech-generated leads

Step 1: Deliver Outstanding Customer Service at Every Stage

It’s obvious, but providing outstanding customer service is essential for maintaining existing customers and increasing HVAC sales, and it’s integral to every stage of a successful sales process. 

For example, customers want helpful, knowledgeable customer service reps from the moment they contact your business, whether it’s concerning a faulty thermostat, or a quote for a new air conditioning system. We recommend using call booking software (included in all ServiceTitan subscriptions) that streamlines phone calls and ensures CSRs capture accurate information about the customer’s needs from the get-go.

Nurture customers by showing them that you value their time. Customers don’t want to take unnecessary time off work to wait for an HVAC tech or salesperson to arrive, so notify them when a technician is on the way to their home to minimize wait times. 

Focus on providing faultless customer service throughout the entire customer journey to ensure customer satisfaction at every touchpoint. We’ll demonstrate how to do so throughout this article. 

Step 2: Delegate the Right Jobs to the Right Techs

The sales process starts before there’s any selling to do. For optimal results, the techs with the best sales skills should be assigned to the most potentially lucrative sales calls. (Note: Some companies refer to a technician or HVAC salesperson as a Comfort Advisor).

Without a well-defined process, it’s easy to stray from this guideline. And those missed opportunities could mean tens of thousands of dollars in lost annual revenue.

We suggest that HVAC contractors assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of all their techs, and give each of them a color-coded rating that indicates their technical and sales ability. For example:

• Blue: Excellent sales skills, less proficient technically 

• Green: Reasonably sound at both selling and fixing, superlative at neither

• Yellow: Excellent technical skills, less proficient seller

With a rating system like this, CSRs can quickly and easily decide how to divvy up each day’s calls to maximize profit. 

Step 3: Conduct the Ideal Sales Call to Build Trust with Customers

The next step is to implement a sales call structure that is followed on every call. 

We’ve found that our most successful HVAC contractors use a sales call process that looks something like this:

How to Prep for a Residential HVAC Sales Call

A tech should know as much as possible before arriving at a potential customer’s property, including:

• Any previous work their company has done at the home

• The notes from the CSR’s most recent call with the owner

• Any outstanding estimates

• The age of the customer’s existing HVAC equipment

That way, they’re ready to proceed efficiently as soon as they arrive and prepared to make an informed, professional presentation to the customer.

How to Proceed After Arrival

Establishing a rapport with the customer is crucial. We suggest techs knock, take a couple of steps back from the door, and put on a pair of shoe covers. This ensures that their initial impression is of a thoughtful, considerate sales professional.

Being friendly with a potential customer and having a well-defined framework for conducting an inspection of the property and creating an estimate are important for an effective sales process. 

Use Checklists

To help collect important information, successful contractors often use a set of forms or checklists that their techs go through on each sales call. These often include:

• The Comfort Survey: Asks the potential customer about their air quality concerns and gives the Comfort Advisor a detailed understanding of their pain points and what they want to get out of their new HVAC system. 

• The Home Estimate Checklist: A detailed inventory of a property’s HVAC-relevant measurements and specs. The tech will measure every room, sizing the new HVAC system; check the capacity of the air supply vents; and check the ductwork for leaks, etc.

These forms help the tech produce an accurate estimate and convey to the homeowner that they’re dealing with a trustworthy professional who is thorough and efficient and committed to finding the right HVAC solution for their specific needs. 

Step 4: Use Cutting-Edge Technology On-Site That Benefits the Customer (and Your Business)

Consider empowering your techs and Comfort Advisors with mobile HVAC software that gives them mobile access to all the information they need to conduct sales pitches and deliver HVAC services smoothly and efficiently. 

A good mobile app should:

• Reduce the number of calls to the office for customer information

• Minimize the chance of missing key details for a job

• Provide opportunities to upsell customers at the right time 

• Give access to a digital pricebook that can be shared with the customer 

• Let techs create and present branded, accurate digital estimates (with financing options) on the spot 

• Allow techs to produce invoices and collect payments on-site so you get paid faster

Step 5: Improve Close Rates with Good-Better-Best Proposals & Flexible Financing Options 

Using the comfort survey and checklist information, close the sale by presenting the customer with multiple pricing options: Good-Better-Best. 

This approach tends to increase an HVAC company’s average ticket price by encouraging customers to land on the "Better" option. 

If you use software like ServiceTitan, these options can be offered on-site with a sleek digital presentation (see example below).

We also recommend that you offer financing options. Giving customers instant access to funds increases the likelihood of techs closing bigger jobs and boosting sales. It can also help dissuade the customer from going with a competitor’s lowball estimate.

Step 6: Follow Up Effectively to Produce Tons of Additional Revenue

HVAC businesses that aren’t using software have trouble staying on top of follow-ups such as  unsold estimates, outstanding invoices, upsell opportunities and more. Getting these follow-ups done, however, can create a gold mine of sales opportunities.

“We’d all like to believe our sales people are great at following up, but let’s be honest, it’s pretty tough. When it gets really busy, the follow-ups tend to tank,” says Chris Hunter, ServiceTitan Director of Customer Relations, and founder of Hunter Super Techs and co-founder of the GoTime Success Group.

Follow-up should start within 48 hours after delivering the estimate, and not end until you get a yes or no, says Hunter, who hosted a webinar on the topic. There should also be a long-term follow-up plan for customers who aren’t ready to immediately commit.

“We spend so much money and time and effort to get leads,” Hunter adds. “Leads are hard to get. Be very committed to following up, so you get the job.”

Step 7: Invest In HVAC Sales Training to Empower Technicians

Providing the proper tools and training for your employees empowers them to follow your sales process to the letter and turn leads into HVAC sales. 

Implementing HVAC sales training for your preferred procedures and sales techniques helps your team be aligned with your sales strategy and sales tactics. 

ServiceTitan’s Hunter suggests that if you want an employee to push, say, unsold estimates, align incentives with the behavior you want. Make it worthwhile for employees to close more leads or upsell HVAC products and services. This could be done with financial rewards or other incentives like extra time off or more opportunities to do specific types of jobs that they especially like or that grow their job skills.

If a tech answers a call to fix a refrigeration or air conditioning unit, it’s a great time for them to check energy-efficiency status or other potential maintenance issues. Make it protocol for techs to communicate other services, for example, offering maintenance contracts to new customers.

Step 8: Use Smart HVAC Marketing to Build Your Customer Base

An HVAC business that focuses on the importance of educating customers, rather than simply making sales pitches, tends to experience better success. Most homeowners conduct Google searches, read online testimonials, seek referrals, and check social media before hiring an HVAC service. 

Carefully manage your HVAC company’s online presence and include targeted marketing campaigns in tandem with your HVAC sales process. For example:

• Educational content posted on your HVAC website

• Social media posts

• Targeted, seasonal HVAC marketing emails

• Direct mail campaigns

• Online reviews

Providing information for existing and potential customers helps build trust and encourages customers to call you when they’re in need. 

Step 9: Track Results and Optimize Tech-Generated Leads 

Many HVAC contractors have trouble tracking their leads effectively, if at all. As a result, they’re not sure how those leads come in—from techs in the field on maintenance calls, from referrals, or from various marketing channels. Critically, they don’t know how many of those leads result in sales. Nor do they have a great handle on their team’s performance: who’s closing (and not closing) at the highest rates.

The upshot is that HVAC contractors don’t know how well their sales process is working, or understand their richest sources of lead generation.

For example, if on average HVAC sales calls close about half of the time, and a shop is closing only one out of every nine calls, there’s almost surely something going wrong in the sales process. But if the company isn’t tracking its close rate, they won’t have any way of knowing it. They might even conclude that they’re simply not getting enough good leads.

At the same time, if an HVAC company is not tracking where their leads are coming from, they don’t know which techs are good at planting the seed for future sales, or which marketing channels and campaigns are most effective.

So, unless you’re running a very small shop, we recommend using software like ServiceTitan to help track and analyze the data you’ll need to design and maintain a competitive sales process.

In the next section, we’ll walk through how ServiceTitan helps you streamline and optimize your residential HVAC sales process so you can maximize sales and profit from existing customers and potential customers. 

ServiceTitan’s features help:

• Deliver awesome customer service

• Dispatch effectively for profit

• Price accurately and competitively to build trust

• Close the sale with our Mobile App

• Follow up on every estimate to maximize opportunities

• Attract leads with smart marketing strategies

• Track sales performance to fine-tune sales techniques

How ServiceTitan Optimizes Your Residential HVAC Sales Process to Maximize Profit

Deliver Awesome Customer Service

ServiceTitan helps you provide the best customer experience from the moment customers contact your HVAC business:

• Super-Efficient Call Handling: ServiceTitan’s call booking software helps CSRs gather the right information, ask the right questions, and efficiently book the job without keeping the customer waiting. They can automatically see who’s calling before they answer the call. Plus, drop-down menus and custom prompts help them note all the job details and finalize the booking, all from one screen, quickly and accurately. 

• HVAC Call Scripts: Pairing customized HVAC call scripts with our call booking software allows CSRs to view the appropriate script (for example, a new system installation) and guides them through the booking process so they don’t miss any important information. It also helps them to spot upselling opportunities such as HVAC equipment upgrades or service contracts, and avoid promoting HVAC services that the customer has already bought.

• Call Recordings: ServiceTitan automatically records every call so you have a complete record of how your CSRs are performing. This means you can use sales calls as a training tool so they can learn how to improve. Your techs and Comfort Advisors can also access recordings via our Mobile App so they are up-to-speed on all the details.

• Top-Notch Customer Communication: Our software uses GPS tracking so team members always know exactly where HVAC techs are and how jobs are progressing. Dispatchers can send customers a picture and bio of the tech or Comfort Advisor, and even a locator map so customers can track their travel in real-time. Customers can also text your team if they have any questions or wish to reschedule. By providing an exact window for appointments, ServiceTitan helps put homeowners in the best possible frame of mind when a Comfort Advisor arrives. 

• Custom Forms & Checklists: HVAC contractors can use ServiceTitan to create digital forms and checklists like The Comfort Survey and the Home Estimate Checklist. Accessing them via their mobile device guarantees that forms don’t get lost in the truck and allows owners and managers to verify that their Comfort Advisors are following the sales process every time. The software can even be configured so that techs can’t proceed without completing a required set of steps in sequence.

Dispatch Effectively for Profit

HVAC contractors can input their tech rating system directly into ServiceTitan, allowing their CSRs to quickly and seamlessly match techs to the right jobs, accommodating scheduling changes over the course of a day.

ServiceTitan’s scheduling and dispatching tool lets you:

• Use alerts to manage dispatching-for-profit initiatives → helpful when implementing a new sales process or when a potentially high-value call comes in. 

• Book jobs days, weeks, or even months in advance → especially useful for long or complicated jobs (such as commercial work). 

• Use custom tags to flag technical specs or even languages spoken →  ensures the right tech with the right skill set attends. 

• Track techs and traffic delays → your dispatch team can contact techs and customers via SMS to make sure everyone is aware of any last-minute changes such as lengthening a job, or rescheduling it altogether. 

Price Accurately and Competitively to Build Trust

ServiceTitan’s pricebook features help HVAC contractors ensure that every proposal is accurate, every detail is documented, and every lead is followed up on. There are several ways to do this:

• Upload a pricebook that your business is already using, so you don’t need to start from scratch if you already work with one. 

• Build your pricebook from scratch by adding each item or product one by one (useful if you are a small business). 

• Use ServiceTitan’s Pricebook Pro add-on product, which comes with a wide range of pre-built, flat-rate HVAC services to give you a head start on building out your pricebook.

With ServiceTitan, pricing jobs accurately and competitively allows your Comfort Advisors to:

• Easily prepare Good-Better-Best proposals: The technician simply hands the mobile device to the customer, who can review multiple proposals, compare value, and read product descriptions. 

• Offer flexible financing options: With our integrated financing feature, you control which plans you offer and set the rules to suit your HVAC business. 

Close the Sale with Our Mobile App

ServiceTitan’s Mobile App gives your team instant access to up-to-date customer data so they have all the information and functionality they need to follow your sales process smoothly and efficiently. With a simple tap, click, or swipe, techs and Comfort Advisors can:

• Access customer information: Including contact details, job histories, outstanding estimates, call recordings, notes, and more. 

• Build HVAC estimates: Create professional, on-site HVAC estimates with photos, manufacturer videos, and detailed product information—so customers can easily compare options, understand system features, and make confident decisions on the spot.

• Take payments directly from customers: Create invoices on-site and process payments instantly by capturing checks and credit cards via the mobile tablet camera or a credit card swiper. It’s convenient for customers, speeds up payment processing, and helps you get paid faster.

• Offer financing: ServiceTitan will automatically calculate financing options so techs can close jobs more quickly. 

Follow Up Every Estimate to Maximize Opportunities

ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro is designed with powerful follow-up features for sending out emails or texts based on customer data already collected in ServiceTitan. 

The software lets you set audience lists that focus on specific customers, such as those who have yet to respond to an HVAC estimate or those who are due to service their HVAC equipment, so you can follow up at whatever interval you choose and don’t miss any sales opportunities.

Sending targeted emails is easy. Choose from our huge range of email templates, adjust the text to fit your campaign, and deliver to your chosen audience. 

Attract Leads with Smart HVAC Marketing Strategies

Successful HVAC companies pair carefully targeted marketing campaigns with their HVAC sales process. 

ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro can help by syncing all of your customer data and using automation to optimize and amplify marketing campaigns to increase sales via: 

• Email Marketing: Leverage powerful customer data to reach existing customers and generate more opportunities. Target customers by location, home value, or home age, and then automate campaigns with relevant, timely content that resonates.

• Direct Mail: Using our template library, quickly build hyper-targeted direct mail campaigns like unsold estimates or replacing old equipment, then send postcards to existing customers and prospects for one flat rate. Marketing Pro data shows exactly how many calls, booked jobs, and revenue each direct mail send generates.

• Lead Tracking: Use our Dynamic Call Tracking feature to tie unique phone numbers to each ad source and attribute campaigns to calls, jobs, and revenue. Then you know what’s working and what’s not and are more likely to optimize HVAC sales.

• Online Reviews: Marketing Pro makes it easy to generate more 5-star reviews by automatically sending a review prompt once the tech closes out the HVAC job. You can monitor and respond to reviews across more than 60 review sites and search engines, including Yelp and Google, all from one ServiceTitan dashboard.

• Google Local Services Ads: ServiceTitan’s Google Ads integration allows customers to directly schedule appointments with your company via your online ads. Making it so easy and convenient for customers to book with you will help bring in more HVAC sales. 

Track Sales Performance to Fine-Tune Sales Techniques

ServiceTitan helps you monitor metrics for HVAC sales, marketing activities, and individual performance of your CSRs, sales team, and HVAC techs so you can make necessary adjustments and improvements to increase profit.

Our Reporting Software lets you view specific KPIs via the dynamic dashboard for every HVAC job, technician, CSR, and marketing campaign:

• Technician Scorecard: Stay up-to-date on every HVAC tech and Comfort Advisor’s stats (such as number of calls per day, revenue generated, memberships sold, sales closed, and more) to monitor which members of your team are outperforming expectations and which may need additional HVAC sales training. 

• CSR Scorecard: Monitor metrics for your customer service team, such as number of calls handled, conversions, etc.

• Marketing Scorecard: Keep track of all your current campaigns, and tie all new customers to the specific marketing campaign that brought them to you. Then, you can boost spending on campaigns with higher returns, and reduce it on channels with poorer performance. 

The Bottom Line

Improving your residential HVAC sales isn’t just about chasing more leads — it’s about making the most of the opportunities you already have. By implementing a structured, effective sales process and equipping your team with the right tools, you can boost close rates, increase average ticket sizes, and drive long-term profitability.

With ServiceTitan, you can streamline every step of your HVAC sales process — from lead generation and dispatching to digital estimates, financing options, follow-ups, and marketing campaigns. Our all-in-one platform empowers your team to convert more leads, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and grow your bottom line.