Master The HVAC Slow Season Like A Pro: 9 Tips To Manage The Off-Season

Field Service Management
May 30, 2023
9 Min Read

The HVAC and field service industries’ slack seasons are among their most significant drawbacks. Even if you have steady bookings during the busy season, most of your personnel will be idle during the HVAC slow season.

The slowest seasons for HVAC are often fall and spring because homeowners tend to turn off their heating and cooling systems.

Even though the number of repair requests may decline during these periods, your HVAC company shouldn’t stop operations until the economy improves. Your HVAC business may find it challenging to sustain steady cash streams during the slow months if you don’t plan and prepare now, during the busiest HVAC season of the year.

Given that, the HVAC slow season needn’t be the wrong time. Increased sales may be possible at this time.

Here are Nine tips for proactive revenue-generating strategies used by successful HVAC businesses all year.

Book a free demo now with ZenHVAC if you want to build and optimize your HVAC Business to get the most out of it!

9 Tips To Scale Your HVAC Business

Are you dealing with difficult circumstances in your business? The HVAC season is comparable to any other industry’s sales season. An almost three-month-long slow season exists in the sector. Knowing this will enable you to organize your sales better and boost your marketing efforts.

HVAC sales decline as the seasons change and the days grow shorter and colder. Best can help you get around this and attract more customers, though.

Here are essential strategies to remember if you want to receive some seasonal aid with optimizing your field service business:

Promote and Sell Maintenance Contract

Maintenance agreements for homes or Service contracts are the most profitable tools in the HVAC industry. HVAC Contractors must ensure that your HVAC technicians and CSRs offer them to every customer.

New and existing HVAC customers who usually pay an annual charge for preventive HVAC check-ups in the spring and fall are the source of guaranteed, recurring revenue for home maintenance plans.

Additional benefits for customers who join clubs include priority service for repairs, waived inspection fees, seasonal discounts, free quotes, and more. They also aid in expanding your business’s customer base and revenue.

Train your technicians and customer care representatives to always convey to clients the advantages of HVAC service maintenance plans, including:

Prolong the life of the HVAC system.
Reduce mid-season breakdowns
Lowered maintenance costs
Address "invisible" problems like air quality issues.
Priority repair service
Special savings
Reduced diagnostic costs
Waived fees for emergency services

By providing frequent maintenance inspections to keep your customers’ equipment in good condition, you may allay their fears about the substantial financial outlay required to purchase a new HVAC system or pay to repair an existing one.

Use our free estimate template now

Make winning quotes in minutes—for any industry and any job.

Use HVAC Software

Optimize your online marketing presence to maintain brand awareness throughout the slower seasons. Utilizing the momentum you established during the busy season, the trick is to jump-start the HVAC slow season.

HVAC system software may help you create more balance all year, from obtaining visibility over your ongoing projects and budgets to monitoring HVAC technicians in the field. You may better manage your company and get greater clarity in the present by using work management software.

You can personalize your service maintenance agreements and enforce the requirement that your techs present them on nearly all service calls with the help of an easy-to-use, cloud-based mobile software like ZenHVAC.

Off-season discount

Thanks to new HVAC system software, you can recover your lost time with automation. An HVAC system software may assist you in generating more balance all year, from planning and budget visibility to monitoring HVAC technicians on the job.

Installing a new HVAC system for residential or commercial customers creates a giant HVAC business ticket. By using task management software, you can better manage yours. Manufacturers also frequently reduce prices during the sluggish season to eliminate excess inventory before the end of the year.

Encourage consumers to plan HVAC system updates in the fall or spring and add an extra incentive by providing coupons or off-season discounts. This will benefit both your business and your clients. Ultimately, your business might make less per installation, but you’ve created a constant income stream during the HVAC industry’s slowest season.

In addition, once your HVAC technicians have installed a new system in a customer’s house, they can discuss the advantages of enrolling in a home maintenance program to maintain the system’s performance year-round—real-time clarity for your business.

Schedule preventative maintenance

You will often have little time for preventive maintenance during the summer and winter because of emergency failures and new installations for your clients. For HVAC businesses, preventative maintenance provides several advantages, including enhanced customer relationship management (CRM), a well-balanced schedule, increased revenue, and longer asset lifespans.

You improve the equilibrium of your HVAC company when you arrange preventive maintenance throughout your sluggish seasons. Utilize the opportunity to service your customers’ HVAC systems during the off-season and build their loyalty to your company.

Connect with existing customers.

Your HVAC company may benefit from your current clients’ consistent business flow. You may improve your customer service by contacting your more reserved clients and reminding them of the value of regular maintenance work.

You can contact clients with upcoming projects or who you suspect could be interested in additional service agreements for preventative maintenance. If your goals are set right, customers can be a great source of potential work and the backbone of your HVAC firm.

Extend HVAC marketing spend.

Some contractors think reducing their marketing efforts during slow times (or statewide Covid-19 shutdowns) is the best to weather the storm. According to experts, HVAC businesses should do the opposite during sluggish seasons to stay competitive and succeed.

If you fight the reactionary and carefully consider and strengthen your marketing approach, you’ll likely come out on top.

Your HVAC business’s brand awareness will grow by mastering HVAC digital marketing, including 5-star Google reviews, targeted email campaigns, paid social media posts, and Google Local Services ads.

When using an integrated software solution, giving specific phone numbers to each advertising campaign is simple. You can focus on the movements that generate the most calls for your service plans.

By monitoring the outcomes of each campaign, you can adjust your marketing budget frequently.

Push upgrades with HVAC businesses.

Some of your clients might gain more from a new installation or upgrade than others; not all will be interested in equipment upkeep. While most customers will think about upgrades during the chilly winter or sweltering summer, you can push more system upgrades during these slow HVAC seasons.

When you feel like you are running on empty during the busy season, showcasing your services to prospective clients can help ease some of the pressure and add more balance to your calm periods. Get your HVAC specialists to explain to your clients the advantages of a system upgrade while on the job.

Form strategic partnerships

When business is slow, it cannot be easy to make ends meet if you work in the HVAC industry. However, forming strategic alliances with nearby companies is a strategy to increase your sales during this period.

A nearby home improvement retailer might become your business partner. When a consumer mentions the store, you can offer a discount or create unique offers just for them. They could also advertise your services to their customers.

A real estate firm you work with might recommend you to their clients if they need HVAC services.

Many different companies could work with you as partners. Finding companies that complement your own and cater to the same target market is the key. You may reach new markets and boost sales during off-peak and peak seasons by establishing strategic alliances

Hire seasonal help

As the owner of an HVAC business, you know how challenging it is to locate qualified technicians with the necessary skills when a pandemic-related trade shortage that affects the whole sector has coincided with high unemployment rates.

As summer gives way to autumn, it’s time to consider whether you’ll need seasonal help for the winter or wait until spring to hire seasonal service for the summer.

The biggest season for HVAC businesses is often summer, but winter is just a little behind. With an inflow of new projects producing a flurry of scheduling difficulties, both hectic seasons can be difficult for your techs, CSRs, and dispatchers.

Consider paying your employees hourly or switching to flat-rate pay during the HVAC slow season. In contrast to hourly compensation, flat-rate payment emphasizes technician productivity and pays staff for exceeding expectations, regardless of the hours they put in each week.

Get posts like this in your inbox.

Keep learning how to run a 5-star business with our bi-weekly newsletter.

How can ZenHVAC Scheduling Software for Service Technicians Optimize Your Business for the Best?

You can be hopeful even though the slow season might provide a few more difficulties for your company. Make the necessary modifications to prepare for a comeback once the season picks up.

To increase visibility and clarity, you can use job management features in a software solution to improve your workflow. A program can schedule and track your tasks with only a few clicks, which can lessen your dissatisfaction with the disorganization in your company.

Your company can benefit all year long from the advantages of field management software like ZenHVAC.