How to Improve Your HVAC Lead Quality
If your lead generation is working too well, it can be counterproductive. You might spend too much time following up on leads that don’t result in sales, or that don’t result in the kind of sales you want. Perhaps your leads are interested in an HVAC service you don’t offer or that don’t make you a lot of money. Maybe people who live outside of your service area are calling you for advice. There are many reasons a lead may be a tire-kicker (that is, someone who wastes your time). Thankfully, there are also several ways to improve your HVAC lead quality without resorting to sales gimmicks.
Assess Where Poor Leads are Coming From
If you’ve been flooded with poor quality leads, it is important first to step back and discover where they are coming from. For example, maybe you recently attended an HVAC event out of your service area. You made an impression on locals, who don’t realize that you don’t serve their area. In this case, the boost is likely temporary, so all you need to screen out these people (which you can easily have your receptionist do).
If your unqualified leads are coming from an on-going or long-term marketing campaign, that’s a sign the campaign is flawed. Perhaps you’re running a PPC (pay-per-click) campaign on the search “broken air conditioner,” hoping to get new air conditioner installs. Yet, you’re getting calls about simple fixes that aren’t as lucrative. That’s a sign you need to refocus your campaign on more relevant terms.
Explore New Lead Sources
Some lead sources are going to produce better quality leads than others. In general, the more local, targeted and personalized your marketing, the better the quality leads they can produce. Some options include:
- Direct mail: Allows you to target specific area codes.
- SEO: Allows you to target specific keywords related to the kind of leads you want.
- HVAC listing services: Helps you target people who need a professional’s help, not just those looking for DIY information.
- Email marketing: Emails can help you keep in touch with customers you’ve served before, which generates some very high-quality leads.
Improve the Sales Funnel
Let’s say you’re being flooded by people filling out your website’s contact form. They’re all concerned about a new rule requiring radon mitigators. You have no interest in this kind of work, so how do you filter them out? It’s simple, include a checkbox on your contact form, asking if the customer’s inquiry relates to radon mitigation. If they check “yes,” have an automatic message sent to them, which explains you don’t do this type of work.
Educating your customers before they reach out to you can also improve your sales funnel and the quality of your leads. Let’s say that you don’t like to install a certain brand of smart thermostat because you think it’s unreliable. But the brand’s marketing is so strong in your area that you get calls about it. You could publish blogs and infographics comparing the brand to the smart thermostat of your choice. Or, create a page on your website about the merits of the company you prefer. You may be able to convert people to your way of thinking.
Have Your Receptionist Pre-Qualify Leads
One of the best things you can do is empower your receptionist to pre-qualify leads for you so that you don’t spend as much time dealing with them. As a bonus, you’ll also have more time to focus on generating the higher quality leads you want.
FOLLOW US