How to generate HVAC Leads

If your salesperson has nothing to do he should engage in proactive behavior.  In other words he should pick up the telephone, knock on a door, or go play golf.  Golf you say?  Yes….  just maybe he will bump into someone who needs something you have.  I used to NOT allow my salespeople to stand around in the office and I had five of them at one time.  Five salespeople and two technicians.  You betcha we were proactive in generating HVAC leads because we had to be.  All salespeople understood this when they were hired.

I did not grow up in the air-conditioning business, but I found myself owning one.  As soon as the first summer ended we had nothing to do and I needed to figure out how to generate hvac leads.  Thankfully I was trained in the bond business at a bank.  They taught me very well how to pick up a telephone and call somebody that I did not know.  So my inclination was to go canvassing and we built our entire business model around proactivity. We always had HVAC leads.  Ask Ruth King at business ventures if we always made a profit all year.  Ask her if we had a steady stream of business in mild weather. In Alabama, winter is very mild and the phone does not ring.  In the first quarter of 1998 we turned a net profit of 9% and I paid myself well into the six figures and had many other perks.

You do not have to be a victim of the weather.  You can learn how to be proactive and expect your salespeople to be proactive. Just this morning I worked with a client who sells insurance.  He’s learning how to call referrals. His phone does not ring so he has to ring the phone.  I wrote him a script and gave him some other tips.  Enjoy and I hope it helps.  As always your comments are welcome.

Jason, remember to be Jason, be you!  Do not look like, sound like or smell like anything to do with a salesperson.  People are tired of it and it’s been overdone and aggressive tactics are no longer appreciated.  Which is good.

Serve people in love.  Be patient, kind, gentle, not rude,  not arrogant, not prideful or boastful and do not be SELF SERVING.  Serve them.  Persevere though the rejection… the “no’s”.  Trust yourself and trust God to lead you to people who need you.

Connect with people and build relationships with them.  Relationships are the most important thing that we have in life.  The answer to everybody’s problem is another person.

You are an interruption to their day.  So ask for permission to interrupt it and give them control over when to end it.  Remember people are only receiving your message when they are moving toward you emotionally.  When words are pursuing the other person and used to overpower the message is lost.

Here is a good patter for a script.

Call them by their first name.

“Hey Roger….. Jason Dafin did I catch you at a bad time” ?  (Wait for a response)

Assuming they say No go ahead and say something like this..

“Okay… Well….let me tell you real quick why I called and then you can decide if you want to talk further…. Is that okay” .  ( Wait for a response)

When they give you permission again they will be engaged and listening.

Then do what you said you would do and be real quick.

You don’t know me but am an agent for Primerica, who provides life insurance and retirement planning for companies and individuals.  Stacy Jones…  who you do know…. and I met last week about her needs and she gave me your name and number because she thought you might be a prospect for me.  I wanted to ask you if you have any pain in that area of your life?  I really don’t know….

Now you are on your own.  Just have a conversation with them.

And remember the goal is to set an appointment to meet face to face and build a trusting relationship.  Do not get into the habit of quoting rates over the phone.  Meet first…

When they agree to a meeting always simply ask them to get out their calendar.  Do not push.  Allow them to move toward you.

It would help you to listen to “how to make a cold call