Why Generic HVAC Proposals Are Costing You Sales
If your HVAC sales pitch sounds the same for every home, with your traditional SEER-based good, better, best proposals, you're leaving deals (and dollars) on the table. In a recent webinar hosted by Conduit Tech and SBE, HVAC sales experts Shelby Breger and Derek unpacked how top-performing HVAC contractors customize solutions, challenge assumptions, and close high-value HVAC jobs with confidence.
"Everybody gets a good-better-best" said Derek. "That's copy and paste. That's quoting, not advising."
Offering the same HVAC solution in three different ways rarely addresses the homeowners' concerns. What's more, it is often the same as what your HVAC competition is doing. So the question is: how can you not only build more value in your HVAC sales, but also show more value?
From HVAC Options to Customer Ownership: Designing Solutions with Homeowners
No one wants to be sold to, and often when HVAC contractors enter a home, the customer and you can unintentionally be positioned as adversaries. The homeowner is expecting to be sold to and is anxious about it.
When you enter the home, you have to flip that script for successful HVAC sales. It's not just about personalization, it's about co-creating an HVAC design that deeply understands the customer's situation. HVAC options shouldn't be equipment lists; they should be solutions.
This all starts with HVAC discovery, followed by customer education. To solve the customer's comfort problems, you have to understand them. To show them the right HVAC solution, they have to first understand what their comfort problems mean in the context of their HVAC system.
That means:
- Asking second- and third-order questions about past HVAC experiences and comfort issues
- Walking room-by-room to understand airflow and comfort problems, explaining HVAC concepts as you go
- Using visual HVAC tools to co-create the solution
Visual HVAC tools, like Conduit Tech's load calculation software, enable you to scan a home, building out a 3D model, a 2D floorplan and an HVAC design, all in less than 15 minutes. The homeowners see their home come to life and see your careful attention to the details of their home's comfort needs.
From there, HVAC contractors can use augmented reality to showcase HVAC solutions, contractors can show customers exactly where a ductless mini-split head or return will go in 3D. The customer isn't just buying an HVAC system, they're designing it with you.
This shifts the power dynamic in HVAC sales. The customer isn't reacting to price, they're invested in the HVAC plan.
Custom HVAC Packages Beat Generic Tiered Pricing
Next enters HVAC packages—once you've explained the solution to their comfort problems, it's time to showcase what HVAC packages may meet their needs. Too many HVAC contractors rely on generic packages: bronze, silver, gold. But those often don't map to real customer comfort concerns.
Instead of offering static HVAC packages, top-performing comfort advisors build tailored HVAC packages, groupings of HVAC solutions designed specifically for that homeowner and that home. It's not just good-better-best HVAC pricing; it's good-better-relevant HVAC solutions.
That means asking deeper questions about comfort priorities and adjusting your HVAC recommendations accordingly. It means building HVAC packages around what the customer values most, whether that's indoor air quality, speed of HVAC install, energy efficiency, or long-term HVAC warranties. It might mean bundling in ductwork fixes, upgraded filtration, or an HVAC maintenance plan, not because it raises your ticket, but because it solves their comfort problem.
"If they told you Sam's room is always hot, your HVAC packages should reflect that," Shelby explained. "Don't just throw in three HVAC systems at three price points. Show them how each one solves their specific comfort concern in a different way."
When homeowners see thoughtful, personalized HVAC options, rather than templated HVAC proposals, they're far more likely to engage, trust, and ultimately invest in your HVAC solution.
How Limiting Beliefs Reduce HVAC Sales Revenue
Many HVAC contractors enter sales calls with assumptions already baked in. Limiting beliefs are assumptions we carry, often without realizing it, that quietly shape how we approach every situation, and in this case, HVAC sales calls. In the HVAC industry, they sound like:
- "People won't spend that much on an HVAC system."
- "No one wants HVAC financing."
- "They're just getting HVAC quotes, they're not serious buyers."
The danger? These HVAC sales beliefs aren't always wrong, but they aren't always true either. And when we lead with them, we often undercut our own HVAC sales effectiveness before we've even asked a single question.
"When we have these thoughts, we're not necessarily wrong—they're just incomplete," Derek said. "Someone else in your same HVAC market might be having their best sales year ever. It's not the economy, it's the HVAC sales approach."
The fix isn't ignoring reality. It's being aware of your internal dialogue and staying open to what the homeowner actually wants or needs for their HVAC system, rather than assuming it for them.
"They called you for a reason," Shelby added. "They're there to solve a comfort problem. Don't let your own assumptions talk them out of HVAC solutions before they've had the chance to decide."
And those limiting beliefs spread throughout HVAC teams. Teams internalize them. Suddenly, everyone is selling HVAC systems, scared.
Derek put it simply: "We hear 'Just give me the cheapest HVAC option' and we panic. But that's an objection, not a decision. It needs to be unpacked."
Build HVAC Packages Around Each Customer
High-performing HVAC sales teams don't push what they've always sold, they tailor HVAC packages to each home, each buyer, and each comfort pain point. They ask better questions about HVAC needs. They show the customer what's possible with modern HVAC solutions. And they make HVAC sales feel personal.
Because when you design HVAC solutions with the homeowner, they say yes, not to the cheapest HVAC option, but to the one that feels right for their home's comfort needs.