Joyce has been working on the admin side for HVAC companies for over five years. When she started out, she did everything in the office except for marketing. Joyce knew marketing had serious potential to drive business, so when she joined the team at Hurricane Air Conditioning as an account executive, improving the company’s marketing efforts became her main goal.
Joyce said that Chris, the owner of Hurricane Air Conditioning, saw the potential in her for marketing, so she learned how to utilize Facebook ads, organic Facebook posts, Google ads, web design, and SEO.
Joyce now has her own marketing agency, Grey Wolf Media LLC, and still works with Chris at Hurricane as “his right-hand woman.” Joyce said that “it all started with Facebook ads.” At first, Joyce targeted everyone in the local area and offered incentives and deals, but she soon realized the ads needed to be geared towards the customer’s pain points.
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Joyce redesigned the entire marketing strategy to grow Hurricane’s revenue, get better-quality leads, and rebrand as the HVAC company that people trust. “Since we’ve made those changes, we’ve seen growth with everything,” Joyce explained. Hurricane Air Conditioning now gets at least three to ten new leads a week and keeps those customers. Here’s how she did it.
1. Address customer pain points in Facebook ads
Joyce said that Facebook ads have the most significant marketing impact on Hurricane Air Conditioning. She realized that the ads needed to “focus on what customers are struggling with right now” to have an impact, so Joyce started researching the key pain points people in her local area were looking to solve.
Customer pain points:
- Broken air conditioners
- Trouble finding reliable, trustworthy companies
- The struggle to find easy booking. Hurricane uses online booking through Housecall Pro
- Finding an HVAC company that offers various financing options
“Now, we aren’t just mentioning special offers. We’re mentioning 10-year parts/labor warranty and financing options such as zero down, or zero interest for 12 months,” Joyce explained. Everything customers are looking for can be mentioned in one ad, attracting better-quality leads. “It’s about doing the research with the customers’ pain points regardless of the industry you’re in.”
2. Build trust to generate better reviews
When Joyce researched what leads in her area were looking for in an HVAC company, the most common request was reliability. “We rebranded, and wanted to look legit,” Joyce said. Making small changes can go a long way toward earning trust from customers. Here are some improvements Hurricane Air Conditioning made to build its reputation as a trustworthy company:
- New vehicle wraps and uniforms that stand out
- Clicking the “On My Way” button in Housecall Pro and including a headshot of the tech
- Always confirming approval from the customer before beginning any type of repair.
- Emailing the service receipt to the customer and attaching the customized Housecall Pro checklist for that specific job
- Once the tech clicks “Finished” on a job, the customer is sent a review link. The Hurricane team also calls after the appointment to make sure the customer is satisfied
- Holding weekly meetings with both admin staff and techs to keep everyone motivated and address anything that needs improvement
Thanks in part to these efforts, Hurricane Air Conditioning went from 50 reviews to 200 reviews in one year. “You don’t buy reviews, you earn them with excellent customer service,” Joyce explained. The team gave rewards to the techs–who many customers now mention by name in their reviews–because “without them, we wouldn’t have 200 reviews.” Having great reviews leads to organic, unpaid leads from the local community.
3. Make it easy for the customer
Making the booking process easy for your customers ups the chances they’ll book with your business. Here are a few ways Hurricane Air Conditioning delivers a seamless, five-star experience to their customers:
- Easy online booking through Housecall Pro
- Easy options for financing and payment through Housecall Pro
- Keeping service vehicles stocked in case the customer needs any other services
- Using automated review campaigns through the NiceJob Integration to target the customer
- Using the CompanyCam integration to send the customer photos and keep them in the loop
- Wearing shoe covers and putting down plastic in the house to protect against damage
Creating a seamless customer experience will “let the customers know that we care about their home as much as they do,” Joyce explained.
4. Turn one-time customers into loyalists
Joyce makes it a point to recognize customers that are returning or make larger purchases. It’s important to make the customer feel special and say “thank you for being a part of our family.”
Here are a few ways Joyce shows appreciation for customers:
- Once the job is finished, the customer receives a call to ensure they are happy and satisfied
- For customers who buy units, Hurricane sends hand-written thank you notes
- For organic referrals, Hurricane mails thank you cards and gift cards
Little changes can go a long way toward making the customer feel valued and increase the chances they’ll return to your business for future work.
When Joyce started at Hurricane Air Conditioning, she practiced trial and error with marketing campaigns until she found the right path. “What’s the point of spending thousands of dollars on marketing when you need to start off with the essentials?” Joyce explained. “We took a step back and rebranded, and are still adding more things to the list.” Joyce has fun with the marketing process while getting Hurricane Air Conditioning more jobs and increased revenue.
With each new marketing campaign, Joyce and the Hurricane Air Conditioning team tweak and improve on their marketing strategy. “We still continue to improve in the areas we can. People see it and are very happy with us,” Joyce said. It’s important that Pros put effort towards marketing and set time aside to recognize what’s working well.
