Intro
If you’re a new HVAC business owner and you’re looking for work, but don’t have the cash to spend on HVAC marketing or HVAC leads - I have some great news for you!
You, right now, have one big advantage over the big guys in your area: homeowners absolutely love to help new businesses.
Not only can the homeowner get the service they need at a reasonable price, but they get to help someone and feel good about themselves in the process. It’s a win win for them!
Be authentic and let people know you’re just getting your new business off the ground, and touch on the previous HVAC experience you have. You might be surprised how many homeowners are willing to give you their business!
But how do you get in front of homeowners to ask for their business in the first place?
Here are 7 ways to do it for free!
7 Ways to Get More HVAC Repair & Replacement Jobs for Free
1. Door Knock
As spring turns into summer, thousands of homeowners’ HVAC units break down.
HVAC companies get flooded with demand and struggle to keep up.
That means early summer is a perfect time to go around to local neighborhoods and knock on doors! The fact that you can show up, and get their HVAC changeout done, might be enough to win yourself new HVAC customers for free.
With door knocking, it’s a numbers game. You may need to knock on a few hundred or even a few thousand doors before you get your first customer. (Although, doing it in early summer might make those numbers better.) But if you’re sitting around waiting for work, and don’t have money to spend on marketing - then why not?
2. Promote Your Business on Your Personal Facebook Profile!
If you have at least a few hundred friends on your personal Facebook profile, you have a potential goldmine.
You can start posting about your new business, sharing before & after pictures of your work, and maybe even offering small discounts for military or first responders.
You can also add more friends (just 5-10 more a day, otherwise Facebook might not let you keep adding people), so that your reach is bigger.
Don’t worry about creating a business page at the very beginning.
Lots of contractors do this because they want to appear more professional. Being professional is good, but the problem is that Facebook severely limits the amount of people that see organic posts from business pages. (If you have a page with 100 “likes” your posts might only get in front of 30 people.)
Also, your friends on Facebook are a lot more likely to respond to a post that’s from a person and less likely to respond to one that’s from a business.
I personally used this strategy to promote my marketing business early on and got work this way.
Give it a shot - you might be surprised how easy it is to get work.
3. Post in Facebook Groups
In localities all over the U.S., Facebook groups pop up that are called “Buy/Sell/Trade - County Name” or “Yardsale - County Name.”
These groups are created for locals to exchange goods and services, share news, and more. The perfect place for a new company to promote themselves!
I’ve personally used groups like this to find business recommendations. Lots of homeowners use them to find contractors or to post about issues with their AC and ask for recommendations.
You can jump in and offer your tips and recommend that they give you a call!
Be courteous, professional, and follow the rules of the groups you’re in. Lots of them don’t allow you to go in and randomly post about your business, unless you are responding to a homeowner who asked for help.
Plenty of HVAC businesses are great at utilizing these groups to get new customers! And it’s completely free.
4. Create a Google My Business Listing
Google My Business (also known as Google Maps) listings are completely free and allow customers who are searching for HVAC contractors to find you.
If you don’t have one, I would recommend getting one set up for your business - today! Here’s a detailed video on how to set up your GMB listing.
Your listing is likely to show up higher on results if you have more reviews, and the only way to get those reviews is to ask. (Homeowners will almost never leave you a review unless you ask for one.)
Give yourself a checklist of steps you walk through for each job. “Bill customer, collect final payment, ask for a review, text them link to the Google listing.” Print out the checklist and check off each item.
That will help you always ask for a review without you having to remember.
If you already have a list of previous customers, here's how to get more 5 star reviews.
5. Reach Out to Small Businesses & Property Management Companies
Call or stop in at local businesses and let them know you’re available for heating & air conditioning work. If you can give them reasonable pricing, and present yourself professionally, you have a good chance of earning some business.
Other small businesses will want to keep their costs down, and will probably feel good about helping out another local business.
And in especially cold months, or especially hot months, they might have trouble finding a good contractor to do the work they need. That’s good news for you! You’re just a phone call away.
You can also find property management companies in your area. They’re looking for ways to save money while meeting tenants’ needs. This may result in a few small repair jobs at first, but over time you will probably get some replacement jobs as well.
6. Record Short Videos for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok
Recording short videos, called “Shorts” or “Reels” depending on the platform you’re on, are an unprecedented opportunity for small HVAC contractors!
On the YouTube app, you simply click the “Shorts” icon and then the “Plus” button to start recording.
Here are some ideas for what to talk about:
- Issues that you found while working on a unit how you fixed it
- Why homeowners should regularly change their filters
- How to check their unit for mold
- How much they should expect to pay for different types of repairs (help them avoid getting scammed!)
- What repairs can be resolved quickly, and when to know if they need a new system
You can also attach your location to the video.
The algorithm will then show the video to local residents who are showing some interest in HVAC videos, or potentially homeowners who are searching online for keywords that relate to your video.
You don’t have to pay to promote your business - the algorithm does it for you!
You can also repurpose these YouTube shorts and upload them to Instagram and TikTok reels. Meaning, you’ll get promoted by 3 different platforms after recording the video once!
I would recommend adding a “call to action” at the end of some of these videos. Meaning, you simply say something like “If your system is getting old and you need an estimate on a new system, I have very fair pricing and I’m trying to grow my business.”
7. Build Referral Relationships
Lots of companies share the same customers that you do (homeowners) but provide a different service. You can connect with these contractors, and if you trust them, you can agree to refer business back and forth.
Plumbers often get asked if they do HVAC work. HVAC guys often get asked if they do electrical work. And so on.
That’s a premium opportunity to refer them to someone who has that particular specialty! If you’ve built a good relationship with these other contractors, they’ll probably send work back to you. Free customers!
What to Do Next!
There are lots of ways to promote your business!
The important thing to consider is: what’s going to work best for you?
As you read this list of tactics to get customers for free, which one seems like it will:
- Be the easiest for you to implement
- Be the fastest for you to implement
- And gives you a gut feeling that it will actually work
Do that one first. It might be enough all by itself. And if not, you can move on to the others on this list.
Happy hunting!
