Key Tips to Building Loyalty for Your HVAC Services Business

The HVAC industry is undergoing a tectonic change – the evolving customer expectations coupled with a cut-throat marketplace resulting in shrinking profit margins has indicated that HVAC companies cannot underestimate the importance of the experience which is dished out to the customer. If you have been a part of the HVAC industry for some time, you would agree that running a profitable business requires more than just trained technicians and accurate equipment – you would also need to provide an outstanding customer experience to create loyal customers.

Recent reports indicate that as many as 72% of the organizations in the field service business have put the improvement in customer satisfaction as one of their major priority areas. 

Your field service interacts with your customers, an important touch-point would be your organization’s customer support team who interacts with your customers while making appointments and answering questions. However, while mapping out the touch-points would be a great start to retaining customers and improving loyalty to be able to consistently provide service levels that are better than your peers, you might want to consider building a digitally connected business to be able to deliver exceptional service when your business scales and acquires new accounts. 

While there might be several initiatives already in place to boost customer loyalty, this article attempts to decode how your HVAC company might be able to deliver an exceptional experience every single time.

• Personalizing HVAC customer support- Most customer interactions often begin with an initial phone call or an Email sent to your organization. It most certainly helps to build a deeper relationship as you add a personal touch to all your customers while interacting with them. Using a software solution would typically empower your customer service team to create a seamless experience every time. The service representatives would have all the details at their disposal – from call occurrence, service history, equipment used, notes from technicians and other team members.
  
  
• Empowering your HVAC customer with self-service options- Empowering customers with a self-service option is a great way to ensure that customers no longer have to wait on the phone to have their issues resolved. The ability to make appointments get information and access helpdesk from the convenience of an app on their mobile phone would offer them the desired flexibility and convenience. Additionally, by enabling chatbots customers can access help whenever they would want to. 
  Not to mention, customer portals would provide visibility into service history. This would be a one-stop shop, not only for booking appointments but for service history and service-level agreements. Access to this information eliminates redundancies in problem-solving and the need for customers to follow up for details. 
  
  
• Streamlining communication- Nothing is more frustrating for customers than having to call and ask where an HVAC technician is or why they haven’t arrived yet. Reduce this friction by sending automated updates to customers via email, SMS, or the customer portal. Customers are notified when a mobile worker is nearby or if there are any delays. This improves satisfaction and reduces call volume for dispatchers. 
  
  Additionally, field service management companies can stay proactive by using real-time data to understand asset conditions and detect when it is due for an upgrade or a schedule of preventive maintenance. This information is used to automate timely notifications to customers across email, SMS, or the customer portal with updates and scheduling reminders. It’s helpful to customers, decreases costs, and continues engagement beyond the times when there’s a problem. 
  
  
• Providing on-site HVAC quotes and faster invoicing- Imagine your HVAC technician visiting a customer for the air-conditioning system or a furnace repair and sending a frustrated customer the quotation after a few days. Providing your technicians with the tools would allow them to provide your customers an opportunity to provide on-site estimates and job quotes, explain warranty information, and allow them to obtain a sign-off on their app itself on spot.
  
  Invoicing is another pain point that could be relieved. Typically, it is invoicing which can be held up massively by the paper trail - completed work documentation arriving from one/all of your field workers at once, leads to inevitable bottlenecks and admin teams frantically playing catchup. An HVAC application will capture and record everything from hours worked, parts used electronically, and when a job is completed. The digital solution will then sync back all the necessary information instantly to your office staff to action for invoicing - resulting in not only a quick invoice turnaround but also accurate invoicing every single time. In case of late payments, automated reminders and notifications could be set up so that all your customers and stakeholders do not miss an invoice. 
  
  
• Responsiveness- Lacking an intelligent HVAC solution puts companies in a reactive state to inevitable changes. Situations in the field change rapidly throughout the day, causing static work plans to degrade as soon as they are generated. Necessary parts or skill sets may be missing, or union rules may require an additional crew member. Travel time to the site or the work duration may take longer than planned, the weather may not cooperate, the technician may fall ill, or a higher-priority task may arise. 
  
  
• Streamlining the post-service process- Your company can automate the entire post-visit process with a list of services recorded in the customer portal. Automated invoicing, digital signatures, and offering digital payment options help to eliminate the unnecessary paperwork which was previously mandatory. If they have a question or an issue, give them the ability to connect directly with agents through chat. 
  To close the feedback loop, reach out directly on their preferred channels or deploy an automated survey or questionnaire on everything from issue resolution to their experience with a mobile worker. This helps evolve staffing and training to better meet customer needs and address any issues head-on to maintain and build customer loyalty.
  

Steer No-Code HVAC Software: Customizable, all-in-one approach to building loyalty 

The primary downside of a manual approach is the absence of real-time, tethered, or untethered mobile communication with the HVAC field technician, leaving them unable to effectively deal with surprises. With HVAC software and mobile devices offering real-time, two-way communication, schedulers and service teams can respond quickly to dynamic circumstances and alert the customer, reorganize priorities, and address any shortfalls from the field. Not just does it streamline work for the teams internally, but also improves the customer experience to enhance retention and brand recall. 

While the easy-to-deploy HVAC software will bring all these amazing features to your service business right away, the no-code approach ensures that you would be able to customize the software application to suit your unique business needs. Connect with one of Steer Go-Digital evangelists here for a demo to gain a deeper understanding of how Steer’s No-Code HVAC solution would be ideal to build customer loyalty for your HVAC business.