To help you get ready for the summer season, here are some tips that can help you both boost and maintain your summer HVAC customers.

1. Get As Many HVAC Reviews as Possible

If you are going into someone’s home to work, they are going to feel a lot more comfortable if they can hear from others who have also allowed you to enter their home. But how can you start getting more HVAC reviews for your business?

Ask. Just ask! It’s simple, but it all starts with you and your employees. Start training your technicians, customer service representatives, or any other employees that may deal with customers to ask for reviews whenever a job is finished or has recently been finished. Remember, a team is only as strong as its weakest link. So you need to make sure everyone is doing their part and asking for reviews after a job is complete.

Verbally asking for a review isn’t all you can do. You should have an easy process for the customer to be able to leave a review. Best case scenario, your customers should get a follow-up email or text asking them to leave a review. Just like how all YouTube videos and social media posts end with a reminder to like, comment, and subscribe, you should always be reminding your customers to leave a review at the end of your services.

If a customer is leaving a review after being recommended to do so by an employee, make it easy for them to do so. Make sure you have your Google Business Profile set up and updated so they can find you easily and quickly leave a positive review.

Don’t forget to respond to your reviews in a timely manner, especially the bad ones. This will show others that if they have a bad experience, you are wiling to go the extra mile to make up for it or fix the problem.

Listen to your customers and make an effort to improve upon what they are telling you to fix. This will help you get even more positive reviews in the future.

2. Set Up A Google Alert For Your Business

While we are on the subject of reviews, you probably already know it's a good idea to get on top of bad reviews before too many other current or potential customers see them.

In this day and age, we all know how fast news can travel online. What starts as a small post can spread across the country in a short amount of time, whether it be good or bad for a company’s reputation. We’ve seen this countless times with big companies online, and sometimes the claims turn out not to be true, but the damage has already been done.

But how can you do this if someone is talking about your company on a forum other than your reviews section? Start by setting up a Google Alert for your business name. It’s easy to do, you just need a Google account. Head to Google Alerts and enter the phrase or keywords you want to get notifications about when they are mentioned online.

Now you will be able to see what people are saying about your company and will be able to spot negative attention online so you can fix the problem quickly and efficiently.

3. Create an Angie’s List Profile

Angi, formerly known as Angie’s List, is an online directory for contractors and other home service companies. From HVAC and plumbing to electrical and garden services, Angi has everything and has been around since 1995.

Much like Google Business Profile, potential customers come to Angi because they can find honest and sincere reviews from real people. Angi is all free and users can search for businesses based on location, which can help increase your local SEO.

On top of looking and leaving reviews for others, people can also request services through Angi. Angi users typically are looking more for qualifications than a deal or discount. With over 150 million service requests on Angi, this is a website that can help you increase your online visibility and get more customers that may not have seen you from your other forms of marketing.

If you choose, you can pay for ads on Angi to help your business show up first. If you are just starting on the website, it would be a good idea to build up reviews first.

4. Look For Any Discounts You Can Offer

Now I know this sounds cliche and obvious, but there is a reason behind it. Both in the United States and across the world, Google Partner Insights has found that people are concerned about the rising costs of items. They are keeping a close eye on their essential and nonessential spending as they are getting ready for the summer season, especially if they are planning an upcoming trip.

Take advantage of the current search trends and make sure your website is ready and offering your best deals. Look around and see what your competitors are offering and see if you can create any offers or discounts that stand out.

5. Start Direct Mail

Just because digital marketing is the big craze right now does not mean that print media is going away any time soon.

If you haven’t tried direct mail marketing before, now is the perfect time. It could give you an advantage over your competitors by reaching customers directly in their homes. It may have been a while since your customer has last needed you, so get your name in their head so you will be the first to come to their mind when they need any heating or cooling maintenance, services, or repairs.

At Hudson,Ink, we can take your direct mail list and run it through the NCOA, or National Change of Address, to make sure it is up-to-date and doesn’t contain any duplicates. That way you won’t be wasting money on extra mail and won’t be sending mail to the wrong address if someone ends up moving.

If you need help with direct mail, monitoring your online presence, or any other marketing aspect of your HVAC or plumbing company, Hudson,Ink is here to help. With over 20 years of specialization in HVAC and plumbing industry marketing, we know what marketing works and doesn’t work.