5 proven strategies to boost HVACR business revenue without working more hours
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With HVACR contractors facing increasing competition and rising costs, systematic growth strategies are essential for sustainable success. During ACCA Strategic Partner Thryv’s latest webinar, “How to Double Your HVAC Business in 2025: 5 Strategies to Boost Revenue and Profits While Reducing Your Stress”, Principal Solution Architect Tyler Garns shared proven automation systems that help contractors capture more revenue from existing leads while reducing daily stress.
ACCA members can access the full webinar recording here.
Highlights from “5 Strategies to Double Your HVAC Revenue in 2025: 5 Strategies to Boost Revenue and Profits While Reducing Your Stress”
Strategy 1: Fix the follow-up problem that’s costing you deals
Do you know the biggest missed opportunity in HVACR business growth? Unconverted leads that never get proper follow-up. “Most of your business is going to come either from people who, you know, they’ve got an HVACR problem right now. The other most common way you get business is you’ve got some kind of direct mail happening.” Garns explained. “But if you don’t get that person scheduled for an estimate or some kind of an appointment right from that call, how often are you following up with them?”
The data reveals a massive gap between best practices and reality. While 78% of homeowners choose the contractor who responds first, the average response time across the industry sits at 47 hours. Even more telling: 45% of revenue in the HVACR industry gets booked at least a week after the initial lead, and 15% of total sales close more than 30 days later.
The solution: systematic follow-up sequences
Research from 163,000 HVACR estimate campaigns identified what separates high-performing follow-up from mediocre efforts. The best campaigns achieved over 90% response rates using this specific sequence:
- Same day: Follow-up text asking about questions on the quote
- Day 2: Text checking if they have everything needed to decide
- Day 3: Text from team member offering support
- Day 4: Another check-in text
- Day 5: Email explaining why to choose your company
- Day 7: Text offering team readiness to serve
- Day 9: Text with scheduling link
Garns noted that the best-performing campaigns send seven messages within a week: five texts and two short, casual emails.
Strategy 2: Turn service calls into profit centers
Most HVACR businesses struggle with thin margins ─ typically 6% to 12% ─ because they treat each job as isolated transactions. “Getting a new customer in the door is often very costly,” Garns explained. “That initial job may not be a very profitable job. But if you upsell them something else, that’s revenue that comes in the door without additional marketing expense.”
The trust factor works in contractors’ favor here. Around 60% of customers trust their technicians and are willing to change companies if the technician moves. This relationship opens upsell opportunities that can push profit margins to 20% or higher.
Automated upselling removes the pressure
Rather than relying on technicians to remember sales conversations while managing tight schedules, automation ensures every customer gets upsell opportunities. Post-service sequences can promote maintenance packages, additional services, or seasonal tune-ups without putting sales pressure on field staff.
Strategy 3: Keep customers in your ecosystem
Most contractors lose repeat customers without realizing it. “A year later, when the customer has a furnace problem, most of the time, guess where they’re going? Back to Google,” Garns said. They search for HVACR contractors, call whoever pops up first, and hire whoever answers the phone and gives them a reasonable quote.
Build lasting relationships through automation
Effective customer retention requires consistent touchpoints that keep your company top-of-mind:
- New customer welcome sequences introduce your full range of services and build deeper connections through company stories and testimonials.
- Maintenance schedule reminders automatically prompt customers when service is due, creating natural upsell opportunities for those without maintenance contracts.
- Bi-weekly tips and tricks newsletters provide value while maintaining regular contact.
- Annual maintenance offers (2-3 times yearly) systematically convert one-time customers into recurring revenue.
This strategy flattens seasonality curves and increases customer lifetime value. “By having annual service contracts, you can flatten those out,” Garns noted, particularly important in markets with extreme temperature swings.
Strategy 4: Garner positive reviews that actually drive business
Online reviews serve dual purposes that many contractors undervalue. Beyond reputation management, they directly impact local SEO rankings. Google considers review frequency, recency, and diversity when determining search placement.
“If the company with 500 reviews hasn’t had a review in six months, then Google starts to deprioritize that listing,” Garns explained. Consistent review generation through automation solves this challenge while maintaining authentic customer feedback.
Systematic review collection
While technicians asking for reviews in person remains ideal, automated backup systems ensure consistency. Post-service text and email sequences request reviews, with smart follow-up that stops once customers complete the action.
Strategy 5: Build systematic referral programs
Most contractors limit referral efforts to simply asking customers if they know anyone who needs service. Research shows 77% of consumers are more likely to buy when learning about products from friends or family, but over 50% are more likely to give referrals when offered direct incentives, social recognition, or exclusive loyalty program access.
Creating referral momentum
Effective referral programs combine incentives with automation. Whether through exclusive clubs, discount programs, or recognition systems, structured approaches generate more referrals than casual requests.
“Make it profitable and make it worthwhile in your business,” Garns advised. “But that feeling of, ooh, I’m now in the exclusive loyalty program, I’m in the exclusive club, and you can only get in there by giving a referral, that makes people feel special.”
Leverage today’s automation advantage
These strategies work individually, but their combined impact can genuinely boost your revenue quickly. The key lies in consistent execution ─ something difficult to achieve manually in busy HVACR operations.
You can implement some of these strategies manually, but that means dedicating hours you probably don’t have. That’s where automation comes in to handle the follow-up while you focus on the work only you can do. Thryv built their industry-leading marketing and sales platform specifically for this challenge, with pre-configured campaigns that contractors can launch in minutes to land more sales and grow efficiently.
Log in to your ACCA account to watch full webinar recording here.
Learn more about how Thryv can effortlessly help you grow while you focus on running your business.
Thryv is an ACCA Strategic Partner. For more information about our Strategic Partner Program, visit acca.org/partners or email partners@acca.org.
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