Shoulder season survival guide: Keep your HVACR business thriving

Posted on:

September 17, 2025

In the HVACR industry, we talk about “slow season” like it’s inevitable — those shoulder months between heating and cooling seasons when demand naturally dips. Phones go quiet, the board looks thin, and we hunker down until things pick up. But the best contractors don’t accept slow seasons. They see them coming and shift their teams from waiting for calls to making them.

At Sila Services and across ACCA member companies, we’ve learned that preparation and proactivity are keys to success during slow months. When everyone on the team knows the goals, understands their role, and has the tools to act, the “slow season” becomes a “grow” season.

Here’s our playbook for turning downtime into opportunity.

Stop keeping revenue targets a leadership secret

Start with clarity. In our Budget Workshops, we talk about GAPS (Goals, Accountability, Processes, and Scorecards). When demand dips, it’s not enough for leadership to know the revenue and booking targets. Every person in the company should know:

The exact dollar amount needed to book each week to stay on track
How many leads and estimates that amount translates to based on our close rate
What their specific role is in reaching those targets

When everyone understands the company’s goals and their role in achieving them, pivoting from inbound to outbound doesn’t feel like starting over.

Make outbound calling part of your regular routine

Most contractors think of outbound calling as something you do when you’re desperate. That’s backwards. Smart contractors are already calling customers when business is good, so when it slows down, they have a solid pipeline.

Your call center, dispatch, and techs should all know how to flip to outbound mode. Here are the five campaigns that work:

Service agreement fulfillment calls: Call every maintenance customer and get those fall tune-ups on the books before the first freeze.
Indoor air quality pushes: Promote air purifiers, smart thermostats, or water heater maintenance while customers actually have time to think about it.
Old equipment follow-ups: Pull anyone with a system over 12 years old and call to offer inspections or financing for replacements.
Membership renewals: Don’t wait for contracts to expire. Call early and lock in renewals while you have bandwidth.
Tech-generated leads: Train your technicians to spot replacement opportunities during maintenance calls and hand those leads to your sales team.

Build these lists while you’re busy, so you’re not scrambling when the phones slow.

Set measurable goals and track the results

Telling your team to make outbound calls isn’t enough. You need to know if they’re actually doing it and what results they’re getting.

Call center managers need to track connects, booked appointments, and how many turn into jobs
Technicians need to report back when they spot replacement opportunities or find maintenance upsells
Sales teams need to close the leads that come from all this outbound work.

Once you start tracking specific numbers, you don’t need to give pep talks anymore. People either hit their targets or they don’t, and everyone can see the results.

Reward your team for smashing goals

If you don’t recognize the people making calls and booking appointments during slow periods, they’ll stop doing it. Here are some simple tips to reward your team for prioritizing company goals:

Post daily leaderboards
Ring a bell when campaigns generate booked calls
Hand out spiffs for the most connects or highest booking percentages
Highlight techs who generate quality leads that turn into installs
Celebrate call center reps who keep the board full

People repeat what gets noticed. If proactive work goes unrecognized, you’ll be back to waiting for the phone to ring.

Set the tone as a leader

Leaders need to model this mindset. If the GM or service manager is wringing their hands about weather, the team will follow suit. If leadership is confident, focused on outbound activity, and tracking results visibly, the team will rally.

This is also the time to remind everyone: outbound isn’t busy work. It’s a vital part of serving customers, protecting equipment, and helping families before they face a breakdown in the cold. Framing outbound as customer care, not sales pressure, changes how the team approaches it.

Invest in team training now

Shoulder season is the perfect time to train your team before calls pick up again. Outbound campaigns live and die on confidence and skill. ACCA offers training resources that can help — from call-handling best practices to technician communication skills. Use the shoulder season to sharpen these abilities so your team feels equipped to succeed.

See ACCA’s in-person, live virtual, and on-demand trainings here.

Make your own busy season

Bottom line: slow seasons are optional. Either you wait for demand to find you, or you go find it yourself. When the next downturn hits, you’ll keep the revenue coming instead of waiting for the weather to save you.