Three Ways to Use Technology to Improve Your HVAC Business

Posted on:

January 8, 2021

Small or large, HVAC businesses juggle the same tasks and challenges – make the sale, schedule the appointment, pay the staff. The list of to-dos goes on and on.

Smaller operations rely on their core team to make things happen but can feel like there’s never enough people or hours in the day.

And while larger operations have more staff members to handle the moving pieces, there is additional complexity involved in managing additional employees and jobs.

Here are three ways technology can add more time, grow revenue and more efficiently manage your HVAC business.

Make HVAC diagnostics work for you

Imagine knowing what part to bring out to a service call or having the ability to fix an issue without ever going to a customer’s home.

Today there are systems built within some HVAC equipment that can report when a problem is occurring, or a potential problem is brewing within a system and even let you access a customer’s thermostat from afar with their permission.

For example, Trane Residential uses Dealer Diagnostics to help HVAC professionals see that an install is running properly, detect faults and troubleshoot thermostat settings remotely without ever leaving the office. The system has proven to reduce:

Total system downtime
Unnecessary visits
Callbacks on thermostat configuration settings on connected systems including lockout configuration, electric heat configuration, remote thermostat configurations and scheduling difficulties

Consider using a Field Service Management company

Every business needs help sometimes, and Field Service Management companies can make the difference with a range of services to assist an operation of any size.

These technology based businesses can assist with efficiently managing customer relationships, scheduling, dispatch, service, sales, marketing, inventory, payroll, agreements, accounting, and more. For example, you could ditch paper calendars or a pieced together computer application for scheduling jobs and techs and replace it with a tool that does the work for you.

Trane provides its elite dealers, Trane Comfort Specialists, with credits when they use one or more of our select FSM providers like ServiceTitan, Payzer and FieldEdge. The valuable services these businesses can provide our dealers gives them the time and resources they need to operate and grow their businesses.

Invest in training your staff

While most businesses have good intentions when it comes to training, putting their plan into action can fall victim to the daily grind.

Think of training as another time saver for you and your crew. A well-prepared team will need less of your precious time, spend less time on a job and represent your company with a higher level of customer service.

Where to start? Check with your HVAC manufacturer for free training opportunities. Trane offers a library of eLearning courses, videos, podcasts, pre-recorded webinars and live webinars that will sharpen your team’s skills while avoiding additional human interactions in this COVID era.

Here are some examples of topics in our offerings:

HVAC Basics
Technical product insights
Step-by-step thermostat set up
Variable Speed
Zoning
Customer experience
Marketing and Sales

No matter the size of your business, these resources have the potential to add more time to your day, grow revenue and more efficiently manage your HVAC business. Consider how you can apply one or more of these to supercharge your operations in 2021.

For more information on opportunities to work with Trane, visit us HERE.