How to Get More HVAC Leads

Most leads a small HVAC shop loses are calls it already received. A Houston summer stacks no-cool jobs while the techs are in attics. A hard freeze farther north does the same with no heat. Shops that stay booked caught those calls and kept a list of customers to invite back.

A notebook is enough to start. Scripts below use Alex, Sam, and Riverside Heating and Air as placeholders. They are templates, not lines from a real customer.

Put the real company on Google

Homeowners with a dead condenser search on a phone and tap the map. The Google Business Profile is that listing, and it is free to create.

Use the name on the truck and the invoices. Extra words in the name, such as a city or "best AC repair," can get the profile suspended. Set the primary category to the work you do, such as HVAC contractor or air conditioning contractor. Add heating only if you service it.

Publish hours a person answers. If nobody rolls at night, do not show a 24-hour schedule. One description line is enough: no-cool and no-heat emergencies during these hours, everything else the next morning. If you hide the street address, list only the cities you will drive to. In Houston, that is the area you can reach while the house is still hot.

Photos from this season beat a logo: the van with the name readable, a unit you installed, the shop if you have one. Post when you are booking cooling checks, taking no-cool calls, or scheduling heat, and skip the week you have nothing new. Put one phone number on the profile, the site, the truck, and the invoices.

Ask for the review the same day

The next caller reads recent reviews before dialing, often at night. Ask before you leave, and text the direct link.

Sam, it is Alex at Riverside Heating and Air. Glad we got the upstairs cool again. If you have a minute, here is the link to leave a review.

Reply to every review yourself. If something went wrong, say what you will do, without an argument. Do not offer money, a discount, or a gift for stars, and do not post a review as the customer. Google's policies forbid that. A review that names the job is more useful than "great service," and it comes from asking the person who was there.

Local Services Ads

Local Services Ads are paid listings on some home-service searches, often above the map, in markets where Google offers them. You pay for a lead, such as a call or a message, rather than for a click. Read the current price in your own account before you turn an ad on.

Google screens the business first. Have the contractor license and the insurance certificate ready. In Texas, that is the air conditioning and refrigeration contractor license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Other states have their own board. Renew a lapsed license before you apply. The ad shows your reviews, so finish the profile first.

Send those calls to the same number as every other lead. Once a week, mark each one booked, already a customer, wrong trade, outside your area, or spam, and dispute any that should not have been billed. Use the window the account shows this month. Run the ad only while someone will pick up.

Answer, or text back before they dial again

People with no cooling, or no heat in a freeze, call until someone answers. Many never leave a voicemail. Name who holds the phone this week. Whoever is not on a job answers. If everyone is out, text immediately and call back before the next job.

Say the after-hours split in the greeting. No cooling when someone is at risk, and no heat in a freeze, are emergencies. A noisy unit that still runs can wait until morning. In a Houston summer, promise a same-day truck only when you can keep it.

Hi, this is Alex at Riverside Heating and Air. Sorry we missed you. We will call you back before 4 today. If the system is down, reply with the address and whether it is heat or cooling. Reply STOP to opt out.

Write a time you will actually hit. Greetings and the rest of the phone habit are in Stop Losing Leads From Missed Calls (2026 Guide). Block ten to twenty minutes twice a day, before the first job and before the last, and spend them on callbacks.

Reply to the form the same day

A website form, a message on the profile, and a text to the number on the truck are the same lead, often sent to more than one shop. During business hours, answer within a few minutes when you can. Reply to overnight messages first thing. Ignore a pitch that sells one magic minute. Emergencies still get a person now.

Use their name, the problem, who you are, one next step, and one easy question, usually the address. Save that reply in the phone, then put a time on the lead. Keep the form to name, phone, address, and what the system is doing. Ask for the model number on the call.

Follow up until they decide

A changeout goes quiet because a spouse has to see the price, payday is later, or another company is scheduled. Send the written estimate the same day, and name when you will check in. Check a repair the next morning. Check a replacement at two days, again at about a week, then send one last note that closes the file and leaves the door open. Three or four touches is enough. Texts you can copy are in How to Follow Up on an Estimate (With Text Templates).

Hi Sam, it is Alex at Riverside Heating and Air. Checking that the estimate for the changeout made sense. I can walk through the two options tonight if that helps.

Offer a real opening. Do not cut the price until they say price is the issue. Date the follow-up when you send the estimate. A date that exists only in your head loses to the next no-cool call.

Book the tune-ups before the rush

Agreements and seasonal checks are leads from people who already trust you. A dirty coil, a weak capacitor, or a failing system shows up because you scheduled the visit.

Run it in the shoulder, before the week you cannot reach your own customers. On the Gulf Coast, book cooling checks in March and April, and a heat check when a real cold front is in the forecast. Houston cold snaps are short, so build the list first. In a cold climate, book heat in early fall and cooling before the first hot week. Start from last year's invoices if that is the list you have.

• Agreement customers: offer two mornings for the visit they are due.
• Everyone else: invite a tune-up. Mention the agreement after they say yes.

Hi Sam, it is Alex at Riverside Heating and Air. We are booking April cooling checks before the hot weeks. Reply with a morning that works and I will put you on the board.

Book the reply the same day and write what you found. Talk about a replacement only after they have seen the failing part. Keep the agreement on one page a tech can explain in the driveway: visits included, what costs extra, and how to schedule. Due visits sit on the same list as new leads.

Ask for the referral out loud

At the end of a job that went well, ask.

If a neighbor loses cooling, hand them this number. If they book, I will thank you.

A card or a text they can forward is enough. Thank the referrer when the new job books. Keep that thank-you private.

Pick one partner who is already in the house when a system fails: a plumber on a water heater, a property manager with a few buildings, or a realtor who needs a check before closing. Give them one number and a person who answers. Write their name as the source, and tell them when the job is done. That note is what earns the next call.

Write down where the lead came from

Write the source the minute the lead arrives, and use the same labels every week:

• Google profile
• Local Services Ad
• Website or profile message
• Referral, plus the person's name
• Repeat customer or agreement visit
• Truck, yard sign, or door hanger
• Anything else, in a few words

Once a month, sort booked jobs by that label, not just the calls that rang. Price shoppers and changeouts are different kinds of work. If the source is blank on many jobs, fix the blanks before you buy another ad.

One person can keep a notebook. Two people need a list both of them open. Stages that match the week are enough: new lead, visit booked, estimate sent, waiting on a decision, booked, lost. The HVAC CRM page is that pipeline for no-cool calls, replacement quotes, and tune-ups.

Where Puffly fits

Puffly keeps the leads, contacts, companies, and deals, with a pipeline, tasks, and a lead form. The CRM is free to start. It does not sell HVAC leads, dispatch the trucks, or store a price book. Puff can draft the next follow-up on the paid plans, and the draft waits until you send it. Missed-call text-back is on the plans that include it, and it runs only after you turn it on.