This guide is for an HVAC shop that runs enough calls and still loses replacement quotes to the second or third bidder. The replacement ticket runs $8,000 to $14,000, so each extra closed quote a month is worth more than a month of a typical agency retainer.
The tools involved cost less than lead generation. Flat-rate pricebooks bill monthly, follow-up texting runs from $45 to $350 a month, and sales coaching is priced on quote.
Put a flat-rate pricebook on every tech’s tablet
A tech who builds a quote from parts and labor on a notepad presents a different price than the tech in the next van. Flat-rate pricebooks fix that. Profit Rhino sells flat-rate pricebook content on a monthly subscription and integrates with ServiceTitan. Other pricebook vendors on the listing page work the same way, with a tablet app for the presentation. None publishes a price, so ask for a quote at your tech count. The pricebook gives every homeowner the same options in the same order and lets a tech put a repair next to a replacement without guessing. The drawback is upkeep. Equipment and refrigerant prices move, and someone has to own the quarterly update or the book drifts away from your margins.
Present three options on every replacement quote
Give the homeowner a good, better and best option, each with a monthly payment shown next to the cash price. The lowest option anchors the comparison, the middle option is where most homeowners land, and the top option makes the middle look reasonable. Build the three options into the pricebook so the tech taps through them. Quote on the first visit whenever possible; a second visit to deliver the price gives the homeowner a day to call the competitor. Ask for the decision in the home. The drawback is that this takes a tech who is comfortable talking money, and some excellent mechanical techs are not. Pair those techs with a comfort advisor on replacement calls or keep them on service work.
Text every unsold estimate within a day and again within a week
A written estimate that gets no follow-up is a gift to the competitor who calls back. Automate the follow-up from your dispatch software. Hatch runs lead follow-up texting and reactivation campaigns with a ServiceTitan integration; pricing is by contact only, so ask. Other follow-up tools on the listing page start at $45 a month for general texting and run to $350 a month plus a $200 setup fee for trade-specific sequences. Set a sequence: a thank-you with the estimate attached the same day, a check-in at day two, a last call at day seven. The drawback is tone. Automated texts that read like marketing get ignored or blocked, so write them the way the tech would speak.
Record in-home sales conversations and review them weekly
You cannot coach what you do not hear. Siro records in-person sales conversations and uses AI to show where the quote was won or lost; it is priced on enterprise quote. Start with your top closer and your weakest, listen to two calls from each per week, and compare what happens at the price reveal. The patterns tend to be small: skipping the options, talking through the silence, or quoting before the homeowner has described the problem. Check your state’s consent rules on recording, and have techs tell the homeowner they record for training. The drawback is tech resistance. Recording feels like surveillance to many. It works only when the recordings feed coaching; using them for discipline ends the program.
Buy sales training once the process exists
Training a tech who has no pricebook and no follow-up sequence wastes the fee. EGIA Contractor University offers coaching and sales training, is generally recommended for shops past $1 million in revenue, and its coaches include Weldon Long, Drew Cameron and Gary Elekes. Other coaching groups on the listing page, all priced on quote, run peer groups, rebate programs and technician performance programs; one has mixed reviews on coach turnover, so ask who your coach will be and how long they have been there. The drawback is time. Training pulls the owner and lead techs out of the field, so schedule it in the shoulder months.
Track close rate per tech every week
Count quotes given, quotes closed and average ticket by tech. Pull the data from the dispatch software or the pricebook app; both record who quoted and whether the quote converted. Over a quarter the spread between your best and worst closer is the number that tells you what the steps above are worth. Pair low closers with high closers on ride-alongs, and move techs who do not improve back to service and maintenance. The drawback is small samples. A tech who quotes four replacements a week will swing wildly from week to week, so judge on the quarter and on the trend.
The full list of agencies and tools for this is at HVAC contractors: close more jobs.