HVAC is highly competitive, growth doesn’t happen automatically. Growth requires focus and dedication. But when you’re juggling numerous responsibilities daily, how do you find the time to grow your HVAC business?
As busy as you are completing jobs, you must step back and look at the bigger picture. Fortunately for business owners, even a small amount of time dedicated to growth can achieve positive results. Even just 15 minutes a day on your business can make a difference.
Investing in growth will improve customer communication, enable more effective task delegation, and help to fine-tune your workflow. But to maximize your efforts, you’ll need the right tools. Let’s explore some tried-and-tested tactics that will help you find the time to grow your HVAC business.
Identify business tasks and who can perform them
HVAC business owners are typically involved in everything—from marketing to accounting to customer service. At the same time, you’re probably still performing HVAC installations, maintenance, and repairs.
There aren’t enough hours in a day already, so how will you find the time to add business growth to the mix?
Firstly, you must separate business tasks into two groups:
- Tasks only you can do
- Tasks other employees can complete
The idea of entrusting someone else to complete tasks you once did yourself can be challenging. However, delegation is the only way you’ll be able to free up time to invest more in your business.
Mapping out business tasks for you and your team
Start by listing everything you do, including daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks. Identify what you’re most comfortable handling, for example, year-end accounting and taxes.
To delegate the remaining tasks, assess your current team members and their strengths. Ask yourself questions like:
- Can my full-time receptionist handle more of the monthly accounting duties?
- Can my senior technician manage the inventory of parts and supplies?
You’re not just assigning extra tasks to your team and walking away. You must create policies and documents detailing how you’ve handled these tasks and provide any necessary training.
Once you delegate tasks and provide training, prepare for a learning curve. After all, your staff need time to get used to their new priorities, and so do you!
As the weeks pass and employees get comfortable with their new tasks, you’ll notice more free time in your schedule. Where that time appears will depend on which tasks you’ve entrusted to others.
For instance, if your administrative staff is now handling your month-end bookkeeping, you’ll likely have extra hours toward the end of each month. If your technicians are now managing inventory duties each week, you may have more time at the start of each week, too.
Identifying time for growing your HVAC business
Next, schedule dedicated weekly blocks for business planning and team management activities. Treating this time as non-negotiable keeps you accountable and minimizes distractions, helping you reach your goals faster.
Having time open up in a previously jam-packed schedule can feel uncomfortable.
To deal with this discomfort, you may start micro-managing the staff allocated with your old tasks or assign yourself to some HVAC-related jobs. Resist the temptation to go back to your old ways! Instead, focus on a new path toward maximizing productivity in your HVAC business.
Prioritizing tasks effectively for successful business planning
One way to make time for growth is by adopting customer service strategies that reduce manual effort. To get you started, consider implementing the following:
- Regular maintenance reminders: Automate reminders for your customers’ scheduled maintenance to eliminate the need for manual follow-ups.
- Memberships and service packages: Steady revenue and reduced constant sales efforts so that you can switch your focus to service delivery and quality.
- Referral programs: Introduce a referral-reward scheme. It’s a win-win—loyal customers get rewarded while their referrals help you land new customers. Word-of-mouth marketing also reduces the workload for your marketing team.
- Automated follow-ups: Set up a workflow with automated emails and texts to follow up, request feedback, and offer continuous support without manually checking in.
Setting up systems like these helps reduce unnecessary and manual workload, freeing up more time to focus on what matters most: growing your HVAC business.
Outsourcing and delegating tasks
You don’t have to depend exclusively on your in-house team to manage every task. Delegating and outsourcing help simplify your daily operations while giving you more time to build your business.
Consider using an HVAC answering service to manage calls, outsourcing your marketing to an agency, or teaming up with a nearby bookkeeper during month-end.
Outsourcing also helps keep overhead costs low as you don’t need to hire additional in-house staff.
Using tech and AI to improve operational efficiency in your HVAC business
Like outsourcing, technology, AI, and automation can also give you more time in your schedule. Tools are a great way to efficiently manage processes that often aren’t directly related to your technical expertise.
There are countless tools to help HVAC businesses streamline daily operations, such as:
- Scheduling software
- CRM systems
- Automated billing platforms
Spend time researching different tools and their benefits. Many will offer a free trial, so make the most of it and get a feel of the tool’s platforms and features. The more you know about what each tool offers, the easier it will be to decide which tools work best for your company.
Learn more: AnswerForce integrations
You don’t have to do it alone – build your company’s growth culture
As your HVAC business expands, juggling tasks while maintaining excellent customer service gets more challenging. However, building a team culture centered on growth makes it easier for everyone to align with your vision. When that happens, you have a team you can count on to help drive your business forward.
An added benefit here is that your team expands their skills too, often meaning you don’t need to hire additional managers from outside the business as you expand.
How do you find time to grow your HVAC business?
Balancing service calls and business expansion isn’t easy. And yet, to succeed in the HVAC industry, you need to execute both successfully.
Start by improving customer communication, delegating tasks, and automating as many processes as possible. When you implement these three strategies, you’ll be ready to dedicate time to big-picture thinking that leads to growth.
Ready to take the next step in growing your HVAC business? Schedule a demo to learn more about how we can support your business goals.