#154: 3 Secrets to Growing Your HVAC Business by 300% // Next Level Pros // Chris Lee

If I were stuck at under 10 million dollars a year in the HVAC or trades industry, these three things I would be applying immediately to 3x my revenue.

I learned these three strategies with over 20 years of experience in the home service and solar space.

These same strategies we have taken and applied in the HVAC and trades, and we have seen massive results.

These are the exact same strategies that I use to build my solar business from zero to $233 million a year in under five years.

And yes, they apply in the trades.

Let's dive in.

So first of all, I just want to address the elephant in the room.

I know you guys are thinking, oh, you're a solar guy.

This stuff doesn't apply in the HVAC world or the plumbing.

Look, I get it.

There's all kinds of doubters and haters out there.

But again, At Next Level Pros, we have built this community in the trades and home service space, and people are applying these exact principles that I'm about to cover with you and are seeing massive results.

So what I want you to do is just set aside your ego, set aside your preconceived notions, your limiting beliefs that are holding you back from going and applying these strategies and be open to what I'm about to share with you because it's going to be a game changer.

So when we're talking about three different things that are going to 3x your revenue, this is what we are talking about.

One,

sales process

that is completely separate.

And I know you guys have probably seen a little bit of this going on.

You have the comfort advisors.

Maybe you're running a van where somebody goes out and they give a quote and different things.

But, like, this is absolutely vital if you want to be able to scale.

And the reason for it is somebody that is a technician that goes into a home and they are fixing something, they're using tools, they're following a process.

Typically, they have a completely different skill set than somebody that is really good at identifying pain, solving a problem, and getting a decision.

That is a salesperson.

Too often in our industry, in the trade space, we tried training one person to be the jack of all trades to be able to do both.

And this is the biggest no-no that is absolutely destroying your business.

Yes, your technicians, they can do small upsells, small suggestions of being able to go and upgrade their service or do a little bit of, you know, sub-thousand-dollar product.

But when we're talking about whole home switch outs, new installations, those type of things, do not, I repeat, do not train your technicians to go and do this work.

You need to have a completely different sales process and salespeople that are going to be doing this.

And so when we look at what we call the disk assessment, this helps identify different personalities.

There are the dominant, the influensive, the steadiness, and the conscientious.

Those that are technicians that are really good at working with their hands, typically they dominate this lower level, the steadiness, conscientious, they kind of know what's going on.

They don't like to necessarily interact with people.

They're going to be here.

But the salespeople, they're going to be up here in this quadrant, the dominant and the influence.

And because of that, we need to really take advantage.

of that characteristic trait and teach those people how to go and sell.

This is the same exact process that we use in the solar industry.

Yes, of course, in the solar industry, I could send technicians to go and try to sell the neighbor to be able to go put solar on their home.

But the reality is, is when I separate the two and specialize, help these people specialize in product knowledge and everything else, they're going to be able to dominate.

And now, I know there's questions like, well, you know, these type of people that have the dominant influence type or the salesmanship, they just don't know enough about the product.

They've never got their hands dirty.

They haven't been in the field.

They don't know exactly how these systems work.

Let me just tell you this one thing right here and right now.

Customers do not buy products, they buy solutions.

When somebody calls you up to replace their HVAC system, they aren't saying, I need a two-ton, a five-ton, this, that, or the other, like the exact specifications of their actual system.

They say, my air conditioning is not working and I need it to be cold in my house.

That is the solution that they are buying.

The same for a salesperson.

A salesperson just needs to identify the issue, identify the pain that the customer is experiencing, and provide a solution.

Yes, they need to have basic product knowledge, but they are not there to be able to provide all different types of options, know everything of how everything works.

They are there to help a customer make a decision.

And ultimately, that is really the duty of a closer is to go and identify pain.

present a solution and get a decision.

And that is what you are paying these guys to go and do.

And if they don't know the information, yeah, maybe they don't have enough product knowledge.

You have management, you have technicians that they can call and be able to go and answer those questions.

So,

step number one: separate your technician and your sales process completely.

This alone will have the power to double your revenue.

Hey guys, it's Chris.

Hey, a lot of you leave comments asking for help.

Do me a real quick favor: shoot me a text at 509-374-7554.

That's 509-374-7554.

Shoot me a text.

I'll answer and help you with whatever you need.

Don't worry, I got you back.

Let's go back to the show, baby.

Step number two, limit

options.

Now, there are a lot of gurus or 1990 playbooks that are going to absolutely try to destroy me here.

They're going to say, look, when you go to a customer, you always give them three options.

the low, middle, high, and hopefully they pick the middle and, you know, talk about the product, talk about the different manufacturers, the different options that they can do, the high efficiency, the low efficiency, all these different things.

Let me just tell you, customers, again, they want a solution.

They want minimal options.

The more options that you have, the more confused a customer is going to be.

They're like, wow, I actually need to do more research.

There is more that I need to know about this product in order to make a decision on what I need in my home for the next 10 or 15 years.

So the more that you can limit these options, when you can come in as the professional, so one, once you've separated your salespeople, you're going to train your salespeople to be professionals, that when they walk in and they show an option, they probably identify the pain and they say, this is the two-ton system that you need, they're able to give it and actually make a recommendation.

And I want you to think about something really quick.

When I talk to business owners, we talk about the Louis Vuitton approach versus the Marshalls approach.

I don't know if any of you guys have ever been to Marshalls, but you walk into Marshalls, man, the options are endless.

Literally, I, yeah, it's kind of fun.

You go in, it's like hunting for Easter eggs, but literally, if I don't know, like, if I go in there, I don't know what I'm looking for and I'm just shopping.

Literally, every turn on the rack is a different shirt, a different size.

Like, it's like the options are crazy.

I typically leave Marshalls with anxiety.

I'm like, oh my gosh, what did I do in that place?

Versus a Louis Vuitton approach, which always is going to get you the highest margins.

And ultimately, what we teach inside our community is we want to be on that upper end so that we can improve the experience, improve the product offering, improve everything for the customer.

But the only way that we're going to do that is we have to limit the options and we have to give recommendations.

You walk into Louis Vuitton, you're going to meet directly with somebody that is going to help manage that experience.

And the way that they're going to do that, they're going to ask you to take a seat.

They're going to ask you about your sizes.

They're going to bring you a glass of water or a bottle of water.

And then they're going to go and they're going to bring a few things and they're going to make a recommendation of, look, I know what you're trying to accomplish.

They've identified your pain, your wants, your desires, your dreams.

Here's the option.

This is the best option for you.

When you do this in your sales process and you limit those options, all of a sudden, this revenue up here, that is going to go up.

Because again, a confused buyer does not buy.

The more options that you give them, the more confusion there is going to be.

And the fact of the reality is, is most customers, you know, when we talk about like a graph of like intelligence or amount of information that is needed, right?

Each of this representing the amount of information that a customer needs.

Most customers, like in the HVAC and trades, they're down here.

They don't need a lot of information.

They just need a solution and that you are confident and can back that solution.

They're looking for trust in two things.

One, trust that you

trust in your character, right?

That everything that you show them actually adds up.

You talk about a number, a price, all those things add up.

They're going to get trust in character.

Two, trust in ability.

Does this person know what they're talking about?

If you can meet those two metrics, chances are they are ready to move forward, make a decision by today, and not put it off for tomorrow.

Last but but not least, in order to 3x that revenue, this is the fun one.

Hey guys, it's Chris.

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Now let's dive back in the show.

We do not send quotes.

So send quotes.

Heck no.

And we're not just talking like you're probably like, oh yeah, we don't send quotes.

We actually go to the home and we show it to them or whatnot.

But what happens when the customer says, hey, look, I need to think about this.

Are you leaving the quote there?

Are you leaving it with the customer for them to pray on, think about, talk with their spouse and everything overnight?

And you're probably like, oh, yeah, yeah, I am.

But Chris, I'm still closing 25 or 50%

of these actual quotes the very next day.

Okay, so this is

the kicker.

We do not leave a quote, so quotes are never left.

If the customer,

if the customer decides and they sign the paperwork and they finance, then they get the quote.

Otherwise, I'm not encouraging anybody to shop my product or service.

This is for my buyer.

I am not a retail store where people come in and they see all the details and whatnot.

No, I am a professional trades company, and quotes are never left.

My quotes are from my buyers.

And so the way that you're going to do that is the first principle of closing, which is yes or no,

no maybe's.

This is the hardest of all the principles to be able to adopt.

But once you decide that you are going to train your people on this, And it doesn't mean that I am a high-pressure salesman.

It just simply means that I help people make a decision.

A no

is still a decision.

And a maybe,

no matter how you convince yourself, like, oh, they, they're moving forward.

This one really isn't a maybe, if they did not make a decision to move forward or not to move forward, it is a freaking maybe.

Now, the biggest reason why most people aren't okay with or that they go for a maybe is because they are not okay with a no.

So this is the magic.

This is the sauce.

In order to to be able to eliminate maybes from your world, you got to be like, dude, if a customer tells me no,

I'm okay with it.

Most of us, we just want to tell ourselves a lie, right?

We know that it's leaning towards a no, but we kind of push to get it to a maybe.

Hey, will you just think about it?

Will you just like, you know, ponder on it or whatnot?

Knowing full well that that's going to waste my time.

They're not going to call me back.

They're going to ghost my text messages, my follow-ups, my emails, everything else.

So we have to eliminate the the maybes.

We've got to draw a line in the sand and help people get to one way or the other.

As we do this, and I have so many other videos that train you exactly how to get a customer to a decision, and we're not going to go exactly into that, but once I can get customers to yes or no,

this allows us to live

the third thing, which quotes will never be left.

And I promise you, you go and you do these things, you separate your sales, you help people specialize in these things, limit options.

Do not give them three options, give them a recommendation, and never leave a quote.

This will 2 to 3 X your business in 2025.

Let's go.