Stress-Free HVAC Sales Process That Works
Does selling sometimes feel like you’re pushing prospects too hard? Closing more HVAC jobs can be stress-free for you and your customers when you lead with their priorities and turn selling into problem-solving.
This week on Cracking The Code, David Holt, Contractor University’s General Manager and a former contractor, demonstrates his proven stress-free HVAC sales process that makes it easier to close jobs right at the kitchen table. See how a simple, customer-first conversation can build trust, uncover real priorities like safety, health, comfort, and efficiency, and turn selling into educating—helping you land more jobs with confidence.
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00:00:00:00 – 00:00:21:14
Hey, contractors having a hard time closing high efficiency sales at the kitchen table. Check this out to learn a stress free Hvac sales process that works more times than not. Energy. Bigger and better job.
00:00:21:16 – 00:00:48:12
Hi, I’m David Holt, general manager for Contractor University and a former contractor that’s actually performed a whole lot of in-home sales presentations. And with me today is my lovely wife, Kelly. Hello. She’s been my practice dummy for a long time. Like, we’ve been together 43 years, and she’s practiced this process with me, numerous times over the 41 years we’ve been married.
00:00:48:14 – 00:01:22:12
And, I just wanted to put this on video for you guys so you can kind of see how a very simple, interactive conversation with your customer can create a stress free sales environment. So I’m going to go ahead and do that demonstration right now. So here we go. Okay. So Mrs. Smith, just to make sure I design a system that fits your priorities, there are four key elements to every Hvac system that we create for our customers, and we like to customize them to fit your particular priority.
00:01:22:12 – 00:01:52:10
So what I’d like you to do, if you would real quick, is just read those cards and kind of sort them out in terms of their priority to you and your family. Okay. We have efficiency, health, safety and comfort. Think definitely going to be safe. Probably healthy. Comfort and efficiency. Okay. So just to be sure, I understand you’re saying safety is your number one priority.
00:01:52:10 – 00:02:22:20
Definitely followed by health then. Comfort. Yep. Then efficiency definitely. I got that right. Yep. Okay. So what I want to do now is kind of go over what we do as a contractor to make sure that your home will be first safe. Now I’m going to read this for the benefit of the video. The heating and cooling system does not pose an immediate safety threat to your family through possible exposure to electrocution, explosion, or fire.
00:02:22:22 – 00:02:42:18
Okay, so we’re going to make sure that your system is super, super safe. Now, just so you know, I wouldn’t normally do that if I’m doing a roll, if I’m doing with Mrs. Smith here in this case, but she would have already read that to figure out what the priorities were. So I wouldn’t read those out loud.
00:02:43:00 – 00:03:03:04
So I’m not going to do that on these other three. So, Mrs. Smith, to to ensure that your system is going to be as safe as possible. There’s two parts to your system. You have a heating system. You have a cooling system. And for your heating system you happen to have a gas furnace. Okay. And that’s what’s keeping you warm during those cold winter nights.
00:03:03:06 – 00:03:21:23
So on the high voltage side there’s a high voltage side of the unit. So this is the part that runs the outdoor unit, the compressor and so forth and air conditioning side. But on the high voltage side we’re going to make sure that we properly size and secure the wire, that there’s no broken broken wiring insulation, no spliced wires.
00:03:21:23 – 00:03:39:00
We want to make sure that’s a solid line all the way from one point to the next. We’re going to make sure that all the connections are tight, so that there won’t be any potential shock situations. We’re going to have appropriate fuze protection. So if something goes wrong with the equipment that it will turn off automatically for you to protect your home.
00:03:39:02 – 00:03:55:18
We’ll also have emergency disconnects. So if there’s something that comes up and you need to take action, or your husband needs to take action, you can just flip a switch and turn the system off. And we’re going to actually mark those for you. So you know where they are. And we’ll show that to you. And everything will be labeled appropriately.
00:03:55:18 – 00:04:12:09
So we’re going to show you how to protect your family and your home in case of an emergency. How’s that sound to you? Sounds very important. Okay. So that’s on the high voltage side, all the way from the gas meter, all the way to your furnace. We want to make sure everything’s the right size. And it’s secured that all the piping connections are tight.
00:04:12:09 – 00:04:27:15
So we don’t have any gas leaks that also help save gas bills, because we won’t have any gas just going up into the air. It’ll just come straight to your furnace. We’re going to make sure that those valves, there’s valves on that too. For emergency purposes, we’ll have those labeled for you so you know where they are.
00:04:27:17 – 00:04:43:18
We’re going to properly size and secure the vent pipe. So when we burn the gas to heat your air, the combustion gases need to be vented out of the house. So we’re going to make sure those are taken care of properly. We’re going to have tight venting connections. We’re going to have a temperature limit switch inside the equipment.
00:04:43:18 – 00:05:02:09
If the unit starts to overheat, it will shut itself down to protect the equipment from failure, which is a good thing. We’re also going to use sealed combustion chambers. Now, there’s two types of furnaces. There’s furnaces that have unsealed combustion chamber, which means we can actually see the flame. And then we have one where you can’t see the flame.
00:05:02:09 – 00:05:23:09
So think about your automobile. You can’t see the flame in the engine. If you do, it’s a problem. Right. So it’s it’s contained within the engine itself or a sealed combustion system, a sealed combustion furnace. You can’t see the flame. And that’s, we think, a safer way to do business. You’re going to get combustion air. The air that we have to burn for this fuel, for this furnace.
00:05:23:14 – 00:05:41:14
We’re going to get that combustion air from outside of the house instead of pulling it from inside of the house, we’re pulling it from outside of the house that make sure that we don’t get into any potential safety issues that could be related to carbon monoxide. That’s a very important part. And we’re also going to make sure we have any kind of backdraft protection.
00:05:41:14 – 00:06:00:06
So if there’s any kind of conditions in the house that would cause the the venting system to not vent properly, we’re going to make sure those are taken care of, and we’re going to put in a carbon monoxide detector for your safety and your family’s safety. So how’s that sound to you? Sounds amazing. Okay. So that’s the important things we’re going to do on safety.
00:06:00:08 – 00:06:21:15
On health this is long term impacts right. Safety is an immediate impact. Health is a long term impact. So here’s a question we always get asked. How can a heating and cooling system affect your health. Well it’s really simple. An improperly designed, installed and maintained system can force many indoor air pollutants into your home. Oh. All right.
00:06:21:15 – 00:06:45:07
And we don’t want that. So these airborne pollutants can aggravate allergies. They can cause severe headaches. That’s that carbon monoxide thing. And they can induce nausea. Even you can start getting sick. And earlier when I asked you the questions about people with allergies and all that, you said, Stephen had some allergies. And it could be that some of these things that we’re going to take care of on the health side will take care of Stephen’s allergies for you as well.
00:06:45:08 – 00:07:07:13
Airborne pollutants might include insulation fibers. Oh. As we were walking around the house, one of the things you mentioned is the Dusty’s house I’ve ever lived in. Well, it could be because of the pressure differences that are going on in the house. And with our system, we look for how we can eliminate those dusty dust problems and, not just put some gimmick in that might sound.
00:07:07:13 – 00:07:25:07
I noticed that you had a a different kind of air filter. It looks like you were trying to solve some dust problems, maybe with a previous guy, but clearly their efforts have failed because we found plenty of dust. Plenty. And it’s not about your housekeeping. It’s about your house. Right? Okay, so mold spores not good, right? We don’t want any of that.
00:07:25:07 – 00:07:49:10
That’s not good. Mildew odors. Yeah, I don’t want any of that plant pollen. Pet dander. I noticed you have a dog, and I guess his name is champ. Super, super nice dog. So you know this, he sheds a lot, right? And so you want to make sure that that stuff’s taken care of as well. Dust mites. I know the thing most people don’t really know about, but dust mites and their residue, kind of not things you want to be breathing.
00:07:49:15 – 00:08:09:19
And, of course, carbon monoxide, two low level carbon monoxide can cause problems. High level carbon monoxide can kill you. Well, we take care of the high level for sure, with the health, with the safety side and on the health side, which they take care of the low level. So there are carbon monoxide monitors that actually will, take care of, high volume of carbon monoxide.
00:08:10:00 – 00:08:27:19
But we actually, from a health standpoint, recommend and will install a low level carbon monoxide monitor so that even if we get any carbon monoxide in the house, you don’t want to breathe it. No we don’t. I mean, let me just ask you a question. How much colorless, odorless, poisonous gas would you like your family to be breathing?
00:08:27:19 – 00:08:47:22
Absolutely none. Zero is a good number, right? All right, so third in your priority list you said was comfort. Yes. Temperature, humidity, clean air and quiet operation are for the elements, for a comfortable system. So you think about temperature? Yeah. Which rooms in the house are too hard to heat or. Cool? We have a living room that gets a bit more warm.
00:08:48:00 – 00:09:07:05
Okay. And what about humidity levels? Do you ever feel like it’s too hot or too high humidity in the house? Too low. Sometimes. The master bedroom and basket too humid. Well, okay. What about. Well, we’ve talked about the dust, so clean air. You probably like to have that in every room in the house. Yes. Are there any rooms that same stuff here than others?
00:09:07:07 – 00:09:24:10
Well, we do have the den. It can be stuffy. Okay. What about, any kind of locker room kind of smells that you might have? Oh, that would be our son’s room. Yeah, I noticed the soccer trophies, so I guess he’s, Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And quiet operation. How important is quiet operation to you? We do enjoy having a quiet night.
00:09:24:12 – 00:09:39:17
Okay. Do you ever have to turn up the TV when your air conditioner comes on? Yes. We do. Okay. Yeah. Would you like to not have to do that? Exactly. Movie night would be much better without it. That’s exactly right. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to make sure we have matched components so that they’re the right size for your house.
00:09:39:17 – 00:09:58:02
We guarantee that. What right size your system to your home. We’re going to have what we call a variable speed fan. And you think about when you’re in your car and you can turn speed up and turn the speed down on your control for your air conditioning. Okay. We’ll have the same kind of thing with this. This one will be able to ramp up and ramp down depending on conditions, which is really good.
00:09:58:04 – 00:10:19:21
We’re going to have some thermostats that you’ll be able to control from anywhere on the planet. They’ll be tied into your Wi-Fi system with your permission. If you’re don’t want us to tie it in, we cannot. But I’d recommend that you do, because you’ll really love the ability to control that. We’re also going to make sure we have a humidifier so we can keep the humidity levels proper, and the air conditioner is going to take care of the dehumidification process for you.
00:10:19:23 – 00:10:42:01
We’ll have appropriate air treatment devices to keep the air as healthy as we possibly can, and we’re going to bring in fresh air ventilation as well. So you’ll have good fresh air in your house throughout the entire time. So we’ve got the three pieces. The last piece you said was efficiency. Here’s the good news. Efficiency. When we take care of the safety, the health and the comfort, high efficiency comes along at no additional charge.
00:10:42:02 – 00:11:01:03
I like that. Well, let me tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to make sure we have focused on the lifetime cost of your heating and cooling equipment, because it’s not just about this initial purchase. It’s also about what the long term cost, your long term cost, our maintenance. Okay. Right. Warranty type things okay. And utility bills.
00:11:01:04 – 00:11:21:15
Oh nice utility bills. And I noticed when we were looking at your numbers a little bit earlier, you’ve had power bills as high as $440 for power. If I could cut that in half for you, how excited would that be? I would be very happy. Yeah, that’d be a pretty good thing. So we’re going to do that. We’re going to bring those numbers down.
00:11:21:15 – 00:11:42:00
Now I’m not going to stand here and say, I can do a 50% reduction, but I can tell you there have been several houses in this neighborhood that were built about the same time by about the same people that had about the same problems that you’re experiencing right now. And when we did theirs, they reported to me 50% reductions in their power bills.
00:11:42:04 – 00:12:13:03
They were ecstatic. Yes. So when we do this, we’re going to provide you with all four pieces. You’re going to have the safest, healthiest, most comfortable and energy efficient system that you can afford. How’s that sound to you? I’m excited. And this is how we’re going to design it. All right, guys, that’s the demo. And this thing I tell you, it may feel like that went forever for you, but the reality is it’s more of a conversation than, than I was doing here.
00:12:13:03 – 00:12:30:03
I usually get a little bit more back and forth on some things, and I might have some other materials that I bring in along the way, but this is very stress free. Now, be honest with me. You’ve been married to me for 41 years. Some of you still have to be honest to me. Don’t lie. And don’t lie to these people that are paying attention to this.
00:12:30:05 – 00:12:55:01
Does that feel like was this like an interrogation? You know, it was informative and gave me a good idea of what the whole system is and what, what it can do for me. And that’s really the key, is what can this do for the homeowner? It’s all about what we can do as contractors to make that customer comfortable, to make them comfortable with what it is that we’re trying to do for them.
00:12:55:01 – 00:13:16:05
It’s not about what it is like. I did use a couple of terms in there, like variable speed, but notice when I use them, I used an example like the control on your car. Everybody understands that. Oh yeah. Mine’s not just an on off switch right? Right. I don’t have just an on off switch. I have a variable speed controller on my car.
00:13:16:05 – 00:13:38:08
So why don’t you have it on your house? Right. But nobody knows. They can have it on their house right now. I do now. You do. Right. So this is what I would classify as an educational sales approach, not a product presentation sales approach. Well, because all the terms like betas and sere and all that doesn’t mean anything to a homeowner.
00:13:38:10 – 00:13:57:04
But that does. But she’s been married for 41 years to a heating and air guy. So she she knows those terms. And she worked at Whole Service Company, her family business, for years as well. And she also worked for two other Hvac contractors when we worked and when we lived in Atlanta. And so it’s been, a really good ride.
00:13:57:04 – 00:14:20:13
And I appreciate you. I didn’t tell her I was going to do this to her today. So I appreciate you playing along with me on this. And, I look forward to 41 more years. Well, I appreciate you joining us today. I look forward to offering several other tips and tricks and ways to improve your sales process through a stress free Hvac sales approach.
00:14:20:15 – 00:14:37:00
This David Holt with Contractor University. Have a good day. You.
