8 HVAC Sales Tips for Competitive Selling (+ Phone Scripts)

1. Develop your HVAC sales strategy

Many business owners dive head-first into sales without preparation. Some push their technicians and installers to start selling in the field with little to no training.

Avoid this unprofessional approach to sales. It stretches your techs too thin, and inexperienced selling is often aggressive and frustrating to HVAC customers.

The most successful HVAC businesses have a careful, detailed sales strategy.

To manage your sales more effectively, take a few days to develop a sales strategy that outlines your:

• Target market (who you’re selling HVAC services to)
• Product positioning (how you’ll communicate the value of your equipment and services)
• Sales targets (concrete goals you’re working towards)

Target market

Have a solid understanding of your target customers and document it. If your HVAC business plan doesn’t outline this already, write out your ideal customer’s age range, average annual income, and the services they usually need.

This information will help you tailor your sales conversations, materials, and the services you offer—one of the most effective sales techniques for reaching the right customers.

For example, if you’re selling to young new homeowners, you’ll likely want to highlight the energy efficiency and cost-savings your HVAC systems provide.

Product positioning

Plan how you’ll “position” what you offer—that is, how you’ll describe it to your customers—before you create sales materials and train your sales staff.

To do so, assess the unique needs of your customers and service area. Are your target customers more concerned with speed of service, energy efficiency, or cost?

For each of your offerings, write out a statement that describes its unique selling point—this should be the benefit that matters most to your target customers. For example, it could read something like this for your AC system installs:

“Our high-efficiency AC systems are designed to cut energy bills by up to 30% while keeping your home comfortable, even during the hottest summer afternoons.”

Bonus tip: Use this product positioning in your HVAC ads and other marketing materials.

Sales targets

Sales targets are specific goals that your sales staff need to achieve within a given time frame.

Setting clear sales targets gives your sales team something to work towards, and it’s how you or your sales manager will measure success.

• Start by looking at the short- and long-term revenue goals you want to achieve for your business overall.
• Then, set a target for each individual sales employee, like number of units sold or new contracts signed, that will ensure they meet those goals.

Dave Nichols, a Training Manager at Lennox Industries, suggests you measure an HVAC sales rep’s success by looking at average ticket price, closing rates, and annual sales.

Using those success metrics, here’s what your sales rep targets could look like:

• Sell 12 HVAC systems monthly
• Achieve an average ticket of $10,000
• Sell $64,000 in HVAC systems each month
• Achieve an average closing rate of 75%
• Hit $550,000 in annual sales
• Add $3,000 more revenue by Q3

READ MORE: How to run and grow a successful HVAC business

2. Price competitively to win more business

Customers want the best price, but they also want the job done right the first time. The trick is finding that sweet spot where your pricing is sharp enough to win the work without trimming your profit too much.

That’s where this sales tip comes in—being strategic about your price.

• Start with some research. Call your competitors like a curious homeowner (or have a friend call them). Check competitor websites to see what others are offering, and at what prices. But don’t fall into the trap of “just going lower.” The goal is to be competitive while still covering your labor, equipment, and overhead.
• Sell the “why” behind your number. This can separate you from the rest. Offer a better warranty, faster response time, cleaner workmanship, or a free follow-up visit in six months. If a customer’s comparing you with the cheapest service in town, make sure they’re comparing apples to apples. The cheapest option often comes with callbacks and headaches.

• Make it crystal clear. Ever had a homeowner go silent after getting your quote? Break down your estimate so customers see exactly what they’re paying for—parts, labor, permits, and extras. Being transparent with your pricing builds trust, which can lead to repeat business.
• Think in packages. If someone’s booking a new system install in May, why not add a first-year maintenance plan? Bundling services makes the overall offer more attractive and increases your ticket size without feeling like a hard upsell. Homeowners love the idea of “set it and forget it” service plans—less to remember, and fewer surprises down the road.
• Handle price objections without flinching. When a customer says, “That’s more than I thought,” your first move should be to take them through the value they’re getting. Or you could offer a pared-down version of the work with fewer bells and whistles. This way, you’re protecting your margins rather than just lowering the price, and still giving the customer a path to say “yes.”

3. Equip your team with proven HVAC sales skills

Create and schedule training sessions that prepare your field techs, installers, and comfort advisors to have effective sales conversations.

In addition to understanding the HVAC services and products you offer, your sales staff should come out of your training program knowing how to:

• Talk about your products and communicate their value
• Use consultative sales to solve customer problems with your products
• Handle common objections from customers
• Close a sale (get the customer’s approval)

To train your field team and comfort advisors on all the above, include these sections in your HVAC sales training:

Product training

Your techs and installers are already experts in your HVAC solutions. But if you have comfort advisors, you need to get them up to speed.

In your initial training, give your advisors a detailed rundown of all the products and services you offer. Provide guidance on how to sell HVAC equipment effectively using the product positioning you prepared in your sales strategy.

Then, schedule a “refresher” training session every few months to keep them updated on new products and emerging HVAC industry trends. If your budget allows, you might even consider sending your team to an HVAC trade show or conference to keep their skills and product knowledge up-to-date.

Consultative sales

Consultative sales is a method where the salesperson acts as an advisor, focused on understanding and addressing the specific needs and challenges of the customer.

Instead of pushing a product, consultative selling is about building a relationship and offering tailored solutions.

Train your field team or comfort advisors in these two main components of consultative selling:

• Needs analysis — Asking the right questions to understand customer needs, preferences, and budget constraints.
• Solutioning — Using your customer’s answers to recommend the best HVAC solution for the customer’s problem.

Before you can recommend a system or schedule an install, you need to know what’s really going on. Understand the customer’s needs by:

• Asking open-ended questions: Go beyond “What’s the issue?” and ask the kinds of open-ended questions that get people talking, like “How has this problem been affecting your day-to-day?” You’ll be surprised how much you learn when you give them room to answer.
• Listening more than you talk: It’s tempting to jump in with solutions the moment you hear “no heat.” But slowing down to get the full story builds trust and helps you spot details you might otherwise miss. Maybe the homeowner is frustrated because they’ve had three repairs in the past year.
• Tailoring your solution: Once you’ve heard them out, you can tailor your solution so it feels less like a sales pitch and more like a custom fix. When the customer feels like you truly understand their situation, the “yes” comes naturally.

4. Hire comfort advisors

If you have the means to hire, find dedicated sales reps instead of pushing installers and technicians to sell.

While great customer service skills should be in your HVAC technician job description, field techs are usually not experienced in sales.

Put up a job posting for comfort advisors who can sell customers your solutions while your field team focuses on HVAC work.

5. Expand into commercial HVAC sales

If most of your work comes from homeowners, you might be leaving money and stability on the table. There’s no doubt that expanding into commercial HVAC sales leads to bigger jobs, but it’s also about building relationships with businesses that need ongoing service year-round.

Spotting the right opportunities

Commercial leads probably aren’t scrolling Yelp late at night like a homeowner. They’re hiding in plain sight, believe it or not. Here’s how to find them:

• Keep tabs on local business directories or your Chamber of Commerce member list.
• Drive around light industrial parks and make note of buildings with aging rooftop units or noisy condensers. Those are like invitations.
• Monitor permits for new construction projects in your city (many municipalities have this online). That’s your time to introduce yourself to the general contractor before the HVAC package is locked in.
• Form partnerships with property managers. Once you’re on their list, they’ll call you before anyone else.

Adjusting your pitch for a business mindset

A homeowner might care about comfort and budget. But a business owner is thinking about ROI and energy savings. Before scheduling a meeting or reaching out with a phone call, do your homework to show:

• How your system can lower their utility bills
• What downtime would cost their operation if an HVAC unit fails
• Why a proactive maintenance plan saves them more than just fixing something when it breaks

Getting in with the right people

In commercial work, you’re rarely selling to the person who signs the checks. It’s usually the facility manager, building engineer, or operations director. To reach them:

• Join local BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) events or construction networking groups.
• Connect with decision makers on LinkedIn. People are averse to cold pitches, so comment on their posts and share industry insights first.
• Offer a free walk-through or efficiency assessment to start the relationship without pressure.

Get recurring revenue with service agreements

One-off installs are nice, but recurring contracts pay the bills in slow months. For commercial clients, offer them tiered maintenance agreements. This can be basic seasonal checks, all-inclusive service, or 24/7 priority response.

Spell out response times and all included services. Don’t leave businesses feeling uncertain about anything.

Navigating the bid and RFP process

Commercial jobs often require responding to formal bids or RFPs. A quick commercial sales tip: treat the paperwork like part of your sales pitch.

• Follow every instruction to a T. Missing a detail can disqualify you before you start.
• Include a brief case study of a similar job you’ve done with before-and-after energy costs or performance improvements.

Build a template (or use Jobber’s free proposal template) so you don’t have to start from scratch every time.

6. Use technology to send professional quotes fast

The best HVAC apps help you create and send professional estimates to convert leads and win more jobs.

Setting up an HVAC quote template in Jobber takes seconds. Add your company details, logo, and branding once, and they’ll automatically appear on every quote or HVAC proposal.

From the Jobber mobile app, your techs or sales reps can build a quote on-site—adding HVAC units and services that you’ve saved in Jobber and adjusting pricing on the spot to create a custom plan.

You can also add optional line items to your estimates to suggest premium HVAC units or maintenance add-ons. Your customer can select the items that they want to add and track the updated total at the end of the estimate.

7. Follow up after sending estimates

Following up is often where deals are won or lost. One of the simplest HVAC sales tips you can put into practice is to have a system for it.

Close the sale faster by setting up two or three standard quote follow-up emails that remind your client to approve the estimate. This keeps you top of mind before they get a competing bid or forget your name.

8. Ask for referrals

Your current customers are the best spokespeople for your business. Creating a customer referral program that rewards customers for spreading the word is a great way to generate high-quality leads that turn into sales.

Follow these steps to ask for referrals:

• Create a standard follow-up email you can send to every HVAC customer asking if they’re happy with your work.
• At the end of the email, write one or two quick sentences explaining how the customer can send a referral and what reward they can get.
• Offer your customer a reward for booking your services, like a service discount or a gift card.

HVAC sales scripts for every phone call

Phone scripts can be a great guide for technicians and installers to improve their customer service—which helps you and your comfort advisors sell more HVAC work.

Creating HVAC sales scripts for your field techs’ calls with customers helps them use the most effective language to:

• Gather key information
• Earn a customer’s trust
• Offer additional services

Before using our phone call scripts, note that these are not for cold calls. The most effective way to sell is by having helpful customer service conversations with existing customers and HVAC leads who have contacted you.

The most important customer phone calls will happen: 

• After you receive a work request
• Before a scheduled HVAC repair call
• After you complete a visit

After you receive a work request

Follow up with a customer immediately after they request information or an estimate through your online request form.

Use this sample phone call script to collect information about the customer’s system, book a site visit, and establish that your team is trustworthy.