Do HVAC customers leave a voicemail or call the next company?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
An HVAC customer with a system that has stopped working rarely waits on a voicemail. They hang up and call the next company, because the problem is urgent and another number is one tap away. Voicemail suits existing customers with a routine question. For a new caller with no heat or cooling, it ends the conversation.
Why is voicemail worse for HVAC than for other trades?
It is worse because the call is so often urgent. A homeowner does not ring an HVAC company to browse. Something has stopped, the house is getting hot or cold, and they want to know when someone can come. A recording cannot answer that. The search results they came from are still open, with the next company's number right there.
How do I test what my callers hear?
Call your own number as a stranger would, at the times your office is thinnest. Count the rings and note what happens: a person, a recording, a full mailbox or a busy tone.
- At lunch, when the office is eating or on another line.
- Twenty minutes after closing, when people get home and find the problem.
- On Saturday morning.
- During a busy afternoon, to hear what the second caller hears.
What can replace voicemail?
Anything that responds while the caller still needs you. A person is best if you can staff every hour. An answering service gives you a human who takes a message. A text sent to the missed caller within a minute keeps the conversation alive. An AI receptionist answers and books the call. The right mix depends on when your calls are missed, so count first.
How does Margin replace voicemail for an HVAC company?
Mia, the AI receptionist, answers in your company's name, either every call or only the ones your office misses. She answers questions, takes messages and books the service call. Calls can go live within days of your kickoff call.
If a caller hangs up before speaking, they get a text from your company within a minute, offering to help. That text-back starts once phone carriers approve your texting number, which takes a few days to a couple of weeks.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Booking onto your calendar
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for HVAC companiesSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
Should an HVAC company keep voicemail at all?
Yes, as a last resort. An HVAC company's existing customers and suppliers will still leave messages. The aim is that a new caller with an urgent problem reaches something that can help before voicemail is ever offered.
What should an HVAC voicemail greeting say?
Keep it short: the company name, that the message will be returned, and by when. If your HVAC company texts missed callers, say so, so the caller knows to look for it. Avoid long menus and marketing before the beep.
How quickly should an HVAC company return a missed call?
Within a minute if it can, by text or by phone. Every further minute gives the caller time to reach another HVAC company. A callback the next morning is a courtesy to someone who has already booked elsewhere.