Why does my HVAC company miss so many calls in a heat wave?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
HVAC companies miss calls in a heat wave because demand arrives all at once and the office does not grow with it. Every tech is on a job, the lines are busy, and the next caller gets voicemail or a busy tone. A homeowner with no cooling does not wait. They call the next company on the list.
What does the first hot week look like from the office?
It looks like a phone that never stops. One person is booking a call, dispatching a tech and answering a customer asking where the truck is. The second line rings behind them. By mid-afternoon the voicemail box is filling with messages from people who will have found another company by the time anyone listens.
Why can't you just call them back?
You can, but the callback is late by design. A caller whose house is getting hotter keeps dialling until a person answers, and books with that company. When your office returns the call an hour later, the job is gone. The callbacks also take time from the calls still coming in, so the backlog grows through the day.
What are the ways to cover a surge?
There are five, and each has a catch. Whichever you choose, decide in a mild week what counts as an emergency and what a caller is told when the next opening is days away.
- Seasonal office help: good with customers, but has to be hired and trained before the heat arrives.
- Overflow to an answering service: a person answers, but may only take a message for you to return.
- A phone queue: keeps the caller on hold, which is where they hang up.
- An AI receptionist: answers the calls the office cannot reach and books them, but needs setting up first.
- Text-back for missed calls: reaches the caller within a minute, before they have booked elsewhere.
How does Margin cover a heat wave for an HVAC company?
Mia, the AI receptionist, can answer every call or only the ones your office cannot get to, including the second line while the first is busy. She never puts a caller on hold, and she books the service call onto your portal calendar and tells the office.
A caller who hangs up is texted back within a minute, once phone carriers have approved your texting number. Urgent calls are passed straight to your team. She does not add techs, so what callers are offered when the board is full is agreed with you first.
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
Is busy season a bad time to change how an HVAC company answers calls?
Busy season is when the most HVAC calls go unanswered, so it is also when the gap costs the most. A change that only covers missed calls leaves the office working as it does now. An audit takes 30 minutes, and the plan keeps.
How do I know how many calls my HVAC company misses in a busy week?
Ask your phone provider for a call log covering one busy week and count the calls that were not answered or went to voicemail. Then call your own HVAC company at lunch, after closing and on Saturday morning to hear what a customer hears.
Should an HVAC company turn off ads during a heat wave?
Only if the calls cannot be answered. Ads during a surge bring more calls to a phone that is already full, and each unanswered one was paid for. An HVAC company that can answer and book them is better leaving the ads on.