"What is the role of a Comfort Advisor in an HVAC business?", you might ask.
The obvious answer is to make sales and bring revenue to the business. Sales are the bloodline of the business. Many people need to realize that Comfort Advisors bring in 75% of the revenue an HVAC company needs to succeed. Service and maintenance represent about 25% of the company's revenue. So, Comfort Advisors are responsible for bringing life to the business. If you think about sales being the bloodline and that analogy, as crucial as the organs are, you die if you don't have blood flowing through your body. It connects everything and allows the HVAC company to function, BUT there is so much more to the role of a Comfort Advisor.
Comfort Advisors need to know and work with the installers. About 30 minutes a day should be spent with the install team. The work of the Comfort Advisor is to keep the job board filled and the installers fully employed. They are a team. The install team keeps the Comfort Advisor's promises to the homeowners. Ensure the installers have all the information they need to do the job properly and efficiently for the homeowner.
Comfort Advisors must also know and work closely with the service and maintenance technicians. Spending about 30 minutes or more with this group of professionals daily will help the Comfort Advisor immensely in their role. These are the homeowners' trusted advisors, and when they tell the homeowner it's time to replace the old system, they listen. The technicians bring the leads to the Comfort Advisors. Working with the techs ensures that the leads show up on the Comfort Advisor's desk and not in extensive and expensive repairs for the homeowner.
When the Comfort Advisor runs a sales call, they aim to make a sale while at the customer's home. Sometimes it is not a possibility for several factors. Many homeowners will take 2 to 3 days to make the purchase decision. Comfort Advisor’s should follow up with customers who did not close immediately and offer any help the homeowner might need to make the buying decision. Reconnecting with homeowners should be about an hour of the Comfort Advisor’s day.
There will be a slow time in the year for an HVAC business, but a Comfort Advisor needs to continue to make sales for their income and that of the business. That means they need to be constantly prospecting. Suppose that means working in neighborhoods where they have made recent sales, connecting with past customers seeking referrals from satisfied homeowners. There are numerous things a Comfort Advisor can do to generate business. These tasks should be constant and not when business slows down; by then, it's too late. Salespeople should spend about 30 to 60 minutes building and maintaining customer relationships.
A Comfort Advisors role is so much more than making sales. There is a lot of work behind the successes they have. For these reasons, the Comfort Advisor should only run about three calls a day. They need time to do all the things mentioned above and to provide sufficient time with the homeowner to create value for them to make an easy decision to purchase a new Comfort System. Sales Professionals are an essential part of any HVAC company.
