Knowing when it’s the right time to hire more HVAC employees is half the battle in the hiring process. However, you can use the top signs to discover EXACTLY when it’s time to hire.
In this article, we’ll unpack the top 5 clear signs it’s time to hire more HVAC employees, which will help you:
- Hire with confidence
- Keep top talent happy
- Balance marketing and labor
- Retain bandwidth for acquiring new clients
- Delegate low-level tasks so you can complete high-level tasks
Don’t get stuck in a rut, thinking of endless excuses as to why you can’t hire more HVAC employees. Remember, hiring is one of the top ways to level-up your business and scale for growth.
Take advantage of these invaluable expert tips on managing marketing, sales, and labor to ignite major success in your HVAC business.
Understanding the Marketing vs. Labor Dilemma
Before we discuss when it’s time to hire more HVAC employees, it’s important to understand the marketing vs. labor dilemma every business faces.
In general, when marketing and sales outshine the available labor, there’s more work sold, and more labor is needed. Alternatively, when labor outpaces marketing, there’s not enough work being sold.
In other words, there’s a constant internal tug-of-war going on in every HVAC business. If either side pulls too hard (i.e. marketing vs. labor), then the business becomes unhealthy.
For example, if you focus too much on marketing and sales, then chances are your staff can’t keep up. As a result, you and the HVAC technicians will become overworked and risk being burned out.
However, the true danger is when you focus too much on labor and are working your existing team to the bone. Then, you won’t be marketing enough to sell new jobs. In turn, the existing HVAC employees are still being overworked, but they’re cutting corners to finish work on time.
As a result, you lose repeat customers without new prospects to replace them, which is a big issue in this dilemma.
Always remember, hiring is a constant balancing act between marketing/sales and labor. If you don’t hire enough HVAC employees, then you’ll lose clients, employees and profits. On the flip side, if you hire too many techs, then there’s not enough work to go around.
Now, with this ongoing balancing act in mind, let’s talk about the top 5 clear signs it’s time to hire more HVAC employees:
1. Current HVAC Technician Workloads Reach Full Capacity
After finishing preparations to launch a marketing campaign or sales push, consider what the health of the business will look like if the campaign is successful.
For example, does the current team have enough bandwidth for additional jobs to be added to their workload? Alternatively, are the technicians already at full capacity with little to no room in their schedules? If additional jobs would strain employees too much, then it’s likely time to hire more HVAC employees.
In order to avoid a growth ceiling, it’s important to ALWAYS be selling. Rest assured, launching that marketing campaign is still the right thing to do. However, it’s important to hire enough HVAC employees before launching a marketing campaign or focusing on finding new clients.
Think of it this way, the average HVAC customer lifetime is about 2-3 years. This means, if you’re not continuously replacing lost clients, then you could be out of business within a few years.
In other words, you can’t rely on the same client base and refuse to take on new customers just because you don’t want to hire more HVAC employees. This mindset is a surefire way of losing the business. However, it’s equally dangerous to launch a marketing or sales campaign without any plans for securing enough employees for the additional work.
As always, meet with a trusted CPA (Certified Public Accountant) to ensure your finances are solid before deciding to hire more HVAC employees.
2. You’re Turning Down Profitable Jobs
The concept here is simple: if you’re turning down profitable jobs because you don’t have enough technicians, then it’s time to hire more HVAC employees.
Picture this…
You’ve just completed a profitable estimate and found that the Jones’ house would be the perfect candidate. They’re willing to put their credit card on file, they’ve accepted the quoted price, and they’re interested in the proposed recurring maintenance service agreement.
However, no matter which way you spin it, you don’t have enough HVAC technicians to complete the job. As a result, you turn down the perfect profitable client, and they turn around and hire the competition.
The main point is this: it’s dangerous to turn down profitable jobs instead of hiring more employees. While it’s challenging to find talented technicians who are eager to work, with the right hiring knowledge under your belt, it’s not as impossible as it seems.
Here are a few of the most effective ways to find great HVAC technicians:
- Start an employee referral program
- Ask your vendors if they know anyone right for the job
- Use Facebook and LinkedIn ads to attract ideal candidates
- Find out if family and friends know anyone right for the job (be cautious with this one)
- Place flyers and/or business cards on local bulletin boards (e.g. community centers, churches, etc.)
Find out when you’re profitable enough to hire a new employee by weighing costs and profits. If you can still meet profit goals after paying for an additional employee wage, then you’re good to go. However, if you don’t have enough profits to accomplish both, then it’s likely time to raise HVAC pricing.
Fix your prices in a few minutes using this free HVAC pricing calculator to increase profits now!
3. There’s No Bandwidth to Promote Top Talent
Even if you have enough technicians to complete jobs and grow your business, it’s pointless if there’s no bandwidth to promote top talent. Since amazing HVAC technicians are difficult to find, it’s essential to keep them happy in the business by establishing a dependable career path.
Alternatively, even if you are promoting top talent, it’s just as bad – if not worse – to waste the time of high-level employees (e.g. team leads, managers, etc.) in completing low-level tasks because there’s no entry-level positions to pick up the slack. These leaders should be focusing on the high-level tasks in which they’ve been trained for, paid to perform, and worked hard to achieve.
In addition, talented employees who go unappreciated are more likely to leave the business to work for the competition – leaving you to hire and train new talent all over again.
In the grand scheme of things, hiring new talent to properly promote skilled, top talent makes the business more money because high-level tasks are no longer being neglected or ignored. Plus, it increases employee retention and overall job satisfaction. For this reason, you should consistently strive to have enough employees to complete their appropriate job roles.
4. You Don’t Have the Time to Follow Up With Leads
If you’re missing important calls from leads or don’t have enough time to answer emails, then it’s time to hire an office assistant. After all, if you don’t follow up with leads, then you’ll lose them to the competition.
Here’s another way to look at it, if you’re in the middle of your busy season, just missing one call from a lead can cost you an average CLV (customer lifetime value) of $15,340, a customer lifetime revenue of $47,200, and an annual ARPC (average revenue per customer) of $16,000! Think of all of that money just being flushed down the drain. Plus, every missed call from a lead is potentially another client for the competition.
Though, keep in mind, the figures stated above are averages based on commercial HVAC companies in Silicon Valley, Sacramento, and San Francisco. Therefore, your figures may be different based on the area. Use this video to determine your own CLV.
In this scenario, we only discussed how much revenue would be lost if you merely missed ONE call… but think about all of the calls you’ve missed just in the last week. Now, try to think about how many you’ve missed in the last year. Also, think about all of the calls you didn’t even know were missed because the record of it got lost.
In the end, hiring an office assistant more than pays for itself. After all, a full-time office assistant makes an average of $38,000 per year. Which means, even if you’re only missing one or two calls this year, it’s still worth it to hire a part-time office assistant and grow from there.
Plus, by choosing FieldEdge, you’ll have the power to save you AND your office assistant’s time with:
- Quick invoicing
- Automatic payments
- Employee time tracking
- Instant route optimization
- Lead generation tracking
- Fast estimates on-the-go
- Detailed client information available from anywhere
The #1 HVAC software has the ability to save your staff hundreds of hours – giving your business instant savings.
Discover the endless possibilities the best software can provide your HVAC business. Book a demo of FieldEdge for free today!
5. You’re Trapped Completing Low-Level Tasks
If you’re the business owner and still working on the routes as an HVAC technician, then it’s time to hire more HVAC employees. While it might be a necessary evil as you’re getting started, it’s vital that HVAC business owners don’t get trapped completing these low-level tasks.
Never forget, the main goal of the business owner is to WORK ON the business completing high-level tasks, as opposed to WORKING IN the business completing low-level tasks. For example, your time is worth way more spent working on a new marketing campaign to bring in more customers than it is working a route.
Think of this a different way, are you doing $25 per hour work or $100 per hour work? In which scenario is your time better spent? Fixing an AC unit or finding new ways to brand and market your HVAC business?
Even though it’s easy to fall into the trap of working IN the business rather than ON it, don’t do it. The best way to serve your business is by hiring more HVAC employees to help complete the low-level tasks. In turn, this allows you to get back to where the real money-making magic happens – the high-level tasks only an entrepreneur like yourself can do.
If you’re striving to take your HVAC business to the next level, initiate sustainable growth, and conquer goals, then hiring more HVAC employees is the right move.
Always remember, if you’re struggling to find the budget to hire additional help, then it’s time to consider raising prices.
Hire More HVAC Employees BEFORE You and Your Team Are Overworked
Use these expert tips to hire more HVAC employees BEFORE you and your team become overworked and burned out.
Now, you have the power to:
- Hire without fear of losing profits
- Predict when it’s time to start hiring
- Retain your best clients and keep winning more
- Follow up with ALL leads and never miss a sale
- Find the perfect, harmonic balance between marketing and labor
Even though it’s easy to come up with countless excuses to avoid hiring more HVAC employees, this mindset only hurts your business in the long run. Take advantage of these new findings to start confidently hiring more HVAC employees today!
