How salespeople hand off a residential HVAC job to an installation crew can make or break a project. Almost every company has a slightly different handoff process, let’s take a look at several ideas that make it flow smoothly, assures relative harmony in the shop, and keeps the jobs profitable.
Residential jobs are sold to customers who may only buy air conditioning and heating replacements and upgrades once or twice in their lives. Because of that lack of experience, you must carefully hand-off customers’ requests and expectations to assure their satisfaction.
Because many customers buy HVAC replacements and upgrades only once or twice in their lives, you must carefully hand-off customers' requests and expectations to assure their satisfaction.
Salespeople are present when the sale is made. Immediately, the obligation to complete the work according to the written and verbal agreements becomes the responsibility of everyone who touches that project. Success or failure depends on how well salespeople communicate job requirements are communicated to others.
The Perfect Job Handoff
The best handoffs occur in small companies where the salesperson, inventory manager, and installer are the same person. There is no need to communicate any critical job details. However, problems will amplify as more people become engaged to get the project completed.
Job Handoff Recommendations
Discussions with four HVAC companies who have built and maintained effective handoff procedures reveal some valuable time-tested principles that they were willing to share. Here are their top seven building blocks they use to assure successful job handoffs.
1. They use their specific handoff process on every job, every time.
At some point in a company’s development, the loss and irritation from poorly communicated information become great enough to force the development of specific handoff procedures. Sure, they each admitted it started off rocky, but with time, it became very effective.
Installers report handoffs only work when every team member does their job consistently every time.
Installers report handoffs only work when every team member does their job consistently every time. Should one team member drop the ball, overtime is required to get the job back on track
2. All are equally accountable
One element that remains constant is that each team member touching that job is fully accountable for their part in the handoff. All players share equal responsibility for their tasks and are accountable directly to each other.
In addition to installers, inventory managers, and salespeople are also accountable to each other. The goal is to make sure you deliver to the customer what they purchased and cement long-term relationships.
3. Required written documentationJob details must be written down and made available to everyone with a role in the installation. This documentation can be on paper, in digital format, or a combination of both.
Companies with successful handoffs, typically share sales documents. These often include descriptions of the work described in the proposal, contact, and job scheduling information, photographs (worth 1000 words), and special requests from the homeowner.
4. Install SupervisorsSome salespeople are so terrific at selling, that another team member assumes is participates in the job set up and handoff. This is usually the role of an installation supervisor who visits the job after the sale and before the work begins.
The installation supervisor checks the job and creates the material and equipment lists from the salesperson’s scope of work. This visit may also include final measurements for sheet metal fittings, verifying utility hookups are adequate and identifying specialized tools or subcontract services that may be needed. They add this information to the records provided by the salesperson. Then the installation supervisor shares everything with inventory and the install crew.
5. Equipment and Material Staging
If your shop keeps limited inventory, you may choose to give installers purchase orders that are filled out and ready for them to use when they pick up required materials from a local vendor on the way to the job.
Some larger companies lease some of their own shop space to a vendor. The vendor stocks a full inventory and may provide a late-night worker to replenish material and load installation and service vehicles for the next day’s work.
More companies have improved their efficiency by creating pre-packaged equipment or material kits for repeating types of jobs like equipment replacement or duct renovations. The kit is checked out of inventory, then any material not used is returned to inventory once the job is complete. Inventory managers report that the kits normally expand over time to avoid unnecessary trips to the supply house.
6. Face-to-Face HandoffWhile some companies have well-established handoff processes that may not require a face-to-face handoff, their installers and salespeople agree time taken for this step would benefit every job.
A job walk-through with the salesperson, customer, and installer is the ideal time for a handoff. Salespeople introduce the installers to customers who appreciate how well-prepared and detail-oriented the team is.
This get-together allows for on-the-spot questions and answers. These handoffs may result in add-on sales the customer chooses as they learn first-hand what is needed to deliver the type of job they want. The team may find solutions to installation obstacles that may be better understood as they survey the job together.
Homeowners are assured that their special requests are communicated and will meet their expectations.
7. Labor Hours
Imagine an installer walking a new job, reviewing well-prepared handoff documentation, and having a truck loaded with all the appropriate materials. They’re all set to begin the project. What would be the impact on the job budget if the installation crew had no indication of how much time has been allotted to complete the job?
The hoped-for results of this article will be realized when salespeople, inventory managers, and installers sit down and have an honest discussion about how their job handoff process can improve.
By including labor-hour estimates in the job documentation you set the pace and quality of the job. It also allows installers to meet the schedule already given to the customer. This ongoing practice, over time, helps salespeople to better estimate labor. This feedback loop avoids estimating 16 hours of labor, on a job requiring 48 hours. Nobody wins when this happens.
Of course, fee-based installers can calculate hours from the pre-determined rate they are paid.
Conclusion
What do your current job handoff procedures look like? Are they good, bad, or ugly? Hopefully, you were able to discover at least one weakness you can strengthen to improve your procedures from these principles.
The hoped-for results of this article will be realized when salespeople, inventory managers, and installers sit down and have an honest discussion about how their job handoff process can improve. Set a time and date for the meeting and schedule more than an hour, together, you’ll make good use of the time.
Rob “Doc” Falke serves the industry as president of National Comfort Institute, Inc., an HVAC-based training company and membership organization. You can contact Doc at ncilink.com/ContactMe or call him at 800-633-7058. Go to NCI’s website at nationalcomfortinstitute.com for free information, articles, and downloads.