As the country continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, several vaccines are now available, revealing a light at the end of the lonely tunnel. Yet not every citizen will take the vaccine. Mechanical contracting firms will need to continue providing field personnel with personal protective equipment and working under pandemic protocols — protecting customers as well as workers.
No-contact sales calls may seem strange, but it’s been a necessity over the last year. Much can be done through today’s technology, video calling being the predominant method of keeping in touch. But a combination of text messaging and photos is one technique HVACR techs can use to work with customers and solve problems — while saving time and money.
“Recently, we had a contractor start with Podium that was in near lockdown,” explains Marc Glutz, Podium’s director of sales. “A new customer came to the HVAC company website, asked about scheduling a time via Webchat (a website texting tool), communicated via text with the service manager, and even sent and received photos of the perceived problems via text.
“The technician was dispatched to the home with access to earlier conversations, was able to enter the home, replace the part, take and send a photo of the final
Not all your customers will have a smartphone with Internet access, but almost everyone has a mobile phone that receives and sends text messages.
Text messaging has a 209 percent higher response rate than phone, email or Facebook, notes software testing and reviewing firm TechJury. And that was before the pandemic hit our shores. And keep this in mind: not all your customers will have a smartphone with Internet access, but almost everyone has a mobile phone that receives and sends text messages.
Because of the medium's immediacy, text messaging is an ideal way to communicate with customers to help with their home service needs. There are many ways this technology can help home service contractors benefit from “becoming textable,” Glutz says.
Other tools that HVACR contractors can benefit from include video chatting via text, internal feedback, creating and tracking marketing campaigns, and automation of appointment reminders.
“It is customizable to each company and their desired process and customer interaction philosophy,” he notes. “Podium has different tools within the platform to generate text conversation from a website, send photos and updates, collect secure payments and send bulk text reminders. Being able to execute on business processes via text seamlessly is great, but allowing access to techs, administrators, office staff and owners for oversight on a singular system for communication can save hours of time and stress.”
Other tools that HVACR contractors can benefit from include video chatting via text, internal feedback, creating and tracking marketing campaigns, and automation of appointment reminders, he adds.
“It’s about modernizing local businesses to help ensure communication is simple for the entire HVAC process via text,” Glutz notes. “Text messaging is imperative in today’s economy and marketplace. It saves us time, energy and opens conversations we may not usually have. So when HVACR contractors and homeowners can connect via text, it can become a win-win for both.”
Kelly Faloon is a contributing writer to Contracting Business magazine and principal of Faloon Editorial Services. The former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical magazine, she has more than 20 years' experience in the plumbing and heating industry and B2B publishing. Faloon is a journalism graduate of Michigan State University.
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