HVAC companies should set a monthly "opportunities budget" combining demand calls and tune-ups to keep technicians busy year-round and customers on maintenance schedules. A baseline number like four calls per day smooths seasonal swings and guarantees steady paychecks.
Well, when we actually budget, we actually budget both demand calls and we budget tune ups. And we actually do tune ups all year long, even when it's 100 degrees now in July when it's hot here in Pennsylvania, we'll do fewer tune ups than we will in April. But we actually make a budget and we call it an opportunities budget. And every month we strive to hit our opportunity number. The opportunity number does two things. One, it lets the technicians know that I've got your back and you're going to get a steady paycheck. Two, it lets our customers know that if you're on maintenance program, I'm going to see you. And three, it helps us smooth out the effects of weather. Because I would love to be able to budget demand and hit that number because I could control the weather. And if I could control the weather, I wouldn't need to work here. It'd be awesome. I'd sell it to all of you. But the bottom line is I can't control the weather. So what I do is I use those tune ups and some other marketing things that we're going to talk about in a couple of minutes. We use those to kind of fill the gaps on an almost as needed basis. But you need a basis on your books every single month of tune ups as a reason to get the techs to get out of bed and get to work. Okay. What you don't want to have is where the technicians call in to find out. We only have one call today or two calls today. What I know is, and what my guys know is you're coming in and I'm pretty much going to guarantee you a four calls a day, every day, all year long, on your schedule.
