In the heating and cooling business, technical know-how is obviously key to doing your job. However, succeeding in your job often requires other skills, which we have talked about extensively in the past, like communication and teamwork. 

However, these skills don’t exclusively translate to working with customers and fellow service technicians and installers within your company. Devoting your skills and time to working with those outside of your HVAC company can have some fantastic benefits. 

What are we talking about exactly? We are talking about the benefits of building relationships with other home services companies in your area.

Even though home service companies like plumbers, electricians, flooring, landscaping, construction contractors, and concrete companies may provide a very different kind of service from your company, at the end of the day you have a common goal: provide homeowners with a valuable service that helps improve their lives and home.

Besides just being a good home service neighbor, having good connections and relationships with the various home service companies in your area opens the door for many benefits and opportunities. Here are some of the perks and why this is sometimes an overlooked opportunity for new HVAC professionals.

Find a trusted partner

Even though you provide very different services, the home service companies are destined to cross paths at some point in time on a single job. Maybe a situation will occur in which you run into an electrical issue during a routine installation that requires an electrician to run new electrical.

In this situation, the customer will be looking to you for advice and where to turn next. If you have done your networking and built relationships with different companies, you will undoubtedly have someone in mind you can refer them to right away that you know will get them taken care of and do the job right.

Having trusted partners to turn to when customers need a referral allows you to go above and beyond for a customer and help you establish even more value in their eyes than before. A customer that feels taken care of and is happy will be more likely to come back to you in the future or refer customers to you in turn.

Referral opportunities

In the home service industry, home service referrals are fortunately a two-way street. If you have done your due diligence in establishing relationships with these kinds of companies, there may become a day in which the script of the scenario we talked about before becomes flipped.

Say a building contractor working with a customer on building their dream home eventually reaches the point that they need ductwork installed or their HVAC system installed. With so many options for heating and cooling companies to turn to in the area, what would cause them to recommend you?

Establishing a rapport and demonstrating your value as a trusted company with your home service colleagues will help establish you as their “go-to” when they need to make a recommendation. Just like you want to give your customers the best treatment, so do they, and referring them to a company like yours will do that.

Marketing opportunities

On the business side, having strong relationships with other home service providers creates some very unique marketing and other business opportunities. One such opportunity may be as simple as them allowing you to leave advertisements in the form of business cards, flyers, or pamphlets around their office for their customers to see and take when they come in for a visit. 

If you and another business can come to an agreement, you might also be able to establish referral bonuses for any customers that they might send your way. This could be in the form of payment to the other company as thanks for them sending work your way, or it could be a reward for the customer themselves, offering them a small cash or gift card bonus when they drop your home service referrals partner’s name.

It may seem like a minor thing, taking the time to build relationships with the companies in your area, but doing so can have very monetary and reputational benefits for you and the heating and cooling company you work for. 

So, take the time to pick up the phone, visit their office, or put together an event and introduce yourself to those around you. Chances are, they will understand the value of your home service referrals relationship and be excited to take part in it as well.