The HVAC Busy Season Playbook with Hatch and Nexstar

The title of this webinar, hosted by Hatch and Nexstar, was The HVAC Busy Season Playbook: Maximize Revenue, Minimize Burnout. Here's the recap!

Watch the webinar recording here.

The speakers

Kristen McCormick: Head of Marketing at Hatch, an AI CSR platform that enables businesses to scale 1:1, revenue-driving conversations across the customer journey.

Zach Klinger: Digital Marketing Coach at Nexstar Network, a member-owned organization that drives business growth and development through continued education and the sharing of ideas.

Resources shared in this webinar

• Customer Journey Map template
• HVAC Busy Season Playbook
• HVAC speed to lead benchmarks and best practices
• HVAC estimate follow-up benchmarks and best practices
• All Hatch templates
• Messaging Best Practices
• This webinar's slide deck

Webinar recap

Setting the stage: Volume without strategy = missed revenue and burnout

More leads don’t automatically mean more revenue—especially if your processes can't scale to support them.

The problem:

• During busy season, volume increases.
• Without streamlined conversations and systems, quality and response times fall.
• This leads to lost revenue, customer churn, and burnout.

The trap:

• To fix revenue loss, businesses often:
  • Buy more leads (amplifies the volume issue).
  • Hire more staff (adds cost).
  • Piece together automation tools (adds complexity).

The solution:

• Focus on managing conversations effectively, not just generating more leads.
• Automate intelligently to maintain a high-quality experience.
• Shift from reactive to proactive communication.
  
  

Step 1: Map out your touch points 

You can’t fix or scale what you don’t define.

Action steps:

• Visually map every customer interaction, from lead capture to job completion and follow-up.
  Include nuanced states like:
  • Filled out a form but didn’t book.
  • Got an estimate but didn’t respond.
  • Scheduled a job but never confirmed.
• For each touchpoint:
  • Define the customer’s intent.
  • Define your business objective.
  • Assign clear ownership to internal teams.

Tools:

• Downloadable touchpoint map shared in the webinar.
• Template helps identify bottlenecks and communication gaps.

Bonus tip:

• If you’re taking care of your existing customers with tune ups in the spring, you can free your business up to handle a higher volume of new leads in the summer.

Step 2: Pair each touch point with best-practice outreach

Guide—don’t push—your customers forward.

Messaging formula:

• Prompt – Reach out quickly (especially for new leads).
• Personalized – Reference source, name, or technician.
• Short & Simple – Aim for responses, not immediate bookings.
• Multi-Channel, Multi-Day – Use SMS + email. Don’t give up after 1-2 tries.

Mindset shift:

• Think of your customers like distracted toddlers—don’t expect them to stay seated without repeated, gentle nudges.
• Your role is a guide, not a pusher.
• Help customers buy, don’t just try to sell.

Bonus tip:

• Stop overloading customers with too much info upfront.
• Instead: Start a conversation → build trust → then deliver the info.

Zoom in: Speed to lead and estimate follow-up best practices

Speed to lead and estimate follow-up represent your biggest opportunities during busy season.

Speed to lead best practices

• Respond to new leads within 1 minute.
• 7 messages over 5 days.
• Mix of SMS + email.
• Texts capped at ~250 characters for compliance and clarity.
• Example template ends with a question: “What can I help you with today?”
• Resource: 
• HVAC speed to lead best practices and templates

Why they work:

• Fast response increases conversion odds before competitors reply.
• Uses low-friction asks to spark engagement.
  
  

Estimate follow-up best practices

• Don’t give up after the visit—follow up strategically.
• 7 messages over 7 days.
• Two proven messaging styles: “Feedback” or “Quote Reminder.”
• Huge ROI observed, especially among Nexstar members.
• Resource: HVAC estimate follow-up best practices and templates

Why they work

• Most sales happen after 6+ touches.
• Hatch automates the process so your team can focus on hot leads only.

Step 3: Play the long game

Post-busy season prep starts now. Busy season contacts are off-season gold.

Nurture opportunities:

• Aged leads: Follow up with unbooked leads from busy season.
• Stale estimates: Revisit partially accepted or ignored quotes.
• Maintenance & memberships: Upsell and promote benefits
• Cross-selling: Offer duct cleaning, tune-ups, or plumbing if applicable.

Operational musts:

• Keep CRM data clean and current (dispositioning matters!).
• Enable office staff + field techs to promote long-term services.
• Use Hatch or any tool to schedule long-term follow-up campaigns now.

Watch the webinar recording here

Want to learn more?

• Hatch customers, reach out to your Account Manager here.
• Non-Hatch customers, you can book a demo with us here.
  
• Reach out to learn about Nexstar here.
  

For past and upcoming Hatch webinars, check out our webinar page!