It’s no secret that the events of 2020 and 2021 have dramatically altered the nation’s financial health. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, global supply chain shutdowns and increased government aid have all contributed to significant disruptions. Millions of Americans lost their jobs in 2020, while millions quit their jobs in 2021. For other households, COVID-19 relief payments and decreased consumer spending allowed them to increase their savings rates and strengthen their financial health.

Understanding the nation’s financial situation is critical for the HVAC industry, as a single HVAC system change-out often exceeds $8,000. While that may not be an issue for some families, many others will need significant financial provisions to afford their HVAC systems. That financial support can come in the form of HVAC dealers.

Easy and Accessible

HVAC financing has never been easier to secure for customers, and your HVAC dealers can be the lifeline to provide quick and seamless financing with affordable and attractive rates and payment options. Leveraging technological advances in usability can also be a valuable tool to help your team tap into greater customer markets and close more sales. Dealers should use load calculation software tools to quickly determine or confirm system size requirements. Having a financing presentation that covers your company’s background, experience and credibility can also be helpful to establish trust and rapport with your clients.

Once you’ve developed a relationship with the homeowner, utilizing technology can make your financing solution as easy and accessible to your customers as using a smartphone. Intuitive web and application design can create user experiences that allow your customers to purchase an HVAC system or plan for a change-out in as little as four clicks.

Some dealers have created mobile apps that allow customers to scan the bar code on the back of their driver’s license to quickly upload their personal information. While the bar code scan doesn’t contain all the information needed before making a credit decision, it does cover about ¾ of the information needed. Once the additional information is provided, the mobile app provides a credit decision in roughly twenty to thirty seconds. Within a minute and a half, customers can execute a loan and schedule payment installments in a completely secure and paperless process.

It’s critical that dealers understand the importance of establishing consumer credit checks through their own applications and services. Not only do dealer-approved credit checks help streamline sales conversations, but we’ve also found them when credit is approved for a consumer through a dealer, that the proposal is converted to a sale 90% of the time.

Aligning with Your Customers' Needs

At the end of the day, it’s the dealer that needs to make proposals attractive for customers to close sales and keep their customers satisfied. We’ve found that part of what makes a deal attractive is keeping it affordable. When proposals keep customer’s monthly payments below $150 a month, customers are much more likely to stay satisfied with their purchases.

Another way to promote customer satisfaction is to provide premium options along with generous financing options. We’ve found that 90% of homeowners are “very satisfied” with their dealer when sold a premium system, and those who bought a premium system were up to 22% happier with their dealer. We also found that at least 70% of homeowners planned to finance their HVAC investments. Offering financing directly is a great way for dealers to align their operations with their customer’s needs.