How David Doubled Incoming Work Without Hiring More Salespeople
Residential HVAC contractor could not afford dedicated sales staff. The system captured leads falling through the cracks - doubling booked appointments with the same crew.
Project Overview
David runs a residential HVAC service business with 6 technicians. Before Markster, he and his office manager handled all lead response manually between service calls. They booked 50-60 appointments monthly but knew they were losing opportunities - calls to voicemail during busy hours, web leads sitting unanswered for 4-6 hours, follow-ups forgotten when jobs ran long.
David tried hiring 3 part-time salespeople over 18 months. The math never worked. Summer call volume justified payroll, but slow winters meant paying people to sit around. He could not afford full-time staff, and part-time people were inconsistent - high turnover, constant training, still missing leads.
Key Challenges
- 2-6 hour average response time (vs. industry standard of under 5 minutes for conversion)
- 75%+ of inbound leads never received second follow-up
- No consistent process - results varied by who answered
- Could not justify sales hire costs, growth meant more missed opportunities
Execution
Markster deployed the three-component system in 66 days:
Results
David now books 100-110 service appointments monthly - double the previous 50-60. The increase came from capturing the 75%+ of leads that previously fell through due to slow response and forgotten follow-ups.
AI responds to every inquiry in under 60 seconds. Homeowner submits web form at 9 PM - AI qualifies and books next available slot immediately. Someone calls during busy afternoon - AI handles it while David is on a job site. Leads that used to sit for hours now convert into booked appointments.
David avoided hiring 3 salespeople at ~$72K annual payroll cost. The 6 technicians stay focused on service delivery - showing up to pre-qualified appointments, not answering phones between jobs. The system handles seasonal swings automatically - 150+ July inquiries and 40 January inquiries get identical instant response.
What David Says
David went from manually juggling leads between service calls to running a system that captures every opportunity. The business scales with demand automatically - no hiring decisions, no seasonal payroll gambles.