How can I learn if an HVAC company’s technicians hold their own customer relationships?

Begin with how work reaches the business. Does the customer phone the office, use a website or text a technician directly? Review the booking records for a few months and see how often a customer asks for a particular person. A lot of direct requests suggests the relationship sits with the individual.

Next, look at what holds the customer to the company. Who owns the customer list and the phone numbers? Do invoices come from the business, and are service histories kept in a system the company controls? Ask about technicians who left before and what happened to their customers. Past experience is a good guide to future risk.

Then talk with the technicians, once the seller allows. Ask how they see their future, and whether they have agreements about customers and competing work, which your lawyer can interpret. Consider ways to keep them, such as clear roles, fair pay and a stake in the outcome. Plan how you will introduce yourself to customers so that the relationship begins to shift to the company. Review how new customers are added, since a company that markets itself well relies less on any one technician’s following.

Key takeaways

• Find out whether customers call the office or a technician directly.
• Ask what happened to the customers of any technician who left before.
• Speak with key technicians about their plans once the seller agrees.
• See how new customers find the company beyond individual technicians.