How Midwest Heating & Cooling Increased Leads by 215% with 24/7 AI Chat

The Challenge

Midwest Heating & Cooling, a family-owned HVAC company in Columbus, Ohio, had a problem they didn't fully understand until they looked at the data.

Owner Mike Patterson knew he was busy during the day—sometimes too busy to answer every call. But he assumed most leads came during business hours anyway.

He was wrong.

When we analyzed his website traffic, we found that 62% of visitors came between 5pm and 9am—exactly when no one was there to answer.

"I was essentially closed for business during our busiest hours," Mike said. "Every summer night when someone's AC died, they were hitting our voicemail and calling the next company on Google."

The Situation Before

• Monthly leads: 18 on average
• After-hours capture: Voicemail only (3% callback rate)
• Average response time: 14 hours
• Website conversion rate: 1.8%
• Peak missed opportunity: Summer evenings and weekends

The math was brutal. At an average ticket of $450 for repairs and $6,500 for replacements, Mike estimated he was losing $15,000-20,000 per month in missed opportunities.

The Solution

We deployed an HVAC-trained AI chat agent on Midwest's website with specific capabilities:

1. Emergency Triage - Identifies urgent situations (no AC in summer, no heat in winter, gas smells) and flags for immediate callback 2. Service Qualification - Asks about equipment age, symptoms, and last maintenance 3. Direct Booking - Connects to Google Calendar to book service calls and estimates 4. Maintenance Upsells - Offers seasonal tune-up packages to repair inquiries

The agent was trained on HVAC terminology, common problems, and Midwest's specific service offerings and pricing ranges.

The Results: First 90 Days

Metric

Before

After

Change

Monthly leads	18	57	+215%
After-hours leads	2	24	+1,100%
Response time	14 hours	12 seconds	-99.9%
Website conversion	1.8%	5.7%	+217%
Maintenance signups	3/month	14/month	+367%

The Revenue Impact

Let's put that in dollars:

• Additional leads per month: 39
• Close rate: 55%
• Average job value: $780 (blended repairs + replacements)
• Additional monthly revenue: $16,731
• Annual impact: $200,772

The AI agent cost: $349/month.

ROI: 47x

Key Wins

1. Summer Nights Are Gold

"Our best leads now come at 10pm on a Tuesday when it's 95 degrees," Mike said. "These people are desperate, they're not price shopping, and we're the only ones answering. Close rate on these is over 80%."

2. Maintenance Plan Growth

The agent mentions maintenance plans during every conversation. Before, Mike's techs would sometimes forget. Now it's automatic—and maintenance signups have nearly quadrupled.

3. Better Lead Quality

The agent pre-qualifies every lead with questions about equipment age, symptoms, and urgency. "We used to show up to a lot of 'just looking' calls. Now we know exactly what we're walking into."

What Mike Says Now

"I wish I had done this three years ago. The ROI was obvious after month one. What took me longer to appreciate was the lifestyle improvement—I'm not stressed about missing calls anymore. The agent has it handled."

"My only complaint? My competitors are going to read this and get one too."