JSU / Playbooks / Commercial HVAC
How to price your HVAC sales bottleneck
Run the same math as the JSU Bottleneck Index on your own HVAC numbers in three steps.
The Commercial HVAC bottleneck prices a single question: what does it cost you per year to be slow and unfocused at first contact? For a typical firm it is around $456,000.
The formula
Annual bottleneck = average deal value × winnable deals lost per quarter × 4. For Commercial HVAC, that is $38,000 × 3 × 4 = $456,000.
Run it on your real numbers
The published figure is representative. Take your own average deal and your honest quarterly loss to slow and generic follow-up. Four-hour service window.
- A building trades hands and the new owner audits systems
- Equipment passes the 15-year threshold
- A heat wave or cold snap breaks aging units
- A competitor fails a service call or loses techs
Then decide if it's worth closing
Once you have your number, compare it to the cost of fixing speed and aim at first contact. In commercial hvac, the leak is almost always the larger figure.
Remember what each variable really represents. The $38,000 is one hvac relationship walking out the door. The 3 losses a quarter are not no-fits; they are deals you could have won had you reached the buyer inside the 4 hours window. Multiply by four and you have a full year of revenue that went to whoever simply answered first. That is the figure to price your fix against.
The bottleneck is rarely effort. It is speed and aim at the first touch.
Why is the HVAC window only four hours?
Because a broken unit is an emergency. The first contractor to answer wins. At a $38,000 average project, three lost jobs a quarter is $456,000 a year.
Which signals predict a replacement decision?
Building transactions, equipment age past 15 years, season spikes that break aging units, and competitor service failures.