Key takeaways
- Follow up by what the lead asked for: a tune-up books a slot, a replacement books an in-home estimate, a membership signs up.
- Send an automatic text within a minute and have a person call while the homeowner is still at home and thinking about it.
- Texting needs consent captured on the form, A2P 10DLC registration and a working STOP.
- Leads that never book go into a seasonal list, not the trash. Next spring's tune-up offer is a reason to call again.
Facebook lead follow-up for an HVAC company is a race against the homeowner's evening. Forms come in after dinner, when the office is closed and the same person has seen offers from other HVAC companies. Reach them within minutes by text, call them while they are still home, offer a real time slot, then keep following up for two weeks.
Why speed decides
Speed decides because a Facebook lead is a moment of attention, not a decision. The homeowner who tapped your spring tune-up offer has not committed to anything, and by the next morning the system is running fine again and the form is forgotten.
HVAC adds two pressures. First, the offers are seasonal and the slots are limited: tune-up weeks fill, and a lead that waits three days may find your calendar full of emergency calls when the first heat lands. Second, replacement leads are comparing. A homeowner thinking about a new system usually gets more than one estimate, and the company that gets into the house first sets the terms of the comparison.
What you are booking depends on the offer:
| The lead asked about | The follow-up goal | Who handles it |
|---|---|---|
| A tune-up offer | A confirmed visit date this week or next | CSR or automated booking link |
| A replacement estimate or financing | An in-home estimate with both decision-makers home | Comfort advisor or sales tech |
| A membership | A sign-up, and the first visit on the calendar | CSR |
| Indoor air quality | A spot on the next visit, or a separate estimate | CSR, flagged for the tech |
The follow-up sequence
- Form submitted
- Instant text and email Confirms you have it
- A call attempt As soon as someone is free
- Follow-up sequence Spaced texts and calls
- Booked or closed out Every lead ends with an outcome
The follow-up sequence
- Within a minute: automatic text. Use your company name, their first name and what they asked for: "Hi Dana, it's [your company] about your AC tune-up. Want Tuesday or Wednesday morning?" A specific choice is easier to answer than "let us know".
- Within five minutes: a call. In office hours, the CSR calls straight away. After hours, the on-call rotation or an answering service calls, or the text promises a call at a stated time the next morning and the call happens then.
- Same evening: a second text if there is no answer. Short, with a booking link for tune-ups, or two estimate times for replacements.
- Day 1: call again mid-morning and email. The email repeats the offer and adds something useful: what the tune-up checks, or what the replacement estimate covers and how long it takes.
- Day 3: a text with one new reason. Remaining slots this week, the financing option for replacements, or the membership perk.
- Day 7: a final call and a plain closing text. "Should I close this out, or would a later date work better?" This often gets a reply when nothing else did.
- Day 14 onward: move them to the seasonal list. No more chasing. They get the fall furnace tune-up offer, or the next replacement promotion, by text or email under the consent they gave.
Keep every text to a few lines, signed with your company name as it appears on your vans.
Automating it
Automate the clock, not the conversation. A CRM such as HighLevel can catch every Meta form the moment it lands, send the first text, alert the CSR on duty, create a call task and run the rest of the sequence until the lead replies or books. Once someone replies, the sequence stops and a person takes over.
Three connections make it work for HVAC:
- Forms into the CRM instantly, so nobody copies leads from Meta's inbox.
- Booked visits into ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber, so dispatch sees the appointment and you can match the job back to the ad.
- Outcomes back to Meta, so the platform learns which leads booked, not just which ones filled in a form.
Texting has rules. Get consent on the form, in plain language, before you text (TCPA rules). Register your brand and campaign for A2P 10DLC through The Campaign Registry, or carriers can block or filter your texts (registration). Honor STOP in every message (CTIA principles).
Improving lead quality
Lead quality improves at the form, before follow-up starts. Ask what kind of system they have, roughly how old it is, and whether they own the home. Tenants and someone with a ten-month-old system asking about replacement are not the leads your comfort advisor needs.
Meta's higher-intent form option adds a review step before submission, which cuts accidental taps. Restrict the ad to your service area so leads you cannot reach never arrive. Judge each campaign by booked visits and sold systems, not by lead count, as the HVAC Meta ads guide describes. Leads who never answer still belong on a missed-call and reactivation path, covered in the missed-call text-back guide.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
We connect your Meta forms to a CRM in your name, write the texts and call scripts for each HVAC offer, set up 10DLC registration and consent, and pass booked visits into your field service software. The build is a project with a finish date, and we report booked tune-ups, estimates and sold systems by campaign. Bring a week of Facebook leads to a growth consultation and we will show you how many went cold and why.
Sources
- 47 CFR 64.1200: Delivery restrictions (TCPA rules), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
- Messaging Principles and Best Practices, CTIA
- The Campaign Registry (A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration), The Campaign Registry