The Three Offer Mailer: HVAC shoulder season marketing built from customers you already have

The Three Offer Mailer in four parts

This is the campaign from our video on filling the shoulder months. It's built from customers you already have, and it comes down to three offers and one list.

1. Zero percent financing, for the customer with an old system who keeps putting off the replacement.
2. A discount on an indoor air quality product, which gives a customer a reason to call when nothing's broken.
3. A discount on a service agreement, which turns one visit into visits you can plan around.
4. The list. Last year's customers, pulled from your software, with texts for the ones who opted in and the postcard for everyone.

The idea comes from an older ACHR News piece. In it, Chris Smith of All Contractor Marketing recommends a postcard with three offers: 0% financing, a discount on an indoor air quality product and a discount on a service agreement, mirrored in social ads for the four to six weeks the offers run. The article is from 2021, so treat it as an expert's recipe, not new research. It still fits the problem: in the shoulder months nobody's system has died, so the work you get is work you start yourself.

Who this is for and what you need first

HVAC and plumbing companies with a customer list from past years and crews who have open time in spring or fall. You need:

• Last year's customers from your job software, with address, equipment age if you have it, and whether they have a maintenance plan.
• Each customer's texting consent. Who agreed to get marketing texts from you, and when.
• Three offers you can actually honor. Real financing terms from your lender, a real price on the indoor air quality product, a real plan price.
• A postcard printer and four to six weeks on the calendar.

Why spring and fall? ENERGY STAR's maintenance checklist says it's best to check the cooling system in the spring and the heating system in the fall. A shoulder-season mailer gives customers a reason to book that checkup with you.

1. Zero percent financing

This offer is for the customer whose system is old and who keeps saying "next year." Financing doesn't create the need; it removes the reason to wait.

Postcard line:

Zero percent financing on a new system this month. Subject to credit approval. Ask us for the details.

Use the exact terms your lender gives you, and keep "subject to credit approval" on it. Never promise approval.

2. The indoor air quality discount

This one gives a customer a reason to call when nothing is broken. Pick one product you install often, such as an air purifier, a media filter or a humidifier, and put one clear discount on it. Replace $XX with your own amount everywhere it appears.

Postcard line:

$XX off an air purifier install when you book a fall checkup.

For plumbing, the same slot works for a whole-home filter, a water softener or a water heater flush.

3. The service agreement discount

This is the offer that keeps paying after the season. A maintenance plan turns one visit into visits you can plan around, spring and fall, which is exactly the schedule ENERGY STAR describes.

Postcard line:

First year of our maintenance plan, $XX off. Two checkups a year, priority booking.

4. The list

The offers only work if they reach the right people, and that's the part most shops guess at. Pull last year's customers and split them three ways:

Group	Who	What they get
Replacement candidates	Systems 12 years or older, or repeat repair calls	Postcard leads with financing
Everyone else	Past customers without a plan	Postcard leads with the checkup and IAQ offer
Plan members	Already on a maintenance plan	Skip the plan offer; send a booking reminder

The age cutoff is an example. Then split each group by consent. Federal rules at 47 CFR 64.1200 require prior express written consent for marketing calls made with an autodialer to cell phones, and the FCC treats text messages as calls, as Loeb and Loeb's summary of the FCC's order explains. So: customers who opted in to marketing texts get the postcard and a matching text. Everyone else gets the postcard only. Ask your attorney what applies to your texting system.

Matching texts (only for customers who opted in):

Hi Mrs. Okafor, it's Dana at Arctic Air. Before the cold sets in, we're booking fall checkups, and new systems come with zero percent financing for qualified buyers this month. Want a time? Reply STOP to opt out.

Hi Mr. Kim, it's Dana at Arctic Air. Fall checkups are open, and this month an air purifier install is $XX off when you book one. Want me to save you a spot? Reply STOP to opt out.

Hi Ms. Brooks, it's Dana at Arctic Air. Your maintenance plan lapsed last spring. We can restart it with the first year $XX off and get your fall checkup on the calendar. Interested? Reply STOP to opt out.

Every stop reply comes off the list that day. The FCC's revocation rules, as summarized by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, require stop requests to be processed within 10 business days.

If an AI agent runs this part, it pulls the list from your software, splits it by group and consent, and drafts the texts and the postcard mail file. You approve the list and the wording before anything goes out.

The run

You'd think one big blast does it. The ACHR piece says to run the offers for four to six weeks. A simple schedule:

• Week 1: postcards mail; texts go out to opted-in customers two days after the postcard should land.
• Weeks 2 to 4: a matching social post or ad, as the article suggests, and your office answers replies the same day.
• Week 5 or 6: one last reminder text to opted-in customers who didn't reply, then stop.

Scorpion's shoulder-season page lists other tactics like automated maintenance reminders and SMS and email campaigns; it's an agency, so take its ideas and skip its statistics.

What to watch out for

• Offers you can't staff. Don't mail 400 postcards if you can book 20 checkups a week. Mail in batches.
• Fake deadlines. If the offer ends October 31, it ends October 31.
• Financing promises. Keep "subject to credit approval" on every financing line.

How to tell it's working

Put a different phone number or a short code on the postcard ("mention FALL") so you can count calls from it. After six weeks, compare booked checkups, purifier installs and new plans against the same weeks last year from your own records. For other ways an agent can help an HVAC office in the slow months, see the HVAC industry page or your free AI Operations Audit.