From the Yellow Chair
From the Yellow Chair
Maintenance Club EXTRAS: Growing Revenue During the Slow Season
Phones get quiet, bills don’t. We tackle the slow-season squeeze head-on with a blueprint for building maintenance clubs that are easy to sell, rich with perks, and powerful enough to turn downtime into dependable revenue. Rachel kicks things off before Crystal and Emily dive into the strategies we use with HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and pest control companies to keep cash flowing when the weather won’t do the heavy lifting.
We start with the essentials: simplify your plan to one or two tiers, publish it clearly, and equip CSRs and techs with tight scripts that make the value obvious. From priority service and documented maintenance to loyalty credits for future system replacements, we outline member benefits that feel exclusive—not just a discounted tune-up in disguise. Then we layer in smart cross-sells and seasonal bundles that lift average tickets, like IAQ upgrades, duct cleaning, programmable thermostats, water heater flushes, and visual roofing checks that create real reasons to roll a truck when demand dips.
You’ll also hear practical ideas to keep your brand sticky in a crowded market. Monthly member emails with an owner’s note and timely tips, weather-triggered check-ins, and delight moments—think fall pumpkin drop-offs or pet treats for “fur families”—build loyalty and referrals that last longer than a service call. We map out targets (aim for 1,000 members per $1M in service revenue), the KPIs that matter, and the gamified incentives that make teams care: simple spiffs, leaderboards, steak dinners cooked by leadership, even big-ticket raffles for sustained performance. The result is a “smart seat bank” of happy customers ready to buy, freeing peak-season capacity for high-value new calls.
If you’re ready to stop riding the weather and start building a predictable revenue engine, this conversation is your playbook. Subscribe, share this with a fellow owner, and leave a review to tell us which perk or incentive you’ll test first.
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We'll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
Alright, what's up, Lemon Heads? My name is Rachel, and I am so excited to introduce this next episode to you. Today, we're bringing a special episode featuring Crystal and Emily as they dive deep into one of the biggest challenges facing home service businesses. Keeping revenue flowing during the slow season. If you've ever felt that pinch when the calls drop off and you're wondering how to keep your team busy and your cash flow steady, this episode is for you. Crystal and Emily are sharing game-changing strategies for leveraging your maintenance club with creative extras, add-ons, and perks that turn down time into dollar time. You'll learn how to boost your ticket size when things are quiet, keep your techs engaged year-round, and transform your maintenance club into a reliable, predictable revenue stream. This conversation originally aired as a live stream on September 30th, and we knew it was too valuable not to share with our podcast audience. So grab your notebook, settle in, and get ready to turn your slow seat bank into your smart seat bank. Let's zip some lemonade.
SPEAKER_03:Hello. Welcome to the virtual lemonade stand. How is everyone doing? Hopefully, okay, it's 4 p.m. I know. It's just that it's an afternoon session, so we might be hitting a different crowd than our normal life. Exactly right. We normally dead or like, hey, let's go.
SPEAKER_02:Driving home, like who knows where y'all live and what y'all are doing. But it's four o'clock in Texas. So in the great state of Texas. Yes. We're living our best life over here. And at the end earlier today, we were like, did we say we would do a live at 4 p.m.? Yes, we did. Maybe you're tuning in from California and you love this even more so. Or it's five o'clock for those of you on the East Coast. So today we are talking all about maintenance clubs because this is my favorite time of the year to grow uh your maintenance clubs, to make the most of those, to start cultivating them. Because as the shoulder season hits, especially for HVAC contractors, we need access to leads and to clients and to um sources to generate some extra revenue when demand is not our friend.
SPEAKER_03:And also maintenance clubs are great when you can, when demand is not your friend, take care of these people. So that when demand is on your side, people off the street who are not your existing customer, you've already serviced your existing customers, found out problems and service those problems that would have been a for sure problem when the demand is high. So you can open up opportunity and create capacity to take care of new customers. So it's the way to service all the people's, if you will.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And you know, one thing, like maintenance clubs, we always like we get kind of furious sometimes. I'm like, why would you not have a maintenance club? And again, they they started out, you know, I'm from the school of where they started out as Texas Tough back in the day. Carrier released this program, I think it was in the 90s, I'm pretty sure. Um, and they released this thing all about um Texas Tough, you know, and it was how to keep your system safe. And that's really evolved into becoming something really cool. At Lemon Seed, we love to make those maintenance clubs really reiterate some piece of your brand. So something to do with a person or a color or an action that we want people to take. And so it's one of our favorite ways to tie in the branding as well. Um, but like one of the things we talk about is um, do you even have one?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we got to start there. So no need to talk about what all you can do with it if you don't even have one. So let's start with you need a maintenance club and wine. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:So plumbers, roofers, pest control. Okay, roofers, you're the only one that get a pass from me today. But we'll talk about that here in a minute, about things that you could do to potentially um have what we would consider a maintenance agreement for roofers. But my HVAC people, plumbing people, again, pest control people, you need a consistent reoccurring service model. Reoccurring revenue that is revenue hitting your books, that is a constant people that you've already won, people that you already have, um, and that you're sticky with, like in your little spider web, but people that you already have. So that's number one is do you have one? And then have you complicated the crap out of it? That's the number two.
SPEAKER_03:Because the number two issue of well, I just can't get my guys to sell it. That's what we hear very often. And it's for a number of reasons. Maybe one, they don't have the resources to do it. Like what kind of sales presentation are you giving it to them? Who is teeing it up? And then is it so complicated? Like Crystal said, that like it's too confusing. You've already had to pitch these different options to them on are we fixing or replacing? You could do this, you could do this. And now we add in another five-menu option of something else for them to disciple.
SPEAKER_02:And listen, y'all make it complicated, right? So, you know, why do y'all think now like crock pot meals are a thing, right? So, you know what kind of crock pot meal I hate? One that makes me pre-cook something before I do it. I'm that's the whole freaking point of a crock pot. Like, I don't want to have to like sear the meat. Okay, like I need the whole thing to happen inside of the crock pot. Again, lazy cooking. But what my point is like when you give them like, okay, there's level one, level two, level three, and an add-on and a kicker and a bonus place and all these other stuff, an extra location. I think it gets so complicated that the actual consumer is like, forget it. I don't know what's going on. I don't want to do it. And so my encouragement, and listen, McWilliams, we've been through a little gamut of them. We started out with three, then we went to two, and then we ended up at one, and we might be back to two. Just each year we kind of look at it like, okay, next year, and listen, as you add services or you know, you add generators, or now some of you are adding monitoring or like smart AC uh kind of things, like you know, each year you're probably adding or taking away, but the important part piece here is to have it, have it organized in a sense it's easy for the homeowner to comprehend it, and then have it on your website where people can look it up.
SPEAKER_03:Correct. And that your team knows about it and knows how to talk to people about it. But um, I think you had a great point there that I want to elaborate on a little bit is like you do need to re-look at it about every year or so, okay. Because like those things, you might have added services, added verticals, might have added more monitoring than true maintenance and stuff. And it just goes to show that like what got you here won't get you there, okay? And what you did in 1999 is probably not the exact same thing of what you should be doing here in 2025 and gearing up for next year in 2026. So don't take your eye off the ball just because like you might have answered number one our first question. Do you have one? You're like, Yes, check. Okay, got it. Um, but you probably do need to do a little evaluation and deep dive into it.
SPEAKER_02:So yes, it's absolutely so you know, just every year you need to be intentional. Like Lemon Seed, if you're on a plan with Lemon Seed, we talk about your maintenance club at every flipping meeting, okay? Because it's important. Yeah, it's it well, first, why do y'all have it if we're not gonna make people do it, right? So why even have a maintenance agreement if you're literally gonna get on a call as a as a person that is writing paychecks and say, well, I just can't get my team to do it. Well, there's either there's one of two problems, either you're the problem or they're the problem, but one of them needs to change a leadership problem, yeah, or a culture problem. Yes, one of them needs it's not to me, it's not okay to be like, you know, they just won't sell it. Well, you better figure out why. Um, because that is how when you want to see how people, especially those of us that have mild seasons, right? So in Texas, you know what kicks you in the teeth as the HVAC company? November. Like it just kick you in the mouth. And unless all of a sudden you get ice storms or something wild and crazy, you uh suck wind for a few months because there's literally zero demand. So utilizing those maintenance club members to offer insulation or IAQ or uh additional services like plumbing services or generators or air duct cleaning. I mean, all of a sudden you start having more hope because you can get real gritty on other offerings. But it's about building up this treasure trove of clients that you can soft sell to. Um, and listen, if the first time you talk to them is when you're desperate for a lead, I think they're probably like, what? What who where'd they come from? But if y'all are doing traditional um cultivation of your existing database through consistent email marketing and things like that, so it's right that sweet spot. Don't overdo it, don't underdo it. You then have them like on your on your team, right? So then you reach out and say, hey, guess what? And be honest with people, right? Hey, guess what? It's definitely the slower season for the heating and air conditioning people, but we are running a too hot to handle deal on our IAQ equipment or you know, programmable thermostats.
SPEAKER_03:And I think that's a big piece of you need to have some differentiation between some of those cheaper tune-ups offers when it is slow sleezion of a$89 tune-up, things like that. But like for your maintenance club, what are the differences? Why should they pay for it every month? And so there should be more perks than beyond just the basic tune-up. I'm just getting in the door, things like that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's a good call out. That happens all the time.
SPEAKER_03:Correct. So we because we want to create more value than just the simple tune-up itself. So, what are some of those perks? It could be priority service. Maybe it's more of like a loyalty program for every year that you are on our maintenance club program is a hundred dollars credit towards your new system replacement up to$500,$750, whatever it might be. Um, but adds discounts, priority service, some of those things. It sounds good, you know, perceived value and stuff. So again, you got to have those perceived values and some differentiation from your low barrier of entry offers that might be out to the public. Okay, make them feel like it's a true VIP. They're a part of this club, if you will. A lot of you call it a club, but like there's no club benefits or factors, nothing special than anyone off the street.
SPEAKER_02:This is a colonoscopy club. Like nobody wants to be a part of that. No, thanks. You know, well, so yes, so low barrier of entry offers, you know, again, secret sauce that no, it's not even a secret, but you know, I've always been a big proponent of when we're marketing services, I want new customer acquisition. That's how I'm gonna grow my business. My existing customers are how I maintain and and grow some, but really uh a business with no new customers is a dying business. 100% because you um literally people die. So if you're not getting any new people, literally your customers are going to be dying. That will dry up. Absolutely. We'll have replaced all their systems, yes, or you've replaced them all. And again, they've all literally died. So like we have to we have to move move past that. So new customer acquisition will a low barrier of entry offer, honestly, should be what gets you in the door, right? It should be what makes the phone ring, what gets you in the door. And then your technicians need to be trained on the very minimal thing they should do is flip that lead over to the membership club. But they need to be trained on how do they position the membership club to where people go, who in the heck needs a membership for an HVAC company? Well, actually, here's all of the things that we get. By doing this, we're gonna come out two times a year. You don't have to worry about scheduling, blah, blah, blah. All those little perks. Keep your documented maintenance, keeps your warranty in check. Yes, and those of you that have wonderful four seasons, like I'd have priority service for all of those things, right? So there's priority service, roofing companies. This is one thing that you could create. You can create a, hey, we come out and do a visual inspection, free tarping, like guaranteed four-hour tarping kind of things. Pest control companies, hello. You should be doing pest control companies, should have it before everybody else.
SPEAKER_03:That should be the the first thing that you're on.
SPEAKER_02:Like, how are you not on monthly pro that is what you sell?
SPEAKER_03:But like, I would love for roofers to do some like gutter clean out, you know, like that could be a seasonal thing or that you do.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and like checking the checking the um pieces around your um chimney. It's got a word, a fruit. Yeah, I'm proud of you. Um but yeah, checking the seal around those things. And there's lots of little little household things that you can add there. But HVAC companies, to me, you should be running that 29. You should be$29 a month,$39 a month, something in that thing. And no, it is not going to um, you know, make you rich. Yeah, but it's definitely gonna give you a list. So um I think the interesting part here is get aggressive with making sure number one, again, that you have one, number two, that it is not complicated. Number three, that your team can sell it and that your CSRs can tee it up, your technicians can flip it off of a low barrier of entry offer, and they can sell it. And then make sure that you're creating an intentional strategy for outreach, right? So you have a monthly plan of how you are touching a touch point with all those memberships. An email newsletter is actually the most cost-effective and easy way to do it. Does it get on your nerves? Yes, you got to think through it. But I mean, Limits, that's literally what Lemon C does for our clients is think through those things and try to be ahead of the game. But even if you just got out a very simple like letter from the owner kind of thing, once a month with like what's coming up or tips for the, you know, HVAC or tips for plumbing. But those are are easy ways to stay in front of people. But again, working on the perks of your actual system. So thinking outside the box sometimes, like um Emily and I went to a show one time, and like this literally made us think differently about things. Um, and I Steve Moon. Moon Moon. Yeah, so new flat rate. Um, shout out Danielle and her team. They they do a great um seminar. Let me call it that. Well, Steve Moon was there and he talks about he drives around with a trailer full of pumpkins, and he goes and delivers every one of his maintenance customers a literal pumpkin.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, every day.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm like, listen, that's so crazy. Like some of y'all are like, I never pay. Well, that's why you don't keep a bunch of people, right? So, but like it probably is 20 bucks by the time you got work everything in there and driving around for three days handing out pumpkins, but it's just a thing.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and like the loyalty that that creates because it's so unexpected, but so delightful when a pumpkin is on my porch with a little tag provided by moon, heating, and air. Yeah, like it's like, oh my God, it just sticks so much longer than the actual service that you perform so much more. And so that's where you have to be intentional to think of ways to stay their customer. How do you earn that referral? How do you become a how do you earn raving fans? Okay, absolutely. That lasts so much longer than just the services.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, those of you that have like any kind of dog tie to anything that you do, you could send out a quick survey, like, hey, we're loving to, we'd love to bring some dog treats. Like, tell us if you have dogs, right? Okay, something along those lines. You send out a little quick survey to your people, and let's say 30 people answer. You know what 30 people are gonna do when you show up with a dog bowl or a leash, or they're gonna be like, my HVAC company came out here and brought me this. They're probably gonna reshare it on social media. They love my fur baby, I'm a fur mommy, whatever is going on. I'm not, I am I do have two dogs and I love them. And I probably would I I mean, I care. Some feeds them, yeah. I'm just not like, oh my god, I'm not gonna put it in a stroller or like put it in a onesie or put either one of them in that. But um, you know, those are just some Christmas ornaments. And, you know, again, y'all, a tin of pecans. I don't care, but something that just keeps you active there, like this truly can be an intentional strategy that many of you are undervaluing. I think most of you pay attention to this, but I think a lot of you may be undervaluing when you have an attention to it. So, you know, the saying is you should have 1,000 members for every million you do in service. Okay, so now listen, some of y'all really need to digest that because some of y'all were like, absolutely not. Yeah, yeah. But a million dollars in service. So if some of you are doing one and a half million dollars, you should try to be aiming for 1,500 uh maintenance club members again, not replacement. Correct, right? And pest control people, y'all would never get there. Y'all should be having a bunch of all out of the gate because your structure's different, right? So, but HVAC companies, like, you know, if you're doing$500,000 in service work a year, you should have$500. That should be how it works. But if you're not, you know, you get out of people what you expect, you know, what you ask of them.
SPEAKER_03:So you're not ever, what is the saying? What gets inspected gets improved? And so that was the last thing I was gonna kind of say is like you should probably have some type of spiff program or incentive program for your team. Okay. So we talked about like investigating how do they sell it? Do they know what it is? Is it overly complicated? But then, like, are you inspecting that they are actually trying to sell it? Um, and how can you create little competitions amongst each other, just good team camaraderie? How can you do some more bonusing or spiffing off of it? And it can be very simple, but sometimes it just takes that knowing that you yourself are paying attention to it is often the only thing that's needed for the Tim, the team to pay attention to it.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. I mean, run a little, you know, like um, this is another thing. One of our clients did this in Florida, Georgia. But basically, you know, those you're gonna know because your kids are in this age bracket. Right now, they have to go sell something like cookie dough, and you're they want to go sell one million dollars worth of cookie dough to win a plastic snake. Yes, okay. I'll just go buy you the snake. Yes, completely. So I'll never forget Carter wanted this um remote control snake, and I was like, I'm gonna visit and buy that thing thing off Amazon and just so I don't have to buy. Now, I wanted to support the playground or whatever we were trying to build, but what I'm saying here is like gamifying this process. So put a screen up, write it on a dry erase board, write it on a poster board. But when they hit certain milestones themselves as an independent technician or CSR, they win something. So one time I did a jewelry challenge, um, and it was like all this Kendra Scott jewelry. So, you know, once you sold, once the CSR sold five, that gave them a$50 gift card to Kendra Scott. And then they and they some of them would like immediately go buy something, some of them were like, uh-uh, I want$300. Well, listen, did I have to go spend some money at Kendra Scott? I sure did. But do you know what we did? We all huddled around a computer and they're like, oh my gosh, girl, that's great. And listen, you know what, y'all? It built up camaraderie. They were cheering for each other because they just wanted some Kendra Scott and it just gamified and made it fun.
SPEAKER_03:And sometimes owners, we can get our own way, like just go buy the Kendra, like it's not that big of a deal. Like, what if what's not a big deal to you is sometimes the biggest deal to them. And so get out of your own way, try some of these things, get their buy-in and stuff. And again, things that matter to them should matter to you. Yes. And so sometimes the most back to basics, let's strip this down, just be good, investigating our KPIs, measuring them so that they can be improved, and then celebrating those wins. Sometimes that's all it takes. So get out of your own way of like, uh, they're not gonna appreciate that. It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. Like one of the things too, I remember is uh like we did team A versus team B, and the winning team got a steak dinner. Um, and like Trey and the leadership team, I think cooked this steak dinner. And I mean at the end, it was coming down like it was them today and them tomorrow. And it was more fun just with that. We also gave away a full wheeler one year, and this sounds absurd, but we did it for like six months. They could earn these like tickets uh for all the again, gamification, but earn these tickets, and then we drew out somebody to win. And the one of our helpers won, it was like a 19-year-old dude won the full wheeler, and you would have thought he was the winner of the publisher's clearinghouse. Hashtag agent myself, but I mean, people, the team just went crazy when they said, you know, they called out his name, and everybody was like, Oh my god, you know, and people were like, Oh man, but they were so excited for him. And they talked about that for literally years afterwards, just because all of a sudden you're like, I cannot believe you won that trip or that whatever. And so I think that spoiler cost us like let's say$8,000, right? But at the end of the day, we ran six months of gamification, bingoing, trying to get IAQ sales up and all this stuff, and it just really worked. So, well, we just wanted to come on today. This is a quick little sip of Lemonade all-around maintenance clubs. Now is your time to focus on it, give it some attention again. If you need support, Lemon Seed would, I would love to talk to you. Lapita would love to talk to you. Um, it's the end of the month, so you know we're rolling through deals, but we're about to change, uh, go into October, and now it is about to get busy. Most of y'all need us to be helping you pay attention to your maintenance club.
SPEAKER_03:We can help you build one or learn to market one better. Great. Yeah. So if you need help with your maintenance club, how to do the actual parks, how to get it actually implemented, how to teach your team to sell and stuff. That's what Lemon Seed does. So visit us online, lemonseedmarketing.com, fill out our form, and you will get to talk to Crystal or Lupita and we can help you out. So thanks so much for joining. We will talk to you next time. Bye.