In the Air - HRAI Industry News

Last week, HVACR professionals gathered virtually for a practical and forward-looking, free webinar featuring HRAI member Krystal Hobbs, owner and strategist at Reflective Marketing. The session focused on one powerful theme: intentional growth starts with clear numbers, a realistic budget, and a marketing strategy built to support both. 

Whether business has been steady or slow, her message was clear: “Ultimately, we want to make sure that you’re kept busy this year.” 

Hobbs encouraged contractors to begin by reviewing the previous year’s performance; annual revenue, average monthly revenue, number of jobs, average ticket, booking rate, and sales conversion rate. “Anytime we’re going into annual planning, you want to have a good idea of where you’ve been, so that that can help inform where we’re going next,” she explained. 

From there, she demonstrated how to reverse-engineer growth goals. By plugging in a revenue target and working backward through average ticket value, close rate, and booking rate, contractors can determine exactly how many leads they need each month and how much they should expect to invest in advertising to generate them. “This just makes it really easy and predictable to understand where you need to be,” Hobbs said. 

She also addressed one of the most common questions contractors face: how much to spend on marketing. In general, she advised that 7–10% of annual revenue is a healthy benchmark, depending on growth goals. The key, however, is not just spending -  it’s tracking. Hobbs outlined the core metrics every business should review monthly: cost per lead, cost per appointment, conversion rates, average ticket, and return on investment. “Those are the baseline things that you want to keep track of every month to make sure that your marketing is working.” 

Thigs then shifted to current digital marketing trends and what’s delivering results in today’s HVAC landscape. 

Reflective Marketing is best known for leveraging Meta advertising (Facebook and Instagram), and Hobbs explained why. “With Google, you are a victim to the temperatures and to search volumes,” she noted. “What social media allows us to do… is get in front of homeowners even if they’re not actively searching.” With over 80% of Canadians on Facebook, she described it as an “untapped network” for many residential contractors. 

Importantly, she emphasized that advertising success on Meta today is driven less by hyper-specific targeting and more by strong creative. “It’s really more about… how do I get the right visuals and messages in front of the right people.” Authentic content matters more than ever. “When I talk about video, most of the time I mean hold your phone in front of your face and record,” she said, reassuring attendees that high production value isn’t necessary. In fact, “the more authentic it is… that is typically performing way better anyway.” 

Beyond social advertising, Hobbs reinforced the importance of fundamentals: maintaining an optimized Google Business Profile, consistently generating and responding to reviews, properly managing Local Service Ads, and regularly marketing to existing customers via email and text campaigns. Referring to one client’s email campaign, she shared a memorable response from the field: “Holy crap, I got 9 leads in 15 minutes.” 

Her closing message brought the session full circle. With clear goals, a defined marketing budget, and disciplined tracking, contractors can approach the year with confidence. “You’ve got your marketing budget for 2026. You know about the channels that are working right now… You are ready to succeed this year.” 

HRAI thanks Krystal Hobbs and the Reflective Marketing team for delivering such an actionable and engaging presentation. A full video recording of the February 26 webinar is available on the HRAI YouTube channel. Be sure to watch the HRAI newsletter for more free and informative webinar opportunities designed to help your business grow. 

For more info, contact krystal@reflectivemarketing.com