How to Get More AC Installation Leads in 2025

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What Does “How to Get More AC Installation Leads in 2025” Talk About?

This episode of the James Dooley Podcast features James Dooley and Kasra Dash breaking down a comprehensive lead generation roadmap specifically for air conditioning and HVAC installation companies in 2025. The hosts walk through a structured, step-by-step approach beginning with Google Business Profile optimisation, explaining how gathering five-star reviews, building citations, and creating keyword-optimised service pages can significantly boost local visibility and phone call volume. From there, they cover paid channels including PPC on Google and Bing, highlighting the importance of working with a reputable agency to avoid click fraud and wasted spend, as well as Meta Ads on Facebook and Instagram, detailing the trade-offs between lead form ads and conversion-focused campaigns.

The conversation also explores organic social media strategies, recommending consistent posting schedules across platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, and Quora. James addresses the growing importance of AI search engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Groq, warning that businesses whose brands do not appear in these platforms risk missing an emerging segment of searchers. Kasra rounds out the digital strategy by covering tradespeople directories like Checkatrade, Bark, TrustATrader, and Rated People, stressing the importance of tracking KPIs including cost per lead and cost per acquisition. The episode closes with a detailed comparison of inbound versus outbound lead generation, the value of real-time lead delivery, and how FatRank's commission-based model works for AC installers.

“The last stat that I saw for that was something like 16.1 percent end up converting into a paying customer as opposed to 1.4 percent when it's an outbound lead.”

— Kasra Dash

Who Are the Guests on “How to Get More AC Installation Leads in 2025”?

James Dooley is a well-known digital marketing entrepreneur and the host of the James Dooley Podcast, with extensive experience in SEO, lead generation, and online business growth. He is the founder of FatRank, a commission-based lead generation company operating across the UK, and regularly shares practical strategies for tradespeople and service businesses looking to scale their client acquisition.

Kasra Dash is a digital marketing specialist and frequent collaborator with James Dooley, bringing deep expertise in paid advertising, organic search, and lead generation for local service businesses. Kasra contributes sharp analytical insight to the discussion, frequently referencing conversion rate data and KPI frameworks that help business owners make informed decisions about where to invest their marketing budgets.

What Are the Key Takeaways From “How to Get More AC Installation Leads in 2025”?

Here are the key points discussed in this episode:

  • Optimising your Google Business Profile by collecting five-star reviews, building citations, and posting regularly is the most accessible first step for AC companies seeking more local leads.
  • Creating dedicated, SEO-optimised service pages on your website not only helps your site rank but also indirectly boosts your Google Business Profile's visibility for relevant keywords.
  • Inbound leads convert into paying customers at roughly 16.1 percent compared to just 1.4 percent for outbound leads, making inbound strategies far more cost-efficient for most AC installation businesses.
  • Responding to a new lead in under one minute can increase conversion rates by approximately 63 percent, making real-time lead delivery and rapid response a critical operational priority.
  • When evaluating lead generation companies, businesses should ask whether leads are exclusive or shared, since shared leads from platforms like Bark or Checkatrade often trigger a race to the bottom on price.

“If you are able to get a real time lead it converts 60 percent higher. Was it 60 or 65 percent?”

— James Dooley

Is “How to Get More AC Installation Leads in 2025” Worth Listening To?

This episode is worth listening to because it delivers a genuinely actionable, end-to-end lead generation framework rather than vague marketing advice. James and Kasra move logically from free and low-cost tactics like Google Business Profile and organic social media through to paid channels and AI search optimisation, giving AC and HVAC installers a clear priority order for where to start and where to scale. The specific statistics cited, such as the 16.1 percent inbound conversion rate versus 1.4 percent for outbound, and the 63 percent uplift from responding within a minute, give listeners concrete benchmarks to measure their own performance against.

What sets this episode apart is the honest, experienced perspective both hosts bring to comparing different lead sources. They do not simply promote every channel equally but flag real risks like click fraud in PPC campaigns and the shared-lead problem on platforms like Checkatrade and Bark. For any AC installation business owner who has burned money on marketing without seeing returns, this episode provides the critical context needed to make smarter decisions about budget allocation and partnership selection.

Who Should Listen to “How to Get More AC Installation Leads in 2025”?

This episode is ideal for:

  • Air conditioning and HVAC installation business owners looking to grow their local enquiry volume in 2025
  • Small to medium trade businesses exploring which digital marketing channels deliver the best return on investment
  • Marketing managers working with home services or construction companies who need a structured lead generation framework
  • Entrepreneurs and business owners considering partnering with a lead generation company and wanting to know the right questions to ask before signing up

Where Can You Listen to James Dooley Podcast?

You can listen to James Dooley Podcast on all major podcast platforms:

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You can also subscribe using the RSS feed: https://feeds.transistor.fm/james-dooley-podcast

What Are Listeners Saying About This Episode?

★★★★★

“Finally a video that explains the difference between shared and exclusive leads in plain English. I had been wasting money on Bark for months and this episode made me realise exactly why my conversion rate was so poor. The stat about inbound versus outbound was a real eye-opener.”

— Daniel F.

★★★★★

“Really practical breakdown of every channel an AC company should be using. I especially appreciated the point about AI search engines like ChatGPT and Gemini because that is something none of my competitors are thinking about yet. Going to act on this straight away.”

— Sophie R.

★★★★★

“The bit about responding to leads in under a minute was the most useful part for me. We thought five minutes was fast but apparently that gap costs you a huge chunk of conversions. Simple change to implement and it could make a massive difference to our close rate.”

— Marcus T.

Architectural lead generation strategies explained by James Dooley and Kasra Dash. The video covers Google Business Profile optimisation, SEO service pages, PPC, Meta Ads, organic social media, AI search, tradespeople websites, and the benefits of inbound over outbound leads. It also highlights real time lead delivery, KPI tracking, and how FatRank’s commission based model helps architects generate consistent, high quality enquiries across the UK.

**James Dooley:** So, if you install air conditioners and you want to win more work, this video is for you. Myself and Kasra Dash, we deal with a lot of companies that install ACs and also HVAC as well. And we are going to break down exactly what you should be doing when it comes to lead generation and generating more inquiries on a day to day basis. So, Kasra, take it away. **Kasra Dash:** So, step number one, what I'd be looking to do to grow is a Google Business Profile. If you already have one, I'd be making certain that I would be reaching out to all my existing clients to try to get me as many five star reviews as possible. It's a great way for Google Business Profile to generate more leads. There's obviously getting citations and doing Google Business Profile posts and uploading photos on there. So that's definitely step one that I would be doing to try to generate more local leads. **James Dooley:** So step number two, this is kind of to bolster onto your actual Google Business Profile, is I would be creating dedicated service pages for each of your individual services as SEO optimised pages on your website. Now, the good thing is when you start doing that, it's also going to help first of all rank your SEO optimised page, but there's also more likelihood of your Google Business Profile ranking and showing up for those keywords as well. So you're indirectly going to get more phone calls as well. **Kasra Dash:** Yeah, for sure. And if you are looking for more local leads, another option that you could be doing is PPC lead generation. That's pay per click within Google or within Bing where you're trying to target the bottom of the funnel keywords that can try to generate you some more inquiries. The difficult part to this is you need to make certain you team up with a good pay per click agency because there is click fraud and there's also needing to build up a negative keyword list so it's not people applying for jobs like a careers kind of job. So PPC can work well but in the wrong hands you can waste a lot of money, but it's another way of generating local leads. **James Dooley:** Yeah. And then after that you've also got Meta Ads as well. So like Facebook, Instagram, where the next time when somebody goes onto Facebook, they might be scrolling, they might see your ad. Now, there's a few different ways that you can set up Facebook ads. You've obviously got option A which is lead forms, which is really easy to do. They don't even leave the Facebook platform, like they never click onto your website. Now, the issue with lead forms is that the quality might not be great, but you can obviously add more questions in to try and up that quality of the actual lead. Then you've also got conversion ads as well where that actually gets sent through to your website and then they fill out the contact form for you on your site. So you've got a couple of different options there that you can do. **Kasra Dash:** Yeah, for sure. And then another way to grow more local leads could be organic social media. So posting regularly on Facebook, on Twitter, on YouTube, on Pinterest, on Instagram. There's lots of different platforms out there that you can be trying to get on. Reddit's quite big nowadays and Quora is quite big if people have got questions and you can answer it. So organic social media is another great way to generate more local leads for your business. **James Dooley:** With organic social media, I would say that it's more of a volume game. So you want to try and make certain that you're constantly uploading, whether it's for example a daily schedule or a weekly schedule. You might say, "Okay, I want to try and upload five videos a week." And you should just try and stick to that, especially when it comes to algorithms like YouTube and Twitter and stuff. **Kasra Dash:** Yeah, for sure. I mean, what's your thoughts on using any sort of AI agents if they can try to team up with someone to use something like N8N to automate and schedule posts on social media? What's your thoughts on trying to leverage artificial intelligence? It's all the rage nowadays for trying to generate more leads. Would you try to team up with an AI consultant to set that up? **James Dooley:** Yeah. So, I mean, you can definitely go down that route where you're setting up AI agents to potentially crop up videos and autopublish to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and stuff. But another thing that I would also be focusing on is AI search. So a lot of people have started to slowly move away from Google. Not everyone because there are billions of people still using it every single day. But slowly people are starting to search in engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Groq, and if your brand isn't showing up in any of those you will have an issue showing up and generating leads on those search engines as well. So that's another thing that I would be focusing on as a company. **Kasra Dash:** Yeah. And also if you're looking for more business leads in the local area, something else that I would definitely be looking to do is team up with some of the trades people websites. So you've got certain ones like Checkatrade, Bark, Builder Builder, TrustATrader, Rated People. All these different platforms can generate you more local leads. What I would say is making certain you're tracking your KPIs to see what return on investment you're getting. You should be tracking not only the cost per lead but the cost per acquisition and how much that is getting you on a return on investment. But trades people websites like those platforms can work very well. I would say make certain you check out the links in the description because we do quite a lot of different videos comparing Checkatrade with FatRank or Bark with FatRank, Rated People with FatRank, Builder Builder with FatRank. **James Dooley:** So now obviously I've mentioned FatRank a few times. Kasra, what's your thoughts on lead generation companies as opposed to trades people companies? **Kasra Dash:** Yeah. So with lead generation companies, I would almost say that every single lead generation company you want to try and do your due diligence. So make certain that if you are in a specific niche, that lead generation company has generated leads in that industry before. I would also maybe even have a strategy call with them and say, "Okay, this is my budget, this is how many leads I ideally want," etc., to make certain that your actual KPIs do align with that lead generation company. You also want to make certain what type of leads they offer. Are they exclusive leads? Are the leads only going to yourself? Or are they, for example, shared leads, which is what a lot of other lead generation tools and companies do, like Bark and Checkatrade and stuff. Whenever myself and James have spoken to company owners that have used those services, their biggest pain point is that it's a shared lead and it's a race to the bottom of who's the cheapest basically. So that's a couple of things I would be asking lead generation companies before partnering up with them. **James Dooley:** Yeah, for sure. I mean, if anyone is interested in generating more local leads, I strongly recommend heading over to FatRank.com where we have a commission based lead generation service. That means you only pay a finder's fee on converted jobs. You've nothing to pay on the pay per lead. You've nothing to pay until you get paid, until you convert that job on a pay per sale basis and you've completed the job and been paid. That's when you only have to pay FatRank.com. So head on over to FatRank.com to see whether you qualify. But I want to expand a little bit further. Right. So what is your thoughts on inbound lead generation versus outbound lead generation? **Kasra Dash:** So I always prefer inbound. The conversion rate of not just getting the lead, but the lead actually converting into a paying customer and money coming into your business bank account is a lot higher. The last stat that I saw for that was something like 16.1 percent end up converting into a paying customer as opposed to 1.4 percent when it's an outbound lead. **James Dooley:** Yeah, that's pretty crazy. That's like a 12. Well yeah, it's 10 to 12 times more conversion. **Kasra Dash:** Yeah. Like it's crazy how much more conversion that is. You need to do a lot of volume for outbound, whether it's cold calling or cold email or LinkedIn Sales Navigator and stuff like that. And sometimes you just need a lot more staff to do it as well. And people sometimes don't, they're looking at the cost going, "I want to generate free leads," and they think they're generating free leads but there's still the cost of the email sending, the cost of the sales team trying to convert them and stuff like that. So yeah, I completely agree that inbound leads are so much better than outbound leads. But then what's your thoughts when some people ask the question wanting local leads and then they talk about are these real time leads? Is real time lead delivery very important? As soon as they inquire it comes through to you straight away. **James Dooley:** Yeah, it's very important. And I think the last stat that we saw internally was if you are able to get a real time lead it converts 60 percent higher. Was it 60 or 65 percent? **Kasra Dash:** 60. I think 63 percent higher. And when we came and got the KPIs down it was trying to respond in under a minute. And it was like we used to think 5 minutes was good and then when people respond in under a minute, so inquiry comes in, can you either ring them or email them back saying, "Thanks a lot for the inquiry," and then get more information. Yeah, it was solid. **James Dooley:** So I mean I'm not saying that every company needs to respond in under a minute. There are certain things that we obviously look at at FatRank when we're looking to partner up with businesses. That's one of the things that a lot of businesses fall short on where they might be away for 5 days on holiday and they don't have someone to pick up the leads and we're still providing the leads. So there's all these different nuances that we look at when partnering up with companies. But the best thing that I would recommend to anyone looking to scale their business, looking to get a consistent flow of high quality leads, is just fill out the form at FatRank. The team will tell you if you're the right fit or if you're not, and we'll also tell you and give you feedback why you're not the right fit and what you should do as your next steps. So I hope you like all the different lead generation strategies for an air conditioning company. If you are an air conditioning company and you're looking for more leads and potentially for a lead generation company to help you out as well, make certain you head over to FatRank.com and we can help you generate more air conditioning leads in the UK.

Creators & Guests

James Dooley Host
James Dooley

James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.

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