BuyFin Helps HVAC & Plumbing Company Increase Average Ticket by 61%

BuyFin Consumer Financing has helped the One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing locations in Medina, OH, and Dayton, OH, increase their HVAC average ticket size by 61% and plumbing average ticket size by 34%! We sat down with Jacob Schlegel, Director of Marketing & Operations, to learn more about how his locations use BuyFin and what has led to their success.

What Fueled Their Switch to BuyFin

The One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Medina and Dayton are well-established businesses in their communities. They were the 8th and 9th locations, respectively, for each franchise, and have a solid history of serving their community with their 25 technicians throughout their four locations.

In March 2024, Jacob and his team signed up for BuyFin. A few factors led them to look into switching from their previous financing company to a new one. Their previous financing company had limited loan options to select from, which didn’t allow them to best serve their customers.

Their previous company also did not allow them to reopen loans. So, if a customer closed their loan when their job was done but called in 3 days later and wanted to add a plumbing service onto the same loan they opened for an HVAC service, they couldn’t. The customer would have to wait until the loan officially closed before initiating a new loan application.

This is where BuyFin Consumer Financing piqued their interest. Jacob said, “The open line of credit for five months for the customer and the ability to tailor different loan options for different customers drew us to BuyFin. We also like having second-look funding built into the application. BuyFin fits all of our needs.”

“Since we have both an HVAC and plumbing business, the 5-month purchase window gives us the ability to go out five days later to a customer we sold an HVAC system too, and we can sell them a water heater with no additional pull to their credit,” Jacob told us. “This is huge given the current market and economy we are living in.”

In fact, they have already had an instance where this occurred! Jacob said, “We had a customer who opened a loan for a water heater. Two weeks after the job was complete, they called back again with a clogged drain and could put that work on the same loan.”

Collecting payment on each loan has been super easy for Jacob. They love the same-day ACH payments if requested by 2PM EST. They have also taken advantage of the staged funding option BuyFin offers when merchants want to take down payments.

Onboarding with BuyFin

The onboarding process was simple and easy for Jacob and his team. “We filled out an application and within a week were onboarded and ready to go,” Jacob said. Their management team then received thorough training on the platform.

Initiating Loan Applications

All technicians go through Jacob when a customer wants to finance a job. This has helped streamline the process and allows Jacob to customize the loan option for each customer. The process works a bit like this:

1. Tech talks with the homeowner about financing while on a job site.
2. The homeowner says they would like to finance the job.
3. The tech contacts Jacob to get the application process started.
4. Jacob picks the loan option best suited for the customer’s needs and texts the link directly to the customer while the tech is still on the job site.

Growing with BuyFin

“As the economy tightens, people are less inclined to purchase a new system and just want to put a bandage on their issues, so BuyFin has been huge for us. Offering the payment plans has allowed us to serve the customer better while increasing our average ticket.”

Increasing their average ticket size by 61% for HVAC and 34% for plumbing has been huge, and they attribute it to customers selecting their Complete Solution packages. Jacob said, “We offer three repair options to our customers – Need to Do, Should Do, or the Complete Solution. We are getting many more people doing the Complete Solution, which has helped boost our average ticket size.”

Jacob and his team have future marketing plans for customers who have not used their whole loan approval amount. They plan to contact them a month or two after the initial work has been completed to see if the customer wants to purchase filters or other equipment/services using their remaining balance. This will be a great way to get some low-hanging fruit and additional revenue at no up-front cost to the customer.

They anticipate that BuyFin will also help them increase revenue after the busy season. Jacob said, “BuyFin will help us bridge the gap between the busy and slow seasons by allowing us to market to customers who still have funds available.”

Jacob and his team have already seen an increase in customers who choose to finance their jobs. In the past, they were financing about 5% of all jobs. Since using BuyFin, those numbers have steadily increased, and they anticipate they will finance about 10-20% of all jobs going forward.

Last year, their locations financed just shy of 2 million dollars. Jacob imagines they will hit the 2.5 million mark in financing this year. They plan to start pushing financing over credit card transactions as a win-win for both their business and their customers’ wallets.

Why Should Other Businesses Switch to BuyFin

Jacob loves the ability to tailor financing options for each customer since BuyFin has more than 30+ loan options for them to choose from. Jacob said, “If someone mentions they want a low-interest and low-payment plan, we can build a program for them. Or, if we have specific marketing efforts we are targeting, we can build a plan for that. So, it is very customizable.”

When asked what the top reasons Jacob touts to other businesses for why they should switch to BuyFin, he mentioned:

• The 5-month purchase window
• Ability to customize loan options by each customer
• The application goes directly to the customer’s phone
• The customer can fill out the application on their own, taking your technicians out of the process

The BuyFin support team has also been great in getting Jacob and his team onboarded and in answering any questions they have. Jacob said, “They answer the phone the first time I call, which has been great.”

If you want to learn more about how BuyFin can help your business grow, contact us today.