A heating company can run for years on gut feel, until it grows past the point where one person can hold the whole picture. The scorecard below is the smallest set of numbers that replaces gut feel without burying anyone in reports. It is the same set we record on day 1 of every program, and you can build it yourself in an afternoon.
Why ratios beat totals in a heating business
Heating demand follows the weather. A cold week doubles the calls, a warm one halves them, and neither says anything about how well the company is run. If your scorecard reports totals, it mostly reports the forecast.
Ratios fix that. Answer rate, booking rate and close rate stay roughly comparable whether the month was cold or mild, so when they move, something in the company moved them. Totals still belong on the page, but as context, not as the verdict.
The eight numbers
1. Answer rate
Calls answered by a person ÷ calls received. Pull it from your phone system or call-tracking reports. Count calls that rang out, went to voicemail or were abandoned in a queue as unanswered. At peak, this is often the single largest leak in the company.
2. Booking rate
Visits booked ÷ calls answered. The dispatch board gives you bookings; the phone system gives you answered calls. A low booking rate with a high answer rate points at how calls are handled: triage, pricing questions, availability.
3. Cost per booked job
Marketing spend ÷ booked visits that came from marketing. This is the number that connects advertising to revenue. Cost per click and cost per lead are steps along the way; only this one says what a paying customer cost.
4. Average ticket by job type
Split at least three ways: service calls, maintenance visits and replacements. One blended average hides almost everything. If replacement tickets rise but replacement volume falls, you are learning something about pricing or close rate.
5. Replacement quote close rate
Replacement quotes won ÷ quotes issued. Track it by salesperson or technician if more than one person quotes. A falling close rate is often a follow-up problem rather than a price problem.
6. Active maintenance members
The count of customers on a paid maintenance or service plan at month end. This is the closest thing a heating company has to recurring revenue, and it carries the shoulder months.
7. Maintenance renewal rate
Members who renewed ÷ members due to renew. Renewals tell you whether the plan feels worth it. A strong sign-up number paired with weak renewals means the plan is being sold well and delivered poorly.
8. Shoulder-season share of revenue
Revenue in your quiet months ÷ total annual revenue. Define the quiet months for your region, often late spring and summer. If this share grows year over year, the company is becoming less dependent on the weather.
Where to find the numbers
| Number | Usual source |
|---|---|
| Answer rate | Phone service portal, call tracking |
| Booking rate | Dispatch or field-service software, plus phone data |
| Cost per booked job | Ad accounts, invoices from agencies, dispatch source field |
| Ticket by job type | Invoicing or field-service export, grouped by job type |
| Close rate | Quote list in your CRM or a simple spreadsheet |
| Members and renewals | Membership list in the CRM |
| Shoulder share | Monthly revenue from your accounting software |
Two habits make all of this easier. First, record the source of every booked job at the moment it is booked: Google search, Business Profile, referral, repeat customer, truck signage. Second, keep every account, from ads to phone service, in the company's name, so the numbers survive a change of vendor.
A worked one-page scorecard
Here is an illustrative month for a fictional five-truck furnace and heat-pump company in January:
| Number | This month | Same month last year |
|---|---|---|
| Calls received | 520 | 610 |
| Answer rate | 89% | 76% |
| Booking rate | 51% | 47% |
| Booked visits | 236 | 218 |
| Cost per booked job | $104 | $131 |
| Replacement close rate | 34% | 30% |
| Active members | 1,140 | 980 |
| Renewal rate (12-month) | 71% | 66% |
Read it the way an owner should. Calls fell 15%, which on its own looks bad. But answered calls went from about 464 to about 463, booking rate rose, and booked visits rose by 18 despite a milder month. Marketing got cheaper per job. The company did better; the weather did worse. A totals-only report would have said the opposite.
Setting targets from the scorecard
Once you have three months of scorecards, you can set targets that mean something. Pick the one ratio that is furthest from where you want it and set a modest goal for the next season, such as answer rate from 82% to 88%, rather than trying to move every number at once. A target that is hit builds the habit; a list of eight targets mostly builds frustration.
Targets should also respect the calendar. A booking-rate target for January makes sense; one for July, when volume is thin and every number swings, does not. Keep summer targets for things that are within your control in the quiet months, such as maintenance renewals and shoulder-season revenue.
Common mistakes
- Counting form fills as leads and leads as jobs. Each step loses people. Measure the end of the chain.
- Trusting ad platform "conversions". A tap on a phone number is not a completed call, and a completed call is not a booking.
- Blending ticket sizes. One average across service and replacements is meaningless.
- Changing the format every month. The scorecard is valuable because it is boring and identical.
- Too many numbers. Eight is the ceiling for an owner's page. Department detail can live elsewhere.
Using the scorecard with or without a consultant
On your own: fill it in on the first working day of every month, and compare each number with the same month last year. Pick the worst-moving ratio and make it next month's one priority.
With us: the scorecard becomes the day-1 baseline in the 90-day heating program, and the monthly page on the retainer. The details of how we set it up are on the measurement page.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I fill in the scorecard?
Monthly for most companies, and weekly during the peak heating weeks if you can manage it. The point is to use the same format every time so trends show up.
What if my phone system cannot report missed calls?
Many business phone services can, sometimes in a portal nobody has opened. If yours cannot, call tracking numbers on your website and ads will at least show the marketing-driven calls.
Should technicians see the scorecard?
The parts they influence, yes: ticket by job type and maintenance sign-ups. Share the numbers as information rather than as a ranking, or people will start managing the number instead of the work.
Is cost per lead good enough instead of cost per booked job?
No. A lead that never books costs money and earns nothing. Cost per booked job is the number that connects marketing spend to revenue.