Building a $2,500,000 Business for a Stranger in 36 Minutes
In a Nutshell
Corey and Nicole's HVAC cleaning business generates $1.25M revenue at 38% margins but faces demand constraints, $60K debt, and lead generation challenges; Alex Hormozi diagnoses it as demand-limited and outlines a scaling plan prioritizing a 10% price hike (to $1,650/unit for 25% profit boost), landing page optimization (2x+ conversions), ad spend scaling from $5K to $30K/month (13:1 ROAS), Facebook ad tweaks, reactivation emails, and HOA/affiliate partnerships for uncapped leads. Projected impacts include doubling/tripling leads, 20-30% reactivation revenue, and debt payoff in 4-5 months, with no major overhauls needed. One year later, revenue tracks to $2.3-2.5M, driven by 120 to 200 monthly leads via marketing upgrades and higher ad spend.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Corey runs an HVAC business with his wife, doing over $1.2 million per year in revenue. That $1.2 million isn't all profit, and he has $60,000 in debt he wants to eliminate. Alex Trazosi owns Acquisition.com, a portfolio of companies that did over $250 million last year in aggregate revenue, including several service-based businesses. They will deep dive into Corey's business, break down tactics to scale, and check in with Corey one year later to see if the tactics helped scale from originally about $1.25 million in sales.
Cory owns ProShine Professional Cleaning with his wife Nicole, an HVAC cleaning and ductwork repair company. They allocate 10% of profit toward paying off $60,000 debt. Challenges include lead generation for higher quantity and higher-value clients, and streamlining booking to avoid losing upsell opportunities. Solving this is important to help more people in the community, grow the business, and support their team who share that goal.
HVAC cleaning full-end price is $1,575 per HVAC unit, with each house having about two units, including a 2-year growth guarantee disinfecting ductwork to kill bacterial growth. Additional services: ductwork rewrapping (replacing old insulation) and dryer vent cleaning $175. They show customers pictures of vents inside via a customer portal for home sales advantage.
60% from paid ads: $3,000/month Google (recently upped to $5,000), $650 Facebook (new, started last two weeks). 15% from local SEO via third-party company. Affiliates and referrals significant, partnered with HVAC companies; one sends $30K/month. They replicate this with other partners. Advantage: they send back 40-45% of value ($40-50K) as they handle higher-ticket full replacements while Corey does patchwork and cleaning (e.g., send 4-5 of 20 leads back, but partners make double).
Corey has a unique affiliate strategy: purposely limits services to avoid competing, refers high-ticket business, gets percentage back, enabling limitless free lead flow from high-ticket providers.
Last 12 months: $1.25 million revenue, $479,000 profit, 38% net margin. Marketing spend under $7,200. 99% show rate (1% no-shows due to client forgetting). 82% close rate. Can handle double lead flow with two new employees and third van.
First problem: supply constraint or demand constrained? Can handle double leads, so demand-constrained. Common mistake: fixing capacity before demand worsens existing problem.
Nothing majorly wrong, 38% margins. Incremental improvements, no Hail Marys, consistent yardage, trust the process. Plan: 1) Pricing room. 2) Debt. 3) Affiliates. 4) Funnel conversion optimization. 5) Ads. 6) Reactivation emails.
Corey at stage 5 (Productize) on $100M scaling roadmap: 10-19 people, 2-3 managers. Issues: no repeat buys, customer churn, expensive qualified leads capping ads. Improve ad throughput, sales materials, pricing, sales process, CS playbook.
Get free scaling roadmap at acquisition.com/roadmap; schedule call on thank-you page for help.
Did 23% price increase after workshop, resulted in higher close rate and more money. Reason: raises perceived conviction of delivery (value equation increases likelihood of achievement). Not Veblen good (luxury signaling), but normal service where higher price signals quality, avoids seeming seedy. Page 48 in Offers book: virtuous cycle of pricing - higher price increases emotional investment, perceived value, results, decreases customer demandingness, more money to deliver.
80%+ close rates signal room to raise. Suggest 10% price raise: as long as close >65%, make more money. Equals 25% net profit increase (~$100K+ year at last volume).
Plan to pay off $60K debt in 4-5 months. Debt increases risk over time; businesses have volatility. Skew toward debt-free like Chick-fil-A for endurance.
Current homepage loses ~50% per step (two landing pages effectively). Shrink top bar: hamburger menu, small logo, drop site nav. Build specific ad lander for conversion only - clear offer, eliminate distractions. Prime real estate above fold.
13:1 ROAS on unoptimized page; could double to 26:1. Scale from $5K to $30K/month. If $1 in gives $5 back, spend all possible, reinvest.
Leveling up: take greater risk for greater rewards with proven metrics.
View ads at phone size (text to self). Current: can't read website URL, number, checkpoints; only see picture of Corey/Nicole, air duct, dry cleaning experts (likely highest converting). Improve contrast. Headline: Hilton Head Bluffton. Image: FREE 18-POINT INSPECTION big, same size text, drop logo for direct response. Run 40 variations (colors, backgrounds). Use customer smiling near HVAC. Repurpose best organic Instagram posts: add 5s CTA for free 18-point inspection.
Cheapest testing: post organic first, algorithm tests, turn winners into ads.
Hamburger menu, 333 number top (one line on mobile). Free 18-point inspection (changed from free estimate, people love it). Form below, phone number for callers (answered). Add locations, FAQs for common questions. Freestanding page, not navigable from site. Redirect all site buttons/SEO to it for 2x+ improvement.
Biggest: pricing, ads, funnel (2x+). Increase Google spend, Facebook: more images, less text, offer first. Avoid repeating content - looks cheap, hurts brand.
Current: recommend yearly free dryer vent checkup ($175 value?), more if >3 loads/week or pets. Proves existence drives business.
Test: >I owe you $175< or >We messed up on offer component, make it right< frames (split test weeks).
Highlight at no cost. Unique angles long-term value: 1) Savings - collect 12-month bills before/after for average savings stat (pairs with high price: recoup $3,400 in 18 months, plus home value via portal). 2) Testimonials e.g., >Casey: $600 to $150/month<. Better for allergies/pocketbook.
Allergy angle ads: sneezing, watery eyes; reduce allergies 33% with better air; 90% houses past filter life. Blow up in April pollen season (windows open). Seasonal: summer + pollen = year-round.
In the gym world, people want to get in shape for summer, with summer and New Year's as two polar ends. Gyms get year-round signups: advertise getting in shape for New Year as it approaches; post-New Year, reinforce resolutions; by March-April, push for summer shape; post-summer, target regret like looking terrible in a bikini. This uses one or two seasonal pain points pre-, during, and post- twice a year on two cycles.
That theme is communicated to the CMO. All messaging for the next two months is anti-allergy through emails, ads, and Google PPC. Targeting includes existing customers who Google search and book. It increases touchpoints with them.
Alex suggests anti-allergy or mildew messaging, a big issue homeowners ignore until too late.
Alex shares the exact 10-stage roadmap from zero to 100 million plus that less than 1% of companies finish, done multiple times across software, physical products, service businesses, brick-and-mortar. Broken down by eight business functions, constraints/symptoms, and steps to graduate. Free at acquisition.com/roadmap; enter info to access.
Set up retargeting across all platforms. Own all terms: people search business name, permutations like Hormozi, Alex Hormozi, acquisition.com. Be first result to block competitors. Helps businesses without strong SEO. Pay for branded clicks; alternative is competitors outbidding and scooping customers. Always more profitable on own terms.
Check monthly. Reactivation emails once per month, with 2-3 email sequences per segment: e.g., "I owe you" sequence with allergy angle, savings angle, environment angle. Opposite of pollen allergy is mildew smell from heating elements in cold season through ductwork. Pollen and mildew as two allergy angles.
Consider case studies as follow-ups: stats first, then "Here's Casey who had the same issue." Targets 6-month comebacks, potentially 20-30% of revenue, all profit.
Existing affiliate process: connections with HVAC, pest control, remediation companies via networking events and partners referring. Only one actively sends consistent business.
True affiliate program needs a compelling offer. Two avatars; pick one.
Events play (outbound): Target HOAs. Call non-event times: "Did this house and this house in your neighborhood; call them for references. Share your HOA event calendar so we can show face and be part of community." Goal: 1-2 events/week. Last event booked 55 inspections via CMO and Nicole. Once in calendar, book event from event.
Partner side offer: Referrals lack delivery. Offer highest gross margin low-ticket: $175 inspection. Partners charge $175, keep all, company does work. Then upsell core services.
From $100M Leads book, page 223 on affiliates, pages 237-239 outline three versions. Use offer #2: partners sell core thing, upsell $175 lead magnet (company delivers free to them). Partners profit $175 no work; company CAC is conversion rate times delivery cost (e.g., $25 delivery, 1/3 upsell = $75 CAC).
Technicians trained to push inspection even on dryer jobs. Approach 10 others: "You don't do duct cleaning; we do." Less scalable long-term due to referral volume limits.
Current setup gives partners extra eyes for diagnosing, solidifying their sales. Send back if no upsell.
Offer: Sell $175 inspection, keep all money; company eats cost (~$100 hard cost), closes ~75% conservatively half into $3-4K business. Compelling: real money, no extra work.
Outbound to HOAs easier to start via CMO calls. Price chart for activation. Timeline: rest of year to spin up; 2026 realistic, needs full-time person per initiative. One more partner like current pays for it; supply constraints hit first.
Priorities:
- Price rates up 10% to ~$1650/unit; profitable above 65% close rate.
- Continue paying off debt.
- Change funnel: optimize landing page, redirect all site buttons to new optimized page.
- Fix ads: variety + organic best performers + 5-second CTA; then increase ad spend.
Fix landing page and ads first; might double/triple leads without more spend, creating capacity issues. Then retargeting cross-platform + own Google terms. Outbound HOAs last.
1-4 doable in 2 weeks; others concurrent or later.
Projected lifts:
- Overall: 25% profit increase + 5% from no debt payments = 100% headache reduction.
- Page optimization + SEO: 2x+.
- Ads/organic: 2-3x (competitors poor at advertising).
- Ad spend scale 1:1 ROAS doubles everything.
- Retargeting: 10-20% lift.
- Email reactivation: 20-30% lift, compounds.
- Outbound HOAs: uncapped; 100 HOAs = $10-20M/year.
Trailing 12 months at recording: $1.25M sales. Now on track for $2.3-2.5M. Biggest impact: marketing via new third-party expert. Leads from 120/month to ~200/month, higher quality, after landing page conversions, marketing tweaks, ad spend increase. Excited for new location in next 12 months for team opportunities. Thanks Alex for mission alignment.
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