Case Study · HVAC Trade Training
An HVAC trade school outside Washington, DC was running classes only 60% full. Every class has been full since August 2024 — and there is now a waitlist.
Since August 2024 · Metro Washington, DC · Organic figures measured over a recent 90-day window
The goal was simple: fill every seat. We did it with a better brand, a smarter ad channel, and a system that let students enroll and pay on their own.
Su’Coy CLC teaches a 6-week, 72-hour HVAC course that turns aspiring technicians into hireable ones. Graduates consistently land apprenticeships and entry-level jobs at HVAC companies across metro Washington, DC.
The school was founded by Derrick Conyers, who started Su’Coy HVAC in 1996 and is one of the DC area’s most respected Black entrepreneurs and community leaders. He built the Learning Center to train and mentor aspiring technicians and open up HVAC careers for young Washingtonians.
The training worked. The enrollment did not. Classes ran only about 60% full. The owner wanted three things: a stronger brand, more visibility for the courses, and a way for students to enroll and pay without pulling him into constant admin work. The target was 100% enrollment in every class.
In the first month, we designed a new logo, a fresh brand, and a website built to fill classes.
To generate leads fast, we ran Facebook Ads instead of Google Ads. It was a deliberate call:
The campaign delivered qualified leads for only $3.35 each — the report at the top of this page. Here is how the system turned those leads into enrolled students.
Capture. Lead generation forms fed contact information straight into our CRM.
Nurture. Automated texts and emails followed up with class benefits and enrollment details.
Close. Facebook leads are usually less motivated than Google leads, so our team called each one multiple times to walk them through enrollment.
Zero markup. The $200 a month goes to Meta, not to us. We take 0% markup on ad spend.
Facebook filled seats fast, but paid ads were never the whole strategy. The larger, compounding engine was content — and it is why Su’Coy CLC now enrolls students who never clicked a single ad.
Enrolling in a trade program is a high-stakes decision. Before someone commits months of their life and thousands of dollars, they have a long list of questions — and if they can’t find the answers, they don’t enroll. So we set out to answer every one of them, right on the site:
We publish in-depth articles every month, each built around a real question a prospective student is already typing into Google or asking an AI assistant. Over a recent 90-day window, the site drew roughly 1,330 organic clicks from 103,000 Google impressions — and it ranks on Google’s first page for the exact high-intent searches a future student runs: “HVAC apprenticeship” (#4), “6-week HVAC training near me” (#4), “HVAC school” (top five), “HVAC trade school,” and “HVAC training DC.”
This is exactly what modern SEO and AI search reward. Google and AI answer engines favour sites that cover a topic comprehensively and genuinely resolve the searcher’s intent. By mapping the entire student journey and removing every obstacle along the way, Su’Coy CLC became the site that answers the question.
The payoff is a second front door. Paid ads capture people actively weighing a career change; organic content captures the ones quietly researching one — often the most committed students of all, because they have already answered their own objections by the time they reach out.
Since August 2024, Su’Coy CLC has hit 100% enrollment in every HVAC course. The math speaks for itself:
The momentum kept building:
There is a bigger payoff, too. Full classes create a steady pipeline of qualified entry-level technicians for Su’Coy Heating, AC & Duct Cleaning, the owner’s HVAC company. The six-week course doubles as a working interview, giving Su’Coy HVAC time to evaluate technicians who fit the culture and deliver great service. That answers one of the industry’s hardest problems: finding skilled people you can trust.
“We’ve been working with this marketing agency for almost a year now, and the experience has been nothing short of excellent. They’re reliable, innovative, and consistently deliver results that align with our goals. A great partner for long-term growth.”
This worked because the school was already good. Our job was to get it in front of the right people and remove the friction that kept students from signing up.
Derrick Conyers brought the reputation, the curriculum, and a genuine mission to open HVAC careers to his community. We brought the brand, the ad strategy, and the CRM that let students enroll, sign a waiver, and start paying on their own.
Results like these are not typical. They happen when a strong program meets a system built to fill it.
Facebook can beat Google on cost when you reach people before they start searching.
A CRM that handles enrollment and payments frees the owner from admin and speeds up sign-ups.
Low ad spend can still deliver a huge return when the offer and follow-up are strong.
A credible brand and a founder story do a lot of the selling for you.
Most HVAC companies don’t have a lead problem — they have a system problem. We fix both. SEO, Google Ads, websites, reviews and email work together, not in silos. And you pay Google and Meta what they charge, because we take 0% markup on ad spend.
sucoy-hvac.com
Derrick’s HVAC company grew revenue 400% in two years, with Local Services Ads at $47.18 a lead.
Read The Story
kellysheatingandair.com
We told them not to replace their brand. A century of trust is not something you replace — it is something you express.
Read The StoryWhether you train technicians or run the trucks, the right system turns interest into booked seats and booked jobs. We’ll show you what your market can realistically produce — no pitch, no pressure, and 0% markup on ad spend if you do work with us.
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