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How These 3 Google Hacks Tripled HVAC Leads
An interview with Nik Tsoukales at Realtop
Bryan Shankman
May 29, 2025
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Workbench, a resource-rich weekly newsletter and podcast for home services entrepreneurs.
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This week, I sat down with Nik Tsoukales, founder and CEO of RealTop, a digital marketing agency with hundreds of case studies in home services. Nik has built and scaled multiple service businesses himself and now helps home service owners drive explosive growth through digital marketing.
We dive into what’s working now in Google, why local SEO isn’t enough, how to unlock more profits without spending more on ads, and the exact playbook he uses to turn browsers into customers.
The 7 Key Takeaways
Below are the most essential insights from my conversation that you can apply to your home services business today.
1. Referrals and Repeat Business Come First
So many home service owners focus all their effort on driving fresh Google leads, but Nik says the biggest missed opportunity is right under your nose—your existing and past customers. Before spending on ads, he recommends maximizing referrals, repeat business, and partnerships by keeping your business top-of-mind through social media, your website, and regular email content, creating an ongoing cycle that feeds new work at the lowest cost per acquisition.
“The lowest cost to acquire a customer is going to come from a customer that was generated from a referral. Even though word of mouth might not be as sexy as Google is right now, the first thing I’m going to try to do is use digital marketing to pump in more referrals, more repeat business, more partnerships. You want to maximize that first—before you even turn on Google ads.”
2. Google Business Profile Is the Lead Machine
When it comes to Google, Nik has a surprising take. Local SEO on your website only generates a small slice of leads. Instead, dominating your Google Business Profile and leveraging Local Service Ads and Google Ads is far more powerful for home service companies. He shares his framework for dominating the map pack—where you get the best, hottest leads for free.
“We have deprioritized the local SEO of the website because only 10 to 15% of leads are being generated there. We’ve prioritized local SEO efforts in the Google Business Profile. That’s where the leads are being generated and the work you put into your GBP gives you triple the leads in less time. There’s a recipe we use to rank number one in super competitive spaces, and it works every time.”
3. How to Dominate Your Google Business Profile
Nik breaks down his exact, actionable playbook for ranking #1 in competitive home service markets—no secrets held back. From review strategy to content optimization and daily posts, this system is proven, free, and beats bigger players who just focus on websites. Consistent execution can elevate even small operators in the search results.
“First, reviews—get them every day, get lots of them, reply to all, and make sure customers use relevant words. Set a KPI, like 25% of jobs should get a review, and hit it. Second, content—your services list should have every synonym, detailed descriptions, products, and beautiful images. Third, updates—click ‘add update’ in your profile and post location-based photos every 48 hours. If you do these three things you’ll rank number one, even against companies with more reviews.”
4. Speed to Lead Beats All
Speed is everything in converting leads. Most businesses lose huge revenue by not picking up the phone instantly or waiting to follow up. Nik insists on immediate (even half-ring) response as the baseline standard. If you can’t answer right away, you’re burning money, and you should invest in processes or people who can.
“This is a basic sales concept from 25 years ago called speed to lead. If your phone rang once and you didn’t answer, just shut it down. You should have a half a ring before someone answers. If you can’t afford a front desk manager, you just lost a $15,000 job. It drives me bananas. Speed to lead is everything.”
5. AI Chat and Conversion Rate Optimization
To turn more of your website traffic into real jobs, you can’t just rely on form fills and hope for the best. Nik shares how AI chatbots loaded with FAQs and scripts now turn 15% of website visitors into 25%—a 33% lead boost with the same traffic. It all comes down to removing friction, instantly answering questions, and making it easy for prospects to engage at any stage.
“When someone comes to your website, instead of searching everywhere, now they can open a chat and unload all their needs, and AI answers it for them, teeing up the call. That conversion rate goes from 15–20% to 25%—that’s 33% more leads on the same clicks. If you’re not doing this, you’re just leaving money on the table.”
6. Five Pillars of Conversion That Top Operators Nail
Great marketing isn’t just about traffic—it’s how you convert that traffic into paying customers. Nik outlines five must-haves: strong social proof, a modern and beautiful website, a bold brand seen everywhere locally, tight campaign engineering, and attention to each stage of the funnel. He points out how top private-equity operators flood the zone, saturating markets with omnipresent brands that double conversion rates before a word is spoken.
“Fifty-four percent of people will leave your website or open another tab to look for social proof. You need great reviews everywhere. Next, your website—people are paying $20, $50, even $90 a click in some industries and have a dated website. Top brands invest in swag, wraps, sponsorships, everything local, and the engineering in your campaigns has to be tight. All of it works together to drive leads and lower acquisition cost.”
7. Brand Strength Before Paid Ads
As a final takeaway, Nik emphasizes that your brand and operations need to be bulletproof before you start pouring money into Google Ads or other paid traffic channels. Getting these basics right brings sustainable growth and protects your margins, while overreliance on paid sources is a recipe for headaches down the road.
“Get your brand really locked down before you start investing in paid ads. Awesome website, swag, wrapped trucks, a referral system—stay top of mind with your customers. If 100% of your revenue is coming from Google, you’re in trouble. Paid ads should be the cherry on top, not everything. Lock down your brand and service first.”
Looking Ahead
Nik and the RealTop team are focused on helping more home services operators dominate their markets using the proven playbooks and frameworks they’ve built across hundreds of case studies. Their resources and free strategies are continuing to expand, making these systems accessible for all sizes of business.
“We’ve got our six or seven hundred case studies on our website, and more than half are home services. If you like what you see and want those same results, reach out for a free marketing plan. We’re here to help operators get the results they deserve.”
Wow! You made it to the end; thanks for sticking with us.
The full interview is available on YouTube below, Spotify here, and Apple Podcasts here.