• Create a Facebook page for your business. If you’ve only dabbled in Facebook — or ignored it altogether — it’s time to consider its social media marketing potential. As of December, Facebook had 845 million active users. By creating a Facebook page for your business, you open a portal to the users in your community, including not only your current customers but also their Facebook contacts. Facebook is an easy way to keep in touch with customers and capitalize on the powerful reach that the Facebook  Like button and other features offer.
• Create an HVAC blog. Blogs give HVAC contractors a marketing platform they can use to establish themselves online as leaders in the field. Updated regularly with relevant posts — short, informative articles on HVAC-related topics — blogs allow you to give something of value to would-be customers: the benefit of your expertise. It’s true that blogs, to be successful over time, require planning and commitment. That’s why some HVAC business owners give the job to an Internet-savvy co-worker or outsource the job. But an HVAC blog will pay off by attracting the attention of homeowners and business owners who go online for quality information. Blogs attract sales leads that have the potential to become longtime and loyal customers.
• Tap into LinkedIn. While everyone and his nephew are on Facebook, LinkedIn is a social networking tool dedicated to professional relationships. As an HVAC contractor, you can tap into this network to build contacts in your business community and industry. LinkedIn also lets you see the connections of your connections, facilitating introductions, professional recommendations and other networking strategies that lead to customers.

Are you behind the curve when it comes to social media networking? Start now. I would be glad to offer more guidance. Contact me today.

Social media image via Shutterstock

That starts with making sure you have the right agent. Don’t take it for granted that your agent has scrutinized your coverage and compared it with your needs — or even that he has basic knowledge of the HVAC industry. You and your agent should carefully review your policy to ensure that your coverage is thorough — and that you’ve identified all your potential savings.

Ask a lot of questions, and make sure you understand your insurance’s limits and how you will be covered in various situations. In general, liability insurance covers damages suffered by your client, including:

• Bodily injury
• Medical expenses
• Property damage
• Personal injury, which can include injury to someone’s mental or emotional health
• Advertising injury, which covers damage such as copyright abuse, invasion of privacy, slander and libel

If you have a $250,000 limit in any of those categories and settle a claim for $500,000, you’re on the hook. This is why it’s wise to consider an umbrella policy, as well. An umbrella policy provides supplemental liability and property coverage. It takes over where your primary insurance leaves off. The cost tends to be very affordable, because it’s a supplemental plan.

To greatly reduce the likelihood that you’ll need to use either your primary or your supplemental insurance, carefully evaluate your risk. Consider, among many factors, the experience of your workforce, along with the record in your area of large court-ordered awards to accident victims.

Then consider ways you can reduce your risk. Do you have an in-house safety program? Creating one is a smart move: It reduces your risk by keeping everyone on his toes, and it demonstrates your diligence if you’re ever accused of negligence.

Start by asking your agent for safety tips tailored to HVAC contractors (another reason to go with someone who knows the industry). Communicate your company’s safety practices consistently and repeatedly — make safety part of your company culture — in meetings, on posters and in your monthly reports to co-workers.

Some contractors create a safety committee composed of co-workers — they’re the ones who know what risks they face. Committee meetings are a chance for your co-workers to air their own safety concerns, which may be news to you. And the committee members themselves can be resources for other co-workers who may be reticent to share their concerns with higher-ups.

Looking for sound HVAC business advice? I’m glad to help contractors of all sizes. Please contact me anytime.

Insurance image via Shutterstock

Losing a good co-worker also means losing his knowledge, skills and the time and money spent on training him. That’s why it’s so important to get the right person — to bring on board someone who offers both excellent qualifications and a desire to stick around.

Here are three tips for successful hiring — the kind that nets you smart, skilled and experienced HVAC co-workers who stay with you for the long haul:

• Start recruiting before you need anyone. In fact, HVAC contractors should be recruiting every day of the year — even during the slow periods. Why? Because in our industry, the seasons and weather dictate how busy we are. If you wait until you need new people the most, you’ll be hiring when your competitors are hiring — during seasonal rushes. On the other hand, if you’re always on the lookout for qualified hires, you can sign them onto your team before the busy period — and before your competitors have a chance at them.
• A year-round approach to hiring helps with my second tip: Slow down. Don’t hire the first semi-qualified applicant who stumbles through your door. Invest in good recruiting techniques, and trust that they’ll work. Wait for someone who dazzles you. You can’t afford this luxury if you’re facing an emergency and need someone immediately.
• Use your current co-workers to help you find your new hires. While traditional recruiting methods have their place, divert some of the money you would spend on advertising to pay your co-workers to recruit new hires on your behalf. Make it a significant amount — many contractors offer $1,000 to staff members who recruit someone they decide to hire. Co-workers are selective about whom they recommend; after all, it’s their word and reputation on the line. But it’s a good idea to put some rules in place, such as a minimum employment period for the new co-worker.

Ultimately, the success of your HVAC contracting company depends on the quality of your co-workers. It’s worth your time and effort to apply some creativity — and some patience — to your hiring practices. As a consultant to HVAC contractors throughout the United States and Canada, I’d be happy to help. Feel free to contact me.

Hiring image via Shutterstock

There are a number of reasons for the continued success of direct mail. It’s tactile — touchable. Its presence in your customers’ homes forces them to notice it. And, designed well, direct mail merits more than a glance. It compels customers to dwell on your message or offer. Perhaps most important, direct mail can’t be instantly deleted with the click of the mouse.

Also chief among the advantages of direct mail: It allows you to customize your message, targeting different lists of customers with tailored offers or information. You might want to send one message to prospects, a second to customers you haven’t heard from in awhile and a third to your most loyal customers. You might want to send one message to residents in one neighborhood and another to folks in another neighborhood, based on income or other demographic information.

Full-service direct-mail marketing companies can help you create lists of households and businesses in your community to target. They also can help you tailor your message to various groups, even personalizing each piece of mail with recipients’ names.

Also key for many HVAC contractors: Direct mail allows you to more easily gauge the return on your investment than online or email marketing often allows. While it’s getting somewhat easier for online marketers to determine which online efforts lead directly to inquiries or sales, it is still easier to determine which direct-mail marketing products are getting you real results. And that means it’s easier for you to build on those products, maximizing your sales.

Of course, like any other technique, direct mail should be part of a larger marketing strategy that takes advantage of a variety of media and messages — and that includes social media marketing and other online tools.

As HVAC contractors, our messages and methods evolve with the times and our goals. But there is still a place for direct mail — simply because it works. If you have questions about marketing for your HVAC contracting company, I’d be glad to answer them. Contact me today.

Mail reading image via Shutterstock

Whether you’re starting an HVAC company or retrofitting an established company, the design of your organization requires careful thought and difficult questions. But it pays off by improving productivity and communication and eliminating inefficiencies. Here are five tips:

• Create four key leadership positions. The general manager is at the top, directing the show. Reporting to the general manager: a sales manager, an operations manager and an administration manager. The sales representatives report to the sales manager. The service technicians and installers — and often a service dispatcher — report to the operations manager. And clerical, reception and bookkeeping staff report to the administration manager. Managers might also supervise coordinators who help to keep their departments running smoothly.
• Have only three co-workers including yourself? The organization design above still applies. When you’re working with a small staff, each person can do more than one of the duties. The key is for each of these roles to be taken on, even if — as is often the case with start-up businesses — the owner wears all four hats.
• Then add another role: training director. Whether your training director position is full time or taken on by another top manager, someone should be responsible for maintaining a quality training program. (The training director doesn’t necessarily do the training himself.)
• Match the person to the job, not the job to the person. If you’ve been in business for years, maybe you can’t quite say how some of your managers came into those positions. It’s time to start fresh. Make a list of all the positions you’ll need under those top three managers, and write a well-thought-out, specific job description for each. All job descriptions should reflect the positions as they serve the company’s needs, rather than reflecting the abilities of the people who may be holding them. Conduct interviews for each position, including current co-workers and outside applicants. Finally, choose the most capable person for each position, regardless of other applicants’ previous roles.

You can’t manage an HVAC company to its full potential without a solid organization design. My operational systems and processes are being used successfully throughout the United States and Canada. I would be glad to help you – contact me anytime.

Organization image via Shutterstock

• Attract and keep good coworkers. HVAC residential service agreements mean year-round work that your coworkers can depend on. Further, their jobs will be pleasant, because they’ll be handling clean, well-maintained equipment. They’ll have the opportunity to inform and educate your customers, instead of dealing with frantic homeowners faced with large emergency repair bills. Workers may also boost their pay through service-agreement commissions and may have access to more and better sales leads. Most important, your coworkers will be working for a company that offers stability and growth. And that’s key to keeping good HVAC coworkers.
• Provide steady cash flow — even during mild weather. HVAC residential service agreements make your revenue predictable. Profits come not only from sales of the service agreements, but also from increased sales of high-efficiency equipment and air-quality products. HVAC contractors who commit to service-agreement programs ultimately see significantly improved sales-closure rates.
• Make it easier to compete with low-priced rivals. No one knows better than your customers that HVAC systems are expensive and important investments. Your customers have every reason to keep their systems tuned up to run as efficiently as possible — for as long as possible. HVAC-system service agreements allow you to establish and maintain good relationships with your customers, solidifying your position as the honest, quality HVAC contractor in your community. That’s how residential service agreements help you overcome your competitors’ low-ball tactics. Good customers make the smart choice, which doesn’t necessarily mean the least-expensive choice.

My 50 years in the HVAC industry have shown me — and the countless contractors I’ve helped — that companywide commitment is key to the success of these programs. You should be the first person to buy an agreement; that first sale serves as a symbol of commitment to coworkers, as well as customers.

If you’re thinking about starting a program, I can help. Contact me today.

Do you have a vision for your company? Although for many years I have helped lots of companies in strategic planning I never realized that the first step should be visioning. Strategic planning is the second step. In Germany I led a group through the entire process of:  first, a  vision; second, refining the vision with a strategic plan; and third, managing change from where the company presently is to where the company will be with the strategic plan fully in place. Change can be described as moving from the present state of affairs to a new state of affairs.  It was really a good exercise and we all learned a lot. A vision is basically a description and picture of what your company will look like at a predetermined time (I recommend five years). A vision tells us where we are going.

The line between visioning and strategic planning is often somewhat blurred.  You will find that visioning is fun. Here are just a few of the visioning and then strategic planning considerations: What products and services will your company offer? Geographically, in what area will you provide those products and services? How will your training be accomplished? How about your operating system? What new processes are required? Will your plan require additional leaders, if so what positions? How many coworkers will be required and what type? How will you stay up with the technological changes? How will you market? How about the acquisition of smaller competing companies as a method of growing? Will you be diversifying, if so what will be added? What professionals, alliances and organizations  should you consider and team up with?

A vision tells us where we are going, a strategic plan is detailed and tells us how  to get there. My managing change explanation was well accepted. The formula is clearly explained in my book and/or 9 disc audio CD set HVAC Spells Wealth. Cost of change (COC) equals Model X Process X Dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs.

While in Germany we attended the ISH HVAC Trade Show, a huge event held every two years and always in Frankfurt. Imagine a trade show with well over 2,000 exhibitors, over 200,000 attendees and 3.5 million square feet of space (eight to ten times larger than our very largest annual AHR shows). Some of the displays were huge and they were all very well staffed with knowledgeable representatives. Although I have heard for many years about the show it far exceeded my highest expectations. I recommend that you someday attend the ISH show, you will not be disappointed.

Lapolla Industries has recently launched a national HVAC program in an effort to unite top level HVAC contracting companies with Lapolla’s leading edge spray polyurethane foam insulation technologies. No two building components, whether it is new homes and businesses or retrofit/replacement installations, complement each other better than HVAC and insulation. Lapolla furnishes the complete package including the material, application equipment, training in both sales and application, technical support, marketing, etc.

I have spent considerable time with Lapolla, met their executives, actually observed several jobs being performed and understand their resources. They are a good company that can help HVAC contractors sell more jobs and certainly sell them for higher prices by including poly insulation as a part of the installation. Their foam insulation product is far superior to the more traditional fiberglass product and has many additional benefits. Most importantly, it is the right thing to do for customers. It adds value and significantly reduces their energy costs. For more information check out their website at www.lapolla.com or phone 888-4-lapolla.

Have a great summer!

Simply replacing older 10 and 12 SEER equipment with new 16 and higher SEER equipment is doing an injustice to the customer. As I have said for many years equipment is only a component of an HVAC system. It is not the system. Today’s customers are much better informed than ever before. They not only deserve more, they expect more. As an example, the days of replacing equipment while the ductwork continues to leak air is over.

The Internet has changed everything. Websites worldwide are approaching 300 million in number. There are over 3 billion assigned email addresses. Consumers now spend time searching and learning. How do we know this? All we have to do is listen to them and interact with them and it won’t take long to realize how knowledgeable they now are compared to only a few years ago. We also know that 92% of consumers’ purchase decisions are made after they have searched the Internet. They not only learn from the Internet. They also learn from talking to HVAC retail contractors that have recognized where the industry is headed and have changed their companies.

Those leading edge HVAC retail contractors seal and when appropriate replace ductwork. That alone has become big business and good business. Improperly sized, improperly installed and improperly sealed ductwork is everywhere. They are offering and installing geothermal systems, they have recognized the opportunity presented by offering and installing solar and they install home insulation. In addition and this is big, complete weatherization is a perfect fit for HVAC contractors. Energy efficiency and green is a way of life with these companies.

I am really excited about where our industry is headed and encourage you to study and learn more about these opportunities and decide where you will direct your company. It will be an investment in time, energy and capitol, but it will not only serve your company’s survival in the new world of HVAC retail contracting but it will place you up front in the parade of highly successful contractors. For many contractors it will mean new relationships with providers, upgraded websites and better methods of reaching your present customers as well as adding new customers.

How long has it been since you have taken the time to sit back, consider and plan where your company is going? Now is the time to do exactly that.

I am now in a position where I can add a few consulting/coaching clients either by making on-sites visits or by telephone. If you have an interest just give me a phone call at 615-791-8474 or send a message to ronlsmith2@bellsouth.net.

Additional information:

1)    Check out our website, www.ronsmithhvac.com and take a look at our Affiliates Page. We occasionally add a new Affiliate and have just done so with Earthsponse, www.earthsponse.com. They have a complete program that can certainly help should you have an interest in solar.

2)    If your company is not sending out blogs (which is an excellent method of staying in touch with your customers) it’s probably because you feel you do not have the time. Check out Social Tract, another Affiliate, www.socialtract.com.

3)    Outdoor University, training in a unique setting, has its next training program set for April 11. Pull them up on our Affiliate Page, www.topratetraining.com, 706-888-0815.

The problem is that most companies do not in a regular manner communicate with their customers. Instead, they spend more time, energy and certainly money trying to sell products and services to new customers and they forget to stay in touch with their present customers.  I’m certainly for constantly adding new customers to my present customer base but not at the sake of ignoring my  valuable present customers.

This leads to two questions. First, how frequently should I communicate (I call it touch) my customers; and then secondly, how do I accomplish this?  Let’s start with our very best and most precious customers – those that own one of our residential service agreements. We touch them a minimum of 13 times a year. How? With each of the semi-annual precision tune-ups we phone to schedule the tune-up, phone to confirm the tune-up, perform the tune-up and then call the next day with a “happy call” to find out how well we did and if the customers has any information they can share with us. Doing this twice annually results in 8 touches. We send a direct mail piece each quarter and a Thanksgiving Day card each November. That’s the 13 touches a year.

All of our customers who do not own a service agreement will at a minimum receive the 4 direct mail pieces and the Thanksgiving Day card for a total of 5 touches.

Every service call and non-service agreement tune-up is followed by a next day happy call. Anyone who invests in an equipment replacement job or one our system enhancement products (accessory products to most contractors) receives a thank you card and a happy call.

Remember, these are all examples of minimum touches. I’m a fan of blogs and they are an excellent method of communicating with customers. Just think of the possible number of touches with your customers if you were also, in addition to what I have presented, frequently blogging with good content or, because of your busy work schedule, had a blogging service doing it for you. It is vitally important that you are collecting your customers’ email addresses. In the near future I’ll be writing more on collecting email addresses and sending out blogs. 

QR codes originated in Japan and the term QR is short for quick response. My guess is that you have seen them but probably didn’t think much about it. To make you more familiar with QR they are the square matrix codes that look like a maze. Normally, they are black modules on a white background and can carry a ton of information. They are two dimensional and can be read by smart phones, cell phone cameras and QR scanners.

Regarding marketing they are seen on business cards, print ads, websites, direct mail, billboards ads, displays and coupons just to name some of more common uses. They are very helpful in being able to accurately measure response rates. The codes would be a great tool in home or trade shows. A big benefit is that customers or prospective customers can take immediate action such as subscribing to a mailer, entering a contest or making a purchase decision.

Actually, marketing is just one way the codes can be utilized but the one that most interests and excites me. Your company’s use of QR codes would be a great way to assist in helping your company to be recognized as the leading edge HVAC provider in your market area while at the same time helping you better determine your various marketing efforts’ acquisition costs and contributing to your revenues.

A couple of side notes: Outdoor University’s spring training class will be coming up soon and it’s time to consider registering your technicians, installers or leaders in the program featuring communications, sales and leadership principles. For more information including dates you can go to www.toprate.com.

On your 2011 calendar make a note of the annual Comfortech show which will be in Indianapolis this year on September 21 thru 23.  As always there will be meaningful seminars, interesting speakers and the trade show. And, to me it’s an annual reunion of the many wonderful people I know in our HVAC industry.