HVACR Business JULY 2021 by HVACR Business

Give Customers Peace of Mind Pete Grasso 5

Plan for Success Kelly Borth 10

Tackle Your Brand Strategy Dan Antonelli 14

Implement Your Training Pete Danielson 18

Rethink Cashflow Keven Prather 22

Growth Is Awesome Jack Tester 24

HVACRBUSINESS.COM JULY 2021 / VOL.16 / NO.7

INCREASE THE VALUE OF YOUR BUSINESS Page 8

ALSO INSIDE » Industry News ...........................................................6 Ruth King Stop the Steal this Summer.................20 Product Focus ...........................................................25 20 Questions with Angie Simon President of Western Allied Mechanical …...........26

JOSH LUNDEVALL General Manager

TONY OAKMAN Owner

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CONTENTS

JULY 2021 / VOL.16 / NO.7

F E AT U R E S

Increase the Value of Your Business Invest in yourself and in your team to get better — this is the only way you will gain long-term, loyal clients. By Erica Leonor

Plan for Success

Tackle Your Brand Strategy

D E PA R T M E N T S

12 steps to developing an actionable marketing plan for your company. By Kelly Borth Learn how, and why, to develop your brand and don’t skip it in your business plan. By Dan Antonelli

Implement Your Training Develop an operating system to help your team with implementation of ideas from seminars and conferences. By Pete Danielson

C O LU M N

Keep Your Employees from Stealing this Summer

Rethink Cash Flow

Growth Is Awesome

Editor’s Notebook As the country opens and customers once again welcome you into their homes and businesses, keep them at ease by communicating your safety measures. By Pete Grasso

6 25 26

Industry News Product Focus 20 Questions with Angie Simon, P.E. President of Western Allied Mechanical in Menlo Park, Calif.

Don’t let policies you enforce during slow times get ignored when you’re busy. By Ruth King As much as we don’t want to admit it, cash flow is the lifeblood of a company. Provided by Keven Prather To grow a business and stay in growth mode, you’ll have to grow the leaders and the people in your business. By Jack Tester

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WE’RE MUCH MORE THAN A GLOBAL LEADER IN DUCTLESS MINI-SPLITS AND HVAC SOLUTIONS… FUJITSU GENERAL CARES. Matt Peterson President & COO Fujitsu General America, Inc.

As a proud sponsor of the Wounded Warrior Project® Carry Forward® 5K and Make-A-Wish®, please join us in helping to improve the lives of many throughout the world. At Fujitsu General, we support causes that are near and dear to our hearts. One of them is the Wounded Warrior Project and the other is Make-A-Wish. If you know our culture, supporting those that have fought for our country and children with critical illnesses is a no-brainer to us. It’s the right thing to do and we hope you will find a way to join us in these incredible causes as we strive to make the world a better place. Fujitsu General is a proud sponsor of the 2021 Wounded Warrior Project Carry Forward Virtual 5K, a unique event that allows supporters to put the mission in motion in their communities or neighborhoods. And as a proud partner of Make-A-Wish, we also wholeheartedly support this wonderful organization that creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.

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THE HVACR MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE

TERRY Tanker Publisher ttanker@hvacrbusiness.com PETE Grasso Editor pgrasso@hvacrbusiness.com MEGAN LaSalla Art Director mlasalla@hvacrbusiness.com

ADVERTISING STAFF ERIC Hagerman National Sales Manager Tel 216-409-3246 ehagerman@hvacrbusiness.com TERRY Tanker Publisher Tel 440-731-8600 ttanker@hvacrbusiness.com

BRUCE Sprague Circulation Manager bs200264@sbcglobal.net BARBARA Kerr Executive Assistant bkerr@hvacrbusiness.com

HVACR Business, founded January 1981, is a monthly national trade magazine serving contractors, mechanical engineers, manufacturers, manufacturer representatives, wholesalers, distributors, trade associations, and others in the heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) industry primarily in the U.S. The editorial focus and mission of HVACR Business is to provide business owners and managers with the very best business management concepts available. Critical topics covered include leadership, management, strategy, finance, sales, marketing, training, education, staffing, operations, human resources, legal issues, customer service and more. We are dedicated to helping contractors master these key management skills and provide them with the resources necessary to build strong, profitable companies. Every effort is made to provide accurate information, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for accuracy of submitted advertising and editorial information. Copyright©2021 by JFT Properties LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced or retransmitted in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any information storage retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Unauthorized copying may subject violators to criminal penalties as well as liabilities for substantial monetary damages up to $100,000 per infringement, costs and attorneys’ fees. This publication should not be utilized as a substitute for professional advice in specific situations. If legal, medical, accounting, financial, consulting, coaching or other professional advice is required, the services of the appropriate professional should be sought. Neither the authors nor the publisher may be held liable in any way for any interpretation or use of the information in this publication. The authors will make recommendations for solutions for you to explore. Any recommendation is always based on the authors’ research and experience. The information contained herein is accurate to the best of the publisher’s and authors’ knowledge; however, the publisher and authors can accept no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information or for loss or damage caused by any use thereof. Subscription Rates: Free and controlled circulation to qualified subscribers. Non-qualified persons may subscribe at the following rates: U.S. and possessions: 1 year $48; 2 years $75; 3 years $96; Canadian and foreign, 1-year $108 U.S. funds only. Single copies $8. Subscriptions are prepaid, and check or money orders only. Subscriber Services: To order a subscription or change your address, write to HVACR Business, 31674 Center Ridge Road, Suite 104, North Ridgeville, OH 44039 or call (440) 731-8600; or visit our Web site at www.hvacrbusiness.com. For questions regarding your subscription, please contact bkerr@hvacrbusiness.com. HVACR Business (ISSN 2153-2877) Copyright ©2021 is published monthly by JFT Properties LLC,31674 Center Ridge Road, Suite 104, North Ridgeville, OH 44039, Phone: 440731-8600. Periodicals postage is paid at North Ridgeville, OH and additional mailing offices. (USPS 025-431) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to HVACR Business, 31674 Center Ridge Road, Suite 104, North Ridgeville, OH 44039.

31674 Center Ridge Road, Suite 104 North Ridgeville, OH 44039 Tel: (440) 731-8600 Web site: www.hvacrbusiness.com (ISSN: 2153-2877)

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

BY PETE GRASSO

Give Customers Peace of Mind

hile the past 18 months may have been challenging for many of us, it certainly wasn’t without its lessons. One of the biggest things we’ve learned is just how valuable it is to address health and safety. Businesses were quick to implement safety protocols early last year to ensure customers felt at ease — but, as more states and businesses do away with mask mandates and fully open their doors, some customers want assurance its safe to return. Companies need to ease the concerns of the more cautious and at-risk members of society. This should go without saying for service companies such as yours.

wearing one or requests that the technician wear one. We let the customer take the lead in whether they want to shake hands, or make any kind of physical contact. Our job is to make them comfortable. Stack: We let our customers know by phone before the technician arrives that we take necessary precautions to be safe. We also ask customers if they or anyone in the home has been sick recently.

As the country opens and customers once again welcome you into their homes and businesses, keep them at ease by communicating your safety measures.

I spoke with a few contractors to find out what they learned over the past 18 months, what safety protocols they’ve implemented and — most important — how they’re communicating that to their customers. Here’s what they had to say.

Have you seen an uptick in IAQ interest? Knaak: There has been some … most came early on with MERV 13 filter requests. Robinson: Yes, mainly from our commercial customers. It seems they too are interested in keeping their coworkers healthy to keep them working.

Stack: We have definitely seen an uptick in ionizer sales.

What’s the biggest lesson you learned?

What’s your approach to health & safety?

Knaak: We learned that we can work remotely and that virtual meetings can be effective.

Eric Knaak, Isaac Heating & Cooling: While we have always focused on client and employee safety, we are more diligent when it comes to unseen hazards such as virus and contact related issues.

Robinson: The pandemic has made us realize how interconnected businesses are. It is amazing how the lack of production of a single line of circuit board can not only affect the production of one product, but also other industries.

Darryl Robinson, Robinson Air: We have a different view now on coworkers calling in sick. We used to not think anything about a tech showing up with runny nose and raspy voice since the mentality has always been “come to work if you are able to work.” Now, we’re more likely to tell them to go home and get better before they come to work.

Stack: We need to be better prepared for different situations that may arise. The pandemic has caused us to look at some of our processes and make changes so we are ready if this or some other disaster happens.

Brian Stack, Stack Heating & Cooling: We have definitely encouraged cleanliness and sanitation more than in the past. We also make sure the technicians are diligent on jobsite and customers’ homes with regard to cleanliness and mask wearing. This will be the new norm in the workplace.

How are you communicating your health/ safety measures to your customers? Knaak: Via our website, e-mail, text messages and phones. Our contact center also has a H&S questionnaire that customers go through prior to calls being run. Robinson: We let our customers know our technician will show up at their door with a mask if they like, but only require them to continue to wear a mask if the customer is

What safety measures will you continue to implement moving forward? Knaak: As much contactless interactions with clients as possible, as well as awareness to symptoms from our employees that may require them to stay home. The office space environment will be different with less shared spaces. Robinson: We’ve always worn shoe covers, which sets us apart from some of the smaller competitors, but now we’ve added masks and use them as needed, along with latex gloves. There’s nothing really special about what we’re doing. In fact, it’s the norm now. We are sensitive to the way customers want to be treated based on what type of precautions they are personally taking. Stack: Making sure we screen our employees daily to ensure the workplace is a safe/healthy place to be. u HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

INDUSTRY NEWS » Trane Technologies Appoints Regnery CEO

Lennox Announces Ultimate Indoor Air Quality System

SWORDS, Ireland — Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a global climate innovator, today announced that Dave Regnery, current president and chief operating officer, has been named chief executive officer and will join the Board of Directors. He succeeds Mike Lamach, who will serve as executive chair of the Board until his planned retirement from the company sometime in the first half of 2022.

DALLAS — Lennox International (NYSE: LII) has introduced the rooftop unit Ultimate Indoor Air Quality system as part of its Building Better Air initiative.

Regnery has been with Trane Technologies for his entire career, beginning in the company’s financial leadership development program, then progressing through financial and commercial leadership and general management roles. Throughout his tenure, Regnery has successfully led all the company’s businesses around the world, including the Commercial HVAC, Residential HVAC and Transport Refrigeration businesses, and taken them to new heights. >> tranetechnologies.com

With the ability to remove 99 percent of the virus that causes COVID-19 from the air, Lennox has developed a rooftop unit that can help commercial businesses improve the health of their building. Using a factory-installed combination of MERV 16 filters and UVC Germicidal lamp, the Ultimate IAQ system has been third-party tested to show a 95 percent single pass efficiency rate with a 70 percent virus reduction rate after five minutes and 99 percent reduction after 30 minutes. >> lennoxcommercial.com/buildingbetter

Daikin One Cloud Services Launches

“The 60 percent gain reflects stimulus driven demand being compared against a 19 percent sales decline after the April 2020 COVID interruptions,” said HARDI Market Research & Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. “The sales growth is nearly 30 percent versus April 2019 and about 21 percent if adjusted for inflation. Those are still exceptional levels of activity, but they are easier to digest than the distorted month-tomonth growth.”

HOUSTON — Using the newly launched Daikin One Cloud Services, Daikin Comfort Pro contractors can grow their business and connect with their customers using a cloudbased tool that allows them to configure, monitor, diagnose and adjust the performance of Daikin systems remotely, potentially eliminating the need to send a truck and technician to a home. Daikin One Cloud Services – developed by Daikin North America LLC (Daikin), a subsidiary of Daikin Industries, Ltd. (DIL), – brings contactless service to a new level. Using it, Daikin Comfort Pros (DCPs) can literally engage with their customers on visualized comfort issues and then take action. Exclusively available to DCPs, Daikin One Cloud Services is a cloud-based portal for office computers and a mobile web app for smart devices. DCPs who have been given permission by the customer can remotely monitor system data ranging from temperatures, humidity, and indoor air quality to heating and cooling demand, plus critical and minor errors.

>> hardinet.org

>> daikinone.com/cloudservices

HARDI Reports 60.6 Percent Revenue Increase in April COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing the average sales performance by HARDI distributors was an increase of 60.6 percent during April 2021. The average annual sales growth for the 12 months through April 2021 is 13.7 percent.

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

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INCREASE THE VALUE OF YOUR BUSINESS

Invest in yourself and in your team to get better — this is the only way you will gain long-term, loyal clients. BY ERICA LEONOR

ne of the most common conversations I have had with business owners in the HVACR, plumbing and electric industries over the years is about value. Here are some examples of how this term is used in different contexts and applications: • What value does each employee bring to the table? • How can technicians provide more value in their calls to close more sales? • Why don’t my CSRs create value in our company before giving away the price? • Does my service agreement provide enough value for the price we charge? We throw this word value around so often that I wonder if the term has lost some of its “value.” To get really clear on

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

Own your value and your worth. You’re not a parts changer, you are a solution provider. what we mean when we discuss value in terms of employee expectations and customer satisfaction, let’s break the definition of value down from everything I found on Google. Consider that value equals worth. If we interchange these words, perhaps it will help us focus more on what we are really fighting for in our business. Here is another way to look at these questions: • What is the worth of each employee compared to what I am paying them? • How can technicians show their worth to customers, so they don’t choose someone else for a lower price? • Why don’t my CSRs describe why it’s

worth it to work with our company no matter how much we charge? • Is my service agreement worth the price to my customers? To help you increase the value/worth of your business, I am going to dissect each one of these questions and provide you with action steps of what you can do to be more valuable as a leader.

EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION Are you the kind of person that dreads payroll week? Well, you’re not alone. Every business owner gets nervous about payroll for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons probably has to do with you wondering if you’re paying people what is

fair or if they are being over compensated. First, I want you to take “fair” out of the vocabulary. Why? Because everyone has a different perception of what is fair. Is it fair to pay Sally $21/hour just because she has been with your company for 15 years, but she is a low performer? To Sally, yes, she would say it’s fair and she deserves this higher pay for being a loyal employee. Then you have Jane who has only been at your company for two years and is an extremely high performer. Should she be compensated higher because of those results? Maybe to her, yes. And maybe to you, yes. To Sally? No, because Jane hasn’t put in her dues, and it isn’t “fair.” Being fair and paying people accordingly will always be about perception. Therefore, it is important to not have a performance review just once per year. They should be happening at

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least once per quarter. This will make it easier for you both to track progress, make goals, stay emotionally engaged and talk compensation through hourly wage, salary, commissions or bonuses. Action Step No. 1: Make a scorecard that you will review with your employees at least once per quarter. On this scorecard, the first column will outline each expectation and responsibility. Make sure their role is clearly defined. The second column of this scorecard will be outlining anything your employee does to exceed expectations — how they went above and beyond what is expected of them. The third column will show the Top Goals for the month. By tracking and measuring what is expected of employees, this will help you determine if their base pay is covering the value that is being produced. Then when it comes time for you to hand out bonuses and raises, you won’t have to wonder if your employee has earned it or not — just look at their scorecard.

TECHNICIANS I work with technicians daily. They are amazing at their craft and provide a service that most homeowners can’t do themselves — myself included. They have a unique skillset which makes them worth every penny they charge. Yet they frequently discount their work just because a customer says “Wow, that’s expensive.” News flash! It probably is expensive, and customers will always worry about price. Always. So, what it comes down to is really owning your worth and the value of your work. Action Step No. 2: Quality work isn’t cheap. One thing that I encourage technicians do to when they get pricing pushback is to say something like this: “Yes, I agree! And any customer who has had this same kind of work done has said the exact same thing. Yet I have never had a customer disappointed with my work. To do it for less, you simply must cut corners somewhere, and I’m not willing to do that.” Own your value and your worth. You’re not a parts changer, you are a solution provider.

CSRS One of the saddest things I see in this

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when they’re on a call. I’ve come to these two conclusions.

Build up your technician and set the expectation of the kind of work he/she will perform while in the home. industry is that business owners do not invest in proper training for their call handling teams. Yet these amazing people are the first line of defense!

Call handling teams need to create a different kind of experience that demonstrates why your company is worth the $89, or whatever it is that you charge.

As an owner, you probably invested thousands of dollars in marketing and advertising just to get your phone to ring. We’ve found that the average cost per call per new customer is around $350. So why wouldn’t the people who provide the first human interaction between your company and that new customer receive training?

Action Step No. 3: Stop saying “For us to come out and diagnose your problem it is going to cost $89.” Customers don’t want to pay you just to “come out” to their home. Where is the value in that?

CSRs who don’t have training might sound like this:

“We are excited for you to have the totally awesome heating and air experience from XYZ. Welcome to our family!

CSR: “Thank you for choosing XYZ Heating and Air, my name is _____. How can I help you today?” Customer: “Yeah, I was wondering how much you guys charge to come out and look at my AC?” CSR: “Sure … it’s $89 for us to come out and diagnose your situation and from there the technician will let you know how much it will be for the repairs.”

Instead, build up your technician and set the expectation of the kind of work he/ she will perform while in the home.

“All of our service professionals take pride in their craftsmanship and will do an excellent job of taking care of you and getting your (insert problem) up and running. They will perform a thorough diagnostic assessment of your situation and work to get to the root of the problem.

CSR: “Yeah, for us to come out and do that.”

“For them to complete this assessment, it is only $89. After they discover what is wrong, they will provide you with some options of how to move forward with pricing and repair. They also arrive fully prepared to get started on the work right away.

Customer: “Okay, great, thanks. Just calling around. I’ll call you back if I need you.”

“I know you’ll be very happy with our service and the integrity we bring to the jobsite.

CSR: “Great! Call us back if you need us.”

(optional: “How could I let my service professional know you’ll be taking care of that today? Cash, CC, or check?” )

Customer: “$89 just to come out?”

THE END. I have heard this same kind of conversation happen hundreds of times. Call you back if they need you? Dude, they didn’t call you for fun! They have a problem. Which means they are either going to pay you for a solution or pay your competition — they’re not simply going to sit at home with a broken AC. You can’t hope they will call you back. Hope is not a business strategy. Just because the customer asks you for the price does not mean you have to give it to them right away. They probably don’t know what else to ask for. Don’t let the price be the only thing a potential customer remembers you by.

SERVICE AGREEMENTS If you do not have a service agreement at your company, I highly recommend starting one … now. This is the only predictable way to make money and ensure your team always has work to do. Service agreements, however, are not simply meant to keep your call handling team busy with scheduling calls or your technicians busy during the slow season. These appointments provide huge opportunities to connect with your customers. I’ve frequently wondered why it is difficult for CSRs to sell these over the phone or for technicians to close them

Action Step No. 4: If the WIIFM isn’t answered for each member of your team, then of course they won’t sell them. WIIFM stands for “What’s in it for me?” Each member of your team should receive incentive for closing these deals, or else why would they do it just to make you more money? Everyone is looking to grow in a company, and this is a great way to help them grow. Perhaps it is financially, or even PTO. Maybe it is dinner delivered to their family one evening or even a day at the spa. Find out what motivates your team and then help them create a game plan of how to achieve it quickly. Goals that are set too high and take too long to achieve will lose their attraction, which results in low momentum and poor results. Action Step No. 5: Once your team has a good understanding of WHY service agreements are important and how it benefits them, they’ll need continuous training on how to offer these membership plans over the phone and in the home. This means you can’t just do a one-anddone training on selling. Your team needs on-going coaching and practice to stay up on their skills. Everyone hates to “role play” in these kinds of situations, but it is the only way to ensure that service agreements are staying top of mind. These should be offered on every call — inbound calls, outbound calls, happy calls, follow up calls and service calls. These membership programs, when priced right and offered right, will add tremendous value to your company and help your customers see the worth of having an insurance plan on the most expensive appliance in their home. Working in the trades means you will always be essential and always have a job. Increase the value of your business by investing in yourself and in your team to get better. This is the only way you will gain long term, loyal clients. u

Erica Leonor is an executive trainer for Power Selling Pros. She can be reached at erica@powersellingpros.com. For additional information, visit powersellingpros.com.

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

12 steps to developing an actionable marketing plan for your company. BY KELLY BORTH

aking several months to consider how marketing can support your overall business and building a plan to accomplish that is a good idea in any year. In a year that requires many businesses to recover from a pandemic by pivoting to new product lines or service areas or more clearly differentiating themselves from the competition, creating a thoughtful and comprehensive marketing plan is more critical to the bottom line than ever. The following 12 steps to developing an actionable marketing plan are the place to start if you want to grow your business or get your company’s name established within

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

Define the vision for establishing and owning your competitive place in your industry. your market. A well thought out marketing plan will put things in perspective and serve as a guide to achieve your goals.

declining in your own business, and from feedback from your customers and sales team.

1. RESEARCH

Consider doing a customer survey, spending some time looking at your competitors’ marketing, and talking to new customers who may have heard several of your competitors’ pitches and chosen you.

Research to know as much as you can about your customer, competitors, the industries you serve and trends that may be game changers for your business. Some of this information you’ll know just from looking at what’s growing and what’s

All of that is helpful information to have, and the more current the better. It

is important that your business remains relevant.

2. GOALS Define your goal and what you want to accomplish. Is it a certain percentage increase in revenue? Or overall profit? Is it to hit a certain dollar amount? Be as specific as you can with all the goals you have, even down to the number of new customer relationships needed, customer retention rates, growth by market segment and so on. continued on page 12

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strengths against those of your competitors to uncover your competitive advantages.

3. STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES Know your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis so that you can weigh your

Analyze your weaknesses to determine where you may fall short and vulnerable to your competition. And look at your market to see what kinds of opportunities there might be for growth, as well as what might

cause the market or your market share to contract.

4. COMPETITIVE POSITION Develop a competitive position that defines your niche and positions you within your marketplace. Know your unique brand

and create a competitive advantage that is memorable and can make you standout. The stronger and more unique this brand position is, the more effective your marketing will be. Before you spend any money on advertising or graphics or anything like that, spend the time to make sure your brand and competitive position are solid. They are the foundation of marketing.

5. OBJECTIVES Objectives in a marketing plan identify obstacles you need to overcome to achieve success. This could include things like expanding market share, enlarging your geographic footprint, developing new products, earning more market recognition, streamlining or identifying new processes and so on. Think of objectives as the “path” or “stepping stones” and your overall goals are the destination.

6. TARGET MARKET Define your target market. Where is the growth you need going to come from? What types of customers? And what types of products or services will they be buying from you? If you did a good job defining your goal, you will have a great perspective on what will drive future growth. Understanding market share, industry growth sectors and customer share will drive how you need to target market.

7. STRATEGIES Plan your strategies. Define the vision for establishing and owning your competitive place in your industry. For example, if your goal is to increase revenue by 15 percent by adding new customers who are buying your new product that you’ve never offered before — and your research and target market information tells you that these customers tend to be younger and prefer to do as much of their browsing and purchasing online — then your strategy might be to refresh your website and invest in SEO/ SEM and inbound/content marketing to capture these new customers. The strategy is the path to the customer.

8. TACTICS www.TacoComfort.com

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

Define your tactics. These are individual action steps that are leading to your strategy.

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If your strategy is to undertake a robust digital push to capture online shoppers in your target market, a tactic would be to identify keywords your target customers might use when searching for products like yours and then to invest in a Google Ads campaign based on those keywords.

9. TIMELINE Establish a timeline to guide the implementation of your plan of action. Make a list of all the tactics or action steps, including who is responsible for them, and prioritize them quarterly and then monthly. By setting deadlines and benchmarks, you’ll be able to adjust when things happen faster or more slowly than you’ve planned for.

By setting deadlines and benchmarks, you’ll be able to adjust when things happen faster or more slowly than you’ve planned for. spend as much as 30 percent of their revenue on marketing, if they are a startup or in a very competitive industry or in an aggressive growth phase with many new product launches. Other companies spend between 2 and 5 percent if they are a mature company in a mature industry or where they have a lot of market share and few competitors.

11. TRACKING

A marketing budget is necessary to drive business growth, and every company should have a defined marketing budget as a part of their business growth plan — period!

Tracking will help you to determine which tactics are working and which are not. Couponing, surveying call-ins, traffic counts, percentage of sales increases, number of inquiries and web-driven leads are some of the common forms of tracking.

What is a reasonable marketing budget? It depends on your industry, your company and your goals. Some B2C companies

Ideally you can A/B test and check which messages and offers are driving the most response. For example, if you are

10. BUDGET

or quarterly will help you avoid acting prematurely or waiting too long. As you evaluate, you can change course or modify your tactics or strategy depending on what you find is working well or not working at all.

doing an email offer, randomly divide your list into two groups, and use two different versions of the subject line. Then track to see if one subject line performed better than the other. If so, you can use that information when you write subject lines for future email campaigns. You also may discover that marketing made the phone ring, but sales suffered because internal execution was a problem. It’s important for you to know what’s working and what’s not. It is equally important to understand the science of marketing — pulling out too soon can be pouring money down the drain.

A marketing plan is the key to successfully growing your company. Invest quality time in planning and it will pay off. u

Kelly Borth is the CEO and chief strategy officer at GREENCREST, a 30-year-old marketing, advertising, public relations and digital marketing agency. Kelly is one of 35 certified brand strategists in North America. Reach her at 614-885-7921 or kborth@ greencrest.com or for additional information, visit greencrest.com.

12. EVALUATE Defining performance milestones and measurement guidelines to evaluate the degree of your plan’s success monthly

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HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

TACKLE YOUR BRAND STRATEGY

Branding belongs in the early stages of business plan creation because it will answer essential questions in your market analysis and competitive analysis.

BY DAN ANTONELLI

aking several months to consider how marketing can support your overall business and building a plan to accomplish that is a good idea in any year. Entrepreneurs crafting a business plan to transform their dreams into reality have an unfortunate habit of glossing over the most essential piece of that process: the branding and marketing strategy. Whether you’re building a new business from the ground up or working to pivot or grow an existing enterprise, do not make that mistake. For any small business, a strong brand

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

Define the vision for establishing and owning your competitive place in your industry. and its execution in a solid marketing plan can mean the difference between feast or famine. This is your guide to understanding the role branding and marketing will play in your company’s success and how to tackle them during the business plan phase — and beyond.

than marketing and advertising. It’ll affect everything you do: from what you name your company to the color of your employees’ uniforms, to your website address and what your fleet looks like. That’s why it’s wise to invest in this process in the very beginning.

SPEND TIME & MONEY WISELY

Branding belongs in the early stages of business plan creation because it will answer essential questions in your market analysis

Brand development is about more

and competitive analysis. This valuable exercise reveals your competitive advantage and helps you discover how to stand out in a busy, crowded marketplace filled with the noise of information overload. This is the time to identify your unique selling proposition so you can answer the question, “How will I persuade people to choose my company?” If your competitors are sloppy and unprofessional, perhaps your company can stand out as more sophisticated and polished. If the other companies in your space seem cold and impersonal, adopting a continued on page 16

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While developing your business plan, it’s a good time to recognize the importance of ongoing content creation that will support your online presence and digital marketing campaigns.

warm, friendly image might help you stand out. Creating a strong brand requires time and money. Build realistic expectations of both into your schedule and budget so that you don’t shortchange this phase or limit your potential. Give it the attention and investment it deserves. Too many companies cut corners here, and it shows.

SHAPE YOUR UNIQUE IDENTITY A strategically created brand defines your company’s image and personality and embodies its values. Defining these characteristics at the outset provides clear direction and consistency that will guide every business decision you make. That means that if you work hard on your brand first, all your other efforts will be easier and more efficient. Developing a brand creates a structure for how you portray your company visually and how your brand voice sounds

— the tone and words your company uses to communicate. Establishing these clear guidelines gives you a foundation on which to base every decision you make. Your company’s brand identity has a few major building blocks: • Name: It should say something not only about what you do, but how you do it. It should be memorable and easy to say and spell. • Tagline and/or qualifiers: Elaborate on the company name with a supporting phrase that speaks about your differentiator. Qualifiers are the main services you provide, in just a couple of words.

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The brand will live everywhere, so it makes sense to develop it first. Hire a professional to do it right; if you start on the cheap, or worse — with no strategy at all — you’ll hamstring your opportunities for success and eventually need to redo it. That will be a lot more expensive, so don’t waste your valuable resources.

CONSISTENT PRESENCE ATTRACTS ATTENTION Branding your business and slapping your logo everywhere are not synonymous. Properly integrating your brand across tools, assets and platforms requires planning, skill and creativity. Your identity needs to shine in the design and the content.

CURRENT PRESSURE

• Logo: A professionally designed mark will serve as a visual representation for your business that’s recognizable and adaptable to every medium where you’ll use it. Brand colors and typography are important strategic choices during the design process.

The key is consistency, so that your target audience can easily distinguish your company’s presence from the other clutter — whether it’s on the street, in the mailbox or on Facebook. When you’re developing your business plan, your wish list will be lengthy. You’ll need vehicle wraps, yard signs, websites, brochures and more. It’s prudent to plan a phased approach because it’s likely to be cost-prohibitive to launch with everything immediately. This brand implementation checklist can help you prioritize which branded tools to develop first, next and later. Start with these essentials: • Vehicle wrap • Stationery (business cards, etc.) • Uniforms

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• Brochure (A trifold for your maintenance agreement program is the most important)

• Website (even if it’s just a branded “coming soon” page with the nuts and bolts, including contact information, to get you started) • Facebook and Google My Business profile optimization • Blogging These tools will provide a powerful arsenal to establish your reputation. Next, you can kick it up a notch with branded equipment stickers, yard signs, door hangers and pocket folders — and maybe even direct mail postcards and advertisements in local print media. Eventually, the final touches can include branded thank-you cards, social media campaigns, an email newsletter, content marketing pieces and apparel.

DIGITAL DUE DILIGENCE When you are brainstorming your sales and marketing tactics to attract new customers, think online first. You already know that you need a professional website that tells people what services you offer and why you’re the best option they have. If it’s not well branded, your website easily could be mistaken for any of your competitor’s, so ensure it looks and feels like you — make it unique. It needs to use responsive design so that it adapts to the smaller screens of mobile devices and tablets. Building a great website takes time, so start this project as soon as your brand is developed. But your digital presence doesn’t stop when your site launches. While developing your business plan, it’s a good time to recognize the importance of ongoing content creation that will support your online presence and digital marketing campaigns. Commit to publishing a new blog post on your website at least monthly — whether you write it yourself or hire a professional — so that Google knows your site is updated and relevant, your potential customers see that you’re maintaining the site with fresh content, and you’re establishing your company as a helpful expert. Blogging regularly also supports customer retention, because it provides easy opportunities to encourage your social media followers and your email newsletter subscribers to visit your website to read something new.

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These efforts will help your search engine optimization performance and even improve the results of your pay-per-click campaign.

WHY IT’S WORTHWHILE Clearly, making a commitment to your branding and marketing strategy at the onset lays out a clear path to success. You cannot communicate effectively with your target audience without defining the company’s identity first. The branding process requires an investment of time and money, but you’ll reap many benefits once you establish your consistent image and messaging. With a strong brand, you also will: • Improve training. Your company’s

eye-catching branded design, the guys driving white vans with little lettering will turn green with envy.

No business plan is complete without a brand strategy and a marketing plan that will present it to the world. Invest in yours and reap the rewards. values and style will be easier to understand, so your customer service will excel.

generate a lot more revenue when they’re well branded.

• Improve recruitment and hiring. When your polished image is predominant in the marketplace, you’ll attract the best candidates looking for employment.

• Benefit from better brand awareness. The people in your target audience will be more likely to recognize your logo and remember your name, so when they need you, they’ll know whom to call.

• Accelerate your return on investment. The money you spend on your vehicle wraps, ad campaigns, etc. will

• Make your competitors drool with jealousy. When your first wrapped truck rolls into town sporting an

New!

No business plan is complete without a brand strategy and a marketing plan that will present it to the world. Invest in yours and reap the rewards. u

Dan Antonelli is the founder and president of KickCharge Creative, an award-winning, full-service agency offering advertising, branding, content and more to businesses across a variety of industries with a specialty in home services. For additional information, visit kickcharge.com.

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HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

IMPLEMENT YOUR TRAINING Develop an operating system to help your team with implementation of ideas from seminars and conferences.

BY PETE DANIELSON

ave you ever attended a seminar or conference, took several pages of notes with great ideas and had good intentions of coming back to your business and making big changes — changes that will impact your life and your business forever — only to have nothing happen? I have. Have you ever sent one of your managers to a training seminar and saw no improvement, no changes and no shift in strategy? Me too. Have you ever discussed great ideas in your weekly team meetings and none of those ideas ever seems to be implemented? Have you ever felt like signing someone up for successful training was the end of the task on your part? Me too. Sending your team to training is only the beginning. If you don’t have an implementation process, nothing will change. I’ve become good at goal setting, staying focused and achieving what I set my mind to. Many of you can relate to that. I bet you’re all are pretty good at getting “your individual goal” achieved. Over the years, I learned how to change my own behavior to meet a goal. The challenge, for me, was

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

If you and your team can become great at implementation, you’re going to achieve your goals, have happier employees, be less stressed and you’re going to have an operating system for your business. to have the ability to change behaviors in other people. Often, in many other people. This is difficult, and there didn’t seem to be much help. It’s not an information problem — it’s an implementation problem. I had lunch with a colleague and told him I was in the process of putting together a presentation on implementation. He said, “that’s just what everyone needs. They don’t know how to start the process. The implementation or execution is where we need help.” Recently, I watched a video that was supposed to be a lesson on execution. Unfortunately, the whole video was on why it’s important, but it never mentioned a word about how to do it. If you and your team can become great at implementation, you’re going to achieve

your goals, have happier employees, be less stressed and you’re going to have an operating system for your business. Yes, an operating system that will have your team engaged at the highest level and say, “Game on; let’s do this!” For the past five years I’ve been studying implementation. I’ve worked with dozens of companies to help them create a process for implementation and accountability. Here is a four-step process to get your team engaged and achieve the most important goals in your company.

FOCUS ON GOALS, OBJECTIVES Sean Covey in “Four Disciplines of Execution” calls them your Wildly Important Goal (WIG). In Jim Collins book, “Good to Great” they call it a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG).

Regardless of what you call it, focusing on the goal is key. You must focus on less to do more. Steve Jobs said the hardest thing to do in business is to simplify and focus. Gino Wickman, the creator of entrepreneurial operating system (EOS), conducted a recent survey that found: • If you have 1-3 goals, then only two are completed; • If you have 4-9 goals, then only one is completed; • And if have 10 or more goals, then zero are completed. This is difficult. Most business leaders are smart, motivated individuals and they want to manage all aspects of their business well. I don’t want to suggest that you ignore important parts of your business. If I could make an analogy, it would be this: Air traffic controllers have many priorities and they must pay attention to a lot of moving parts/planes — but they focus on the ones landing. Meet with your team and discuss ideas and how to set the goals and the milestones to meet them. Get their feedback. Get their buy in. They will appreciate that and

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the chances of success are much better when everyone agrees on the goal. I worked with an owner on reviewing goals and the strategy he had in place to achieve them. I asked, “How does the team feel about that?” He looked at me like a light just turned on. He said, “I’m ashamed to admit I have no clue how they feel about the goal.” If you’re a small company and don’t have a lot of experience with a process for implementation, then just set one or two goals. If you’re a larger company and have some experience in this area, I suggest doing one or two by department. When setting goals, fewer is better. Once you have set the goal, share it with the whole company. In a recent survey, 95 percent of employees could not name even one of the company’s WIG.

FOCUS ON LEADING INDICATORS Leading indicators predict the outcome of the lagging indicators. An example of a leading indicator is what you’re going to eat today. A lagging indicator is what you weigh at the end of the week. A business example is having your sales department hit $4 million in yearly sales. You know the average ticket and closing rate, so at this point it’s all about the number of leads. The leading indicator is sales leads — did you get enough this week? The goal was $4 million in the sales department. You know the average ticket is $10K and you average a 50 percent close rate. The math says you must sell 400 jobs. That means you need 800 leads. You have eight technicians at two per week, so 100 times eight technicians equals 800 leads. Now, integrate your CSRs into the goal. They must set 20 calls a week per technician.

KEEP A SCORECARD What gets measured, gets done. The highest level of engagement comes when people know the score. When you know the score, your behavior and activities change. In a football game, your strategy is much different if you’re up by seven points with two minutes to go compared to if you’re down by seven points with less than

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two minutes to go. If you’ve ever wondered if a scorecard really makes that much of a difference, simply watch any sports team. There is a huge difference between when they’re warming up and when the game starts.

HOLD WEEKLY REVIEW MEETINGS The book, “Traction,” by Gino Wickman, calls these Level 10 meetings or L-10. These meetings must be on the same day and time each week and never last longer than 45 minutes. If the meeting is going to have other topics, make sure you go over the scorecard first — this is the most important goal of the quarter, right? It must be completed. Go around the room and ask each person if they’re on track to hit the goal. All you need is a simple yes or no. Share the scorecard with them and if they’re not on track, find out what issues are preventing them from achieving the goal. If there are legitimate problems, identify what they are and discuss how to solve them. If you cannot solve them within a prescribed timeframe, record the issue and keep working on it until it is solved. Accountability is the key here. Having the weekly check-ins lets people know the goal(s) are important and they’re expected to achieve them. It will also quickly identify issues that need to be addressed to reach the objective. You’re building a culture of getting things done. When the goal is achieved, celebrate! Wins are great. Wins are what keep people engaged at work. Share the scorecard with everyone in the company. Get it done!

SUMMARY Set and focus on a few goals and share them with your entire team. Decide how to measure them. And, most importantly, measure everyone involved — they should all have a number or milestone to reach. Lastly, don’t forget to share the scorecard with everyone. Meet weekly to review and hold everyone accountable. u

Pete Danielson is vice president of market development at Service Nation. For additional information, please visit serviceroundtable.com.

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FINANCE

BY RUTH KING

Keep Your Employees from Stealing this Summer

ummer is busy. Unfortunately, sometimes summer means sloppy. Policies you enforce when it is slower get ignored because you think you don’t have time to do them. As a result, it’s easy to steal. The thief thinks no one will notice because it is so busy.

Policies you enforce when during slow times get ignored when you’re busy because you think you don’t have time to do them. Don’t let that happen.

The thief is correct most of the time. Then, when he doesn’t get caught, it becomes easier to steal the second or third time. What was a one-time event becomes a habit. This habit increases your cash outgo and decreases your bottom line.

Here are seven strategies to protect your parts, equipment and materials this summer.

REPLACE PARTS EACH DAY Replace service parts from the list of parts used each day. Most computer software programs allow you to print a list of all parts used by technician by day. The replacement parts can be ordered from your suppliers and put back on the trucks.

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

Scrap is the company’s property. If someone is taking the removed equipment, etc. and selling it without permission, that is theft. If you don’t want to deal with the scrap materials, you can give permission for employees to dispose it.

WATCH REFRIGERANT

WAREHOUSE SUPERMARKETS

Salespeople complain that they are too busy to do a material list. When they are busy, it is more critical to create a material list. It’s almost impossible to keep all their quotes and jobs won in their heads. Material lists are essential to ensure the right equipment and material go to the right job. Material lists are also essential to ensuring excess materials are not taken to the job and disappear.

SCRAP MATERIAL

One contractor lets their employees take all the scrap and the money that comes from it. There are a few field personnel who always volunteer to break it down and haul it away for the dollars they receive.

This month I focus on field laziness and theft of materials. Next month I will focus on cash theft.

Eliminate your warehouse supermarkets where employees wander through the warehouse and pick the supplies they want to use or think they might use. They will always take more. Then, those parts get left on the job or taken home to stockpile for their own needs.

duct tape, caulk, etc. being replaced too frequently. These “little charges” add up to big expenses and loss of profitability.

Service technicians should not have access to the parts room. They should not need any materials that they didn’t use from their trucks. If something must be ordered, then a parts runner should pick it up and either deliver it to the job or put it in the technician’s box in the warehouse. I watched a technician take an armful of parts one day from an open parts room (it did have a lock on it, but it was open). He didn’t write any of the parts down even though there was a clip board to write down the parts used. I reported what he did to the owner. I never found out whether those parts were stolen.

WATCH COPPER Watch copper usage. Since the price of copper is rising quickly, are there line sets taken for every job, even if they are not needed? How about copper fittings? Are they being replaced too often based on the number of jobs performed? Copper is one

of the easiest materials to get paid for right now.

PURCHASE ORDERS Each customer should have a separate purchase order which should be tied to a job or a dispatch ticket. There should not be “two motors” ordered because “I need one for my truck.” Did that motor go on the truck or did it disappear? If there is a tool purchase it must go on a separate purchase order. Otherwise, it can get buried.

Keep track of when a drum of refrigerant is taken from your warehouse. Then make sure the refrigerant used justifies another drum. Was the 30 pounds used on a job? Or, did some of it disappear? Yes, this takes time to track. It is much cheaper, however, than giving a technician a new drum of refrigerant each week because he “used it all.” Even though it is busy, invest the time to enforce these seven actions. It will increase your cash flow and your bottom line. u

Even though it is busy, someone checks purchase orders against packing slips and invoices from your suppliers. Doing this ensures you will catch the duplicate parts or tool purchases.

Ruth King has more than 25 years of

WATCH CONSUMABLES

Ruth at ruthking@hvacchannel.tv or call

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www.hvacrbusiness.com

EXIT PLANNING

PROVIDED BY KEVEN PRATHER, CFBS

Rethink Cash Flow

hile there are many uncertainties when planning, one factor that is almost always essential to the success of your future is cash flow. Measuring your company’s cash flow and knowing what aspects of your business can be affected by the health of your cash flow are even more crucial in today’s economy.

As much as we don’t want to admit it, cash flow is the lifeblood of a company.

Having an accurate representation of your cash flow can also make or break your plans, including any ideas you might have about backing away, transitioning ownership, delegating management responsibility, or an outright sale of your business. Since you can’t escape the impact of cash flow, you might as well take it head on, right?

Business planning shouldn’t be a static process in which you set your course and then just assume you’ll arrive at your destination. Frequent course corrections are often necessary to finally reach your targets. A short, written, prioritized list of your priorities and how you’ll use your current and future cash flow to support them, is a tangible way to visualize your plans.

WHAT IS CASH FLOW? While there are many ways to think about cash flow, the concept that might work for business planning purposes is free cash flow. Free cash flow is the portion of the annual net cash flow from operating activities that remains available for discretionary purposes after the business has met its basic financial obligations. In this discussion, the “discretionary purpose” could be any anticipated use of cash flow to support the business or personal goals and objectives of the owners of a closely held business. So, free cash flow might be supporting new initiatives, return on investment for current or new owners, cash-based incentive compensation plans, or the buy-out of one or more owners. In other words, cash flow can be described as the engine that powers your plans.

IMPORTANCE OF CASH FLOW Cash flow is so essential because it impacts just about every aspect of your current and future business operations and planning. Cash flow can affect the value of your business, the magnitude of

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

3. Put It in Writing. Ultimately, we are talking about free cash flow because good business planning requires a constant eye toward the future and what you want it to look like. Thinking through your priorities for the future, and how they may have changed, can allow you to rebalance your use of free cash flow to best suit your goals as they stand today.

EYE ON THE BALL risk associated with the business, and the business’ ability to manage debt or fund growth. As much as we don’t want to admit it, cash flow is the lifeblood of a company. Owners must understand — and be able to measure — where cash comes from and where it goes. It is an accurate indicator of the financial health of your business. Unlike more subjective measures, it makes no assumptions and entertains no preconceptions.

REBOOT YOUR CASH FLOW STRATEGY 1. Assess Billing and Collections Practices. It may be time to do a complete review and overhaul of your customer relationships, invoicing practices, collections policies, discount

policies, and credit policies for your customers. You may find that your cash flow pipeline has many small leaks that, once plugged, can impact the stability and predictability of your cash flow. 2. Rethink Spending and Financing. Right now, businesses are revisiting business priorities and expenses in ways that they did not anticipate as recently as last year. Changing from owning to leasing equipment and facilities, renegotiating pricing or terms with suppliers, and taking advantage of widespread changes in the way businesses operate and interact can lead to big savings. You may have leverage or bargaining power that you haven’t had in the past.

You may be putting out fires and managing unexpected crises more frequently now than in the past. But you also know how important it is to look to the future and make decisions that you believe will help achieve your long-term goals. It’s possible to do both. u

Keven P. Prather is a registered representative of and offers securities and investment advisory services through MML Investors Services, LLC. Member SIPC. Call 216)-592-7314, send an email to kprather@financialguide.com or visit transitionextadvisors.com for additional information.

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STRATEGY

BY JACK TESTER

Growth Is Awesome — Especially When You Consider the Alternative

ow that I’m more than 30 years into my career, I’ve been reflecting recently on the place of business within life. What really matters? Is it success? Happiness? And should I really have to choose one over the other?

To grow a business and stay in growth mode, you’ll have to grow the leaders and the people in your business.

There’s one thing that is true for everyone, though, regardless of their profession or level of education. Age and experience create knowledge and — one would hope — wisdom.

To grow a business and stay in growth mode, you’ll have to grow the leaders and the people in your business. You simply can’t grow your business without first growing your people.

In my case, the world has become less black and white over the years. Less “I’m right, and they’re wrong.” There are now more shades of gray that have slowly come into focus. I am certain, however, of one thing, and that is the importance of growth.

I’ve heard many comments over the years regarding the question of business growth vs. holding the course. Many of those comments tend to equate the decision to grow with long and tiresome work hours, painting it as the unhealthier option. Here are a few examples of these types of comments: “I would rather be happy than rich.” “Family is the most important thing in my life. Work isn’t.” “Having a healthy work/life balance is huge for me. It’s certainly more important than working myself to death just to be successful.” Often, it can feel like making the commitment to grow is the same as choosing to be unhappy, alone and unhealthy. I’m a firm

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

During those times, I did not find that I was happy. And my work/life balance had vertigo. I have come to realize that the work it takes to remain the same is harder than the work it takes to grow and then stay in growth mode. I would make this case for personal growth, too. Which brings me to my next point.

Deep thoughts for a man who flunked 9th grade algebra and eked his way out of college with a lackluster 2.7 GPA. I’m pushing the limits of my capability for existential thought.

To me the contrast between growth and the alternative — simply staying the same — has sharpened. In this area, I feel clarity. Blessed clarity.

was with my family, “enjoying” a peaceful day at home.

believer that the opposite is true. As I’ve observed the evolution of many businesses, it is my experience that those who choose to stay the same or rationalize their lack of growth with excuses (often disguised as virtues) have the hardest time finding personal fulfillment. Here is what I believe to be true: A business is either growing or it’s dying. Stagnation does not exist as a prolific state in our universe, and the same goes for business. This includes your business and yourself as a leader, by the way. You are either personally growing, developing a richness in character and selfawareness, confronting and overcoming tough personal issues, or you are being left behind to defend your declining leadership with comments like: “It’s the economy that’s causing my business to struggle.”

“The weather just hasn’t been on my side.” “All of my competitors are slow too. I drive by their shops every day. You should see all the trucks parked in their yard.” “All employees care about is their paycheck, so why should I care about them?” Contrary to what you might believe, running a business that isn’t growing is hard. Really, really hard. I’ve been there, and while I was a part of that state of stagnation, it seemed like a normal state of being. We’d cut costs and staff positions here and there, lose good people, and rationalize their loss by amplifying their weaknesses. And as I look back on those times, I realize how much hard work was associated with “just staying the same.” To make things worse, I didn’t have much of a work/life balance, either. The unease that I felt while overseeing a business in decline never truly left me, even when I

When you are growing both as a leader and as a business, and growing your people along with you, the feeling of momentum is contagious. It is felt by your employees, your customers, and the community at large. You can see it in the faces of the managers — pride, accomplishment, and a sense of worth. From growth comes a heightened sense of optimism. It creates confidence. From growth you derive energy and the capacity to give. From growth all good things flow.

Jack Tester is a Leadership Coach at Nexstar Network, a business development and training organization serving hundreds of independent plumbing, HVAC and electrical contractors in North America and internationally. He can be reached at jackt@nexstarnetwork.com. For additional information, visit nexstarnetwork.com.

www.hvacrbusiness.com

PRODUCT FOCUS »

A.O. SMITH

GREENHECK

HEMCO

HONEYWELL

The A. O. Smith Voltex Hybrid Electric Heat Pump is the latest advancement in electric water heating. The hybrid electric design integrates heat pump technology to produce a product twice as efficient as a standard electric water heater and can reduce water heating cost by up to 73 percent.

Greenheck has doubled its line of DC-5 high volume low speed (HVLS) fans with the introduction of four new smaller sizes. The five-blade HVLS fan is now available in 4.3, 5, 6 and 7-foot diameter sizes, in addition to the line’s 8 to 14-foot diameter sizes, for more design flexibility.

CleanAire HEPA and Carbon Filtration Paks are designed to be mounted inline in the exhaust ducting from a fume hood or contaminant source up to 1500 cfm.

Honeywell announced the launch of its new TC500A-N Commercial Connected Thermostat, developed to meet the commercial requirements of small and medium buildings by blending comfort, control and energy savings. The TC500 serves the needs of contractors, building owners and occupants by delivering flexible installation, BMS integration, multi-level security and modern design.

The Voltex pulls heat from the surrounding air and deposits it into the 80-gallon storage tank, allowing the heater to operate in the most efficient mode. These models also have additional elements that help the water heater recover quickly during periods of high demand. With an Energy Factor of 2.3, the Voltex is ENERGY STAR-qualified. >> aosmith.com

The new smaller sizes offer industryleading performance with cooling effects up to 7F and up to 70 percent larger coverage areas than other products on the market. Featuring a sleek, lightweight design, the 4.3 to 7-foot DC-5 fans weigh less than 30 pounds, feature a plug-and-play wiring design for quick, easy installation, and can be mounted to a fan-rated junction box to accommodate a variety of ceiling structures.

MILWAUKEE

Lochinvar announces the CREST Condensing Boiler with Hellcat Combustion Technology, featuring RealTime O2 Trim. This combustion technology includes Feed Forward, Feed Back, Commissioned Trim and Learned Trim to allow the user to set tailored parameters, so the unit can run at peak performance around the clock without needing to make manual adjustments.

Milwaukee Tool is proud to announce the newest addition to its groundbreaking FORCE LOGIC line of press solutions. The new Streamline ACR Jaws and Ring will allow users to complete refrigeration line installations with a flamefree, efficient alternative to traditional brazing.

>> lochinvar.com

www.hvacrbusiness.com

>> hemcocorp.com/cafs

The ACR Press Jaws and Ring are compatible with the full range of new to world Mueller Streamline ACR Press fittings from 1/4- to 1-1/8-inch. >> milwaukeetool.com

As the latest product in Honeywell’s TC Series Commercial thermostat portfolio, the TC500A-N provides the advanced features small and medium buildings need to meet commercial building code compliance and rigorous energy efficiency standards. >> buildings.honeywell.com

>> greenheck.com

LOCHINVAR

CREST boilers with Hellcat Combustion Technology come in eight models, ranging from 1 million to 6 million BTU/hr, with up to a 25:1 turndown, a wave fire tube design, and CON-X-US® Remote Connect capabilities.

The filter pak includes a galvanized steel housing with hinged and gasketed access door for filter change-out and molded composite resin inlet and outlet plenums with duct connection collars sized to meet specification. Both filters include a 30 percent pleated prefilter and can be paired together for applications that require particulate and fume removal.

NORTEK

WATTS

Nortek Global HVAC has redesigned its entire Reznor brand of commercial/ industrial/residential gas-fired unit heaters for the North American market. Updates include aesthetics, integrated air direction accessories and technological advancements that help contractors with installation, diagnostics and service to provide end-users’ with optimum building protection, comfort and reliability.

Powers, a Watts brand, has enhanced its IntelliStation Jr. digital mixing valve with remote visibility and alerts through Cloud connectivity. The IntelliStation Jr. now features Wi-Fi capability and connectivity to the new Watts OnSite mobile and web app for commercial facilities. The Watts OnSite app provides access to critical mixing valve performance data.

Diagnostics and repair are expedited with Reznor’s newly developed and technologically advanced control module. The redesign’s aesthetic update includes two-tone white and black cabinetry featuring powder coat paint application technology.

While BACnet and Modbus were already native to the valves, the new IntelliStation Jr. with Cloud connectivity provides an additional economical way to view and adjust critical mixed outlet temperature via a secure, local Wi-Fi network. No additional module is needed to achieve connectivity.

>> nortekhvac.com

>> powerscontrols.com

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

20QUESTIONS >>

with ANGIE SIMON

We sat down with Angie Simon, P.E., president of Western Allied Mechanical in Menlo Park, Calif. and president of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA). Simon discussed starting in the industry, working her way up in the company and leading by example. 1. What’s your background?

I’m a mechanical engineer out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I was very involved in sports in high school and enjoyed science and math. My dad’s an electrical engineer who worked for the Navy. I remember the time when I was in high school, during the energy crisis, where we were waiting in line at gas stations in the late ‘70s for gas. I remember thinking solar energy sounded interesting, and Cal Poly had an HVAC Solar Option, which I thought sounded good.

2. Is that all you wanted to do?

I also thought it sounded good to be a forest ranger — that would be great. But I also thought I could be a PE teacher because I love sports. I remember my dad telling me, “Why don’t you start with the engineering? And you can always go back to the forest ranger or the PE.”

3. So, he helped you decide?

I ended up going into the HVAC Solar Option of Environmental Engineering at Cal Poly, which during my course of time there, they transferred to Mechanical Engineering. I played softball there and was a mechanical engineer when I graduated. That’s how I got into the industry.

4. What did you want to do with your degree?

I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, but I didn’t want to sit behind a desk. The idea of working for a contractor sounded interesting to me because I’d get to get out in the field and see what happens. My first job, I worked for a small contractor, and then one year later, went to Western Allied. This is my 34th year here.

5. Wow! So, you’ve seen a lot of changes?

When we started, they were so proud that we had a fax machine. So that was a big thing, we have a fax machine. So that’s how much I’ve seen the changes. And we’ve grown a lot in the years.

6. What is the company’s history?

We were one company with Southern California Western Allied Corporation. And in 2003, I’ll say that we went through a friendly divorce. Maybe at the time it didn’t feel as friendly, but we went through a divorce. And it was probably a great move for both of us because they separated and said they’re going to do their work down in Southern California and we said we’ll stay in Northern California. So, we became Western Allied Mechanical. We share the history, we’re a 60-year-old company, because our history is with them, but we had to start our own company.

7. What did you do when you first started? When I first started, I was a young project manager. We didn’t have project engineer and junior project managers. Everybody was a project manager. I ran a bunch of small jobs.

HVACR BUSINESS JULY 2021

8. How did you learn the business side? I remember early on, there was another young project manager. He was a business major, and I was a mechanical. I didn’t even know what a P&L was when I got here. I’d never heard of that because I didn’t have business classes at Cal Poly. And he didn’t really know what an HVAC load was. We worked together.

9. Did you get to go out in the field?

As a project manager, I was out in the field all the time. I think one of the things I learned quickly was that my field personnel, both sheet metal and pipe fitters, were such good craftspeople and I needed to learn from them. If a job was going to make money, it was because the foreman did a great job. And if I could give the foremen what they needed, then I had a good chance of my job being successful.

10. When did you become more of a leader?

14. How rough was that year?

We had probably one of our worst years after that. We didn’t make much money, but we didn’t lose money. But we have a great group of people, and we really value our relationship with our clients, so we seemed to come out of 2008 pretty well.

15. How much has the company grown? When I took over in 2008 as president, we were doing about $40 million, and this past year, we did $108 million. So, in 12, 13 years, we’ve grown quite a bit and we’ve handled it really, well. I think if anything, we’re better now in the way we run our work and everything as we’ve grown bigger.

16. Have you ever wanted to leave?

I grew up in the company and I love the company. I love what we do. The people are amazing. I never really had a desire to leave, and it’s been a great company.

I ran projects for many years and then there was a point where the partnership at Western Allied asked me if I’d be interested in being a partner. I had just gotten married. My husband was in the hotel business, and he thought he wanted to be a general manager. At the time I said, “I’m not positive. We’re going to have kids and I want to have my first child first before I commit.”

17. What’s your plan now?

11. What made you commit?

We’re all part of the same team and we need to work together. I lead by example by saying, “Hey, I’m going to get here early and I’m going to work hard too, but we’re all on the same team.” So sometimes I have to help pull somebody in the field up or one of my project managers up to say, “Hey, you’re okay. We’re going to get through this.” Or sometimes they got to pull me up. But I’m really dedicated to teamwork type of attitudes.

After my first child was born, my husband decided he’d rather stay a controller in a hotel business and not move. He said, “If they offer you that again, why don’t you step up?” Early in my career, I became a partner.

12. How did you grow from there?

I continued to sell and manage my projects, and then grow a team. In 2008, when our president at the time was working his way out to retiring, they named me president of the company, right when the recession started.

13. What was that like?

We have a lot of long-term employees. And so, when we hit a recession, my field personnel particularly came to me and said, “Tell me what I need to do to stay with Western Allied. I’ll work three days a week. I’ll job trade. Tell me what I do.” And it really made it easy. It was always hard to lay people off or to say, “Hey, you need to have a light week.” But when your field crew really wants to stay with your company and they don’t want to go anywhere else, it makes it a lot easier.

At the end of 2019, I switched over from president to CEO because I was planning to retire at the end of 2020. Then when the pandemic hit, I agreed that I would stay maybe another year, because I also was asked to stay another year as SMACNA president.

18. What’s your leadership style?

19. What is Allied Mechanical like today? We’re a mechanical contractor, so we do construction, and we have a service group as well. We have about 35 service technicians. We’re lucky in that probably 98 percent of our projects are design/build. I have an engineering department of 12 who do our design. All our project managers are mechanical engineers or other engineers, typically. And all the partners are engineers.

20. Have you seen more IAQ projects in light of COVID-19? Definitely. We have done several analyses on buildings to say, how can we increase your amount of outside air to increase the air changes in the offices, particularly? Our lab jobs are typically 100 percent outside air, so they’re already in pretty good shape. We’ve also seen the additions of bipolar ionization and changing filters and upgrading filters to a lot of the systems.

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HVACR Business JULY 2021

Articles inside

Product Focus

20 Questions with Angie Simon, P.E.

Growth Is Awesome

Implement Your Training

Tackle Your Brand Strategy

Keep Your Employees from Stealing this Summer

Rethink Cash Flow

Plan for Success

Editor’s Notebook

Industry News

Increase the Value of Your Business