You are either a good technician or a good businessperson…this has been a long-standing
belief in HVAC contracting. The person who is both is a rare commodity who holds the keys to
both personal satisfaction and financial success.
So, can you be both? Can you learn to be a good businessperson if you are a good technician
and vice versa?
Well, in today’s crazy, mixed up world of COVID, we all are scrambling to reinvent ourselves and
find new avenues of revenue for ourselves and our businesses. We all have to be better
businesspeople whether we own an HVAC business, or our business is our family and
household.
…and yes, the sooner we understand that our family and household need to be operated like a
business…I’m speaking solely financially, the better it will be.
I recently conducted a webinar with Cindy Metzler. Cindy is a marketing, PR, event, and training
professional who helps me, Tradewinds Climate Control Systems and GREE mini split products
maintain a media presence, increase our exposure and ultimately grow the GREE mini split
business here in the United States.
The webinar was titled, How to Grow Your Profits Using Reviews and Free Online Tools.
I want to share with you some of the items Cindy and I talked about and how they can have a
positive impact on your business, especially in these difficult times…
WEBSITES: Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 30 years, I think its safe to say
we all have realized the value of having an online presence. Websites and / or Facebook pages
for our business have become common place and essentially made things like the Yellow Pages,
obsolete.
The problem is many of us created a website, or had one created, and never looked back…
Stagnant websites with outdated information can hurt more than help. We need to keep our
websites current and there are a number of ways to do that at little to no cost.
CUSTOMER REVIEWS: We should be soliciting customer reviews each and every time we
complete an installation or service call. Don’t be afraid of a negative review, its an opportunity
to address your customer’s dissatisfaction and turn a lemon into lemonade.
VIDEOS: We all have the ability to create a video with our phones and we don’t have to be Martin Scorsese to make a good video. They say a “picture is worth a thousand words”, well a video must be worth a million words!
EMAIL MARKETING: We should be getting an email address from every customer so we can send them notices of new products and / or services that your business is now offering, reminders of preventive maintenance, manufacturer and utility rebate programs and information about people in your company (anniversaries, technical classes they have taken, etc.) We need to train our employees to understand that getting an email address from the customer is as important as getting payment for the job!
BLOGGING: Don’t be afraid, yes YOU can blog! You don’t have to be Paris Hilton. Creating a space on your website for discussion of products, technologies and local community issues related to HVAC will engage your customer…engaged customers = repeat business.
You can watch Cindy and I discuss all these items and more for 1 ½ hour at www.GREEtraining.com Go to the TRAINING VIDEO LIBRARY and click on video #14, ONLINE TOOLS TO GROW YOUR PROFITS.
I also encourage you to get Cindy’s book, 10 Essential Tools & Tips To Generate Leads Today. You can download it free of charge at ommmedia.com
Look, we are always going to be better at one aspect of our business than another but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive to improve, grow and reach for higher levels of success. These odd and unprecedented times we are living in right now can be an opportunity if we let it…an opportunity to examine our business…heck, an opportunity to examine ourselves and take steps to improve and grow both as technicians and businesspeople.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerry Wagner is the Vice President of HVAC Technical Training for Tradewinds Climate Systems. He has 38 years in the HVACR industry working in manufacturing, contracting and now training. You can contact Gerry by email: gwagner@twclimate.com and also please visit our website: www.twclimate.com