LINDENHURST, Ill. - Have you ever seen a heating, air conditioning, or plumbing company so well known in its local market that it doesn't need to advertise in the Yellow Pages, newspapers, or other traditional marketing methods and yet customers are still drawn to it? This is the subject of a summer tour being held by consultant Joe Crisara in 28 cities across the United States. The classes are being held beginning July 25, 2005 and run through September 2, 2005.

"I felt obligated to my clients to develop this grass roots marketing program. I receive telephone calls everyday from contractors around the country who tell me that they are spending as much as 25 percent of their budget for the year on Yellow Pages," said Crisara, who is a partner in an HVAC business consulting firm called Big Time Inc. "When I first started hearing how the Yellow Pages directories are taking advantage of contractors, both big and small, I would get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then I started to get mad. And then I decided that I could do something about this by showing contractors there is another way."

It starts out with his book, Finding Gold in Something Old-The Story Of The Oldest Furnace Contest, which shows contractors how to run a successful oldest furnace contest (or oldest A/C unit, boiler, or water heater). But that is only one of the four programs he goes over during his three-hour presentation. Crisara also discusses "Fire Your Yellow Pages Rep-How to minimize your HVAC/P business dependence on Yellow Pages advertising," "Instant Referrals-Generating a constant stream of new customers using proven referral systems that you can put on autopilot," and "Raving Fans-The power of releasing customer testimonials in your marketing message."