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Sam and Bob walk the floor - looking for customers

By John R. Hall
April 3, 2000
DALLAS, TX — Sam Gonen and Bob Widmer have one thing in common — sore feet.

Both men spent the better part of three days at the IAHR Expo wearing out the carpet and wearing down the soles of their shoes while trying to hawk their wares.

One was selling a product — Gonen’s Regitell™, a temperature monitoring decal. The other was selling a service — Widmer’s FixAC.com Web site, a soon-to-be-gathering place for service tips, links, and features for the hvac community.

Gonen was busy wheeling around his carry-on suitcase with an empty Dr. Pepper can attached to the handle. He used the can to demonstrate how his Regitell decal can read the air temperature of a register when applied to the metal surface.

The decal changes its color and shape, indicating a red “R” for hot and a blue “C” for cold.

The purpose of the decal is to show the home and/or building owner if the air coming out of the register is hot or cold. The small 2- by 3/4-in. decal could be imprinted with a contractor’s name and phone number and used as a marketing tool.

Widmer had a makeshift “FixAC.com” sign rigged to his baseball cap, which made for an interesting sight among show visitors. He claims that he was getting a lot of looks with the unusual configuration on his head.

Widmer said he was tired of running his one-man hvac shop and felt it was time to climb aboard the Internet train and use his expertise to market and sell services and advice. He said he wasn’t sure what he was going to put on the Web site, but he is planning to add new items and links all of the time.

He felt fortunate to reserve that domain name and when he tried for a few more names with “Fix” in the title, he found that they were all taken. So here he is with a domain and some ideas. For information on Gonen’s Regitell, call 877-734-4835. To reach Widmer? Go to FixAC.com.

Looking for quick answers on air conditioning, heating and refrigeration topics? Try Ask ACHR NEWS, our new smart AI search tool. Ask ACHR NEWS →

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John Hall is the Business Editor. E-mail him at johnhall@achrnews.com.

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