2007 has been a challenging year for the HVACR industry in many areas of North America. The U.S. economy has been sputtering and, as usual, some geographic areas have not experienced any great temperature spikes to keep the trade busy. The NEWS wanted to know if the wholesale distribution industry has been affected by the economy and recent trends so we asked our distributor consultants.
The need for a professional career path, based on continuing education and knowledge of the local marketplace, is going to become even more important for the HVACR wholesale distribution trade as it continues to compete with many different professions for young, skilled professionals entering the job market. That’s the motivation behind a relatively new initiative started by the Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) titled the Certified Counter Specialist (CCS) program
Tom Buckley sees the business world from two angles, as a former business owner and as an end user - a customer with a new home needing new services. The chief financial officer for the Dwyer Group, a franchisor that owns companies like Aire Serv, Mr. Electric, and Mr. Rooter, told attendees to the company’s annual convention in Atlanta that he is “a customer with many needs” and that business owners should meet his needs while maintaining profitable pricing strategies.
What makes Friday afternoons in December so noteworthy? On average, more accidents involving light commercial vehicles happen during that time than at any other time of the year, according to claims data reviewed by Progressive Commercial Auto Insurance.
I began to think that of all the business concerns among HVAC contractors, I can’t recall any contractors ever saying they were afraid of losing their business to fraud or theft. Yet it does happen all of the time.
For the past several years HVACR contractors across the United States have struggled to find and retain good service technicians. For some, the struggles continue to get worse. But there is one part of the United States where there seems to be no shortage of well-trained techs.
Your
customers should be spoiled with all of the bells and whistles associated with
today’s HVAC equipment. They should expect the very best in home comfort and
safety because you only sell the latest and greatest technology.
Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin’… Jimmy Webb wrote it and Glen Campbell sang it in 1969. Now, as it was then, Galveston, Texas, keeps welcoming tourists back to its Gulf Coast beaches and many attractions. It’s a great place to live and work, but there are some business owners who wish the worker pool was a little deeper.
Have you ever wanted to assimilate the collective brainpower of your current or prospective customers and didn’t want to use conventional means of direct mail or follow-up happy calls? A new Website has been created that helps business owners (and anyone else) create their own online surveys
Successful HVAC contractors are those businesspeople who are good with numbers. But which numbers need to be studied closely? The NEWS wanted to know and recently sponsored an online survey asking readers and Website visitors to list the items that have the biggest impact on profitability and just what percentages constitute a healthy profit margin.