Residential HVAC: Meetings Are Expensive – Get a Good Return

Gresham Ard

Meetings can be very powerful forums for delivering important information and training to your team; however, if executed ineffectively, they can be a huge waste of time and money. Consider this quick calculation demonstrating the total cost, both labor and lost revenue, of a typical one-hour meeting in a shop with eight technicians. Assuming per-tech cost with burden is $31 per hour, the labor cost of a one-hour meeting is $248 dollars. But let’s be honest, if you have a one-hour meeting are the guys really out the door and on the road one hour after the meeting starts? If you’re like most shops I talk to then probably not. By the time the techs make their “office rounds” and enjoy sharing the latest gossip with one another, you’re lucky to get them out the door 20-to-30 minutes after the meeting ends. Considering your one-hour meeting is really an hour and half, your cost is now up to $372 dollars.

But we’re still not done. If you chose not to have a meeting, your techs could be out running calls and generating revenue. If your average ticket is $350 and all eight techs close a call, your potential lost revenue is valued at $2,800. Add it all up and you’ve got a meeting that’s valued at over $3,100! Now ask yourself, “Is the content I’m providing and the manner in which I provide it, producing a good return on this investment?” Here are a few tips to ensure it does:

Consider the Content — Meetings are often bogged down with multiple messages so that the truly important pieces of information can’t be clearly identified and captured. Keep your meetings streamlined and focused on one high-impact topic, preferably training. Utilize other channels to deliver less impactful housekeeping messages and updates, such as email, text, or verbal relay through your dispatchers.