Keep up with the national scene and pool your time/resources together, but don’t forget about the local guys.

Does your work environment encourage growth, opportunity, recognition, education, and a winning attitude for all employees? Then I encourage you to nominate your company as a 2016 Best Contractor to Work For.

Even if writing isn’t your thing (or if you simply don’t have the time to devote to it), your company can still have quality, timely, relevant content on its website — content that will not only translate to sales leads, but also help establish your company as a trustworthy source of information within your community.

The skills gap is just one topic frequently discussed within the HVAC industry, and reasonable discussion and a healthy dialogue between contractors can only benefit everyone moving forward. Your means of contributing may differ from the guy across the street, and that is perfectly fine.

Look around at your employees. Is there someone being underutilized? Is there someone not getting a promotion because perhaps some feel he or she has yet to pay the necessary dues? Are you worried about how the older generation will deal with such a young boss? Take a second look and see if anyone in this younger generation would be a match for a position up the corporate ladder.

Being the Type-A personalities that they are, retirement is not really in the vocabulary of Jim Abrams and Terry Nicholson. So, shortly after their non-compete agreements from the Clockwork Home Services sales were complete, the duo was at it again.

Some manufacturers with foreign names are producing products in the U.S., some companies that were founded in this country are making products overseas, and a big chunk of the industry is doing both. It is the job of the contractor to figure out if this is important to the customer. 

Young people want to join a culture that matches their own aspirations. HVACR can be that place if the salt-and-pepper crowd would realize that, for some millennials, it is not so much about the day-to-day features and benefits of business as it is about being engaged with customers and being involved in the business. 

To help honor those who inspire our industry, The NEWS is now accepting nominations for its 17th annual Best Instructor Award and fourth annual Best Trainer Award. 

No matter how hard you try, some people just can’t be satisfied. What if you could go back in time and hear from other businesses in your town about this specific consumer? With that information at hand, you might say thanks, but no thanks, when that customer rings your phone.