Total HVACR sales represented by the Top 50 Distributors each year have steadily increased. In 2012, they accounted for more than $10.3 billion (fiscal year 2011); this rose to more than $11.5 billion in 2013, $12.8 billion in 2014, and $13.8 billion in 2015. This year, the top 50 represented $14.8 billion in sales for fiscal 2015.
Do you say, “I want to be the biggest, baddest, most profitable wholesale supply house in my market,” but you’re unsure how to do it? The answer is simple, but the execution and implementation are what separate the winners from the losers.
When I took over this magazine, I was fortunate enough to receive some laudatory comments about my arrival. Note, the comments came from others, and now that we’re approaching my second-year anniversary, I hope they feel the same way.
Mobile technology is trending when it comes to scheduling service calls. According to a CSG Intl. survey, nearly all respondents — 97.5 percent — want more control of the scheduling process and prefer alternatives to calling providers for an appointment.
Practically every major company in every industry has its own mobile application, and HVAC is no exception. In fact, many OEM manufacturers have been working to create apps to make everyday jobs easier for contractors.
A customer's first impression of your business will likely occur on your company's online 'About Me' page. And you'll never get a second chance to make a first impression.
When it comes to the customer service area of our business, we tend to make a rough guess at performance. You need to stop guessing at your customer service team’s performance and know how they are doing.
As Alexander Pope said in his famous An Essay on Man, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” I think of that saying every year at the beginning of baseball season. Everybody has hope for their team on Opening Day. In business, however, an owner or manager doesn’t have the motivation of the playoffs and World Series.
The HVAC industry is not immune to this growing trend for on-demand services. Last year, on-demand behemoth Amazon launched Amazon Home Services, offering 15 million service listings across more than 900 professional services, including HVAC. Amazon joins Home Advisor, Thumbtack, and others offering these types of middlemen services to connect homeowners with contractors.
Historically, the most common HVAC company names were typically family-named or alphabetical, which helped the positioning in media that listed companies A to Z. It’s important for HVAC contractors to break through all the clutter and noise in the market and be memorable.