There are five great reasons to advertise: 1) To reach new customers; 2) To keep your name before current customers; 3) Because it pays over the long term; 4) To generate traffic; and 5) To increase sales and profits. A great way to maximize sales and profits is to complement your advertising with referral marketing.

Mistakes are powerful lesson builders. And nowhere is this more evident than in e-mail marketing. E-mail marketing inherently brings mistakes. That’s because it’s free and everyone who can push “send” can use it. Usually, the more difficult or expensive your marketing media is, the greater the research and testing you put behind it.

It’s another year and it will soon be time again for more of the hustle and bustle of contractor shows. It’s time to shake hands, meet new business prospects and - most importantly - sell, sell, sell. If you’re a contractor who plans on going to a local or regional home and garden show in order to round up some new business, be sure to take maximum advantage of your time at the show.

One of the most interesting and talked about topics in the HVAC trade is technician selling. The question is: Should an HVAC technician be trained to sell HVAC equipment and supplies? That question has sparked debate among the trade for many years. The result is that there is no definitive right or wrong answer to the question.