While the benefits of maintenance agreements are nearly universally understood today, I’ve found that the benefits of perpetual maintenance agreements are not nearly as universally understood, and I believe they are something every contractor should seriously consider.

Changes in the industry certainly bring challenges. Contractors must be prepared to provide information and answers regarding all of these new and different technologies. But, now comes the important part. It’s absolutely critical that contractors not lose sight of the personal and service portions of their businesses.

There are lots of ways to spend money on marketing and advertising. My suggestion is to be careful how you choose to do it, and who you choose to help you, as there is no easier and faster way to waste money.

If you’ve not been devoting a great deal of time and effort to ensure your service department is operating efficiently, profitably, and producing customer cheerleaders, you’re not preparing yourself or employees for solid futures. Make sure every policy and process in all your departments is specifically designed to produce high-quality experiences and the utmost in efficiency to keep your prices as low as possible.

In the HVAC universe, part of that work involves how the changes a Trump presidency will impact contractors, distributors, and manufacturers.

Putting out false and/or misleading advertising may show some short-term benefits to your company, but, in the long run, you are damaging both yourself and the industry.

In a past survey, the Association for Talent Development revealed a whopping 87 percent of managers become such without prior management training and education. This sets them up for seagull management — they fly in, crap on people, and fly back out.

If we’re going to make America great again; if we’re going to keep jobs here, we have got to teach people trades again. And we will. We will. Send your kids to trade school. Teach them a trade. If they want to go on to get a four-year degree, they can. They can pay for it with the money they earned in their trade.

If we are not trying to do our jobs to the best of our ability at all times, then exactly what are we doing? If you do have established goals in your company or goals that are set before you, are you actually trying as hard as you can to reach those goals and then sitting back and coasting for the rest of the month? Personally, I don’t see this as an option.

Put the consumer in the role of hero, not the product. Put the contractor in the role of wizened guide to getting the consumer what they want and watch people respond.