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The irrational exuberance of some salespeople amazes me. In an effort to regurgitate every factoid about their product, in an effort to manipulate responses with questions, in an effort to get the sale at any cost, they forget one very important point. Listen to the customer.

When it comes to recruiting young people to the trade, it was refreshing to witness the 2007 Student Chapter Summit. The event gave me some hope that at least one industry group, namely the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), is putting its money where its mouth is.

Business diversification pays off at harvest time.

Dean is a refrigeration contractor, and I always enjoy listening to his observations on business and life in general. It usually boils down to this: “It’s a goat rodeo.” I love trying to imagine what one of those would look like.

Structure cooking to rid it of mold? Keep speaking the truth.

Young men in votech school may not dress the way we like. But they aren’t going into customers’ homes right now, they are going to school and hanging out with their friends in their free time. Cut them some slack.

At the risk of sounding crass and capitalistic, the green movement won’t survive unless it can gain commercial success in the marketplace. In other words, if people can’t make money doing it, it’s just another fad.

Once every four years, a major conference with a decided emphasis on refrigeration takes place. These International Congresses of Refrigeration draw technical papers and presenters from throughout the world, and since it is only once every four years, some significant developments are reported.

Before you decide to make a radical change in your business approach, you may consider that switching from residential new construction to residential replacement can be like going from night to day for your company.

As contractors, we've always counted on certain customers to be loyal when it came time to make a purchase. However, with the availability of information, the fast pace of everyone’s lifestyle, maybe we can’t count on loyalties like we have in the past.