Ron Smith
Contributing Writer
Ron Smith HVAC

ShuBee® would like to introduce Ron Smith as a new contributor to the Buzz. “HVAC Legend-Crusader” is a term many use in describing Ron Smith. Throughout his HVAC business career, starting in 1962, Ron has enjoyed starting new ventures, developing and applying new creative ideas, freely sharing information and introducing enthusiastic and bright people to the industry. Many of his operational systems and processes, and marketing and sales programs are in wide use throughout the United States, Canada, and many other foreign countries.

Successful HVAC businesses know that a winning combination of cost-effective marketing, superior technician training and a corporate mindset that promotes excellent customer service is a must for success. Another critical, yet often dismissed, factor involves having separate HVAC maintenance and service departments.

You see, even with the best business plan in place and detailed directives for marketing your business, a structure that fails to promote both maintenance and service leaves your firm open to failure.

There are proven reasons for having two departments. You’ll see why, as HVAC maintenance and service can actually work against each other.

Mindset – While one or more customer service representatives may field all calls coming into your business, the service/repair department’s response to those calls is reactive. These technicians may have no repairs scheduled for the day, or they may have many. By nature, repair work is an on-call business. Maintaining equipment, on the other hand, is proactive. Appointments are typically scheduled weeks or months out, with the department helping both homeowners who have service agreements and those who don’t.

Work – The differences continue with the type of work performed. Service techs operate from a reactive fix-it mindset, while maintenance techs operate from a proactive keep-it-working mindset. These differences are significant and can be seen in the training programs designed for each team. Further, the latter group is often charged with the important task of keeping customers, promoting products and services and generating leads when conducting on-site visits, while service technicians are generally the ones who show up at a customer’s home after the customer has requested service.

The competing mindset and tasks of HVAC maintenance and service technicians in order to be more successful requires two separate departments within a business.

By Ron Smith

Office Phone: 470-253-8502
Cell Phone: 615-974-9589
ronlsmith2@bellsouth.net
Find out more at www.ronsmithhvac.com