It's Brand Day!

One of the fastest growing trends in the heating and air conditioning industry is contractor branding.  Branding is more than simply slapping a logo on a box.  It's a company's...

• Reputation
  
  
• Personality
  
  
• Uniqueness
  
  
• Position
  
  
• Promise
  
  
• Image

  Companies with branding programs seize control of their future.  They build equity into their name, not another's name, not a name that's rented to them, loaned to them, or that can be offered to another company somewhere down the road, after the contractor's built up the name. While imitators are arising, there is only one original, turnkey branding program in the HVAC industry.  That's the Retail Contractor Coalition.  The Retail Contractor Coalition offers the most deliverables, the most guidance, and the best expertise in the industry on branding.  It's the only program designed by an internationally recognized branding expert in collaboration with a team of leading contractors.  The President of the Retail Contractor Coalition is Ben Stark, who is the Contractor of the Year for North Texas ACCA.  The Vice President is Steve Miles, named National Contractor of the Year by Contracting Business Magazine.

On February 1 and 2, you can attend Brand Day FREE of charge in Houston, Texas.  Get to Houston and the hotel, meals, and local transportation is FREE.  Learn more about contractor branding.  Learn how you can not only join the Retail Contractor Coalition and start branding your company for FREE, you can actually make a profit from it (though we urge you to reinvest this profit in your brand building activities).

For more information, call Liz Patrick toll free at 877.262.3341.  Hurry!  Reserve your place today.

I Wanna Market Me (The Contractor's Song)

This is for HVAC contractors. You just gotta watch it...

How An HVAC Contractor Rebranded As Aloha Aire

In 2002, Texarkana contractor, John Price rebranded his company. After a trip to Maui, he changed his company name from "Price Service Company" to "Aloha Aire."

The new name spoke to the market about island breezes, comfort, and paradise. It promised benefits.

Changing a company name is not a casual move. If the existing name has equity in the market, the move should be made slowly.

John's decision was easier because his company was relatively new. He established it just seven years earlier. Plus, he put more effort into building equipment manufacturer brand equity over those seven years than in building equity for his own company's brand.

If John had 70 years of local presence rather than seven, he probably would have hesitated more. As it was, he didn't have much to lose.

Still, John proceeded methodically. He sought the council of friends who owned businesses. For months, he and his wife Marilyn considered the change. Then, he acted.

John launched Aloha. At first, he tried to operate both old and new brands, but quickly dropped that idea. Marilyn drafted a letter to existing customers explaining why the company was making the move.

If nothing else, employee and owner enthusiasm for the new brand won the day. They were excited and got the customers excited. Over time, the Aloha brand has grown and established a position.

Aloha Aire is a fun brand. Technicians wear Hawaiian shirts with embroidered company logos. Reach John's voice mail and he answers, "Aloha."

In time, John dropped the manufacturer identity entirely and focused exclusively on the Aloha brand. Today, he's even branded his own line of heating and air conditioning equipment through the Retail Contractor Coalition.

Shortly after rebranding, Aloha Aire's local brand awareness began to exceed Price Service Company's brand awareness. It's continued to grow by leaps and bounds. This shouldn't be a surprise. Look at the trucks.

If the shipping company DHL could build a national brand awareness of 60% by 2007, largely on the basis their fleet of delivery vehicles, how much brand awareness can John build for Aloha? Certainly it's more than he built when the Price Service Company brand was subordinated to an equipment manufacturer's brand.

Aloha's brand promise is "Come home to paradise." And the company delivers.