Ten Reasons You Must Attend The New Orleans Roundtable

The second national meeting of the Service Roundtable will be the New Orleans Roundtable.  Why New Orleans?  It's simple.  The city's largely rebuilt (at least, the French Quarter's largely rebuilt), the food's great, the jazz is great, it's easy to get to from nearly anywhere in the country, and it's a fun place to gather. 

Yeah, but what about the meeting?  Time is short.  Money is tight.  Why should I take off April 11-13 to attend another industry meeting?  In short, because this isn't like any other industry meeting.  It's completely focused on taking your business to the next level. 

Look, I'm all for efficiency and frugality.  Few companies are more efficient and frugal than the Service Roundtable.  Yet, the truth is you will not save your way to prosperity.  There are times you must invest... invest in the growth of your business, in the growth of your people, and in yourself.  The New Orleans Roundtable represents a great investment.  The tuition is very affordable.  The ideas and knowledge you'll gain are worth thousands.  The motivation and inspiration is priceless.  If you don't come to another event this year, come to the New Orleans Roundtable.  Here are the Top Ten Reasons You Must Attend...

#10 The Meeting Emcee is Ron Smith
Hanging around with Ron Smith is a seminar by itself. The guy casually drops gems of wisdom whenever he engages in a conversation. How can you miss the opportunity to spend time with the contractor who invented the service agreement, who came up with the idea of residential retail salespeople, who started the HVAC industry’s very first private contractor group and was the first person to franchise the HVAC industry, who spotted and recruited Tom McCart, Charlie Greer, Al Roach, Ruth King, and other superstars into the service trades?

Ron’s going to be emceeing the events, signing books, getting his picture taken with contractors, and generally hanging out.

Click Here to Register

#9 The Ideation Roundtables
Contractors from around the country will be bringing their best ideas to share during the Ideation Roundtables. What is an “Ideation Roundtable?” It’s like business idea storm, where you can pick up proven new ideas ways to make money and cut costs from other contractors. Look, some contractors simply do not post to the HVAC Roundtable, Plumbers Roundtable, and Electrical Roundtable. But they still have great ideas. They’re just more comfortable sharing them in person than over the Internet.

Click Here to Register

#8 Bar Talk
The best part of any industry meeting is the interaction that’s not on the agenda. It may sadden the people who bust their tails assembling a first class event, but the conversation over a beer at the end of the day is often better than event. This is especially true when you can meet the faces behind the email signatures and the staff of the Service Roundtable. If bar talk’s important, few places are better for it than the New Orleans French Quarter.

Click Here to Register

#7 Charlie Greer’s Lagniappe

A lagniappe (lan-yap) is defined by Dictionary.com as “a small gift given with a purchase to a customer, by way of compliment or for good measure; bonus.” Charlie “Tec Daddy” Greer will be delivering the New Orleans Roundtable’s lagniappe in the form of a free-for-all question and answer session at the close of each day. Bring your questions for one of the top consultants in the service trades and fire away as long as you want.

Click Here to Register

#6 The Haunted Hotel Monteleone
Okay, no one goes to a conference because it’s held in a cool hotel, but it doesn’t hurt either. Located in the middle of the French Quarter, the historic Hotel Monteleone has been a hangout and inspiration for numerous literary greats, such as Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, featured on everything from E! to the Food Network to A&E, CNN, and the major Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, Rebecca Wells, Anne Rice, Stephen Ambrose, John Grisham, and more. It’s been the site for a bunch of movies. It’s been featured on the major networks. The Travel Channel’s featured the hotel many times, including a show about “the best place to pop the question” and a show about haunted destinations. Haunted? Yup. It’s considered “one of the premier haunted hotels in North America.” Don’t worry. Staying on the haunted floor is purely optional. Look, this has got to be one of the coolest places ever for a meeting.

Click Here to Register

#5 Your Own Personal Board of Directors
Want help with a problem? We’re creating mini Roundtable Boards of non-competitive contractors to address each others’ business problems. Bring your most perplexing issues, whether it’s sales compensation, marketing issues, human resources problems, succession planning, figuring out a tactful way to get the mother-in-law to retire, truck policies, or anything else that affects your company. Get input, suggestions, and advice from contractors who have been there, done it, and have a closet full of t-shirts.

Click Here to Register

#4 Bob Viering’s Secret of Successful Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the more powerful marketing tools at your disposal. Service Roundtable Content Manager, Bob Viering will show you an incredibly easy way to create an email marketing program to reduce the cost to build relationships and promote your company. Done right, email marketing is the lowest cost method for pushing communication to your customers. It’s the fastest marketing method around – what’s sent today is opened today. Customers who opt-in to receive your email communication and promotional offers are surprisingly likely to open the mail and respond. If you’re tired of expensive, hit or miss marketing, you must attend this session.

Click Here to Register

#3 Joe Cunningham’s Menu For Success
Popular sales trainer and consultant, Joe Cunningham promises he’ll show you how to take your business zero to profitability in 60 seconds. By adopting Joe’s simple, proven processes and plugging them into a “menu for success” implementation calendar that you’ll build, even the smallest contractors can leap forward, regardless of the economy.

Click Here to Register

#2 Brandon Jacob’s Exit Strategy
Every so often a window opens where buyers, ranging from consolidators to utilities to independent business people, look for contracting companies to buy. When the time is right, your company must be ready. Brandon Jacob, the service trades’ go-to-guy for acquisitions, will identify the steps you need to take to prepare your company maximum attractiveness and value. Even if you never want to sell, following Brandon’s guidelines will help your company more easily secure lines of credit and other loans, as well as generally improve your financial performance. If you ever want to sell your company or borrow money for less, you should pay attention to Brandon.

Click Here to Register


#1 Ken Goodrich’s Wild Ride
Ken Goodrich is a contractor like no other. The guy’s put together a team of all-stars who built and sold six companies. When he sold his last business to a consolidator, management hired him and told him to keep doing what he was doing. With his team, he grew the company and expanded to $100 million in 10 markets with 250 trucks. Incredibly, most of the growth was organic, not the result of acquisitions. With double digit net profit, Ken doubled the size of his operations in 2009.

Ken is a contractor with an amazing, inspirational story. He shows you what is possible in our industries. Even if your goal is to grow to $10 million or $1 million instead of $100 million, you can learn lessons from Ken Goodrich. Because he’s a contractor, growing like crazy, it’s rare for Ken to speak in public. This isn’t the type of presentation or speaker you’ll hear anywhere else. Do not miss this change to change your perspective on your business and industry.

To register for the New Orleans Roundtable, call Janet Thomasson at 877.262.3341 or click here to send her an email.  Or, you can click here for more information and the registration form.

Bonus:  Maintenance Agreement Seminar
Stay an extra day and join me to attend the Profit Strategies "Build Lasting Value With Maintenance Agreements" seminar.  You're already in New Orleans.  Stay one more day and get that much more value out of your travel dollar.

Click Here to Register For the Profit Strategies Maintenance Agreement Seminar

Spring Training Opportunities With The Service Roundtable

The Service Roundtable is offering two Spring Training opportunities. The first is the Retail Sales Academy with Joe Cunningham March 22-26. This is a great program for your HVAC salespeople to get them in mid-season form so they close more early season sales at higher margins.

The second is the New Orleans Roundtable. This is for owners and managers of plumbing and HVAC companies. The focus is taking your business to a higher level. Emceed by legendary contractor, Ron Smith, the meeting features incredible speakers and powerful peer-to-peer information exchanges.

Write-ups and links on both meetings are below:


The Retail Sales Academy

This intensive, hands-on, interactive program will provide attendees with the skills necessary to become a high impact, low pressure, technically savvy replacement salesperson even with no prior industry experience. This program is proven to take a person from zero to a competent closer in just one week. The topics covered in this program are:

• Understanding The In-Home Sales Psychology
• Learning About the HVAC System
• Understanding Security Issues
• Uncovering The Prospect’s Needs & Wants
• Removing Sales Objections Up-front
• Implementing a 5 Step Sales Process
• Performing The Heat Load and Security Analysis
• Choosing The Proper System For Individual Applications
• The “Why Your Stuff” Story
• Building Customers For Life
• Creating Referrals

These time-tested techniques result in the most successful salespeople in the HVAC industry with high closing ratios and a high-end product and add-on mix. The program has proven to be highly effective with industry newcomers that possess little or no industry knowledge. This course will cover the complete 5 Step Selling Process with an emphasis on creating an atmosphere of trust and education so prospects choose to buy full higher efficiency systems and appropriate add-ons with a one-call close.

Click For More Information (pdf)


New Orleans Roundtable

Unlike other contractor meetings, the New Orleans Roundtable is focused on contractors interacting with each other.


Keynote Message: From Zero to 100… Million Dollars

Ken Goodrich and his team may be the most successful PHC service and replacement contractors in the country. From his starting point as a tech on a truck, Ken assembled an all-star team, built and sold, not one or two or three, but SIX different companies to consolidators. No one else has done that. If contracting were a sport, Ken would be contracting’s Lance Armstrong.

Ken keynotes the New Orleans Roundtable, where he shares the incredible wild ride he started after he sold his last business to ARS. The new owners at ARS brought Ken and his management team on board and commissioned them to grow the Southwest Division. They did.

In a few short years, Ken and his team took the business to more than $100,000,000, serving 10 major markets with over 250 service trucks. Some of the growth was through acquisition, but most was organic. In 2009, while many contractors struggled across the country, especially in the markets Ken served, Ken’s team grew their operations over 100% year-over-year. That’s right. They doubled their size in 2009. And they did it with high double digit profitability!

In his keynote, Ken will share his story. He will tell you how he became fabulously wealthy in the plumbing and air conditioning industry. Ken says it’s not magic. It’s about the team and about a system. He will share how he built the team and explain the business systems and methods they developed to take run-of-the-mill plumbing and HVAC companies to unprecedented levels of sales and profitability, as well as share his experiences and viewpoints of industry consolidation. While Ken may have accomplished more than most in the PHC service and replacement business, he says that anyone can match his accomplishments with a few simple strategies.

You cannot miss this keynote.


From Zero To Profits In 60 Seconds… The Incremental Steps to Huge Success

Joe Cunningham describes the slight unobtrusive, small, step-by-step process it takes to transform the small service company into a fully functioning profit machine. Joe will help you build a “menu for success” implementation calendar.

Joe is the founder of Successtrack Network and was one of the PHC industry’s first “Million Dollar Men,” single-handedly selling in excess of 1 million dollars worth of HVAC equipment per year in the highly competitive Houston, Texas market in the 1980’s.

Joe went on to develop sales and marketing programs for the plumbing and air conditioning manufacturers and distributors. Joe was also a key distributor and training program developer and trainer for Retrotec Infiltrometer Systems and helped introduce many contractors to solving “whole house” problems helping them to consistently set themselves apart from and outsell their competitors on a regular basis.

Joe was President of the country’s most highly acclaimed HVAC training facility, Future University. He produced and directed the first ever nationally televised training series for the HVAC industry, was involved in the first wave of industry consolidation, has developed proprietary training programs for the HVAC, Plumbing and IAQ industry, is a Strategic Training Ally for major manufacturers and is one of the service industry’s most respected professionals.

Joe’s step-by-step, easy-to-implement processes and procedures have helped thousands of contractors nationwide increase their sales, develop new markets, maximize their opportunities and grow their businesses in any economic climate.


Maximum Company Value, Maximum Personal Wealth

Brandon Jacob knows more about buying and selling contracting companies than anyone in electrical, HVAC, and plumbing. A Certified Public Accountant and Certified Valuation Analyst, Brandon worked on more than 100 transactions involving companies representing total revenue exceeding $850,000,000. Brandon has bought, sold, and valued companies with American Residential Service, ServiceMaster, and more intensely, as an independent consultant. Today, he is the industry’s “go to guy” not only for consolidators, utilities, and contractors seeking acquisitions, but for contractors looking to make their companies more attractive and valuable as acquisition candidates.

At the New Orleans Roundtable, Brandon will share the steps you can take to maximize your company’s value. The actions Brandon recommends will improve your business performance whether you intend to sell your business or pass it along to heirs. Brandon will show you how to earn more now and in the future. The steps Brandon recommends apply to any size company and lead to maximum personal wealth.


Bring your ideas to share and your problems to solve.

We will have brainstorming and ideation Roundtables. We will create Roundtable Boards of non-competitive companies to discuss and solve your greatest business problems. We will feature a dynamic keynote speaker, terrific speakers, and a brief update on what’s new from the Service Roundtable.

The New Orleans Roundtable will be held in the historic, 4 Diamond Hotel Monteleone, located in the middle of the city’s French Quarter. Don’t wait. Our last meeting, the Las Vegas Roundtable, sold out and we turned people away. Reserve your place today!

Click For More Information

Busy Week for the Content Development Team

The Service Roundtable machine just keeps churning away. This week we released a handful of new content for our HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractors.

We started off by sending out a copy of our exclusive Marketing Planning Wizard to our electrical members. This custom built program makes it easy for anyone to create a year-long marketing plan that covers strategy, budgeting and implementation. It takes you by the hand and guides you every step of the way. It's a must for anyone struggling to create a sensible, practical marketing strategy.

Plumbing and HVAC were treated to a new Spring Break-themed postcard for promoting maintenance, and everyone got a copy of our new Multi-Purpose Follow-up Email. It impacts your customer in 3 important ways after they've tried your service.

Members of the Service Roundtable are treated to new, unique content every week. To find out more about it, visit us on the web at ServiceRoundtable.com.

Announcing The Service Roundtable For Electrical Contractors!

Electrical contractors have asked when we’re going to launch the Service Roundtable for them. Well, it’s here! Even better, for the next week EVERYONE gets an opportunity to try the Service Roundtable for one month for $9.95.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SPECIAL PRICE

Hurry. This special expires March 12, 2010.

Improving Your Loyalty Program

"Deeper engagement and personalized contact drive loyalty, not mass blast communications and gimmicks," writes Marketing Charts about a new report from the Chief Marketing Officer Council. 

The classic loyalty marketing program is an airline's frequent flyer program. For service contractors a service or maintenance agreement program is a loyalty program, even though many do not think of them as such.

Marketers think loyalty programs make sense and make money for their companies, but that they're not doing a good job executing.  According to Marketing Charts:

According to the survey, most marketers (61%) believe that loyalty program participants are the best and most profitable customers with 65% of respondents viewing customer loyalty program investments as an essential, or quite valuable part of the marketing mix.

However, only 13% of respondents believe they have been highly effective in leveraging loyalty and brand preference among club members, and nearly 20% don’t even have a strategy for this. Another 25% admit they have not mobilized brand loyalists to become active advocacy agents.

Yikes.  Here are the problems (click to enlarge)...

A few key stats from the report are:

• Loyalty programs do generate buzz with 50% of customers in loyalty marketing programs talking about the brand some of the time and 20% outright cheerleading.
  
• One out of two (54%) customers will drop out of the loyalty program following a bad service experience.  It's surprising it's not higher and indicates a degree of forgiveness among loyalty participants.  Still, the company must deliver or lose, regardless of a loyalty program.
  
• Even though customers complain about spam, nearly two out of three (64%) want electronic communication.  The good news is you can reduce costs with customers who want electronic communication.  The bad news is you can't use electronic communication across the board.  A mix is required and it's necessary to ask customers what's preferred (and it may be both).

Service agreement programs are strong loyalty marketing programs. They can be enhanced by the inclusion or a "rewards" element, such as the Service Roundtable's "Comfort Cash" program.

Click here to read the full article from Marketing Charts. Click here to learn more about the Service Roundtable.

Great Quotes

I was struck by a couple of comments in Facebook over the past few days and feel compelled to share them:

The Service Roundtable is it. This is the place the best practices groups get their ideas.

- Rodney Koop

For a contractor to be in business and not use Service Roundtable's resources would be like a fisherman not using a boat, motor, gas, rod, reel, line, hooks, bait or a net. Better to ask a friend to give you a fish.

- Tom Piscitelli

Thanks guys!  You made me blush.

Put Your Company on the Map

Note: I wrote this for Southern PHC Magazine and would normally link to it, but the article is not online, so I'm reprinting here.

As consumer yellow page usage wanes, local Internet search is becoming more important. Search for “air conditioning” and based on your IP address, search engines like Google will serve up local companies, including a map with locations. You want your company on this map.

Putting your company on Google Maps, which is Google’s local search, is simple. Visit http://local.google.com/ and click on “Put your business on Google Maps.” You will need to create a Google account, but that only takes seconds.

Your company may already be listed. If it is, Google will prompt you to claim it.

Fill out all information on your company. Make sure you incorporate product, service, and brand search terms.

Google verifies all local business listings. You can choose phone or postal mail. Pick the phone method. It’s faster.


The Ten Pack

The coveted placement for you is the “ten pack” of local businesses displayed next to the map during a search (the ten pack doesn’t always contain ten companies). Within the ten pack, you want to be ranked as high as possible. Here are five ways to improve your ranking…

1. Internet Directories – Get listed on every Internet yellow pages and business directory you can find. This includes the chamber of commerce, city directories, the Better Business Bureau, trade association directories, manufacturer dealer locators, NATE’s Consumer to Contractor Connection, InfoUSA’s database, Yahoo, Bing, DMOZ and other search directories, etc.
   
   
2. Keyword in Business Name – Including the right search term in your company name can make the difference between being ranked #4 and #1. Make sure you include “heating and air conditioning” in your listing.
   
   
3. Customer Reviews – If you increase the number of customer reviews, you will increase your ranking. Ask your customers to review your company on Google. Use a review guide like the one shown to encourage customers to complete the review. You can download this review by clicking on “Free Stuff” at www.ServiceRoundtable.com.
   
   
4. Social Media – Create a Facebook fan page that links back to your website. Create Linked In and Plaxo profiles with links to your website.
   
   
5. Full Address – Make sure your website contains your full address, preferably on the front page.

Here are three things to avoid…

1. Toll Free Phone Number – You should avoid using the exclusive use of a toll free phone number on your website. Local businesses should have local numbers according to search engine ranking logic.
   
   
2. P.O. Box – Do not rely solely on a post office box. Add your physical address as a shipping address.
   
   
3. Multiple Addresses – Limit yourself to one address on your website. Multiple addresses tends to confuse the search engines.

Focus On Google First

Why Google? According to comScore, Google not only commands 64% of all domestic Internet searches, but its share is rising. The volume of searching is increasing and Google is taking 90% of the increase. Last year, 85 billion searches were performed in the United States using Google.

Do not ignore the other search engines. Many people still use them. But more use Google than all others combined.

Putting yourself on the (Google) map only takes a few minutes. Spend a few more to boost your ranking and you will find your incoming call volume increasing without spending another dime.

Inside Contracting: How Top Contractors Win In HVAC

Inside Contracting, a new book from Service Nation Press, is a must for any HVAC contractor's library.


Why Go It Alone?

Building a successful HVAC service company is not without its challenges. Inside Contracting provides you with the collective wisdom of dozens of the country’s most successful contractors and consultants to help you meet those challenges head-on. This includes top HVAC professionals like Drew Cameron, Roger Costner, Ken Goodrich, Charlie Greer, Bob Haak, Dave Holt, Martin Hoover, Jeff Lee, Jeff Marl, Steve Miles, Tom Piscitelli, Matt Prazenka, Bob Ring, Ben Stark, Stan Stupor, Larry Taylor, Aaron York, and dozens of others.

The tips, tricks and traps within provide real-life examples—not unproven theories—of how to profitably grow, manage and one day, exit your business.

Inside Contracting presents the best practices of leading contractors including...

• Internet Advertising: SEO vs. SEM
  
  
• Private Use of Company Vehicles
  
  
• Private Labeling - Selling Your Brand
  
  
• Advice for the Desperate Contractor
  
  
• Buying a Company: Valuing The Customer List & Phone Number
  
  
• Buying Service Vehicles
  
  
• Hiring Salespeople
  
  
• Manufacturer Co-op
  
  
• Reducing Yellow Page Advertising
  
  
• Woman in HVAC Sales and Service

Build a Bridge From Your Island

One of the most challenging aspects of running a business is the isolation. Sometimes it feels like you are alone on an island with all of your employees. They’re looking to you for all of the answers, but there’s nowhere and no one for you to turn to. Inside Contracting is like a bridge from your island to top HVAC contractors and consultants from across the country.

Inside Contracting plugs you into the real world experience of other contractors representing hundreds of years of contractor experience. Learn from their best moves and biggest mistakes.

Inside Contracting is an essential reference in every HVAC contractor’s library. Topics include:

• Advertising
  
  
• Angry Customers
  
  
• Branding
  
  
• Callbacks
  
  
• Co-op
  
  
• Financing
  
  
• Green Marketing
  
  
• Hiring
  
  
• Internet Marketing
  
  
• Lead Generation
  
  
• Management
  
  
• Marketing
  
  
• Mergers & Acquisitions
  
  
• Motivating
  
  
• Networking
  
  
• Pricing
  
  
• Referrals
  
  
• Sales
  
  
• Scheduling
  
  
• Service Agreements
  
  
• Succession Planning
  
  
• Technician Selling
  
  
• Women in HVAC
  
  
• Yellow Pages

Inside Contracting is only $32.95 (contractors enrolled in Roundtable Rewards receive a $5 rebate) plus shipping & handling. Texas residents, unfortunately, get zapped for sales tax.

Click Here To Order Your Copy Today! Order several. It makes a great Christmas or Hanukkah present.

Inside Contracting was built from the Service Roundtable’s 85,000 record knowledge-base management archive.


About The Service Roundtable

Formed by leading contractors, the Service Roundtable® offers an incredible array of HVAC and Plumbing best practice tools and diverse communication outlets to help you generate leads, close more sales, market your company, recruit technicians and plumbers, price for profit, manage your service agreements, and create an exit strategy.

Every week contractors receive new tools to supplement the Service Roundtable's vast library of existing brochures, letters, post cards, pricing calculators, consumer newsletters, sales sheets, marketing guides, training tools, and more. They tap into the company's 24/7/365 Industry Roundtables with leading contractors and consultants. They save with the company's Roundtable Rewards buying program. And they get it all for just $50 a month! Learn more about the site HERE. Call toll free 877.262.3341 and request a FREE private tour.

The Service Roundtable is the one contractor business alliance without a long-term contract. CLICK HERE to try it for a month. If you don't like it, quit. It's that simple. Of course, you won't quit. Once you see all of the value, you'll wonder how the Service Roundtable is able to do it. Then, you'll wonder how you ever survived without it. Go ahead. Give the Service Roundtable a one-month trial.

Contractors, Ed O’Connell and Alex Walter Honored

Matt Michel, Ed O'Connell, David Heimer

Matt Michel, Alex Walter, David Heimer

Somebody turn out the brights... Wait, that's just David Heimer's tie.

Ed O’Connell and Alex Walter were voted “Contributors of the Year” by the members of the Service Roundtable® and honored at the company’s Las Vegas Roundtable national meeting.

Read more at Contractor Magazine.

Why Aren't You Cross Marketing?

Great Steak Houses ad from an airline magazine

In the late 1980s, Vicki La Plant started encouraging contractors to cross market with local, non-competitive businesses. In essence, contractors cross mail to each other's mail lists. They pass out coupons for other companies on service calls, refer each other, and find other ways to help each other, reducing marketing costs. Think of cross marketing as business networking taken to the next level.

Cross marketing can be expanded beyond in-home service businesses. The late Tom McCart once persuaded a pizza delivery company to tape coupons for one of his clients on their pizza boxes. In exchange Tom's client passed out pizza coupons and menus on service calls.

Virginia contractor, Dean Thomasson, used a similar approach when he worked an arrangement with a local fast food restaurant. The restaurant inserted coupons for Dean's company on drive through orders and Dean passed out coupons for free sandwiches on service calls.

Anyone who flies and browses through the airline magazines has undoubtedly encountered ads for the "Great Steak Houses of North America," sponsored by the Independent Retail Cattleman's Association, which appears to be little more than a restaurant marketing alliance run by a Nashville marketing guy. Yet, its endurance is a testament to its effectiveness through the years.

Increasing marketing effectiveness is the reason for cross marketing. Your effectiveness will be best when a high degree of trust exists between the customers of the different companies. When Houston's Hallmark Air Conditioning and Jarrell Plumbing cross mailed to each other's customer lists recommending a service agreement from the other company, it was the single best direct mail initiative the companies experienced.

This makes sense. Depending upon the survey you reference, the number of homeowners who locate service companies by referral runs around 70%, making referrals the number one source of lead generation. Additionally, people tend to assume contractors know who the good contractors are in related trades. Combine the tendency to rely on referrals with the belief that contractors have inside knowledge, add a trust relationship with the referring contractor, and the response rate should be the best experienced.

At the Service Roundtable we've encouraged contractors to form marketing relationships with complementary companies. To make it easy, we've created marketing pieces like flyers and magnets promoting the "Distinctive Service Companies" of your town. We've creatred mail pieces like the one below.



If the Service Roundtable doesn't serve your industry or, for some reason, you don't want to join the Service Roundtable, create an alliance on your own. This is what Jim Ritter of Transworld Electric did in Charleston, SC. He assembled a home remodeling company, kitchen remodeling company, heating and air conditioning company, plumbing company, and pest control company to join his electrical contracting company as the Elite Home Connection.

So far, the Charleston group shares a one-page website linking their companies and a phone number for consumers. Presumably, the call center is an answering service with call forwarding to the appropriate company. More joint marketing may follow, with the cost for each company equal to one sixth of the burden of the cost of marketing independently.

Cross marketing is a proven winner. It increases marketing effectiveness. It reduces expenses. Why aren't you cross marketing?

Steve Fouts On The Service Roundtable

As the owner of a small HVAC company for over twenty years, I can tell you that a lack of effective marketing has been the greatest obstacle to becoming a larger, more profitable company. We joined the Service Roundtable only a few months ago and love it. The material there is exactly what we needed to move forward.

The material we've used so far has proven to be worth more than the annual investment. I'm actually excited by the results. And after twenty years, my getting excited is rare! (I'm glad I started young.) Almost everyone here can see our new potential and wants to contribute. Joining the Service Roundtable was a great business decision.

But business is only a part of it. The rest is less tangible. Most of us small guys haven't found the time or even an opportunity to participate in groups made up of our peers. The choices available are few and usually not suitable. We have enough on our plate as it is.

So we do what we do alone. Sure, it's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, most of us are a little "different" anyway. We chose this gig partly because we like doing our own thing. But I think there's a penalty to be paid for our independence. It's not just lonely at the top, it's not profitable!

There's so much to be gained through sharing information and experiences with those in similar circumstances. A peer group, for lack of a better term, provides an opportunity to do so.

The Service Roundtable brings that peer group to my desktop. Wow. I mean it, this is huge! I now have the ability to plug into discussions with people who have similar histories, who do what I do, who struggle with very similar issues. Just knowing they're out there makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.

Alright, I haven't felt warm and fuzzy since 1982, but you get my meaning. I'm not alone!!! So before I go all Oprah on you I'll just say Thank You.

Thank You for all the meaningful articles like The Impoverished Craftsman in today's Comanche Marketing piece. We can't be reminded too often of concepts like these. Your insights are right on.

Thank You for all the great marketing material. It's true that real success begins by embracing the right concepts - by shifting one's thought. But then we need resources, especially marketing resources. My opinion: The Service Roundtable has it. There is no more cost effective source of successful marketing strategies and materials for our industry - none. I've checked.

Thank You for all the thoughtful contributions to the Roundtable discussions. Lots of great stuff here. I was a little surprised to find a regular contributor who includes a Wayne Dyer quote in his tagline; I love it. I'm not alone!!! OK, I'll stop. But I hope you don't underestimate the value of the intangibles here. The sense of community built by this Roundtable is for some of us, just what the doctor ordered.

Keep up the great work!

Steve Fouts
United Home Comfort
Bowling Green, OH

The Service Roundtable provides plumbing, air conditioning, and heating contractors with new sales, marketing, and business management tools on a weekly basis, including direct marketing, email marketing, Internet marketing, consumer newsletters, newspaper ads, management tools, pricing calculators, technician flyers and handouts, training pieces, hiring guides, employment applications, recruiting ads and brochures, affinity marketing programs, sales tools, incoming call scripts, press releases, service agreements, and much, much, more. Members gain instant access to a library of more than $3 million of archived content, tap into the Roundtable discussion groups 24/7/365 where instant answers are found to virtually any question, and save on purchases.

The cost? It's only $50 a month. There's no long-term contract. It's not necessary. Try it for a month. If you don't like it, quit.

Take a tour of the Service Roundtable.

Join Now.

What Alex Walter Says About The Service Roundtable

"Having been a Service Roundtable member for some time I...

1) Receive many times my monies worth.

AND...

2) I continue to get very good new ideas related to marketing, sales and technical issues.

AND...

3) I realize that it would be a big mistake to do without the Service Roundtable as it continues to remind me of the things I should be doing and need to be doing to have my business thrive. It's like having a friendly tap on the shoulder when I need it most."





Alex Walter
President
Absolute Home Comfort
Aurora, CO


Only $50 per month with no contracts.
Why not try it for a month? If you don’t like it, quit.

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What People Are Saying About The Service Roundtable

"Joining the Service Roundtable was a wonderful, wonderful decision! It has provided me with enormous amounts of information, answers and general knowledge I would have otherwise missed out on. Keep up the good work. You guys provide an invaluable service! I was a bit reluctant to join but once I did I realized that had I needed to, I would've stalked you guys down and forced you to let me in. Thank goodness you guys do some swell marketing so I didn't have to do that to join!"

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President & CEO, Blake Giesbrecht Co.
Augusta, GA


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Free Marketing Ideas – Part VII

This is the final post of the free marketing ideas series. Next week, I’ll start a new series. In the interim, keep checking the Comanche Marketing blog. Also, you can follow my updates through the Service Roundtable, Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook.


21. Speak At HOA Meetings

Homeowners Association (HOA) meeting vary from rigidly formal to loose. Some are well attended. Others are not. However, all are attended.

Some HOAs feature regular speakers at their meetings. Those without speakers probably would include them if it was easy to find someone with something relevant for the audience. That someone could be you.

In the Internet age, almost any functioning HOA has a website. Simply search for homeowners associations by neighborhood name or by town. Some municipalities even list the HOAs with full officer contact information on their websites.

Offer the speak at each HOA meeting. Send a letter or email to the officers indicating your willingness to speak and propose topics. Here are a few…

HVAC: The upcoming refrigerant phase out
Plumbing: Water conservation
Electrical: Advances in lighting technology
Pool: Salt water pool systems
Pest Control: Natural pest control solutions

Propose a length. Generally, these organizations want to give speakers no more than 15 to 20 minutes.

In your letter, promise to follow up with a phone call (assuming you’ve got the phone number) and give the recipient your number if he or she wants to call sooner.

The same approach can be used with garden clubs and with other service and civic clubs. Don’t worry about rejections. Focus only those who welcome you. Give everyone who attends a gift certificate with your company (remember, a gift certificate is little more than a coupon people keep).

A template for HVAC and plumbing contractors will be released soon on the Service Roundtable.


22. Teach Home Improvement Seminars

Years ago, I attended a two hour home improvement class offered through the city’s parks & rec department. I don’t remember the subject of the class, but I do remember who taught it. The class was taught by a Home Depot employee.

It turned out that a number of classes offered by the city were taught by Home Depot employees. I wondered if Home Depot was encouraging employees to teach these classes. It wouldn’t surprise me.

So why would a big box retailer encourage, and maybe even pay its employees to teach home improvement seminars? It’s simple. Teach a home improvement seminar and you’re positioned as the expert by default. Home Depot benefits by driving people to the store to ask for more information and to buy stuff.

Obviously, contractors have different objectives. You don’t sell over the counter to homeowners, so you’re trying to stimulate future service calls, replacement leads, and project quotes.

You can be successful, but only if you avoid even the hint of solicitation when teaching. People attend these classes to learn, so teach. Offer reasonable DIY advice that any homeowner can manage.

For example, an air conditioning or electrical contractor might advise homeowners to install outlet insulators for the energy savings. Or the contractor might instruct homeowners to check the breaker box before calling for service. Don’t try to turn the homeowner into a technician or plumber, but don’t be afraid of offering helpful advice.

Here are a few topics that might be appropriate for a home improvement seminar…

• How to build a pool
• How to select an air conditioning contractor
• Strategies for cutting home energy
• Water conservation strategies in the home
• Your home’s electrical system
• All about ants and other pest protection
• Conduct you own home energy audit

To find opportunities, start with your own community parks and recreation departments. Next, see what opportunities are available at area home and garden shows. Many host free seminars to help attract homeowners. Some colleges and community colleges offer non-credit continuing education classes.


23. Write Home Improvement Articles

With the Internet, anyone can publish today. Add a blog to your website or create a free one using Blogger or Word Press.

Write about the homeowner problems you uncover in the course of your daily service work. Tell people how you solved the problems. If the problems are preventable, tell readers how.

If you are overly promotional in the body of your article, it will backfire. People won’t read it. However, it is okay to include a promotional paragraph at the very end.

Post your articles on the article sharing sites. When posting on another site, link back to your blog or website in your promotional paragraph.


24. Promote Your Writings

When you post new articles, let people know by email and by social media, such as Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, and so on.

© 2009 Matt Michel

Creating An Elevator Speech

We had a request on the Service Roundtable for help writing an elevator speech. I grabbed the following video by Frank Furness. I like his simple approach and his emphasis on what's in it for the customer.



If all else fails, try the 15 Second Pitch Wizard. Fill in the blanks and it creates your elevator speech.

Lee Rosenberg's 100 Simple Business Practices

Often there is little difference between a successful business and an unsuccessful one. Rather, there are little differences... lots of little differences.

Lee Rosenberg presents 100 simple business practices that every service business should perform. Undoubtedly you already do many of these practices, but you probably do not do all of them. This document will serve as a reminder of many things you should do, but may not. It will also give you a few new ideas, things that you hadn't really thought about. Add one or two new disciplines from this document and your business will improve and/or avoid the fatal pitfalls of companies long forgotten.

The file was prepared as an Adobe Portable Document File (pdf). Click to launch Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader and download the file.

Click for more Freebies from the Service Roundtable.

Las Vegas Roundtable - October 25-27

Service Roundtable members asked for a fall Roundtable. They asked for Las Vegas. We listened.

Hosted at the fabulous Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino, the Las Vegas Roundtable is a wholly new program with an equal focus on HVAC and Plumbing. This power packed two day meeting features some of the most demanded speakers in the industry, plus highly interactive Roundtable breakouts.

Nowhere else in the industry will you get Mark Matteson, Robert C. Viering, Charlie Greer, Ron Smith, and me together for a two day event. You do not want to miss this.

Learn More About The Las Vegas Roundtable

21 Free Marketing Ideas

Staying Positive In A Negative World - The CD (Half Price)

One of the most highly acclaimed series in Comanche Marketing was “Staying Positive in a Negative World.” I made a CD of “Staying Positive” and while I can’t give it away, I would like to give you an opportunity to buy it for half price.

The CD retails for $19.95. Through April 14 – I’m stopping at April 14 because there’s nothing positive about April 15 – through April 14, you can get a copy for $10. That’s a deal. After production costs, handling, and mail, $10 is close to cost.

Note: If you’re out of work and money’s really tight (nothing to be ashamed of), let me know and I’ll just send you a free copy.

Three ways to order…

1. Call Janet Thomasson toll free at 877.262.3341 with a credit card.

2. Complete the form below and fax it to 817.796.2773.

3. Complete the form below and mail it with a check for $10, made out to the Service Roundtable, P.O. Box 270842, Flower Mound, TX 75027-0842.

Oh yeah, if you’re in Texas, I’ve got to charge an usurious sales tax of 8%, so Texans get to add 80 cents (at least you get a small break because we’re shipping from Lewisville – Flower Mound’s rate is even higher).

Service Roundtable members can access an expanded version of Staying Positive in MP3 format for free from the website.

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Yes, I’d like a copy of the “Staying Positive in a Negative World” audio CD for the incredibly low price of $10 ($10.80 for Texas residents)

___Enclosed you will find my check or money order made out to the Service Roundtable

___Bill my credit card

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Ship To (Name):

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Mail the completed form to:

Service Roundtable
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Flower Mound, TX 75027-0842

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Free Stuff: Lee Rosenberg's 100 Simple Business Practices

Often there is little difference between a successful business and an unsuccessful one. Rather, there are little differences... lots of little differences.

Lee Rosenberg presents 100 simple business practices that every service business should perform. Undoubtedly you already do many of these practices, but you probably do not do all of them. This document will serve as a reminder of many things you should do, but may not. It will also give you a few new ideas, things that you hadn't really thought about. Add one or two new disciplines from this document and your business will improve and/or avoid the fatal pitfalls of companies long forgotten.

Link