First Impressions

Originally published: 02.01.15 by John Rudy

In some situations, it doesn’t matter how knowledgeable the technician is — if a customer is greeted by an employee with a dirty or wrinkled uniform, or worse, no uniform at all, there’s a good chance they may never call you again.

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Treat Your Employees Like They Matter

Originally published: 12.01.14 by Christine Comaford

When employees feel they don’t matter, they simply cannot function at their highest level of performance. Here are six things you do (or don’t do) that make them feel unloved.

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Use Personality Tests to Build a Better Team

Originally published: 10.01.14 by Beverly Flaxington

If you want to create a team that isn’t all the same, it’s important to know who you have on your team and help the team members understand one another effectively.

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Find the Right People

Originally published: 10.01.14 by Ben Hubbert

It doesn’t matter what size your company is, where you’re located or what the predominant service is you’re providing, hiring will always be of highest importance in moving your business forward.

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A New Way To Do Performance Evaluations

Originally published: 09.01.14 by Lisë Stewart

Helping people work together to improve the overall performance of the company can be a rewarding and exciting conversation. Many employees don’t really understand what is expected of them, and aren’t sure what to do to get the results their manager expects.

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Motivate with Money

Originally published: 07.01.14 by George Hedley

Bonuses and incentives without targets are like playing football without end zones or scoreboards. Set the exact results you want your employees to achieve and measure them to design your incentive program.

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Hiring Smart

Originally published: 03.01.14 by Lisë Stewart

Hiring Smart! Effective Recruitment and Selection

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High Performers: How to Get Them,...How to Keep Them!

Originally published: 09.01.13 by Steve Schmidt

High-performing employees are individuals every small business owner dreams of hiring. But how do you find them? How do you recruit them? And how do you keep them? Here are five strategies.

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5 Rules for Minimizing Bad Hires

Originally published: 09.01.13 by Jim Johnson

These five rules will help you hire the right people and avoid making bad decisions with potentially negative consequences.

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3 Keys to Successful Team Building

Originally published: 07.01.13 by Steve Schmidt

Team building is based on identifying and separating tasks, then assigning those tasks to the individuals who are best trained and skilled to perform them. Here are three keys that will help you build a successful team.

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Company Uniforms Help Isaac Heating & Air Conditioning With More than Just Branding

Originally published: 07.01.13 by Ray Isaac

Uniforms impact many aspects of your business: branding, productivity, safety, employee moral and employee recruitment, not to mention customer relations and – the biggie – your bottom line.

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6 Keys to Hiring A-Player Service Technicians

Originally published: 03.01.13 by Greg McAfee

In communications and computing, what we thought was the best yesterday does not even come into play today. It’s not much different in the HVACR industry. Although we’ve not evolved as quickly, the days of a standing-pilot and single-stage motor are all but over, and being just a “good mechanic” is only part of the modern service technician’s job. Here are six ways to hire the best of the bunch.

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7 Steps to Hiring and Retaining Good Support Team Members

Originally published: 03.01.13 by Beverly Flaxington

There are a lot of unsatisfied workers out there. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that about 50% of all employees leave their jobs within the first six months of being hired. And in a new survey by Right Management, a whopping 86% of employees polled said they plan to actively look for a new position this year.

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When Making Personnel Moves, Trust Your Gut

Originally published: 02.01.13 by Michael Feuer

Being the boss requires being a very good teacher. When a pupil is not measuring up, the first question is: How can you help, and what can you do to improve the person’s performance?

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4 Landmines of Hiring and How to Avoid Them

Originally published: 10.01.12 by Brad Remillard

How do you develop an ongoing hiring strategy?

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The ‘Moneyball’ Approach to Business Hiring

Originally published: 10.01.12 by J. Allan McCarthy

How do you develop an ongoing hiring strategy?

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Hiring a Veteran Has Benefits

Originally published: 09.01.12 by Mike Coyne

A number of government programs have been implemented to provide incentives for employers to hire veterans, and special incentives are available for employers who hire disabled veterans. Is this something you should consider?

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6 Tips for Hiring a Professional Web Developer

Originally published: 09.01.12 by Joe Thomas

Tips to finding and hiring the right professional website developer.

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Take it Slow: 6 Ways to Improve Your Hiring Process

Originally published: 08.01.12 by Greg McAfee

Here are six ways to improve your hiring skills. Yes they will slow you down, but that’s better than going fast and making a hiring mistake.

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4 Crucial Traits To Look For In New Hires

Originally published: 04.01.12 by Patrick Valtin

Look for these “invisible” attributes to find high-performance employees.

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Setting Goals: How To Inspire And Achieve With SMART And WISE Goals

Originally published: 01.01.12 by Joelle Jay

Transform your commitments into powerful goals using SMART and WISE goal setting.

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3 Ways To eliminate Low-Productivity Habits

Originally published: 12.01.11 by Ruth King

Ruth King offers three suggestions to help you get the most profitability and productivity from every dollar that comes in the door.

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5 Apps That Will increase Productivity And Awareness

Originally published: 11.09.11 by Barbara Brown

Companies on the leading edge have discovered that great apps don’t over- whelm users with information. They help them prioritize. This means it’s easier for managers to pick which problem to solve first, while staying on top of the general health of day-to-day operations.

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Welcome Aboard!

Originally published: 07.01.11 by Doug Mitchell

The U.S. government reports that by next year, the country’s workforce will fall short of filling 3 million skilled-worker positions. The result: HVACR contractors will be competing with each other and other industries for good employees.

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Checklist: When New Hires Mean New Regulations

Originally published: 10.01.10 by Jeff Fenster

Here are some broad guidelines on human-resource compliance changes as your company grows.

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4 Ways to Improve Communication About Benefits

Originally published: 05.01.10 by Ron Sanders

Update employees frequently and in a variety of ways.

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More Effective Performance Standards in 10 Steps

Originally published: 10.01.09 by Mike Callahan

Identify, create, and manage your standards according to customer requirements.

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How to Hire Co-Workers, Part 3

Originally published: 06.01.08 by Ron Smith

It's important that you don't create unrealistic expectations.

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Surety Programs

Originally published: 05.01.08 by Kyp L. Ross

Surety is a three-party contract among the hvacr contractor, the owner, and the surety. Here's when and why you would implement one.

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Insurance Surety Programs

Originally published: 05.01.08 by Kyp L. Ross

Maximizing your surety program will create a sound continuity plan for you company.

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How to Hire Co-Workers, Part 2

Originally published: 04.01.08 by Ron Smith

Dedicating time to properly hiring co-workers will ensure you only employ high performers.

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24/7 Safety

Originally published: 01.01.08 by Traci Purdum

Proper and on-going safety training can prevent most accidents. Investigating accidents and routine safety audits also can keep workers safe.

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Recruiting Co-workers, Part 2

Originally published: 02.01.07 by Ron Smith

13 methods - Some you probably aren't using.

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Recruiting Co-workers, Part 1 of 2

Originally published: 01.01.07 by Ron Smith

Properly staffing a company requires that you individually address six key elements: recruiting, hiring (recruiting and hiring are totally different), orientation, training, motivation, and retention. If you correctly handle each of the six, your staffing problem for now and the future will be solved.

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The Art of Firing

Originally published: 09.01.06 by Guy Kawasaki

It’s one thing to lay off people, but quite another to fire someone.

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The Art of Recruiting

Originally published: 08.01.06 by Guy Kawasaki

Recruiting doesn't begin and end with the hiring process, it remains one of the most important aspects of any hiring manager's job.

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