Terry Tanker met with Jaime V. DiDomenico, president of N&M Cool Today. They discussed social media, the importance of fleet-vehicle marketing and expanded business opportunities in plumbing, electrical geothermal and solar.
No more than my teenage son. I really like to keep up with family and our company media strategies. I am addicted to the Internet. I am absolutely intrigued by it!
I am part of a network of premier hvac dealers, and we hired a very talented firm, Rocket Media, who put the site together. As one improved the site, others reaped the benefit, etc. This network of dealers, combined with our involvement with Nexstar, (a best practices organization) is moving us to the top level of marketing contractors.
I am a bit techie, but clearly not a tech-geek. I understand the power of the Internet, and its ability to make or break a company. I believe that the Internet is the “next step” to thirdgeneration marketing whereby clients interact immediately and have the ability to access all information when they need it.
I was a vice-president at Blue Dot Services, a national consolidator. I made great friendships, and was exposed to the good, bad, and ugly side of service companies.
I have seen companies that are leading edge, and others still stuck in the ’70s. I have seen good cultures and bad cultures. At the end of the day, the companies with the best cultures and people always prevailed, regardless of their systems and processes.
Today’s marketing is a battle for the hearts and minds of customers. Vehicles provide a key method of making some impression.
We decided on the fluorescent-green color scheme because of where it sets on the spectrum of light for people.
It is an investment of approximately $1,000 per truck. New customers and purchases from our “truck lead source” have doubled in the last year and should double again next year.
In 2008 with white trucks we averaged 124 jobs and $154,000 where are lead source was the vehicle. In 2010 with our redesign/makeover, we averaged 194 jobs and $266,000.
I love helping customers solve problems. And, it’s important for me to understand how well we do that. We gather feedback through surveys, our website, the Nexstar survey system, and in more casual settings like parties.
If the energy equipment rebates are not renewed, this will be a huge challenge for all of us. Another challenge is the national push to comply with IECC (International Energy Conservation Code). Our country’s energy policy and access to cheap energy will continue to change over the next three years as the dollar continues to weaken and inflationary pressure rises due to large federal budget deficits.
We purchased our business in 2004, and we had 18 people and produced about $2.1 million in revenues. This year we will top $15 million with 95 people. Great growth but even better productivity.
Our marketing plan is multi-faceted and includes making sure we make a three-to-fivetime impression on our customer base per year. We use a combination of direct response and brand marketing: magazines, Google, newspaper, direct mail. Our branding activities include radio, television, and social media.
We like to use successful brand attributes such as speed of service, product and service guarantees, and employee-focused content.
Overall we spend 6% of revenues on marketing. This includes marketing for new customers, existing customers, websites, and search engine marketing, which is pay-per-click.
Facebook, and Twitter mainly. You can go to our website and hear what our customers are saying about us. Live testimonials really build prospective buyer’s confidence in our abilities to deliver great products and service.
We meet consistently and drive home core values and our mission with them. We stress the rewards of having a customer ecstatic about our products and services. We promote our own values with new employees, and we celebrate successes, which is very important.
Our goal is to be the “complete energy company,” not just an hvacr contractor. We’ve been working hard to grow our plumbing, electrical, and solar energy divisions. We want to be the full-service mechanical provider for homes and businesses. We are working on becoming better at cross-selling our services, and marketing all three brands together as well as individually.
The back-office requirements to support the other trades are similar; therefore, we are able to better leverage our overhead. This takes some of the seasonality out of the business.
Finding, rewarding, and keeping the right people is the key. We joined Nexstar to assist with ongoing training and to use better screening programs to find employees. Each division has its own set of challenges, but finding the right people is common to all four.
Terry and Gene discuss family businesses, bucket lists, preparing for business every day and upcoming industry trends, challenges and opportunities.
Words of advice for the small business owner.
John Akhoian discusses learning the trade as a teenager, managing a team and learning from audiobooks, as well as mentors.
Terry Tanker sat down with Mark Hyde, of Hydes Air Conditioning, Heating and Electrical. They discussed operating a family business, the pending refrigerant change, and more.
Renew your HVACR Business subscription and meet our new Editor-in-Chief, Tom Peric.
