Matt Michel
Could Your Company Become An Award Winning Company?
Is an award winning company better than a company lacking awards? Not necessarily, but in absence of other information, most people assume the award winning company is superior. So why not try to make your company an award winner?...
Are You Going to HVAC Comfortech?
For most HVAC contractors, the summer of 2010 was a good one. After back-to-back mild summers, heat waves swept the country, stressing your service and installation departments, while relieving stress on bank accounts. After a frenetic summer it’s time to kick back, reassess, and start the planning process for an even better 2011. Where better to start than HVAC Comfortech?...
Company Reputation Management
Stay in business long enough and you will eventually run into the perpetually dissatisfied customer. For whatever reason, your business and this customer are oil and water. You do not mix well. It would be nice to write him off, but in the Internet age you cannot. If angry enough, the perpetually dissatisfied has the power to destroy your company’s online reputation....
Is Your Mobile Billboard a Cluttered Bulletin Board?
Many contractors treat their trucks like mobile bulletin boards, not billboards. The trucks are cluttered up with an excess of decals, phone numbers, manufacturer logos, messages, etc. The consumer only has a few seconds to register and record the information on the truck. The more clutter that's there, the less likely it is that any one message will come through, or that the right message will come through. ...
To Win The War On Business: Advertise
Private enterprise is under assault in America to a degree not seen since the Great Depression. While Hollywood and the media attack business with rhetoric, the government uses rhetoric, regulation, and taxes. It doesn't bode well for those struggling to find employment, though it might present an opportunity for your company....
Your Brand Awareness is Higher Than You Think
Ask most people what comes to mind when they think of DHL and the most common response is "big yellow trucks." Thus, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that those big yellow trucks helped give DHL a brand awareness of 60%, according to BtoBOnline.com, the web-based magazine for marketing strategists. ...
Email Marketing 101
The most basic form of "New Media" marketing and digital marketing is email marketing. In a nutshell, it’s using email to communicate with your customers. Aside from effectiveness, the obvious advantages are cost and speed. Compared to snail mail, email is virtually free and practically instantaneous. ...
15 Ways To Ensure People Remember You
Some companies work really hard to ensure they are remembered. The employees in these companies are downright creative in their approach. They manage to form a lasting impression that burns the company name into the customer’s consciousness. They generate such an impact that their customers feel compelled to tell their friends and neighbors all about their experience....
The Hope in HVAC
It was difficult to understand the voice on the other end of the phone. “I haven’t been able to work for six months,” he said. “My jaw’s wired shut.”...
Low Pricing: There’s No Virtue in Bankruptcy
Too many contractors set their service pricing by accident. For this reason one contractor out of five closes every year when the economy’s strong, let alone when it’s weak. Service pricing should be set at a level where you can pay your bills, pay yourself, pay your employees, provide training, invest in the growth of your company, and leave a little left over....
Anthropogenic Business Climate Change
On this page two years ago I wrote, What if it doesn't get warmer? What if it gets colder? After a summer that wasn't and one of the coldest and snowiest...
The Social Media Leap of Faith
Social media is sweeping the business community. Ford Motors, for example, is spending 25% of its marketing budget on digital/social media. Yet most contractors are slow to adopt it. ...
It's Time to Say No
As recently as 1978, only 24% of U.S. households had central air conditioning according to the Air-conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute...
Bidding Adieu to R-22
In a few months, the last R-22 air conditioner will roll down the assembly line, as the industry completes the Herculean effort to redesign every product,...
Bullish on HVAC!
I'm bullish about the future. I'm bullish about America. I'm even more bullish about HVAC. Sounds crazy, right? How can anyone be optimistic in the face...
Staying Positive in a Negative World, part 2
This is the second in a series of articles by Matt Michel about how to stay positive when we’re surrounded by bad news and negativity. If you missed the first article, click here to read it. ...
Focusing on the Miraculous
It seems the politicians and chattering class speak of little but malaise these days. I'll have none of it. Neither will Joe! Who is Joe? He's just the...
To Brand or Not To Brand
The question that more and more contractors are asking is, To brand or not to brand. ...
87 Ways to Get More Out of Home Shows, Part 2
This is the second of nine articles written by Matt Michel. This article can be read in its entirety on the Service Roundtable website (www.serviceroundtable.com/freebies). The article gives advice of what to do and what not to do at home shows. ...
87 Ways to Get More Out of Home Shows, Part 4
This is the fourth of nine articles written by Matt Michel. This article can be read in its entirety on the Service Roundtable website (www.serviceroundtable.com/freebies). The article gives advice of what to do and what not to do at home shows. ...
87 Ways to Get More Out of Home Shows, Part 3
This is the third of nine articles written by Matt Michel. This article can be read in its entirety on the Service Roundtable website (www.serviceroundtable.com/freebies). The article gives advice of what to do and what not to do at home shows....
The Rant: Dust Bowl Contracting
Many contractors are worried. The collapse of residential new construction, mandated efficiency levels that make replacements less affordable, refrigerant laws that are further impacting pricing and costs, the credit crisis, see-sawing energy prices, and general economic uncertainty gives cause for worry, but not for despair. We’re not entering a depression, though the depression provides lessons for survival. ...
87 Ways to Get More Out of Home Shows, Part 1
This is the first of nine articles written by Matt Michel. This article can be read in its entirety on the Service Roundtable website (www.serviceroundtable.com/freebies)....
Is Air Conditioning the Next Tobacco?
“Kill your air conditioner,” wrote Joe Klein in Time Magazine. “The unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease.” What? I’m tempted to laugh at the lunacy. It’s as silly as banning the light bulb in an attempt to save the planet. Who could be that stupid?...
THE PHABULOUS PHOCUS OF PHELPS, PART 3
This is the third in a series of four articles written by Matt Michel that discuss what we can learn from the accomplishments of one of the greatest Olympic...
