Terry Tanker ventured into the Lone Star State to interview Tops In Trucks winner Gary Ward of Gary’s Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. They talked about training, fleet design, and the relentless Texas heat.
We have a large extended family of 18, so my wife and I always seem to be going to a birthday, ballgame, or dance recital.
In 1974 as an installers’ helper. I took the job because they offered health insurance.
In 1977 my father suggested it, and at 25 I didn’t know any better. I was married with a child and had enough money in the bank for one month. I had my first employee three months later and an office right after that.
We were at 35, but I’ve sold one company and sold the construction side of my company to a partner, so now we are at 16 doing only residential service and replacement.
Paula is helping with advertising and marketing and is training to be a manager. She recently retired from a local school district where she had over 130 people reporting to her. She will quickly become an asset in many ways.
It was an 18-month process. We wanted something patriotic and regional, so we picked the Texas flag. And the vans needed to have a message but not be too busy.
Once we decided on the flag, we knew our name and what we do — heating and cooling — along with our web address would be enough.
Our web address is easy to remember (Garys.com). We design our advertising to drive people to our web site. We also conducted research and asked people if they have ever tried to write down a phone number off of a moving van, and only two said they had. But we did put our number on the back of our vans for people who want to write it down when the van is parked.
We did, but decided to use our unique selling proposition — Fixed Right or It’s Free — which is a registered trademark. We know this is something that separates us from the competition, and feel that if someone sees our name and our unique selling proposition, they’ll remember us.
No. I involved our employees in the conceptual and final design process. I wanted them to have ownership. We also worked with the vehicle-wrap company, and they generated examples on computers until it was exactly what we wanted.
New customers have called stating they saw our vans. And, we have been using the vans in our newspaper advertising, T.V. promotions, on our Facebook page, and for direct mail.
Customers have complimented our vans to our technicians and seem to always have a story about the great State of Texas! This alone has helped to develop rapport with customers.
Our guaranty of “Fixed Right or It’s Free.” Everyone can say quality work, we’re the best, in business since 1978, and other shallow claims, but our proposition lets people know they cannot lose when they choose us.
The best thing I did was get input from all the employees. I wanted them to understand we are a team. The other thing is we didn’t rush — we took our time and discussed pros and cons of different options until we found just the right one.
We were very big into new construction and have been for 30 years. Now we are exclusively in the “retail” business. That transition for the employees and company is the biggest challenge.
Carrier primarily because Robert Madden Industries is a really good distributor.
Even with our strict hiring policies, we have not had a problem finding talented people. We work hard to find and hire the right people. We spend all the time up front, and as a result have very low turnover.
We train five days a week. Obviously we train on the technical side, but we also train and teach things such as conduct, manners, workplace
safety, driving courtesy, motivation, and sales.
We’ve simply made it a priority and have built it into our workday.
Yes. We’ve had over 50 days where the temperature has been 100 degrees or more. But even before the summer, we were on pace to have the best year in our history.
It’s a time for change that can signal an opportunity for the future.
The details that make branding work. Think of branding as long-term success.
Publisher Terry Tanker spoke with Jeff Underwood, President of RectorSeal. The two discussed living in Texas, family, selecting a management team and introducing new products.
Micromanagement is a prevalent issue in many workplaces, yet few are willing to openly address it.
They discussed how to introduce students, educators and parents to the plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical trades. And how contractors, distributors and manufacturers can support the effort.
