HVACR Business Publisher Terry Tanker recently met with Darrell Gross, owner of MRS Heating & Cooling in New Castle, Ind., our final 2015 Tops in Trucks Fleet Design Contest winner. Gross, who started his company in 1993, discusses family businesses, partnerships, training and rebranding.
Vacation. [Laughs] I didn't have to think about that one very long! The single most satisfying moment that I have is when a customer tells me what a great a job we did for them and how impressed they are with the quality of people we put in their home. I just love those moments.
I worked for a mechanical engineering company that was financially troubled and knew I had to leave. My brother Jack was working for a company in Orlando that serviced restaurants. Our mother was sick and he wanted to get back home. We decided to start the business. I like the operations aspect and he's always liked fieldwork. It's a 20-year partnership that continues to work for us.
We both respect one another and know the other is very good at their job. And, fortunately, we both love what we do.
In the beginning, we didn't want a family business because of the potential conflicts, our families are very close. That's changed. I have a son, daughter and two nephews who are in the company. The values Jack and I have built the company on is part of our family DNA. As a result, they all really understand customer service and hard work.
We just keep a great balance. Everyone has a role in this company and there's no favoritism — there's no "me first" thinking.
Yes, and I learned a lot. In many instances, I learned what to do and when to do it. I also saw things that were done improperly and wanted to make sure we didn't repeat those mistakes. You can poison the environment with just a few bad decisions.
We've tried a lot of different things, however, in-person monthly meetings still work best for us. It's catered and lasts a couple of hours. We review goals, service ratings and complaints. It's nice because everyone has a voice.
We did a lot in the automotive industry, but that business left. We had to move outside of our comfort zone and knew the insulation business would help us sell the higher efficiency equipment. And, we knew duct cleaning would help us do a better job with the customer on the indoor air quality side of our business.
We try to hire two employees every year for our apprentice program so we always have fresh people coming in, and hopefully give them a career path. Not everybody has stayed with the company, but if you prepare somebody for life, and they go on and are productive in society — that's success.
We give everybody at least 100 hours of training per year. Some of that's done with manufacturers like Carrier at their factory in Indianapolis. Some of it's done at our vendors. And we pay the techs for the training as well as for the cost of the classes. We have a training agreement so employees understand this is an investment the company is making for our collective future.
Yes, we have an 800 square foot facility we use for training. It's set up for webinars with projectors, a sound system and big screens so we can bring people in. That's where our industry is going, so we made a large investment there.
YouTube is a great resource, even for quick tutorials on programming a thermostat. Manufacturers are doing great videos for training purposes. We also have working equipment in our lab so we can create problems and have the techs diagnose it.
I've been a Ford van fan for a long time. (I also have a GT 500). Chrysler is at the heart of our community, so we've bought Chrysler vehicles to support our customers. We've done lots of work for the Chevy dealership in Muncie, and so our next vehicles came from them. And, the Nissan was requested by our lead technician. That's why our fleet is so unusual.
We don't have that in vehicles, but we're working on that. We track them through the iPads and the iPhones, which doesn't do a great job but it works for now.
We are redesigning our website and improving search engine optimization.
To get the branding integrated throughout the company and to have a better communication process, which we're doing through iPads and iPhones. I give myself a B on the first one and an A on the second one. We've implemented that extremely well.
We intend to hire a marketing manager. To get to that next level, which is $3 million, we're going to need somebody to focus on marketing.
Honestly, we said, "Boy, it would really be nice to be one of the Tops in Trucks winners in HVACR Business." That was our goal and I didn't know if it was achievable or not, but that's how we do everything here. We start with a goal and work toward achieving it.
Yes. I've had a lot of input, it has been a huge project — bigger than I anticipated.
Simply put, we care. We believe we've hired the best people to do the right things. We've empowered them to make decisions, and they truly care about the customer. We believe if we do everything correctly, then the profit is going to be a byproduct of doing everything else right.
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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.
