March 9, 2021 - Last week, Alan Simpson passed away. Alan spent more than three decades alternating between HVAC and real estate. Many, many people in HVAC mourn his passing while also feeling glad he passed their way before moving on to another life.
Alan was a Marine Corps fighter pilot. He flew Phantom jets out of MCAS El Toro. One of the people he met while active in the Marines brought him into the real estate business and to Tucson where he met Roxanne, the love of his life and a true match to Alan by all measures.
In addition to real estate, Alan was a part of the HVAC industry, working first for Ron Smith’s Service America franchise, the industry’s first private contractor group. At Service America, Alan was in franchise sales, which put him in contact with a lot of contractors. Many became good friends. Later, Alan sold memberships for the Contractor Success Group, a contractor alliance.
When I started Aire Serv, I hired Alan as one of our sales professionals. Having a “kid” as a boss must have been hard on Alan, especially one with engineering roots who was as driven as I was. Of course, he was still a Marine so he tried to teach me the way a sergeant might direct a green lieutenant. Some of it even took. I didn’t see it at the time, though it is obvious now.
After we left Aire Serv, we stayed in touch. Well, Alan stayed in touch. He moved back and forth between real estate and HVAC, often doing both. He helped sell memberships for Excellence Alliance. He helped broker contracting businesses.
If you got the chance to get to know Alan, here are a few things he would have taught you:
Make Friends
Alan’s sales approach was to make friends with everyone. He was good at it. He was naturally likable. He believed that you could make friends and the sales would follow.
Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
Alan had a self-effacing sense of humor. If I would make a food post on social media, I could almost always count on Alan to comment, “My chins are wobbling.” He was great a making fun of himself.
Choose Words With Care
I don’t think I ever heard Alan use the words, “neurolinguistic programming.” Nevertheless, he practiced it. When we had to give a contractor the UFOC (Uniform Franchise Offering Circular), a 200-page document of legalese the FTC required us to hand out, Alan diffused it by calling it the “government-go-to-sleep document.”
When selling a franchise, there was a two-week delay between handing out the UFOC and accepting a check. Alan insisted we stress contractors should “leave their checkbooks behind” as a way of differentiating us from the pressure tactics employed by one of the leading alliances of that time.
Laugh
Anyone who knew Alan knew he loved to laugh . . . a lot. He could make fun of anything, but never in a mean-spirited way. As mentioned above, he made fun of himself most of all. Every picture I’ve ever seen of Alan features him smiling or laughing.
He loved to email around jokes. When social media exploded, he would post jokes. In fact, I think most of his social media posts were jokes.
We had a long running banter between the two of us about “the chicken.” Alan started it. I’m not even sure what it was, but anytime we began commenting on each other’s pages, one of us would talk about the chicken and the other would post, “shhh.”
Always Keep in Touch
At least once a year, Alan would call me out of the blue. He might have an idea or a suggestion. A lot of the time, it was just to talk or to share a joke. We stayed in contact because Alan made the effort. Near the end of the call, he would always make a point of saying, “my friend” to me.
Love Your Wife
Anyone who knew Alan, knew he loved his wife, Roxanne. Once he posted this on social media…
“This morning, as my wife's radio alarm clock went off, we were surprised to be hearing Sting singing ‘Roxanne,’ which cracked us both up. It's good to wake up laughing with the person you love the most in this world."
Goodbye Alan. I already miss you, though the chicken misses you more.