Comfortech brings together the latest products, trends and business solutions for contractors involved in HVACR, Hydronics, Plumbing and more.
A major draw at Comfortech has always been our talented presenters. This national event features conference sessions that educate and inspire business transformation while delivering insight on the latest industry trends that are impacting business owners and service professionals.
HERE'S THE FULL LINEUP, STARTING WITH OUR OPENING KEYNOTERS for Wednesday and Thursday.
Opening Keynote: Who Do You Think You Are?
Presenter: Jim “The Rookie” Morris A consummate storyteller, Jim will take the audience through his meteoric rise from 35 year old high school teacher to flame throwing major league pitcher in 3 months. His story made cinematic history with the release of “The Rookie”, a Disney blockbuster movie starring Dennis Quaid. Jim will guide us on how to become better leaders while chasing our dreams and keeping our promises.Special Keynote Event:
for People Not Like YouThursday, September 17
Presenter: Kelly McDonald, Marketing and Consumer Trends Expert, McDonald Marketing This keynote will show how contractors, manufacturers, brands and products struggling to differentiate themselves in a “sea of sameness” can grow sales, and foster long-term loyalty and brand preference with exceptional and customized customer experiences. Kelly will show you how to market and sell to core customer groups, such as home owners, commercial building owners, generation X and Y, men and women and more. You’ll learn to “deliver a better business experience, for every kind of customer”.
www.comfortechshow.com
Tuesday, September 15
Five Easy Ways To Grow Your Business
Brigham Dickinson,
Owner, Power Selling Pros
Independent of the size of your company, this breakout will enable business owners to continually work on their business…not just in it! Owners will experience five learning modules that will build on the foundation of their business and immediately stimulate company growth.
M&A in the HVAC/Plumbing Contractor World: How to Sell Your Business and How to Grow
Fred Silberstein, CPA, SF&P Advisors
A look at what a contractor can do to give themselves a general sense of their company’s value – and even more things to do to help a professional give a contractor an accurate understanding of the company’s fair market value might be. And a look into how growing through acquisitions may be an option for some contractors, and what that process is.
Greer is an expert at showing technicians how to sell during service calls by offering homeowners suggestions on additional improvements to their homes.
Updates for the Geothermal Heat Pump Industry
Richard Hiles, National Residential Geothermal Sales Manager, Carrier Corporation
This presentation will provide an overall view / update on the state of the USA Geothermal industry.
A Contractor’s Guide to the Magic,
Myths and Misrepresentations of Internet Marketing
David Squires, Co-owner, Vincent’s Heating & Plumbing
-- SERVICE ROUNDTABLE MEMBERS ONLY--
Discover what you’re not being told by the guys trying to sell you the online ‘shiny object’ of the month! Learn how SEO companies take credit for leads they don’t really produce. Find out how many people actually use the internet to find a new contractor.
--See the statistics that the companies trying to sell you Internet display advertising don’t want you to see.
Brigham Dickinson, Owner, Power Selling Pros The internet. The economy. The competition. The consumer’s insatiable drive to be more informed and have their voices
Matt Spaulding, President, Spaulding Communications Whether you run a local two-person shop or you have several hundred employees serving customers across multiple states, every organization needs to have a strategic marketing plan. Miles, the GM of Jerry Kelly Heating and Air Conditioning in St. Charles, Missouri, will explain the system he has used to get his firm hundreds of new job applicants. Jacob, president of Contractors Financial Opportunity, is an expert at mergers and acquisitions for family-held businesses. He’ll tell contractors some best practices for selling their businesses or buying a competitor.Getting Comfortable with Designer Air and Four Things You Need to Know About Modulation Technologies
Karl Zellmer, Vice President A/C Sales,
Emerson Climate Technologies Change is in the air. The rollout of new efficiency regulations and increasing consumer preferences for comfort are changing the way we look at HVAC systems as a whole. Today, it’s not just about selling efficiency- it’s also about improving the comfort and health of the people living and working in the conditioned space. Join us for a FREE adult beverage and discussion on: (1) The role of modulation technologies, (2) The benefits of modulation technologies, (3) The applications best suited for modulation technologies, and (4) The types of modulation technologies.The Easiest Path to Setting Highly Qualified Leads with your Service Technicians
Todd Liles, Founder, Service Excellence Training--SERVICE ROUNDTABLE MEMBERS ONLY-- Technician generated leads are great! A tech lead will close faster, at a higher rate, and for more money than a marketed
Increase Your Call Conversion & Sell More Services Agreements With Phenomenal Customer Service
Brigham Dickinson, Owner, Power Selling Pros
If your phone is ringing, then the time, money, and energy you’ve put into advertising your business has done its job. Yet, once that phone rings, it’s up to your customer service representatives (CSRs) to help callers know they’ve called the right place, get a WOW experience from your company, and book the call!
During this breakout, you will learn: How to understand the customer’s expectation, and how to meet – and EXCEED that expectation on every call that comes into your office, how to apply our eight principles that will help you book calls and WOW customers on every call, even if the homeowner wants a ballpark price, even if the customer wants to speak to a tech, even if the homeowner wants to know what you charge to come to their house, even if the customer wants you to come out right now and you’re booked solid, even if the homeowner just wants to complain, even if the call was accidental, and even if the caller wants to sell YOU something! If you’re booking more calls, you’re making more money. We’ll show you how to do that AND keep customers coming back again and again for another WOW experience.
Prepare Your Technicians for Success
Dale Mincks, Business Coach
In this session Dale Mincks will cover valuable information based on the hundreds of ride-a-longs that he has done over the years all across the country with technicians.
Mating Radiant Heat with Forced Air Systems
Mark Eatherton, Executive Director,
Radiant Professional Alliance
Eatherton, the executive director of the Radiant Professionals Alliance, will tell contractors how they can create a happy marriage of hydronics and forced air systems.
Information Technology has been a key differentiator and competitive advantage for many in our industry. Those that adopted and implemented quickly enjoyed significant benefits in sales, costs, and profits. We continue to invest in technology, but where’s it going? What are the good opportunities to use technology to improve our business? Where should we invest? David Heimer, Chief Operating Officer for Service Nation, leads a panel of technology experts. They’ll share their insights into the future of technology in our industry, what’s hot, what’s not, and what the future holds for us.
Wednesday, September 16
Unlocking the Secrets of Business Mastery
Mike Agugliaro, Co-Owner, Gold Medal Service
This presentation will highlight the mindset, skill set and action set that will get you the success and freedom you have always wanted. It works because Mike Agugliaro used it to propel his home service business Gold Medal Service into a $23 million a year company. Agugliaro will provide tangible takeaways that you can use to elevate your business, and overcome the revenue, administrative, and hiring barriers that are holding you back.
Garry’s 35+ years of marketing and marketing research experience give him a keen sense of strategy and its importance in stimulating business growth. He is proficient at helping clients understand research requirements and the best methods for delivering timely decision-oriented information. He is an expert in combining secondary and primary research to enhance strategic analyses.
Bohinc, a CPA and well-known speaker on the topic of fraud, will give examples of how contractors have been ripped off for millions of dollars by their own employees and ways to prevent it from happening.
Use of Standardized Testing to Narrow Your Job Candidate Search
Paul Vishnesky, President, Hire Dimensions
Vishnesky, president of Hire Dimensions Inc., is an expert on the use of standardized testing to separate the winners from the unsuitable job candidates.
Jeremy Lowe, CTO, Callahan Roach Business Solutions Lowe, CTO of Callahan Roach Business Solutions, will inform contractors on how they can transition from Time & Material pricing to Flat Rate pricing.Combustion Analysis Provides Real Heating Equipment Performance
Jim Davis, Trainer and Consultant,
National Comfort Institute In this session we will compare: Refrigerant’s role in cooling vs. Natural gas’s role in heating, length of line set versus length
How to Make a Fortune by Recruiting & Training New Techs
Dr. Kerry Webb, Business Strategies Coach,
Service Roundtable
Contractors prefer to hire for a good attitude and then train on technical topics. Webb, a business coach for the Service Roundtable, will tell contractors how to start a new hire from zero and get them trained and making money in a truck within a few weeks.
Infiltration and Duct Leakage: What You Need to Know to Be Code Compliant and
How to Get Your Company IDL Certified
Rick Hall, Business & Industry Trainer,
Building Science Professional Training, LLC
This session will provide information about infiltration and duct leakage requirements based on energy codes. The participant will learn what the relevant codes are for their state and how to become certified to conduct this testing in their respective state. The participant will also learn what methods to use to seal the envelope and ductwork in order to meet these energy codes.
--SERVICE ROUNDTABLE MEMBERS ONLY--
Technicians and Plumbers are the life blood of a service organization. They provide an important source of income, deliver vital services, and are the face of your company. A good experience with your field representative and the customer will be delighted. A bad experience can damage your reputation and cost thousands. So what can you do to make the field service team better? How do you find, manage, reward, and motivate the field service team? Daniel started his career in the field, and now leads vast teams of field service personnel. Daniel will share his unique perspectives on the successful recruiting, development, management, and motivation of the field service team.
Thursday, September 17
The 5 Traps from the Department
of Labor and OSHA That Will
Take You Down
Melanie Gentry, Managing Partner,
Comprehensive Employment Solutions
Depending on the Trap – the average fines run from $15,000 to over $40,000. This is your chance to hear from the Home Improvement Industry’s leading Employee Management Support and Services organization on the mindset of OSHA and the DOL. Find out why your industry has been targeted, what traps have been set, and what it will cost you if you don’t take steps to protect your business. Give CES a little of your time and find out how to put a plan in place that protects your profits!
Employee Retention: It’s Not About the Money!
Matthew Prazenka, President, Precision Recruiters
Prazenka, president of Precision Recruiters, will share best practices that contractors can use to make theirs the company of choice.
How many times have you encountered this situation in your HVAC business? Your customer calls after you’ve installed a new system with complaints like: “I’m not saving on my utility bills like you promised” or “My house seems dustier now than it did before you installed that high-dollar filter” or “My master bedroom is still not comfortable”. You send a tech out to check the system and they report that it is working perfectly. Your team is stumped and the customer is still unhappy. The answer may be found in a better understanding of Home Performance. In this seminar, former HVAC contractor and current NCI Business Coach, David Holt, will walk you through how to create happier customers by defending your HVAC system performance through a better understanding of Home Performance as a Service.
Ryan and Angie Snow, Co-owners,
Western Heating & Air Conditioning--SERVICE ROUNDTABLE MEMBERS ONLY-- What the heck is all this touchy-feely company culture stuff about anyway? Does it really matter? Angie Snow and Ryan Snow, owners of Western Heating and Air Conditioning, think it matters. They’ll show you WHY it matters, give you real life examples of HOW they created and implemented their company culture, and explain WHAT it’s done for them. You don’t want to miss this!Opportunities with VRF Systems –
Profiles in Prosperity
Mitchell Cropp, Founder, CroppMetcalf
What can you learn from Mitch Cropp? Everything! Mitch Cropp is one of the most successful residential contractors of all time. In 1979 Mitch founded CroppMetcalf. Thirty-six years later, CroppMetcalf is one of largest, most respected service firms in the USA. Mitch guided the company through multiple growth paths: organic growth, horizontal growth, and growth through acquisition. CroppMetcalf’s high performance standards are well-recognized.
