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Section of the exhibit hall at 2019 Service World Expo.

Service Nation/Service Roundtable: Improve Today, for a Better Tomorrow

April 27, 2020
A new series on business "Essentials" focuses on the advantages of service group membership. Here we describe the benefits of belonging to Service Nation.

Every industry has its ‘pioneers,’ those who blazed trails to find new methods and new opportunities. One of those pioneers in the HVAC coaching world is Service Nation and its associated group, Service Roundtable.

Service Nation, based in Lewisville, Tex., was formed in 2002 by a group of legendary contractors who were challenged to make the industry better. Its stated mission: “to help contractors improve their business and financial performance, leading to a profitable exit strategy.” They were guided by co-founders Matt Michel and David Heimer, both of who had previous industry careers with Lennox.

“We grew every year we were in operation, including the Great Recession and we plan on growing through the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Matt Michel, who co-founded Service Nation with David Heimer

“Historically, our compound average growth is just under 40% a year,” Michel said. “Today, we are the largest contractor organization in the industry. We have 4,800 member companies, operate Roundtable Rewards, the industry’s largest contractor buying group, and operate the Service World Expo, the industry’s largest and pre-imminent residential conference and show.”

Service Nation/Service Roundtable members are those contracting firms focused on residential service and replacement, with a focus on the present, yes, but also have an eye on future rewards.

“We can help companies that want to grow and/or companies where the owner wants to prepare for an exit, either selling to a third party, selling to employees, or passing the business along to heirs,” Michel said.

The heart of Service Nation and the Roundtable beats for contractors. Every new program or offering is put forward with the contractors’ success in mind. And that’s only natural, since the group’s 23 contractor advisors helped it get started and fueled its early progress. Among those 23 advisors were: Mitch Cropp, Larry Taylor, Mike Hajduk, Lee Rosenberg, Steve Saunders, Ron Smith and Gary Upton. 

“Our Board of Directors included six members of the Contracting Business Hall of Fame.  No other organization has come close to having this level of knowledge and experience,” Michel claimed. 

Michel’s “Comanche Marketing” newsletter brought lots of attention and subscribers in the first years. Many of the Nation/Roundtable’s early members were Comanche Marketing subscribers found great value from the free ezine, and reasoned that a $50 monthly subscription to the Service Roundtable was worth a shot,” he said.

 Service Nation and Service Roundtable are founded on 12 “shared values:”

• Integrity – Do the right thing, naturally, without being told to do it.

 • Honesty – Tell the truth. Do not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.

 • Creativity – Make new stuff.  We build.  We add things to the world that did not previously exist.

 • Innovation – Find ways to do things better. Be adept at applying new technology and utilizing existing technology in new ways. "Revolutionize."

 • Community – Enable relationships. It creates environments where relationship building thrives.

 • Profitability – Make money for the organization, and help others make money for themselves. 

 • Growth – Improve year-after-year,  as a business and as individuals.

 • Fun – Make business enjoyable.

• Self-Direction – Take initiative. Members are encouraged to be self-starters who see problems and fix them, and who see opportunities and exploit them.

• Service – Put others first.

• Results – Get the job done.

• Flexibility – Work as a team to balance the demands of work and life.

Service Nation offerings include:

 The Service Roundtable – a $50 monthly, self-serve business alliance that is the largest in the industry.  Contractors receive content in the form of thousands of downloadable sales, marketing, and management tools.  The are part of a community of fellow contractors and consultants who interact in the Idea Exchange and through our exclusive Spring International Roundtable and the open-to-everyone Service World Expo.  The receive cash based on shifting their purchases to our more than 120 Strategic Partners in the Roundtable Rewards Buying Group.

The Retail Contractor Coalition – a branding program where we provide a turnkey system to help contractors sell their own line of branded products and where we help them sell connected home products where they can benefit from recurring monthly revenue.

The Service Nation Alliance – an intense best practices program where contractors receive significant amounts of training as part of their membership, direct marketing and graphic design assistance, weekly consultations though an online Advisory Board, and much more.  We have seen spectacular results from contractors who join the Alliance.

Roundtable Rewards – the largest contractor buying group in the industry.

Service World Expo – the largest pure residential service and replacement contractor focused conference and trade show.

The Service Roundtable Affiliate Program – a free program for state and local contractor associations to help them improve their offering for their members, generate revenue, and share best practices with other affiliate associations.Learn more at www.servicenation.com.

Service Nation and Service Roundtable support master HVAC technicians and owners to also become masters of business management.

“Many contractors know how to turn a wrench.  We help them turn a profit,” Michel said. “As an organization, Service Nation has been one of the industry’s leading innovators for nearly two decades.  Contractors who want an edge, want the Service Roundtable.”

Service Nation was among  the first organizations to offer comprehensive online assistance as the COVID-19 furor began. "We held a day long Online Summit with Jon Taffer, the host of Bar Rescue as our opening keynote, contractors who are creating the best practices for Covid as speaker, an independent health care authority with straight talk about the virus, experts from our organization talking about marketing, cash flow management, etc., and a closing keynote by Kevin Brown."

Throughout the crisis, Michel added, Service Nation has been offering best practices from its members, adding content to its Download Center to help contractors, and more.

"In a time like this, being part of a group like the Service Roundtable is critically important," he said.

goservicenation.com

About the Author

Terry McIver | Content Director - CB

A career publishing professional, Terence 'Terry' McIver has served three diverse industry publications in varying degrees of responsibility since 1987, and worked in marketing communications for a major U.S. corporation.He joined the staff of Contracting Business magazine in April 2005.

As director of content for Contracting Business, he produces daily content and feature articles for CB's 38,000 print subscribers and many more Internet visitors. He has written hundreds, if not two or three, pieces of news, features and contractor profile articles for CB's audience of quality HVACR contractors. He can also be found covering HVACR industry events or visiting with manufacturers and contractors. He also has significant experience in trade show planning.