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July 23, 2020 / WACO, Tex. — Aire Serv®, a Neighborly® company, ended the first half of the year on a high note, awarding almost 10 new franchise agreements and opening 15 new locations from January-June of this year. This brings the total size of the Aire Serv network to more than 200 locations open and in development across North America with a strong forecast of continued expansion ahead. This news originally appeared on the Franchising.com website.
“Aire Serv has remained an essential business throughout the pandemic, with almost all of our local franchise locations continuing to provide excellent services to our customers throughout the ongoing health crisis,” said Marla Mock, vice president of Aire Serv. “Recognizing the uncertainty during this pandemic, we have consistently kept our owners informed about Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) or Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). This, along with a strong commitment to sharing best practices on protocols to ensure the safety of our customers and team members, allowed our franchise locations to continue providing their same high level of service during this pandemic.”
Other highlights from the first half of 2020 include:
- Introduction of a new “Pricebook,” a software tool that helps service professionals create a better customer experience;
- Inclusion in top industry rankings, such as Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 (#445); Franchise Business Review’s Top 200 Franchises, Top Low-Cost Franchises and 50 Best Recession-Proof Franchises; and Franchise Times’ Top 200+ Franchises (#274).
“Across our roster of brands, Neighborly has benefited in recent months from the essential nature of our home service brands,” said Brad Stevenson, chief development officer of Neighborly, the parent company of Aire Serv. “I commend our Aire Serv franchise owners’ willingness to adapt in the face of adversity and to continue serving customers at the highest level. Aire Serv’s consistent industry recognition, its continued expansion through franchise development and its never-ending commitment to providing the best support possible to its franchise owners are all characteristics of this brand that we consider to be critical to furthering Neighborly’s vision to 'own the home' with our family of home service brands.”
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Contracting Business spoke with Aire Serv President, Steve Truett recently, to talk about the nature of these newest acquisitions and Aire Serv's experience in working through the COVID-19 pandemic, which imposed serious challenges to service business across the U.S.
Truett said the franchise agreements were not directly related to any economic stress brought on by the pandemic.
"During this time, people were home, with more time to reflect and contemplate. Some people came to the realization that they could use better systems and be more successful with better systems and better support," Truett said.
The owners of the existing businesses — which range in size from approximately $200,000 to $2 million in annual revenue — were impressed by Aire Serv's strong, proven business management systems, and other Aire Serv resources.
"I think also there is the support aspect, not being in it by themselves, not only from the support of our home office team, but through our network of franchise owners who are willing and happy to help and support their fellow franchise owners," Truett explained.
While Aire Serv is particular about the financial condition of a business it would like to bring into its fold, Truett emphasized the additional need for HVAC business owners to "get out of the truck," and devote his or her time to entrepreneurship and leadership.
"We’re looking for people who want to grow as leaders, to lead an organization, and expand. We’re not looking for people who want to stay on the truck. HVAC is a noble profession, but if they want to stay on the truck they’re probably not the ideal Aire Serv candidate. We’re looking for people who want to be leaders in growing their organizations.
"We challenge people, ask if they’re ready to change and embrace our systems. If not, that’s okay, it’s not for everybody, but we’d rather they know up front, that it will require a transformation. That includes their being committed to getting off the truck."
Working Through the COVID Challenge
Truett said the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging time, as Aire Serv began formulating plans in early March for safety protocols, work arrangements and communications with customers and across the franchises.
"As of March 13, our home office and all locations went into a telework environment. We’re based in Waco, Tex., but we are also part of Neighborly, which has more than 20 brands, with campuses in Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Ann Arbor, Virginia Beach and Dallas. We began communicating with our franchise owners, and accelerated our communication efforts, along with recommending they make some changes to accommodate things. We recommended the telework environment, but for those not able to, we recommended that they follow social distancing guidelines in the workplace. We recommended that they transition to virtual team meetings, and stagger their arrival time when going in to the shop, to reduce personal interaction."
For field teams, Aire Serv incorporated portable cleaning stations in vehicles, personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing and touchless transactions.
Personal protective equipment was sourced with the help of Neighborly's internal vendor organization, ProTradeNet.
"ProTradeNet sourced PPE for all franchise owners, and Aire Serv and Neighborly. We were constantly getting updates, new vendors, and special programs put in place for us, and we constantly communicated that [to owners]," Truett said.
Communication frequency was intensified for a time.
"We really stepped up our communication. We went to two written communications per week to our franchise owners, to keep them updated," Truett said. "Every time there was a state order, we relayed that order to the franchise owners that were affected. We conducted weekly townhall meetings for our franchise owners and held weekly virtual advisory council calls. We eventually scaled back to one communication per week, and then every other week. Now we are on monthly communication schedule."
Truett said the regular communication between the franchises helped to serve as a sounding board for concerns, and provided solutions for those who might have felt especially challenged by the pandemic and its requirements for conducting business.
"We have a fantastic network of franchise owners, first and foremost. Everybody was concerned, but also looking on the bright side of things," Truett said. "We were fortunate to be an ‘essential’ business, and we kept reminding people that 'in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity', which is a quote by Albert Einstein. We talked about how, even through this difficulty, there is opportunity, today and in the long term. First and foremost our concern was keeping employees and customers safe; trying to keep them focused on the end, and on getting through this."
Truett said that not a single Aire Serv location was closed during the pandemic.
— Terry McIver
