Best Mechanical & HVAC Trade Shows for Commercial Service Contractors
There are many HVAC and mechanical trade shows vying for your attention and attendance. And we know it would be great to attend them all as these events are so often valuable and invigorating—but we also know that’s not normally possible. Too many shows, too little time, and a limited budget! That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the top seven U.S. and Canadian conferences for HVAC and mechanical contractors. These are the heavy hitters that offer the most value in terms of networking, speakers, exhibitors, and fun.
Not all of these events are perfect for every business, but all of them offer valuable opportunities to learn about new trends in the HVAC and mechanical industry, network, and check out new products from suppliers, manufacturers and technology partners.
The AHR Expo is a leading event for HVACR professionals, especially contractors who are looking to innovate with new technology. It features a comprehensive gathering of industry manufacturers and suppliers of all sizes and specialties. Exhibitors unveil the latest additions to their product line-ups, demonstrate what is new and innovative about the technologies, provide product details, and answer questions.
The MCAA Convention is one of the largest and most robust mechanical events of the year. The conference offers many opportunities for contractors to learn, network, and engage with partners and vendors. The conference offers impressive keynote speakers, entertainment, and packages for family members, including children.
CMPX is Canada’s show for HVACR and plumbing contractors. The show, which features over 500 exhibitors is a valuable event for Canadian contractors who want to learn about innovative new products, stay current with the latest code and regulatory trends, and network with industry peers.
This leading conference, specifically for mechanical service contractors, features current issues and trends in service and service sales management, personnel, finance, marketing, training and recruiting. The conference consists of networking opportunities, educational sessions, peer-group sessions, and exhibitors. ServiceTrade will be among the exhibitors. We hope to see you there!
A four-day event for SMACNA members, chapter executives, and associate members. This conference features educational sessions, networking opportunities, and a product show with dozens of the industry’s most prominent suppliers, manufacturers, and service providers.
MCAC offers a robust program for Canadian contractors, focusing on networking and educational sessions. The conference is a leading event for Canadian commercial service contractors to reconnect, learn about future industry trends, and check out exhibitor solutions.
The events above offer the best in networking, engaging educational speakers, innovative exhibitors, and fun for your team. We hope you make room on your calendar for some (or all) of these events. And if so, we’ll see you there!
You can check all of the events ServiceTrade participates in here.
Terminate Risk: Your New Sales Mission in an AI World
ServiceTrade CEO Billy Marshall challenges contractors to terminate their risk and leverage artificial intelligence in their businesses at the 2024 Digital Wrap Conference.
Highly Recommended Holiday Reading
This might not be for you, but most of us in sales need help knowing what to say and when. Take a look at this two-minute clip of Phil M. Jones from the 2019 Digital Wrap Conference.
This exercise demonstrates how the right words can change how we think. At DWC19, Phil revealed some of the magic words that motivate people – the people you want to buy your products and services – to take action.
I purchased the audiobook shortly after DWC19. I listened to the 1 hour 15 minute recording once, then immediately replayed it because I wanted to absorb every idea. Anna McMahon, who leads ServiceTrade’s inside sales, is running contests in her team for the best use of Phil’s magic phrases. They’re tools that work and Phil shares them in ways that make sense.
If you heard Phil’s DWC19 presentation, let us know in the comments which magic phrases have stayed with you and which ones you’ve started using.
That’s a Wrap! Takeaways from the 2019 Digital Wrap Conference.
The 2019 Digital Wrap Conference was a huge success thanks to the more than 200 commercial service contractors and industry partners who joined us for three days in Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Along with two days of content (more on that in a minute), attendees enjoyed fishing, a golf tournament, a kayaking excursion, amazing food and drink, and beautiful weather.
Monday was the first of two days packed with insightful content designed to help commercial service contractors learn how to increase customer loyalty and revenue by creating an effortless customer experience.
The presenters didn’t disappoint – read on for key takeaways from these subject matter experts.
Drive customer loyalty by delivering effortless customer experiences.
Keynote speaker Matt Dixon shared research (from his book The Effortless Experience) that shows what today’s customers are looking for. And it’s not what you might think. Delighting customers with over-the-top service doesn’t lead to repeat business. But a low-effort experience does. Creating a low-effort customer experience means providing self-service options online so your customers don’t have to call, and while also proactively resolving issues before they happen.
Now is the time to develop a strategy for thriving in the economic downturn.
It’s not a question of if a recession will hit, but when. ServiceTrade CEO and DWC keynote speaker Billy Marshall shared how to prepare now so you can use the inevitable market dynamics that accompany a recession to your advantage. Billy shared his step-by-step strategies on how to identify and strengthen relationships with your best customers, smartly target companies who are currently working with your competition, and use your brand and online presence to recruit the best technicians.
Selling subscriptions isn’t just for Disney.
It can be for you too. The subscription economy is powered by customers who are searching for maximum value in a sea of options. Anna McMahon, ServiceTrade’s VP of Inside Sales, discussed how you can convert more customers and keep them longer. It requires a relentless focus on their needs (not your offerings), and delivering specific outcomes that meet those needs. Anna shared how Caterpillar, one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers, is evolving their business model to create recurring revenue. They are doing so with a move into digital services that enable them to deliver valuable insights that customers pay for on an ongoing basis. On Tuesday, Anna followed up her presentation with a workshop for attendees who wanted to learn how to package their services into a tiered sales program for their customers.
It’s time to find your technology guru.
Award-winning actors (and ServiceTrade Project Managers) Dax Beaton and Patrick O’Neill shared their talents on stage in a TED-style talk on finding your technology guru. Their message? Holding out for the perfect all-in-one software is a losing game. Instead, find someone who can identify the software and systems that meet your varied business needs, and implement them in a way that they can communicate with each other. Dax and Patrick shared three ways you can make this happen (hiring a full-time employee, hiring a consultant, and finding your tech guru from within) and key considerations for each scenario.
Feelings fool. Data rules.
Shawn Mims, ServiceTrade’s Director of Marketing, gave attendees a reality check, and showed attendees how confirmation bias can affect decision making in your business. Shawn illustrated how to use data to cut through the lies, while also better serving – and earning more from – your customers. He also shared the 3 tenets of creating a data-focused culture in your organization – a must for companies who want to be competitive in today’s market.
Your data is valuable. And vulnerable.
Dax and Patrick were back on Monday afternoon to talk ransomware. Their talk was especially timely as ransomware attacks have been on the rise in commercial service businesses. Ransomware is a form of malware that can encrypt your files, effectively locking you out of your data. The attacker then demands payment to restore your access. Dax and Patrick shared how your own employees may be the biggest security threat (if they fall prey to common phishing scams), the dangers of relying on placebos, and best practices on backing up your data in the event you find yourself victim of a ransomware attack.
Focus on customer success, not customer service.
ServiceTrade VP of Customer Success, James Jordan, shared how a change in his department’s focus from customer service to customer success resulted in happier, loyal customers. Based on research in The Effortless Experience, loyal customers repurchase, spend more, and advocate on your behalf. James outlined an effortless experience strategy for attendees to implement in their own businesses, including measuring the right numbers, minimizing your customer’s effort (with self-service options like the Service Portal), incorporating customer feedback, and empowering your team to not only resolve the issue at hand, but to take steps so that your customer will never have to reach out about that issue again.
You won’t get anything if you don’t ask for it.
Tuesday kicked off with a high-energy presentation from keynote speaker Phil M. Jones, who challenged attendees to get out there and ask for what they want in ways that work. Phil’s engaging session revealed how words can break through the barriers between you and your buyers and move them to action. Minds. Blown.
Use your technology with a purpose (and watch revenue grow.)
ServiceTrade Account Manager David Teeter reviewed customer usage density data around MIPS (marketing impressions per service) and other key features of the application. He also shared data to illustrate why attendees need to prioritize adoption within their companies. Usage data shows that ServiceTrade customers using Service Links and online quoting grow service revenue by 20% more than customers who don’t. How can you improve your usage density? By setting a vision and purpose, the WHY behind your adoption of technology, and then communicating this vision throughout your company.
Plan your ServiceTrade roadmap for 2020.
ServiceTrade CTO Brian Smithwick closed out Tuesday’s presentations with his always popular discussion of recent product updates as well as what’s coming up on the ServiceTrade product roadmap. The audience started buzzing as he discussed updates to contract functionality and recurring invoices (which were recently released) and upcoming features like Invoice Link and Service Forms – all of which are designed to help ServiceTrade customers lock in loyalty with their customers by creating an effortless experience. Brian challenged attendees to plan their company’s roadmaps for 2020, as ServiceTrade features are only valuable if implemented.
Want More Ideas from DWC19?
We are going to share a lot more in the coming weeks and months on these topics. If you want access to the content as soon as it’s released, sign up for our newsletter (in the sidebar on the right) and you’ll be automatically added to the mailing list. We will also keep you posted on plans for the 5th Annual Digital Wrap Conference in 2020!
The Must-Attend Conference for Leaders in Commercial Service Companies
Today’s market is fraught with challenges for leaders of commercial service companies. From operations to recruitment to customer service – fighting to the top of your market (and fighting to stay there) can overwhelm even the hardest working business leaders.
While technology can seem like another obstacle, commercial service companies that want to lead their markets are learning how to use technology to do more with less, build loyal customer relationships, and win more business from bigger customers.
If you are one of these leaders, you can’t afford to fall behind, and you can’t afford to miss the Digital Wrap Conference (DWC) this November. DWC is now in its 4th year and 2019 is set to be our best year yet. Here are 3 reasons you need to be at DWC19:
Get actionable ideas for your 2020 planning. DWC educational sessions teach new ways to use technology to run a modern, profitable commercial service company from service management, to operations, to sales and marketing, and more. According to a survey of past attendees, two-thirds left with 6 or more ideas to try in their businesses.
Rub elbows with like-minded professionals. Meet and network with other leaders from commercial service companies from across the US and Canada who share your challenges related to running a commercial service business.
Have fun at the beach! DWC19 will be at Wild Dunes Resort in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, just outside of Charleston. Hit the links at our annual golf tournament, join the fishing tournament, and explore the “South’s Best City”. (And did we mention the food?!)
We pack A LOT of learning into two days of educational seminars and breakout sessions. You’ll learn how to leverage technology to:
Develop sales programs that earn long-term contracts and long-term recurring revenue. (Not to mention increasing your business’s value.)
Competitively position your company so you can stand out in a crowded market.
Boost customer retention by showing them how you mitigate their risks before, during, and after service calls.
Make your company attractive to prospective employees through your use of modern systems that reduce unnecessary busy work.
Build brand visibility and value with existing customers, prospects, and potential employees with a digital wrap.
Our early bird special is available until June 30. Register today for $200 off the registration price. See you at the beach!
Do you want your customers to feel good about your brand? Try telling a great story. Research shows that storytelling has immense power to make us feel emotions as if we are a part of the story.
The Nike marketing department sure figured this one out. Get your Kleenex ready.
It gets you right in the feels, doesn’t it? But, why?
Simply put: hormones. Storytelling is one of many triggers that causes the release of hormones like cortisol and dopamine in our bodies that make us feel stressed and make us feel good.
In fact, there are six of these triggers that you can use in your service cycle to avoid stressing your customers out and to make them feel good. Check out my presentation at last year’s Digital Wrap Conference to learn about all six.
P.S. Registration for the 2019 Digital Wrap Conference opened early this year with a great deal that only lasts through March. Check out the details at digitalwrapconference.com.
5 Reasons Why Hiring Millennials No Different Than Hiring Previous Generations
For the last decade, my career has been centered around recruiting and managing millennials. Plus, I am one.
When we talk about recruiting and retaining millennials, I know what a lot of people are thinking: I don’t want to.
Millennials have been labeled as entitled, unfocused, and job jumpers. Some even call us narcissistic. When you think about the stereotypical millennial, this may resonate:
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants.”
Said every generation about the next. Don’t believe me? This quote is from Socrates.
Love them or hate them, millennials should be embraced into your organization. That is, unless you’re ok not employing anyone between the ages of 23-37. This makes millennials the largest generation represented in the workforce today. We’re extremely underrepresented among skilled trade workers in the U.S.. There are a higher number of skilled workers over the age of 45 and a higher number of them between 55-64 getting ready to retire. So during the skilled labor shortage, the largest generation available to you is being underutilized. That’s the bad news. You need millennials in the business and in your industry, and right now, they’re not there.
The good news is that once you start attracting millennials, they can help you attract more. If you create an environment to retain them and help them to thrive, they’ll not only be the future leaders of your company, but they’ll help drive you forward.
So, what do they want? Millennials prioritize these five attributes when looking for a job opportunity:
Money
Job security
Benefits
Time off
Great people
It doesn’t sound too different from what previous generations valued. What is different is how we define each of these. Remember, I’m an older millennial, and in 1998, I was 14 and a freshman in high school. This was the same year that Amazon started selling more than books and Netflix made it possible for me to rent movies without leaving the house.
About a decade later, I’d graduated college and moved to Montana with the dream of being on ESPN someday. It was also the time we went from
to
Suddenly, information was in the palm of our hand and we were connected with people across the country and around the world. We had an inside look into people’s lives. This was also the time of the great recession with home foreclosures, the stock market crash, and bank bailouts. And in 2008 we went from 630,000 Americans who were unemployed to 11,400,000.
Millennials grew up in a world of constant innovation throughout our adolescence. We became used to instant gratification, information at our fingertips, and glorified easy-money lifestyles. While many of us were impacted by the recession in our adult lives, we’ve really only seen a growing economy and we’re trying to optimize our own growth through it.
So let’s look at those five priorities again.
Money. As always, money is important. But what I hear is that millennials don’t want to pay their dues. They want it now. They don’t want to work for it. Well, you could blame Mark Zuckerberg. He became a millionaire at age 22 and a billionaire at age 23. So in one year, he want from a millionaire to a billionaire. It took Warren Buffett 26 years to do the same.
Social media has opened the door for us to see those glorified lifestyles. We get to see the best part of people’s lives. Lifestyles and experience let us show off the best part of our own. We want to be able to afford it. The skilled trade industries are increasing wages at a slower rate than others. Be competitive. Know what industries you’re competing against for employees.
Job Security. While most millennials don’t remember details around the last recession, we weren’t blind to the millions of people who were suddenly employed. For older millennials, we entered the job market and were suddenly competing with people with 10, 20, 30 years’ experience for entry-level jobs. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg went from a millionaire to a billionaire. So job security meant having the experience, the skills, the ability to self-improve, grow, and have the opportunity for growth.
It’s not just the second-highest priority that millennials look for while job searching, it’s also the second-highest reason why people leave their existing jobs.
Most millennials would prefer staying with the same company for the long haul but only if the growth opportunity exists. Ask yourself, when you have millennials who were in the business for a short period of time, how valued did they feel? Did they make an impact? Did they have an opportunity to grow, and did they know that?
Benefits. Traditional benefits like healthcare and retirement still apply – but those have become basic requirements. Lifestyle and experience have really expanded the concept of benefits.
This picture of me was part of a recruiting campaign for a company I worked for. There isn’t a software company that doesn’t advertise benefits like free snacks and things that some people call silly or distractions like Nerf guns, video games, or beanbags. They all play into the concept of lifestyle and experience that aren’t restricted to after 5pm. Ask yourself, what kind of lifestyle are your benefits supporting? Fun and fitness? Fun and creativity? Furry friends?
Time off. Growing up in a world when you’re constantly connected means that work doesn’t happen between 9-5. You aren’t restricted to an office or a desk. Because we’re constantly connected, the flexibility to step away is more important. We want the ability to take care of our personal lives, even if that’s during the week. Things like taking extended vacation is highly valued. I know these things are easier to do with office staff than with technicians, but I’ve talked to several companies who have worked with technicians on creating some level of flexibility. Get creative. It takes some work, but that work pays back dividends.
When millennials talk about time off, it’s not about unplugging. We’re addicted to our phones. We don’t unplug that much. It’s more than anything about flexibility.
Great people. Back during that recruiting campaign I mentioned earlier, I did a radio ad with a tagline “I have fun at work.” I wasn’t lying. I had a lot of fun at work. When I left six years later, the people were the hardest thing to leave. Looking back, the people kept me there for an extra year.
There are studies that show that having a work best friend increases productivity, job satisfaction, and retention. Those miscellaneous reasons in the chart above why people leave are often because of a toxic workplace and bad managers. So great people make a big difference.
Know what is important to all your prospective employees. Give your managers the resources and support to create an environment that makes everyone thrive. Millennials may value things a bit differently, but you’ll find that at the end of the day, they share common personal and professional goals with your more experienced employees.
Challenging to Win the Information Arms Race
You know the information arms race in your market has begun
when both Microsoft and Amazon are advertising big data
solutions on Sunday night football. Commercial property
managers will surely be tempted to invest in technology to
commoditize your services. Fortunately, we have a plan, and
Billy Marshall will show you how to challenge to win the
information arms race.
Money for Nothing
When you deliver great service, equipment and systems don’t fail, nothing happens, and your customer is left wondering if you’re worth the money. When you deliver poor service, systems fail and the customer gets frustrated. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Billy Marshall’s keynote presentation at the 2017 Digital Wrap Conference, Money for Nothing: How Exceptional Service Brands Earn More Pay for Less Work, explains how to keep customers happy and earn a premium when nothing goes wrong. As Billy explained in an earlier blog post, this strategy requires you to show customers all the “snakes” you find in their systems:
You can give the customer what they want, which is nothing, as long as you are regularly finding snakes on the roof, snakes in the riser room, snakes in the ductwork, snakes in every nook and cranny of their critical equipment. Of course, these are figurative snakes, not literal snakes. The snakes are the equipment deficiencies that your technicians are recording with photos, audio, and video for the customer to review online via your Service Link. The deficiency snakes are clickbait that constantly reminds the customer how your diligence keeps them from getting bitten by disruptions and breakdowns which inevitably lead to hassles and aggravation.
Billy didn’t stop talking about snakes for months. He managed to take this snake analogy all the way to his keynote presentation:
The analogies and stories don’t stop at snakes. Check out Billy’s entire presentation to learn how to make “Money for Nothing” and create a customer program that will let you charge a premium because you provide more value.
How to choose good software and not get fired
When I joined ServiceTrade to begin its services division in 2012, Billy greeted me with the welcoming threat “if you screw this up I’ll fire your ass.” I’m still with the company, so here is my advice for how to buy good software and not get fired in a growing company.
Use the right tool for the job. I didn’t set out to solve our CRM, marketing, accounting, and payroll challenges. I was looking for the right tool for customer service. Any software that says it can solve all of your problems is going to be terrible at everything. I focused on choosing the right tool for one problem at a time.
Choose good software. Two of the most important elements of good software is open APIs that allow for integrations with our other applications and that it is SaaS. The picture below shows what integration looks like with bad software. Nobody at ServiceTrade is spending time managing our own servers. We have better things to do with our resources.
This is what integrations look like in a server environment.
Blow it up from time to time. When I started, I chose ZenDesk to run customer service. About five years later, we blew it away because something better came along. We discovered that Intercom offered a few more integration options and we like its online chat. So one morning in about four hours we unplugged ZenDesk and plugged in Intercom. It didn’t require us to change our accounting system. It didn’t bring down our CRM. It was just like when you get a flat tire – you pull over, change the tire, and leave the rest of the car alone.
Enable more integrations. In making the change to Intercom, we added more options for creative integrations. We rely heavily on Zapier to connect our apps to each other, so compatibility with Zapier is a must. Search for “Zapier library” to get an idea of how an application you are considering can connect with other apps in your company.
Be decisive. The Practical Guide to Buying Software for Service Contractors gives you six things that should be easy to determine when you’re working with a good software company. It’s important to us that our applications keep up with the pace of our growth and new ways to help our customers. If that means adding new software, we’re decisive and act fast by following the tenets in this guide.
This blog post is adapted from a 2017 Digital Wrap Conference presentation by ServiceTrade Vice President of Customer Success James Jordan. Presented here without the rooster photo.
