< PreviousBut wait – let’s take a step back. Where did this outfit come from? Geo-graphically, Childers and his wife start-ed the business in 1998 in Atlanta. How that came about was interesting – be-cause the Childers were never in the HVAC business – they were in the rec-reational vehicle (RV) industry. Jim and his brother owned a successful Atlan-ta-area RV dealership.Jim Childers, a 66-year-old entrepre-neur who spent 20 years in the fam-ily-owned RV dealership, says that in those days, one of the vehicle manufac-turers had a sophisticated way of mea-suring customer satisfaction. Childers’ dealership usually ranked very high – be-tween a 93 and 94% CSI (customer satis-faction index). Good stuff, right? “But a fellow dealer in a neighbor-ing state was getting closer to 100%,” Childers says, “so I asked him how he was doing that. He told me he took an extra step by sending cookies to customers to thank them for their patronage. I was encouraged me to try it, which I did and sure enough it worked.“What I learned from this was that the unexpected nature of a thank-you gift to show appreciation made a tremendous impact on our customers’ satisfaction and loyalty. It actually did increase our CSI rating.”So that was the basis for starting To Your Success. Childers explains the RV Dealership had ceased to be the challenge it once was and he felt he had a calling to do something else. He wanted to apply the retention lessons he learned in the deal-ership to something new.IN THE BEGINNINGTo Your Success opened for business on April 1, 1998. Initially most of their cus-tomers were RV dealers. “But I had a very good friend who was a territory manager for Mingledorff’s – an HVAC Carrier dis-tributor here in Georgia who suggested I really check out the heating and air con-ditioning industry,” Childers says. “He en-couraged us to exhibit at the HVAC Com-fortech show in 2000 to test the waters.”The results were incredible. Childers says they got a tremendous response – around 75 HVAC companies signed up with To Your Success at that first show. He adds, “We realized HVAC contrac-tors had the desire to follow up with customers, but no one had the time or the expertise to do it. We were in the right place at the right time. That’s what caused us to focus on the HVAC Industry. From Comfortech we spread out to other Picture this: the year is 2000 and during a young industry trade show once known as HVAC Comfortech (in Atlan-ta, GA), a new exhibitor makes its first foray into the world of mechanical sys-tems contracting. The company had two very unique attributes: its name and the fact that they were passing out little bags of cookies to any attendee who happened by.The company was To Your Success – a service organization with the unique mission of helping business owners re-tain and amaze their customers. Com-pany owner and founder Jim Childers says that “To Your Success is more than the name of a company. It is our commit-ment to business owners.”And their little booth on the show floor of HVAC Comfortech 2000 led them to becoming one of the largest provid-ers of customer retention services in the HVAC industry.VENDOR SPOTLIGHTBy Mike Weil –It’s All in the NamePictured left to right: Zach, Olive, and Jim ChildersTo Your Success made its debut in the HVAC Industry in 2000 when HVAC Comfortech set up shop in Atlanta.10 DECEMBER 2017HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYthe office. It’s been that way for 20 years.”Today Zach Childers runs the daily op-erations of the company and handles what he calls, ‘the technology side of things.’FROM COOKIES TO BEYONDTo Your Success today employs over 20 people, including seasonal and part time employees. According to Zach, on any given week there are 10 to 12 people in the office. That includes in-laws Caleb Baitz and Derek LoVerde, his sister Re-bekah Baitz, brother John Childers, and his mother, Olive Childers are also active.So, the question begging to be asked: who bakes the cookies? Jim Childers says that everyone has at one point or another over the years. But today they have a group of bakers who handle that for them.The cookies were always the first step in the To Your Success approach to cus-tomer retention. In effect, cookies are a small gift to thank customers for their business. Sending them out was a ser-vice that made it easy for contractors to follow up with customers. Says Zach, “Our job is to make the fol-low-up process effortless for contrac-tors. It makes that thank-you feel more personal and relational. But To Your Suc-cess does more than that. We offer con-tractors a comprehensive customer fol-low-up strategy that combines those cookies with a business intelligence plat-Your Success became real and he worked with both of his parents out of the fam-ily home.“My job was to get everything for our customers set up. This meant creat-ing greeting cards, configuring surveys, doing our marketing, printing business cards and brochures. Our entire plat-form was really homegrown right from the beginning.”So how does a 15-year-old do all this. Zach Childers says he always seemed to have a knack for things related to tech-nology, computers, and graphic design. In fact, he says that he ran his own de-sign business while he was a high school student. Afterwards, he attended Thom-as Edison State University where he stud-ied business management and worked remotely on To Your Success.He says, “I loved the business from its start and decided I wanted to make it the focus of my working life. It’s been a pas-sion since the beginning. Being able to work with my parents and being part of a family business has been exciting.“How many high school and college kids can say their parents let them be an integral part of a startup business? My dad trusted me to do what needed to be done. From the beginning we just worked great together. His leadership just drew me into it and I am so thankful for that. I have really loved every step of it. It’s a crazy thing to really look forward to Mon-days and not wanting to wait to get into HVAC organizations and trade shows and really began to grow from there.”LESSONS LEARNEDIt is generally accepted across the HVAC industry that it is seven times more ex-pensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. Jim Childers says the thing that helped his business more than anything else was learning from their customers over the years. “We have had the opportunity to really cater to their needs,” he says. “Our desire is to help others be more successful in their business. I really didn’t want to be a bakery. I wanted to be a company that makes a difference in how other small businesses succeed. They needed help. I wanted to provide that.“We help business owners provide more than great service - everyone ex-pects that. We help them develop a long-term relationship with their customers based upon their overall customer ex-perience. Showing appreciation and lis-tening through focused surveys shows consumers they are valued as individ-uals, not just transactions. In the home service industry there are many people with great technical skills but who often struggle with the “personal relationship” side of the business. The old adage, “Peo-ple don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” is most effectively demonstrated when a com-pany culture is designed to provide both aspects. This is what we do best.”FAMILY BUSINESSJim Childers has been married for 45 years and has four children. Most of his family is involved in the business in some fashion. His son Zach has been in-volved with the company from day one. Zach Childers was 15 years old when To Delicious cookies delight customers. Their feedback is manageable on mobile devices.DECEMBER 2017 11HVACTODAY.COM12 DECEMBER 2017HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYVENDOR SPOTLIGHTfor companies that want to treat people right, to grow their business. NCI mem-bers want to do an excellent job techni-cally. Most of them have a better grasp on technical performance than they do on experiential performance with the consumer. It is a natural fit for us. That is our wheel house.”Zach Childers adds “the recipe for success between our company and NCI is obvious. This is a great partnership for both of us.”NEVER FORGETHVAC contractors should remember that keeping customers is easier and less expensive than getting new ones. For those who need help improving cus-tomer retention, companies like To Your Success are just what the doctor ordered.“Never forget who writes your check,” says Jim Childers. “No matter what indus-try you work in you can’t become com-placent or cynical. You must appreciate the people around you. Without the cus-tomer nothing happens.“We try to treat our customers as royalty. That is our job. If we can’t do it, then who can? The average HVAC contractor already has a very hard job. They are great at putting technicians into the field, into people’s homes, and getting great results. Our job is to help them do that better.” Zach Childers agrees and adds that “Customers are the most valuable assets of any company. No one will ever regret investing in their customers. So, delight-ing the customer and setting yourself apart from the competition will always pay off in the long run. It isn’t something that should be taken for granted.”To Your Success : the name certainly says it all. Congratulations to this month’s Vendor Spotlight. Jim Childers concurs. “Our system is designed to help all contractors of all sizes. It doesn’t put the burden on them. Some contractors are trying to get their superstar technician to talk good re-views out of a customer. We are trying to improve the contractors’ business and encourage their employees to do well.”THE NCI BAKE-OFFThough Childers first contact with the HVAC Industry was at that early Comfortech event, he and his team didn’t encounter National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI) until much later. According to Jim Childers, as they began reaching out to other groups and orga-nizations in the HVAC Industry, they began partnering with several of them, including one known as Inter-national Service Leadership (ISL). This group was formerly called Con-tractors Success Group. To Your Success became an ISL vendor partner until 2008 when NCI purchased ISL. According to Childers, his company then became a vendor partner with NCI.Zach Childers says that as a policy, To Your Success always seeks partner groups that attract forward-thinking contrac-tors. They found that in ISL, and he says they were really impressed by the mem-bership of NCI.“It was a natural fit for us,” Jim Childers adds. “NCI members are seeking to bet-ter their performance in multiple ways. And that is exactly the type of folks who work well with us. What we do works form to help them strengthen their cus-tomer relationships and reduce churn.”According to the To Your Success web-site, their retention strategy has four key points:• Delight customers – gifting services that include freshly-made cookies, candies, nuts, coffee and cocoa, and other gifts• Listen to their feedback – surveys done online and through email that can include embedded video messag-es (called eTouch), mobile optimization, responsive design, real-time customer feedback, daily reports, analytics, and more• Understand their experience using an-alytics and insight. This is the business intelligence component of To Your Suc-cess’ service offering• Showcase positive reviews using To Your Success ‘RaveMaker’ automated rep-utation management tool that integrates easily with social media and optimizes positive reviews for search engines. “You can’t improve something that you aren’t mastering, Zach Childers says. “It’s like the ComfortMaxx approach. With that tool and with training, contractors know where to measure the different metrics related to HVAC system performance. “That’s what we are try-ing to provide with our system. Instead of pres-sures and temperatures, we measure actual feedback from customers, so a contractor owner or manager can get a real-time alert through email when someone is not happy. They can then pick up the phone and immediately call. They have all the information they need at their fingertips to reach out to the cus-tomer and make it better.”Zach ChildersJim ChildersDECEMBER 2017 13HVACTODAY.COM14 DECEMBER 2017HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYFirst, joining forces with Dave was perfect. He knew of our Performance-Based Contracting™ implementation challenges and helped us get back on track.Our company was like so many of the compa-nies that attended our NCI Summit sessions. We took a long time to finally start and get everyone on board. Our team had the training and support, but lacked the commitment. So we struggled with implementation and consistency.TECHNICIANS SHOULD UNDERSTAND TESP, PRESSURE DROPS, AND STATIC BUDGETSI took my first Air Balancing class in Rockville, Maryland in 2005. To demonstrate just how long ago that was, NCI President Rob Falke was the in-structor. I was fortunate enough to take his class, but even more fortunate to hear his words: “I don’t care what the efficiency rating is on that box (the outdoor unit), if your delivery system isn’t right, you’re not getting it!” Talk about feeling foolish!!! The concept was so obvious.How could I have not come to that conclusion on my own? Rob’s words were so poignant that they still live in the front of my brain a dozen years later. Once I figured out the solution to complete implementation of ANY system, the simplicity of it had me wondering again what Every Independence Day we celebrate our glorious founding and the Declaration of Independence that proclaims, “all men are created equal with certain unalienable Rights.” While that is certainly accurate in life, it is most certainly inaccurate in the HVAC trades.Remember going through trade school? Think about how there was the guy who could conceptu-alize theories or procedures with a simple expla-nation. And the other guy who needed to actually put his hands on things and do it him-self in order to learn it, whatever it was. It seems that there are those who “see” things more clearly than others. They have more mechanical minds. They’re wired differently. Of course, there are also those who take a little longer to grasp certain concepts, but are just as smart. It is our job as man-agers and owners to figure out who’s who in our organization.GET STARTEDIn 2016, I was invited by David Richardson, of National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI) to present at the annual NCI Summit in Savannah, GA. Our topic – “just get started.” This was perfect for me on several levels.By Michael HartmanMANAGEMENTDespite what the Declaration of Independence says, all HVAC technicians are NOT created equal.PHOTO COURTESY OF ISTOCKPHOTOILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE MIKLOSAll Technicians Are NOT Created EqualOVERCOMING THE HURDLES: DECEMBER 2017 15HVACTODAY.COMbustion analysis. He admitted he was afraid the customer would ask him a question he couldn’t answer. It is hu-man nature to avoid the things with which we are uncomfortable.Again, I took a one-on-one approach: I had him take his readings, write them down, and then I went over them with him at the office. For him, the key was not having to discuss the readings with the customer until he was comfortable. Removing the pressure of a potential-ly uncomfortable situation made all the difference. Shortly thereafter, he was one of our better combustion analysts.That same tech was struggling with Air Diagnostics as well. I used the same strategy as before – test, say nothing, discuss with me in the office. Suddenly, he had customers helping him test their systems while educating them in the process.TECHNICIANS SHOULD ENABLE CUSTOMER PARTICIPATIONOne great story I like to share in-volves this same technician. He found a system with a large pressure drop across the evaporator coil. The tech had the customer testing with him while telling her what pres-sure drop he was looking for. Then he said he’d clean it in place and quote a price to do so. However, the technician warned that if it didn’t work he would have to pull the coil out and clean it more thoroughly. Finally, he quoted ONE-ON-ONE APPROACH WITH TECHNICIANSFinally, I tried a new approach. I told one of my techs who was very nervous about Air Diagnostics and Combustion Analysis, to take static pressure read-ings and bring them back to the office to discuss with me. I told him to say noth-ing to the customer about his readings or that he even took readings. He took the readings, brought them to me, and we went over them on the white board. We drew the layout of the system and plotted his readings accordingly.We did this over and over and over again. He eventually got comfortable enough to educate our customers about static pressure and what it means to air flow and efficiency. Again, I felt very foolish for missing the glaring simplici-ty of this strategy for so long.I had another technician who was deathly afraid of performing a com-took so long to figure it out.What I am talking about is Total Ex-ternal Static Pressure (TESP). Once armed with the knowledge of TESP, pressure drops, and static budgets, I was raring to go. I tested my system, the neighbors’, and my relatives’ sys-tems. I bought a flow hood, Magnehe-lic gauges, and thermo-hygrometers for my technicians so they could test every system they came across. Then I told them to test their own, their friends’, and their family’s systems.TEAM BUY-IN … NOT SO MUCHChange is hard. Technicians don’t buy in to Performance-Based Con-tracting all at once.What I didn’t know was that I was like Will Ferrell in the movie Old School: leading college students to go streaking in the Quad, only to find that he was streaking by himself.I did have one guy who completely embraced the training and tested ev-ery system he saw. He became so good that it intimidated the rest of the crew so they would never test or ask ques-tions about testing. The tools I bought them just bounced around their truck, never used.I spent years trying to get everyone excited about Air Diagnostics and test-ing. I had everyone certified and re-cer-tified. Sometimes I would get angry and very vocal. I felt I had done everything necessary to help my guys succeed. That rationalization about “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,” became real to me. I blamed them but the blame was squarely on me. I had failed to realize my organization’s strengths and weak-nesses – a mortal sin in any position of leadership.Change is hard. Technicians don’t buy into Performance-Based Contracting all at once.THAT RATIONALIZATION ABOUT “YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER, BUT YOU CAN’T MAKE HIM DRINK,” BECAME REAL. I BLAMED THE TECHS, BUT THE BLAME WAS SQUARELY ON ME.ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE MIKLOSPHOTO COURTESY OF THINKSTOCK 16 DECEMBER 2017HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYMANAGEMENTan additional price for that.She agreed to take a chance and have him clean it in place. He did but the pressure drop was still too high. She had him pull the coil and clean it. He tested it again and got the pressure drop down to where it needed to be. She was thrilled and happy to pay the extra money for pulling and cleaning the coil.Testing with the customer -- step-by-step --got her invested in the proj-ect. He said it became a mission for her to get the right pressure drop. She was saying things like “what do we do next?” It would be great if every cus-tomer was so involved and excited about testing. Unfortunately, she was the exception, not the rule.GETTING TRACTIONSince changing our implementation strategy, all our technicians are now testing every system they work on. They all have success stories of varying degrees. They also have had extreme challenges with customers who were very suspicious of their findings. Those of us who are testing have all heard people say, “I’ve lived here for 15 years and have never had a problem” or “no-body has ever told me this before, why is it a problem all of a sudden?” We find it best to not argue with them. We share our findings, docu-ment our recommendations, and move on. The more you try to convince them, the more suspicious they become. To-day, when we find a system with a high TESP we simply ask the custom-er which rooms are warm in the sum-mer and cold in the winter. Most of the time, they look at us like we have a crystal ball. They wonder how we knew they had those issues, which gives us instant credibility. If they say they Today the technicans at Thomas E. Clark are testing every system they encounter. The company is finally seeing some traction when it comes to making Performance-Based Contracting work. don’t have any comfort issues, we ex-plain our findings and their options. Now the ball is in their court.TECHNICIANS NOT CREATED EQUALOur technicians are now very com-fortable having these discussions with customers. They not only have the knowledge, but the confidence to ed-ucate our customers. Once I stopped trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, everything fell into place.Understand not all technicians are equal and that’s OK. They learn at their own pace and comfort level. Find out what that is and adjust their pro-gression accordingly. Be patient and the results happen quicker than you expect. Michael S. Hartman is the owner of Thomas E. Clark HVAC, Inc., a family-owned and operated plumbing, heating, and air condition-ing firm located in Silver Spring, MD. Since joining the business in 2002 he has been working steadily on bringing the business into the 21st century by re-targeting their focus on Performance-Based Contracting™ as pre-scribed by National Comfort Institute, Inc. He can be reached at Mike@ThomasEClark.com.ILLUSTRATION COURESY OF ISTOCKPHOTODECEMBER 2017 17HVACTODAY.COMOBSTACLES WE FACENotice I used the word face, as opposed to faced. This is because we’re still facing obstacles. As we continue advancing our abilities to test, di-agnose, and sell renovation jobs, we keep encoun-tering new obstacles to overcome. New problems are the cost of progress. Before long, we were overcoming new difficulties as a regular course of business. Each time we eliminate new obstacles, we move forward.GET LEADERSHIP TRAINING ...The first step we took after deciding to fully em-brace the performance-based philosophy, was to get our company leadership trained by National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI). During training, we “saw the light” and clearly understood what we wanted to happen. We imagined that if we sent our salespeople, installers, and service techs to this training, they would also see the light and the transition to performance-based would be simple and automatic.... THEN TRAIN THE GUYSWe learned from our initial experience that when just the Schaafsma leadership preached performance, the guys didn’t believe the sermon. What we needed was an outside expert confirm-ing and teaching the same principles. After the guys heard and understood it from someone else, our job was to simply reinforce it.Our excitement skyrocketed as guys returned from training and the renovation jobs started rolling in. As we installed the new type of work, we realized our lack of process systems made things not work smoothly. Without such process-es to guide sales, scope of work, communications, and pulling materials for this new style of work, After more than 110 years in business, our management team made the deci-sion to evolve into a performance-based service company. Very early in that pro-cess we began to understand we needed a new level of leadership for us to succeed.As leaders of our business, we had to get out front and lead, before we could expect the rest to follow. We regularly compared this process to pulling ropes versus pushing them. In life, a real leader must be out front pulling, not pushing from behind.Our management learned this the hard way. We erroneously thought we could stand behind our troops and bark orders to measure and test and diagnose and fix! Obviously, the results of doing that were less than stellar. Once we figured out we needed to be out front leading by example, we began to succeed.The more we focused on how to better lead to-wards performance-based disciplines, the more our teams responded, and they began evolving from tradesmen to craftsmen.From Tradesman to Craftsman: How Our Company Made the LeapBy Kevin Walsh, Schaafsma Heating and CoolingMANAGEMENTPHOTO COURESY OF ISTOCKPHOTO18 DECEMBER 2017HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYco-workers. It made sense that they share their knowledge and example on the front line.SUPPORT YOUR MANAGERSThrough this approach, we believed everyone would not only be on the same boat, but would be rowing in the same direction. As more joined in, the momentum began to increase and took on a life of its own. The leader-ship team realized by supporting the managers and key people to build our performance-based culture slowly into the company, the change would stick.The new culture began to stick even more as we addressed and overcame other obstacles that continued to ap-pear. Team members saw us consis-people already committed to quality and integrity, already open to improv-ing even more.These were the team members who would willingly participate in daily interaction with the rest of our we began to slip back into old beliefs and habits. Old was easy, new was not comfortable, and we drifted off our target.Lesson learned: performance-based contracting requires more work than just getting trained. So, we took a deep breath and began to figure out the next step toward success.BUILD A PERFORMANCE-BASED CULTUREIt became clear our expectations were still too high. We expected everyone to automatically jump on board and fig-ure it out. To be successful, we need a long-term plan to nurture and build the Performance-Based Contracting™ culture throughout our company.The light bulb really went off for us when we began to understand it’s too hard to get 30 people rowing in the same direction when they all don’t want to go to the same place. They didn’t want to go to the same place be-cause they couldn’t see the benefits we would receive once we arrived.So we still needed buy-in from ev-eryone. To accomplish this, we need-ed to share the vision with front-line evangelists throughout the company. We identified those managers and key Duct renovations are an important part of the Schaafsma Performance-Based Contracting™ approach to HVAC service. For more on this company, click hereMeet Kevin Walsh at NCI Summit 2018High Performance HVAC Summit 2018 is happening March 4-6 in Austin, TX. Keven Walsh is one of six Performance-Based Contractors™ presenting how they Blaze A Trail to High Performance. Walsh, who is president of Schaafsma Heating and Cooling Company, Grand Rapids, MI, will discuss the many challenges he and his team faced when implementing Performance-Based Contracting™ into their 110+-year-old business. Using principles outlined in Jim Collins’ book, “Good to Great,” Kevin will discuss how he and his key leaders successfully rolled out this new business approach and overcame challenges at all levels of the com-pany – including the very top. Come meet Kevin and network with your peers in Austin. Learn more about the Summit 2018 program at GoToSummit.comJOIN US FOR SUMMIT, STAY FOR SOUTH-BY-SOUTHWEST MUSIC FESTSummit 2018 offers you and your team a tremendous opportunity to not only hear from some of the Performance-Based HVAC Industry’s finest as they share their wins and challenges, but also a chance to network with like-minded contrac-tors from across the nation.Take advantage of Early Bird pricing by registering today. Questions? No problem. Call 800-633-1850 and talk to your customer care representative.After Summit ends, stick around for our Postshow Training classes and then head into downtown Austin for one of the world’s best music festivals, South by Southwest. Click here for details.MANAGEMENTDECEMBER 2017 19HVACTODAY.COMtently overcome each obstacle and be-gan to realize how committed we are to building and maintaining the perfor-mance-based culture. This constant ac-tion proved to everyone that this new way of doing business was here to stay.SUSTAINING THE CULTURECulture is the hardest thing to change in a company, especially a 110-year-old company like Schaafsma. Now, we are far enough down the road to know we must maintain this culture, or we’ll slip back into the old, bad habits.Our work is never done, because we Kevin Walsh is the President of Schaafsma Heating and Cooling Company, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kevin is featured as a speaker for NCI’s Summit 2018 in Austin, Texas. His presentation will expand on the topic of this article.intend to move forward in our mis-sion. Sustaining this culture requires accomplishing the tasks needed to keep the performance-based fires burning in our business.This means continuous training. It means measuring and reinforcing suc-cess daily. We motivate team members with positive feedback and sharing success stories. This assures every-one in the company sells themselves on the benefits of performance-based craftsmanship. The information we share also confirms to everyone how well this new culture is working and paying off for all of us.IT’S A CONTINUOUS PROCESSWe measure daily and monitor dai-ly. This is especially important in the beginning, at a time when it’s too easy to fall back into old habits. Measuring and monitoring creates a new reality as co-workers can see both the good and bad. The good pulls us forward and the bad helps us see what we need to improve.We have witnessed how becoming and remaining a performance-based business has pumped new life into an old company. How else do old compa-nies continue to thrive? Besides being Performance-Based in their work, Schaafsma also is community focused as evidenced in their support of our nation’s veterans.Next >