< Previous10 MARCH 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYHIGH-PERFORMANCE NEWSVisit GotoSummit.com to learn more about the sessions and special events happening at Summit 2019. Or turn to page 25 to see the Summit brochure. If You still have questions, call the NCI Cus-tomer Care line at 800-633-7058.Training and Coaching, National Comfort Institute z Ben Middleton, National Sales Training Manager, Goodman, Inc. z Tom Piscitelli, President, TRUST Sales Training.In addition, this year’s event features pre and post-summit training and ac-tiviites as well as something new: “Ask the Coaches.”This one-hour session will follow the popular Idea Meeting at 5 pm on Tuesday, April 16. It will use a Q&A format and fea-tures five top HVAC industry coaches who will focus on customer-facing topics includ-ing sales, marketing, and customer service. “This is a unique opportunity to inter-act directly with industry experts who can help make 2019 your best year ever,” says NCI CEO Dominick Guarino.The coaches include the following: z Brigham Dickenson, President, Power-Selling Pros z Drew Cameron, Owner, HVAC Sellutions z David Holt, Director of Business Mike Moore: 1955 to 2019 On February 3, 2019 the HVAC Industry lost one of its own with the passing of Michael Moore. He was 64 years old. He passed quietly surrounded by his family.Mike was extremely well-known in the HVAC industry and spent more than 20 years with Lennox Industries where he played a pivotal role in the development, growth, and success of Lennox Learning Solutions. He served as its director for the last 15 years. Prior to that he was Vice President of Training for Service Experts and Interna-tional Service Leadership, both prior subsidiaries of Lennox International. He’s credited with helping to develop many of the top contributors at Lennox and encouraging their progress along their career paths.MARCH 2019 11HVACTODAY.COMHIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCTSBACHARACH PCA 400 COMBUSTION ANALYZERBacharach’s PCA® 400 offers every-thing technicians need to commission, tune, maintain, and certify any boiler. Users have the option to save mea-sured data in the unit as discreet tests, or stream it live via Bluetooth® communica-tions to a PC or other smart hand-held de-vice for compliance reporting.Reports are easily and quickly gener-ated to satisfy compliance requirements. Interchangeable power options (re-chargeable Li-Ion, ‘AA’ alkalines or line power) ensure the unit is always ready for use.Probes and hoses come in a variety of lengths and ma-terials to satisfy a wide range of appli-cations, including NOx, and other re-quirements.Automatic sensor protection not only guards against dam-age, but doubles their measurement range under high load conditions for in-creased flexibility.Note: The PCA® 400 calculates CO2 value based upon other measured val-ues during the combustion process. It does not measure CO2 directly.For more information, visit ncilink.com/PCA400.RINNAI I-SERIES RESIDENTIAL BOILERRinnai Corporation, manufacturer of tankless gas water heaters announced the launch of its new I-Series Boiler for the residential market at the AHR Exposition in Atlanta this past January.The I-Series can simulta-neously use home heating and domes-tic hot water. That means, no interrup-tions if some-one takes a shower at the same time the heat is running. The technology also includes an in-novative bypass servo valve, which en-ables precise control of the hot water temperature.The I-Series Boiler is available in both combo and heat-only models and comes standard with multi-zone heating con-trol. Rinnai says the new boiler will be available for ordering in the spring of 2019, well in advance of the start of the heating season.To learn more, visit www.rinnai.us.EMERSON SENSI PREDICTFrom the time of installation, Sensi™ Predict allows contractors to take com-mand of the homeowner’s system and begin the transformation towards greater profitability. By transitioning from a reactive busi-ness model to a proactive sensor system that connects the contractor to ongoing home performance, the contractor en-sures the probability of higher revenue per truck roll. Sensi™ Predict monitors 24/7/365. By installing 10 smart Wi-Fi sensors on the home furnace and air conditioner, homeowners will have peace of mind in knowing their system is working ef-ficiently. In addition to a monthly performance report emailed to both the contractor and the homeowner, a real-time alert is sent if a warning is detected.The new Sensi™ Predict is currently being rolled out to select markets and will continue to expand in 2019. For more information, visit Sen-siPredict.com.ROBERTSHAW UNIVERSAL IGNITORThe IgnitorPro™ universal ignitor was showcased during the AHR Expo in At-lanta, GA in January. It is designed to deliver dependable ignition in heating systems of every de-scription: furnaces, boilers, rooftop heat-ers, infrared burners, unit heaters, water heaters, and many other types of HVAC equipment. Robertshaw offers two universal ignitors:• Model 41-802N features state-of-the-art silicon nitride technology for the best durability and a flat blade heating ele-ment for best heating dissipation. • Model 41-803 features high density silicon carbide and a flat blade heating element for good heat dissipation.These ignitors can replace more than 150 brands of ignitors. For more informa-tion, go to ncilink.com/Ignitors.12 MARCH 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYCHANGESFast forward to 2019. Masterworks now employs 27 co-workers, Dave DeRose successfully sold the company to one of his top lieutenants, and the company is solidly focused on the Per-formance-Based Contracting™ meth-od of doing business.That lieutenant is Victor Updike. Victor joined Masterworks in 2008. During those early days he was in-volved in a serious accident that kept him out of the field for six months or more. While recuperating, he de-cided to focus on training, especially NCI training, Summit, and a few oth-er things. That is where he got hooked on the idea of HVAC system perfor-mance. Masterworks became a mem-ber of NCI in 2009.His wife Amy, who had a career in the medical industry, decided to join Masterworks, first as a dispatcher, then as office manager and more. She learned as many aspects of managing the company as she could and became indispensable to DeRose. The fact is, both Updikes were indis-pensable members of DeRose’s team. So, when he decided it was time to push the button on retirement, David approached Vic and Amy about buying the company. They agreed.The sale was finalized in 2015 and for the past three years, with the Updikes at the helm, Masterworks has enjoyed solid growth and is more focused on High-Performance Nearly six years ago, National Comfort Institute (NCI) pro-filed this Craig, CO-based HVAC company in its mem-ber newsletter. In that profile, author Steve Vannoy wrote, “Blend one-part staunch commitment to outstanding customer service, one part enthusiasm for giving back to the community, and one part dedication to creating a qual-ity workplace and you should have a winning formula for business success. The company, which was started in 1988 by Dave DeRose, has consistently applied this formula.”At the time of that article, Master-works had 12 full-time employees, and was a successful player in the area’s service and installation arena. CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHTBy Mike WeilMasterworks Mechanical: Focused on PerformanceThe Masterworks Mechanical team takes a break from their busy High-Performance day to celebrate holdiays and success.MARCH 2019 13HVACTODAY.COMSUCCESS BASED ON TRAININGOver the years, all the field staff – plumbers, HVAC tech-nicians, as well as apprentic-es/helpers have been certified in combustion and CO (carbon monoxide) safety. The compa-ny conducts weekly training in-house on all aspects of the products and services Master-works offers. “We average around 70-80% attendance by our techs and apprentices. Attendance is volun-tary. Plus, we bring in outside train-ing. Besides combustion analysis and CO certifications, installers and ser-vice techs are certified in system per-formance and residential and com-mercial air balancing.”TRAINING IS NOT A SOLITARY AFFAIR“I think it’s important how pivot-al our involvement with NCI and its training programs have been for Mas-terworks,” he says. “It is amazing to me how many members don’t even realize the effect of the coaching and business training that comes with NCI.”But training is not a solitary affair and Masterworks also works close-ly with wholesalers who Updike says have an “intense commitment to our training.” Their three main distributor part-ners include Johnstone Supply in Grand Junction, Ferguson in Steam-boat (yes that is a real city), and Winn Supply (also in Steamboat). These partners arrange to have manufactur-er reps training on the various prod-ucts that Masterworks carries and uses. Sometimes that training is at the Masterworks facility, other times it is at the distributor location. “The se-cret is that you cannot do this alone,” he says. If you want to be the best at what you do, you need help. So, look to partner with the best firms. And don’t forget about your fellow contractors. Networking is very important to our learning and training.”IMPLEMENTING PERFORMANCEAccording to Victor Updike, his fo-cus on Performance-Based Contract-ing centers around combustion analy-sis. Over the last three years especially, he says this focus has helped Master-works grow because it enabled them to add new products and expand into new markets. “The first hurdle in implementing combustion analysis is committing yourself to the ‘why you do what you do,’” Updike says. “That began with David DeRose. It really takes an effort to answer that question. “Once you do and place it into your culture, your techs won’t hesitate to answer unexpected customer ques-tions or concerns. They also can make decisions based on testing and diag-contracting than ever before.“David DeRose built an amazing business,” Vic Updike says. “He cre-ated a solid customer base and the premise that he operated on was so valid to me that I could see where we could take that and grow it.”SOME STATISTICSCraig, Colorado is in mountain country. The area has seasonal tem-peratures ranging from -30F in Janu-ary to 85F in July. It’s not a town for the faint-hearted to be sure. Still, the needs of the population for heating and air conditioning are demanding, and Masterworks Mechanical has made it their mission to provide outstanding service to their client base.The company serves both residen-tial and commercial markets, which includes forced air and hydronic air conditioning, plumbing, service-re-pair-installation, new construction, as well as commercial refrigeration.Updike says the mission is to provide the highest quality service and experi-ence through top quality training and benchmarking improvements.Victor and Amy Updike bought Masterworks in 2015.“MASTERWORKS AND OTHER HVAC COMPANIES ARE LIKE COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAMS – BOTH ARE PLAYING FOOTBALL BUT NOT ON THE SAME FIELD.”14 MARCH 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYsome or time consuming, has a much lower success rate. “The latest tools and instruments contribute to the ease of conduct-ing measurements, and have enabled us to collect all the necessary data on each start-up and service call. That is really the secret sauce to our perfor-mance success.”He points out that at first, the field service and installation crews live off the great feelings from life-saving suc-cess stories that happen on the job. He says because of combustion anal-ysis, they can find and resolve CO is-sues before a serious negative event can happen.“CO saves happen fast and in a sur-prising amount,” Updike adds. “Lastly” he says, “you will cause some unintended results. For exam-ple, a realtor hires you for a furnace inspection before a sale. With your commitment to combustion testing you will inevitably condemn equip-ment – a headache for the realtor. “A competitor most likely won’t iden-tify these issues, so we may lose the job. We can overcome this through better communications – using easy-to-un-derstand verbiage. This is the ‘why’ of your commitment to performance. Having the “why” locked down, helps you keep your commitment.”MASTERWORKS’ PERFORMANCE CULTUREThough he says implementation is an ongoing process, Victor Updike says it is well-established in the way they conduct business now. For exam-ple, they include air and system up-grades into every furnace replacement nosis. Our field team cannot do this if they don’t understand why Master-works operates this way when none of the competition does.”MEASUREMENT: THE SECRET SAUCEUpdike explains that they built their combustion program using UEI ana-lyzers. He says that as the technology advanced (as well as the training) they switched to Bacharach instruments. “One reason for this change: the test saving feature included in the tool saves into our dispatch program and lets us maintain historic data easier,” he says. In addition, Masterworks techni-cians use Testo tools for air condition-ing and refrigeration testing. “The capabilities of such instru-ments allow us to perform service by measuring not guessing. To be honest, we’ve found through our implementa-tion process that any requirement we put on our technicians that is cumber-CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHTKen Scott (right) and Jeffery Peck participate in a typical in-house training session conducted by Masterworks Mechanical weekly.The Masterworks office crew includes (left to right) Amy Updike, Krystle Bohrer, Tkay Hall, and Taylor Peck.MARCH 2019 15HVACTODAY.COMservices including: zExpanding their new construction market area zCreating a heat exchanger integri-ty test using combustion analyzers to identify breeches. This has increased their replacement business by 75% zConducting a combustion analysis on every heating, water heater service, and replacement call zInstalling an NCI Carbon Monox-ide monitor on every furnace/boiler replacement zEntering the water treatment busi-ness – installation and service zIncluding duct rehabilitation into pricing for every furnace replacement quote zCreating an annual residential maintenance agreement program. Maintenance agreement sales is a new market for Masterworks. Previ-ously they only performed commer-cial maintenance.A NEVER-ENDING CYCLEUpdike likes to tell this story about when he graduated from tech school. His instructor told him that success isn’t based on what work you do, how well you do it, or who knows it. He said, ‘We won’t be able to tell if you are successful until you have had a lit-tle time to show us that you continue learning. If you don’t spend the time to continue learning every day, you will never be successful in this trade.’“That shook me to my core,” Up-dike says. “It is what led me to ques-tion everything and eventually got me involved with NCI. In my opinion, the High-Performance approach, as de-fined by NCI, is where this entire trade is heading. “It is a never-ending cycle and that is a good thing. It means, as you learn new facts and methods, you can go back to your customers and admit you know more now and can help them make their homes and business even more comfortable and energy effi-cient. You can do it with confidence.”Vic also says part of the performance culture is to help others interested in implementing it into their companies. “We invite anyone struggling with their implementation process, or wanting a guy-on-the-ground view on how to drive your culture to Combus-tion Testing, to contact us anytime.”As Masterworks enters their 31st year in business, High-Performance HVAC Today magazine congratu-lates Vic and his team on their accom-plishments and willingness to help others. This is the ‘why’ of our decision to re-focus our March 2019 Con-tractor Spotlight on them. quote. He says it enables him to talk about the importance of maintenance to make sure that not only the equip-ment works with their design, but the ductwork as well.“And I can back up what I’m saying,” he continues. “How? Because we mea-sure everything. Before and after ev-ery job. We have the numbers to show that what we did worked.”The result: Masterworks offers prod-ucts and services nobody can compete with. Updike says the key to their success-ful delivery of services and care of cus-tomers is the team. “The fact is,” he explains, “our team has an untrainable dedication to Mas-terworks’ image and our customers’ well-being. It comes from the culture, the family approach to management, and empowerment. “We believe this to be our primary focus,” Updike adds.GROWTH THROUGH IMPLEMENTATIONOver the years they’ve worked hard on implementing High-Performance Contracting into their company. The team has been able to triple their his-toric annual gross revenue. Part of the reason: being able to introduce new Jason Blackwell pulling inventory for a job.Braeden Barnes cutting sheet metal in the fabrication shop.16 MARCH 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYstand their comfort and energy concerns, their specific needs, and their short and long-term objectives zTest and analyze the customer’s comfort sys-tem performance to identify those areas that need improvement zPrescribe options that address the custom-er’s needs.The High-Performance Sales process can be further broken down into six basic steps – once you’re in the home. The order of these steps may vary based on the specific situation and customer needs, but each are essential. Next month, in Part 9 of this Series, we will walk through each of the six steps of this process. But first, it’s important to identify the type of lead and how it was generated, so you can tailor your approach both before the call and while in the customer’s home.CUSTOMIZING THE PROCESSBefore you engage a customer, it’s important to identify how the lead came to your organization. With this information you can tailor the visit to match the lead type. Most leads will be generated from one of the following three events:1. Performance testing during a service or maintenance call2. Customer calls for help to solve a comfort, energy efficiency, or indoor air quality issue3. Customer contacts you for replacement quote – lead generated from your marketing efforts.Let’s look at each of these lead sources and how they impact your sales approach:SERVICE/MAINTENANCE LEADThis is one of the best types of leads since it is generated by your technician while testing a sys-High-Performance Selling in the HVAC industry is actually more of a buying process. When done right, the customer will typically make the buying decision long before a formal proposal is ever written or presented. While this series couldn’t practical-ly include every detail of dealing with every sales situation, it should give you a good overview of the process. With some good training on perfor-mance testing, coupled with the steps outlined here, you should be able to hit the ground running.The foundation of Performance- Based Selling is an educational buy-ing process that uses basic system testing to help identify and diagnose issues that impact comfort, indoor air quality, and energy efficiency. The buying sequence typically includes three key steps: zInterview the customer to under-High-Performance Selling: Prepare For The CallBy Dominick GuarinoMANAGEMENT The ABCs of High-Performance HVAC Contracting: PART 8Catch up on all the installments of this series:Part 1: What is High-Performance HVAC and Why Do It? ncilink.com/ABCs-1Part 2: Is It the Right Fit for Your Company? ncilink.com/ABCs-2Part 3: Five Steps for Becoming A Performance-Based Contractor. ncilink.com/ABCs-3Part 4: Five More Steps to Becoming a Performance-Based Contractor. ncilink.com/ABCs-4Part 5: Your Investment in Performance. ncilink.com/ABCs-5Part 6: The Five Keys to Quality Training. ncilink.com/ABCs-6Part 7: The Right Tools for the Job. ncilink.com/ABCs-7MARCH 2019 17HVACTODAY.COMCUSTOMERS SEEKING SOLUTIONSWhen a customer calls you because they have comfort issues, indoor air quality problems, or high utility bills, they are giving you permission to thoroughly test their system. In this case, bring all your diag-nostic tools into the home. It puts on the type of show they are looking for. They expect and want you to test and diagnose their comfort system, and propose solutions to their issues.The more you educate and em-power customers to be involved in designing the solution, the more buy-in you will get. This is especial-ly important with a fairly involved solution requiring significant finan-cial investment. One example of this could be a complete air distribution renovation that includes duct re-placement, new runs, new registers and grilles, and so on.These sales can be very profitable and rewarding. If the customer lives in a development of similar homes, chances are their neighbors have similar problems. Asking for refer-rals, coupled with some neighbor-hood targeted marketing, could yield huge results. A full test-out with doc-umentation is extremely important on these type of leads. Remember, the customer sought you out to solve one or more prob-lem, and they will want proof that you delivered.EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT LEADIn this instance it’s important to go slow. It’s best to ease the cus-tomer into letting you perform ini-tial testing. You will often uncover longstanding problems they’ve prob-ably learned to live with and thought nothing could be done about it. So start slow, first testing static pres-sures and asking lots of questions. As the customer’s comfort level increas-es about the newly introduced idea of testing, you can bring in an airflow hood and other instruments. The key is to gradually educate the customer, while asking permission to perform testing each step of the way. For example, it’s important to let them know that you will need to install test ports to check the static pressures at the equipment. The last thing you want is to upset the customer by drill-ing holes into their equipment when all they wanted was an equipment re-placement quote. Before drilling the test ports, ex-plain they should have been installed when the original equipment was put in, but unfortunately most con-tractors don’t understand the im-portance of testing equipment. You could also mention that before you received specialized training, you too just followed typical industry practices.If you are the second or third sales-person in the home, you can use this opportunity to question why the others didn’t install test ports. After all, if you don’t measure, you’re just guessing! Next month, in Part 9, we will walk through the six steps of a typical sales call and how each is influenced by the lead types discussed above. tem during a service or mainte-nance call. You have virtually no competition in this instance. Key symptoms like high stat-ic pressures at the equipment and across components, such as coils and filters, should trig-ger a conversation with the customer and a subsequent visit by a comfort advisor. If you have technicians who sell, they would take steps to further di-agnose and offer solutions.There are some key signals to look for regarding customer comfort or en-ergy efficiency complaints or issues. Oftentimes the lead is initially trig-gered by a combination of aging equip-ment not worth repairing, and long-standing issues with the system. Once in “solutions mode,” it’s good to begin testing the system as soon as possible. The technician or comfort advisor should continue testing, asking lots of questions, and educating the cus-tomer every step of the way. When done properly, the customer will want to know what you can do to im-prove their system.During your busy season, this type of lead is a great opportunity for fol-lowing up once you slow down. Be-sides helping to level your cash flow, these off-season installations and ren-ovations make working in attics and crawl spaces much more bearable for your installation crews. On this type of sales call, bring your test instruments into the home as you need them. While it might be easier to bring in all your tools and instru-ments, it can overwhelm your custom-er and backfire, possibly jeopardizing the sale. MARCH 2019 19HVACTODAY.COMCommunication and organization are important to any company’s success. Without these qualities, jobs often don’t work out well and can end up going wrong due to making assumptions. Duct renovations can have a lot of complications if you don’t communicate the scope of work up front and organize the materials. Multiple supply house runs and needless duct repairs often occur when we don’t communicate the right way.Advanced duct renovations often require more than pictures and quick descriptions. They re-quire coordination and being onsite to show and explain needed repairs. This shows your installation team and custom-er that we appreciate them, and opens the door to addressing any questions or concerns upfront. Everyone is on the same page.MISTAKES HAPPENFor example, we had one duct renovation where crucial duct repairs were missed, and we made assumptions that led us to not delivering what was promised. That put us in a tough spot since the customer expected the solution we sold them, not what we delivered. Mistakes happen – how we address them is a choice each of us must make. In this situation, we made repairs the best we could to get close to the results we promised. This was costly in time and material. We knew something had to change so this wouldn’t happen again.In other words, we had to confront some brutal facts. By doing so, this experience proved to be a game changer for our company.COMMUNICATIONThe first action we took was to prepare job packets consistently. We’ve had job packets for years, but they didn’t always contain what installers needed. We had to define what would go into each packet and keep it in a consistent format so that everyone knew what to expect. The job packet is like a football playbook that keeps all the players on the same page. The sales-person is the quarterback and must make deci-sions so the team can make the right play to get to a first down. A properly designed and prepared job packet leaves no room for misun-derstanding. Here is a list of items we now include in all our job packets: zEquipment information zCopy of the customer proposal z List of detailed repairs that were sold zDigital photos of problem areas z Copy of Air Distribution Worksheet zFloor plan zDuct schematic zField drawings zCombustion Analysis Reports zSystem Commissioning Report zAir Upgrade Report zCopy of Manual J – Short Form.Next, each job requires a pre-meeting. The day before the job, we gather the team together and go over what needs to be done. Think of this Communication + Organization = Success and ProfitBy Dawn Vickers-MroczekPROCESS MANAGEMENTTo improve communication, GV’s went to a consistent format for their job packets to assure installion teams have all the right information in one location.Duct renovations can lead to many issues if there isn’t proper communi-cations and hand-off procedures between the salesperson and the installer.Next >