The UnifierMaking the difference together since 1998

In This Issue

October 2012

ABOUT THE UNIFIER: The Unifier is the quarterly internal newsletter for Unified Group members. If you have any ques-tions, comments, or suggestions please e-mail Allison at rodger-sa@theunifiedgroup.com or call 708-356-5072.

Volume 5, Issue 4

www.theunifiedgroup.com

More than 30 sales people from across the country are back to work, energized, and ready to sell up a storm. The Unified Group hosted its Advanced Sales Forum on Sept. 16th-18th in Dallas. The session kicked off with Visibility Coach, David Avrin’s pre-sentation about the need to be differ-ent and stand out in the marketplace. “Being really good at what you do is the entry fee,” said Avrin. “Beyond that you need something to talk about. What are you doing that would make people talk about you? What question is your company the answer to?” “David reaffirmed the need to do more on really being different,” said Ben Montgomery (Nashville Machine Company). “I came to the conclusion that with minor tweaks to creating differ-entiators we can have remarkable re-sults,” said David Dickins, Interstate

Mechanical. Like many Unified Group trainings, there was work to be done before anyone stepped foot into the meeting room. Prior to the session attendees were split into four teams, coaches and team leaders were as-signed, and an RFP they would work through during the session was sent out. After a verification call ex-ercise, the teams prepared for their presentation to the board. Each group utilized unique offerings that each of their companies offers to stand out from the others. “Before the session we as-signed agreement prices for each group so they didn’t sell on price,” explained Jim Bartolotta. “They real-ly had to come up with differentiators that would make us (the board) care and want to do business with them.” In the end it was Team Two

Page One

• 2012 Advanced Sales Forum

Page Two

• Annual Meeting/Owners’ Forum

• Sales Forum Contin-ued

• Member Spotlight: VHV

Page Three

• Interstate Mechani-cal Follows Yale Me-chanical’s Example

• TrakRef: Refrigerant Management for the 21st Century

Page Four

• Birthdays

2012 Advanced Sales Forum

(continued on page 2)

Member-to-Member Connections

TrakRef: Refrigerant Management for the 21st Century

Purchasing Partners

• Choice Hotels• Jackson Systems• Legacy Chillers• Lennox Industries• Midwest Parts • National Compressor Exchange• Office Depot• Polar Technology• PromoProviders• Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants• Temp-Air, Inc.• W.W. Grainger, Inc.

Nashville Machine uses TrakRef® software to track refrig-erants, cylinders and HVAC sys-tems on the cloud. Two key factors driving refrigerant management:1. The rising cost of refrigerants,

especially R-22, has forced many contractors to evaluate their reclaim programs. With one cylinder of R-22 repre-senting over $1,000 of reve-nue, inventory control is more important than ever.

2. Compliance regulations are forcing contractors to main-tain their own records for their own needs as well as for their customers.

Clean & Return of R-22: Nashville Machine Company uti-lizes TrakRef® for their Clean & Return program, enabling them to understand the value in keep-ing ownership of recovered R-22 and getting the fully-certified, reclaimed gas back at greatly re-duced rates. According to Joe Brown, Service Supervisor, “Get-ting the R-22 back at a lower cost is beneficial for us and the custom-

er and gives us an edge on larger bids.” Customer Records: Nash-ville Machine also uses TrakRef® to maintain system information for large customers. “We use TrakRef® because of our custom-ers requiring better recordkeeping as part of our maintenance agree-ment. It is professional looking and gives us a leg up on the com-petition. TrakRef® also allows technicians to view and input data from the field, using any Internet connected mobile device,” Joe Brown continued. Conclusion: Increasing refrigerant cost and compliance requirements mean refrigerant management is now pivotal for successful contractors. Nashville Machine incorporates TrakRef® to provide transparency for com-pliance and a reclaim program that lowers costs and manages refriger-ant inventories. For more information about TrakRef®, visit www.trakref.com. For more informa-tion about Polar Technology, visit www.refrigerantauthority.com.

Membership News

What is your plan for suc-cess? How are you handling grow-ing customer demands? What are the key metrics you should use to help grow your business? The Unified Group is host-ing our 14th Annual Meeting/Own-ers’ Forum to help our members an-swer these questions. Taking place in Toronto on November 7th-11th, attendees of this networking oppor-tunity will have access to the fol-lowing:• Neil Koenig, family business

and professional firm expert, will discuss succession plan-ning and bench strength (how to ensure that you have the right people in place)

• Strategic planning for your busi-ness in small roundtables

• The Best Thing We Implement-ed in 2012 best practices discus-sion

• How to Become the Company that Others Want to Follow

• Unified Group Financial Bench-marks

• Purchasing Partner Fair

Member Spotlight: VHV 1. Tell us a little bit about VHV: In its sixty-three years, VHV has grown and evolved into a multi-faceted, full service mechanical and plumbing contractor with specialties in clean room construction as well as service on scientific / lab equipment, including ultra-low temperature freezers, sterilizers, incubators and centrifuges. Two other differentiators are our high-end engineering capabilities and the large amount of pre-fab piping we do. 2. What does VHV hope to get from the group and give back to the group?: VHV will take advantage of the many resources the group has to offer. We look forward to having partners in our daily challenges, thus further expediting our growth. We will be strengthening our peo-ple through the training opportunities, the sharing of best practices and networking with the elite contractors across the country. As I coined to prospective members during my tenure on the Membership Committee, “grow without all of the growing pains.” Our wealth of experience in so many areas will also allow us to assist our fellow team members when they reach out. 3. Dave (Nichols), as a long-time friend of The Unified Group, what’s your favorite memory from the good ol’ days?: Having been pre-viously part of The Unified Group and its committees for seven years, I have many favorite memories from the wonderful relationships (and guidance) received from so many true friends, most of whom are still in the group. The free-flowing knowledge and advice were always appreci-ated and I was fortunate enough to “give back” as time went on. One “standout memory” would be receiving the honor of the “Member of the Year” award at the Annual Meeting in 2003.

“I am still learning.”

- Michelangelo (on his 87th Birthday)

Annual Meet-ing / Owners’ Forum

Advanced Sales Forum (Continued from page one)

For the last couple weeks Interstate Mechanical has been providing emergency plumbing service and T&M projects for Brookdale Senior Living, a customer that Yale Mechanical presented on The Unified Group’s lead sharing webinars. While Yale’s contact was not responsible for the Phoenix locations, David Dickins, (service sales associate at Interstate) used the information learned from Yale’s relationship to pursue one in Arizona. “I asked Yale how it works and what they were looking for to open the door and find regional con-tacts,” said Dickins. “We reached the regional person in charge of four states, got in touch with him, and in the last month have gotten $150K in projects and maintenance calls. We understand how things work. They take time, but my advice would be to get involved in lead sharing calls.”

Interstate Mechanical Follows Yale Mechanical’s example

who walked away with the business. “Scoring was based on being cre-ative, thinking outside the box, and validating claims,” explained Barto-lotta. “Team Two did this with their full coverage offering, full labor, Ener-gyPrint and free mainte-nance for the first year on rooftops.”

The Winning Team: Chris Luberto, Kevin Spaeth, Kevin Almon, Alex McWilliam, Jennifer Varkalis, and Todd Stark. (Not pictured: Todd Meloy)

Unified Group Member Birthdays

The UnifierVolume 5, Issue 4 • OCT 2012

October10/1 - Bob Gibb, Robert Gibb & Sons10/2 - Craig Miller, Blauch Brothers10/5 - Tom Barker, Guardian10/9 - DeDe Hinton, Straus Systems10/9 - Britt Rice, Miller Air10/9 - Richard York, J&J Air Conditioning10/14 - Sue Blauch, Blauch Brothers10/22 - Ashleigh Fallaw, Innovative Solutions10/27 - Tom Rowles, Yale Mechanical10/28 - Bill Monier, A.J. Monier10/29 - Lindsey Greer, WL Gary

November11/2 - Brett Ludwick, Pacific Rim Mechanical11/3 - Steve Stokes, Air Controls11/7 - Mike Schmidt, Air Comfort11/7 - John Deblon, Yale Mechanical11/8 - Patty Hess, Applied Mechanical11/10 - Joe Kirby, Hawks & Company11/12 - Theresa Greene, Applied Mechanical

11/12 - Dave Robistow, VHV11/13 - Woody Woodall, WL Gary11/16 - Kyle Pennington, A.J. Monier11/16 - Allan Shero, Entek Corporation11/17 - Stacie Martucci, Innovative Service Solutions11/18 - Dale Drent, Baker Group11/22 - Bob Marshall, Dowling Corporation11/23 - Steve Spaeth, Spaeth, Inc.11/25 - Kirk Thornton, Interstate Mechanical11/27 - Gerry Wiegmann, Wiegmann Associates

December12/3 - John Speed, Shoffner Mechanical12/12 - Faith Brown, LMC Service Solutions12/22 - Jeff Winterborne, Enginuity12/23 - Rick Beeler, Straus Systems12/26 - Sherry McBride, Alltek Energy12/26 - Pete D’Amico, Ruthrauff12/30 - Joe Ardagna, CESCO

The Unified Group • 2550 Braga Drive, Broadview, IL 60155 • 888-714-5990 • www.theunifiedgroup.com