ACCA’s Fall Meetings Bring Contractors New Ideas And Growth Opportunities

November 3, 2016

On October 25 - 28, ACCA, the Indoor Environment & Energy Efficiency Association, and its partners at PHC News, held two, back-to-back training events in Cincinnati, OH. Hundreds of leading contracting leaders from across the country attended both events to learn and network to grow their businesses.

Business Technology & Operations Forum
The Business Technology & Operations Forum (BTO) was a day and half of training wholly focused on contracting business leadership from the HVAC, plumbing, solar, electrical, hydronics, and building performance market segments.

The event kicked off on October 25 with Bestselling author Scott Deming sharing with attendees how to shake up their businesses. Deming told attendees that they had to stop looking for the easy answer to solutions in their business to reach new levels of success. He showed them how when they look at challenges in different ways, they can come up with multiple strategies for overcoming them and busting through the success plateaus that are holding them back.

BTO included 12 learning labs featuring some of the top contractors and industry experts sharing tips for selecting and implementing the proper technology for their companies, revamping their financials and understanding what they are really telling them, shaking up their marketing to get better results, how to handle overtime challenges, dealing with cyber security and privacy issues, and maximizing your customer service reps time with the customer.

The event wrapped up with leading contractor, and past ACCA Chairman, Ray Isaac of Isaac Heating & Air Conditioning, sharing how his company has evolved into the regional powerhouse it is today. Nothing was off limits during this session, as he shared the struggles that his company has faced, the flaws he has had to correct in his leadership abilities, and the programs they have developed to find, train, and keep the best team members, which has led to their success.

“The mix of sessions was really good this year and I can’t say there was a single one I didn’t like,” said Ed Utterback of Paitson Bros. Heating & Air Conditioning in Terre Haute, IN. “The classes sparked some great conversations in the hall and I got some of the best ideas from talking to other attendees in between classes.”

BTO also featured a sponsor showcase that allowed attendees to get information on programs and services that will help them grow their businesses. The BTO sponsors were: CreditSuppliers; Davisware; Emerson; EnergyCircle; Federated Insurance; Jackson Systems; NATE, Nexstar; Rheem; SAWIN – Service Automation; ServiceTitan; Survey Square; Team Management Systems; and USA Refrigerants.

Service Leadership
After eight years of success, ACCA’s popular Service Managers Forum, shook things up and became Service Leadership. Geared towards all leaders in service fields, it showed attendees how to build a first-class service department, turn managers into leaders, and turn their employees into a powerhouse team.

The day and a half event kicked off on October 27 with an entertaining opening session that featured Michael Hoffman. From the start of the session, Hoffman had attendees off their feet and out of their comfort zones to teach them how to be better leaders. This fun and exciting session pumped up attendees and gave them a chance to interact with other attendees and look at leadership from a new perspective.

The event also featured 10 learning labs, two which were repeated, that covered everything from soft skills, employee reviews, properly benchmarking, commercial service growth, and finding new ways to grow and inspire your team.

Service Leadership closed with a favorite in the industry, Steve Coscia of Coscia Communications, teaching attendees how to crush the competition by being more human. He helped attendees really understand the core of what they need to do to connect with their team, and to get their team to connect with customers to provide the service that they deserve. This session was what it takes to be a real leader that gets results in a real working environment.

"Service Leadership was a great opportunity to interact with peers in our industry from many different markets across the country, said Adam Smith of H.B McClure Company in Harrisburg, PA. “Through conversations, I was able to learn many different perspectives on how to make progress with our business. There were nuggets I was able to take away from everything I attended.”

The Service Leadership also included a sponsor showcase that featured: Aeroseal; ARRCO; Best Living Systems; Data-Basics; Davisware; Emerson; Jackson Systems; Joe Knows Energy; NATE, Nexstar; Rheem; SAWIN – Service Automation; ServiceTitan; Survey Square; Team Management Systems; USA Refrigerants; and York.

ACCA will be announcing the dates and location for the 2017 Business Technology & Operations and Service Leadership soon. Check www.btoforum.com and www.serviceleadership2016.com for more details.

 

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ACCA is a non-profit association serving more than 60,000 professionals and 4,000 businesses in the indoor environment and energy services community. Our member firms are the nation's most professional contracting businesses, serving residential and commercial customers in every state. With roots stretching back a century, ACCA was incorporated in its present form nearly 50 years ago. Today, ACCA sets the standards for quality comfort systems, provides leading-edge education for contractors and their employees, and fights for the interests of professional contractors throughout the nation. Learn more about ACCA here.