The 3 Cs Every HVAC Leader Needs
What happens when your team is working hard, but not working from the same playbook? Without clear goals and consistent communication, even good technicians can default to the easiest path instead of the best one for the business.
In this episode of Cracking the Code, Contractor University business coach John Winn, shares how lessons from business leadership, financial management and coaching shaped his approach to leading HVAC teams. He breaks down why communication with clarity and consistency matters, how daily goals create accountability and how owners can help their team see the bigger picture behind the work.
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Three C’s very, very important cannot communicate with clarity and consistency.
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Welcome back to Cracking the Code. In this series, we’re introducing you to the business coaches who work with us here at Contractor University to keep receiving more great content like this. Don’t forget to subscribe, comment, like and share this episode. We really appreciate it when other folks in the industry join us to help the entire industry be better tomorrow than it is today, so let’s get to it.
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Many contractors are incredibly busy running their companies, but that doesn’t always mean they have the time to step back and think strategically about their business. Long term planning, financial discipline and building systems that support sustainable growth are areas where experienced guidance can be incredibly valuable. Our guest today on cracking the Code is John Wynn, one of our business coaches here at Contractor University.
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John brings deep experience in business leadership and financial management, helping contractors develop the systems and discipline required to build companies that are both profitable and sustainable over the long term. Hey John, it’s great to have you with us today on cracking the code. Glad to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me back, man. We’re glad to have you on the team, and glad to take away your virgin status on cracking the code.
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Plan on doing this more, but. So let’s start a little bit with your background. How did you first get involved in the HPC industry? You know, I got involved in Hvac by accident, in the late 90s. And I know a long time ago, I was giving business risk management and human resources management seminars to, businesses across the state of Texas.
00:01:51:11 – 00:02:15:17
I mean, thousands of them, literally. And I ran across a gentleman who owned a company and he said, you know, I need someone in my company to do what you’re coaching us to do, right? He had a high experience modifier. He was paying way too much for, insurance products. So, I went in as a human resources and sort of a risk manager, kind of a policy kind of HR person.
00:02:15:19 – 00:02:37:13
After a couple of months, the owner came to me and he says, the HPC owner came to me and he said, hey, you got a business degree, right? Well, yeah. Okay. You are general manager. Congratulations. So, that’s how I got into Hvac, and it was it was really a blessing because not coming from the industry, I didn’t have any preconceived notions.
00:02:37:13 – 00:03:01:11
So everything that I was coached to do that was, proven and practical. I got to implement. So that’s how I got into it, sort of by accident, giving, business seminars. And there you go. And, you know, a lot of us get into it that way of of course, a lot of us are born into it, like, Coach Joel and, coach Bob, and I guess me too.
00:03:01:13 – 00:03:26:04
So we’re kind of born into the industry, but it’s, it’s good to have that outside perspective in it. It is actually, because, you know, with, with a business degree. Right. You already understand what financials should look like. It doesn’t matter the business. Right? Making money is making money. But really, more than that, you learned about the importance of relationships, right?
00:03:26:04 – 00:03:56:13
So, understanding the importance of relationships and imparting that to service technicians, installers, salespeople, CSRs, was, a big part of the success of that organization. And then my career success. So yes, that’s cool. That’s really cool. So what led you into coaching contractors? So I, I worked in the Hvac industry from January of 2001 until late, 2017.
00:03:56:15 – 00:04:22:01
I left Hvac to become a public school teacher and coach in Texas. I know, right? So I took a 75% pay cut, to go coach in a public school in Texas. I got tired, honestly, of interviewing technicians and just people who didn’t know how to interview. So I wanted to do something about it. So I did, and I became a public school teacher and coach in Texas.
00:04:22:03 – 00:04:43:00
I did that for about five years. It was great. I absolutely loved it. And about three years ago, I ran across an individual. I didn’t know him. I rented his RV, of all things. His name was Tim Williamson, and, I wanted to rent RV America or something like that, where you can rent RVs and and I go pick it up.
00:04:43:00 – 00:05:00:01
And Tim, I ask, hey, what do you do for a living? And I said, well, you know, I’m a I’m a teacher and coach in Mount Pleasant, Texas. And he says, oh, well, that’s cool. That’s good. We appreciate teachers. And I said, oh, by the way, I ran a large Hvac shop in Dallas-Fort worth for several years, and he goes, oh, oh, really?
00:05:00:07 – 00:05:16:04
Well, what was the name of the company? And I said, well, you probably don’t know it. He said, well, I try well, it’s air conditioning, heating and plumbing. Okay. Well, yeah, I remember that company. Yeah, I know that company. I didn’t know it, but Tim was a business coach, so he said, hey, when you bring this back, let’s chat for a few minutes.
00:05:16:06 – 00:05:33:12
So I bring it back and, you know, 4 or 5 days and, Tim and I are talking and he goes, so he asked me some operational questions about Hvac business owners. And after about 20 minutes of chatting, he goes, you know, you’d make a great business coach. And I went, you know, I, I appreciate that, thank you.
00:05:33:12 – 00:05:48:06
But I love teaching and it it’s great. And he says I’m going to remember you. And I’m going to I might I might give you an call in a couple months. Is that okay. And I said, yeah, sure, sure. That’s fine. In a couple of months Tim reaches out. He goes, hey, we have a position open as a business coach.
00:05:48:06 – 00:06:07:17
Are you interested? And originally I said, no, I’m not interested. Not at all. Because I’m a teacher. Right. And one of the, the class that I was teaching is called Investigating Careers. And I love the class. I got to write the curriculum, and you can bet my students know how to read a statement. Believe it or not.
00:06:07:19 – 00:06:26:02
After about a week, I thought about it. I thought, you know what? In about, in about a month, my kids are going to go through an interviewing skills class. I’m going to call Tim back, and I’m just going to interview record it for my kids so they can see what a real interview is like. So I called Tim back and said, yeah, yeah, I’m interested.
00:06:26:02 – 00:06:47:01
Well, long story short, I went through four interviews and by the time that fourth interview was over with, I realized I have a lot to offer the Hvac industry, especially business owners, managers, you know, key people. So I joined, a business coaching organization about three years ago. So that’s how I got into coaching. And I’ve loved it ever since.
00:06:47:01 – 00:07:12:22
So essentially, my students changed from junior high and high school kids to business owners. It’s kind of an interesting transition to. And my family is really rich in, in educators as well. My mom was a teacher. My wife’s a teacher. I get a sister that’s a teacher. We got a lot of teachers. My grandfather used to teach at the local trade school, as did my dad when he was running the heating and air business.
00:07:12:22 – 00:07:34:17
So we got a lot of teachers on our side. And we appreciate teachers. And I’m in agreement with you. I mean, when I interviewed you for this job, I was just like, look, this is a no brainer because, you know, the fact that we understand the concepts are great, but can we communicate them? Right? Can we communicate? Can we help people get from where they are to where they want to be?
00:07:34:19 – 00:08:11:00
Right. And and I felt really comfortable with that with you. So I’m really glad that you’re on the team. So think about this. Looking back over your career, what are some of the lessons that really shaped how you approach running and or advising a business owner? You know, that’s a that’s a great question. When I, when I got into teaching, obviously I was, successful, leading teams, you know, and for an Hvac company through processes, leadership, those types of things, I applied those same processes to teaching and coaching.
00:08:11:02 – 00:08:28:17
For example, you know, as a first year coach, as a 50 something, you know, I know I look like a, a veteran teacher and coach in Texas, but I was a first year coach, obviously, five years ago, 5 or 8 years ago now. And, the thing that I, I did some things that other coaches. Look at me, you’re crazy.
00:08:28:17 – 00:08:50:15
For example, I coached, junior high girls basketball teams. Right? I would game plan a junior high basketball game. I would actually have a game plan. And we talked about the other coaches, like, why are you gay? Why are you game planning a junior high game? Well, doesn’t everyone know you just show up? No, no, I don’t want to do that because you’ve got to have a plan.
00:08:50:15 – 00:09:16:11
You’ve got to have a process. If my five on the floor don’t know what we’re trying to accomplish, then, we may not be as successful as we want to be. So I approached everything, with a plan going into it. Right. So, for example, in basketball, our, our goal number one, when the game started, make the other team call us, call a timeout before we do.
00:09:16:11 – 00:09:44:04
Right. We make them call a timeout to fix a problem. We presented. And because I want just like in running a business, I want other these players to actually be coaches on the floor, just like I want technicians to be almost business owners, in their little world. Right. So when we would make the other team call a timeout, you know, halfway through the season, I’d ask them when we come over, okay, now what are we going to do to that other team coach?
00:09:44:04 – 00:10:06:19
We’re going to give them another problem to solve. All right. Perfect. So now they’re all little coaches right. Just like a technician. Right. When you when you teach a process they learn it and they’re successful. Now they become little business owners in their own world. And that’s the best environment you can have. So you know, I actually used to say some similar things to, some of my techs.
00:10:06:19 – 00:10:23:07
I said, man, if I had a whole business full of you because you see it, you know, from a business perspective, we would be a whole lot better off because I did have some techs that I inherited that, you know, just all about them. And that’s it’s heart, you know, they didn’t see the big picture. It was just always about them.
00:10:23:07 – 00:10:40:05
It’s like you’re either going to figure this out. We’re going to do our best to teach you. You can or we’re going to relocate you to another company. It’s just, you know, it’s the right thing to do. So, so, so how that how that translates to to what, you know, what light bulbs go off to business owners now.
00:10:40:05 – 00:11:08:14
And what I’m finding is when business owners learn the power of, communication, I teach them, manager training class, and I tell them there’s, a very important three C’s, very, very important. And that communicate with clarity and consistency, whether you’re a general manager, a service manager, a business owners, you have to communicate with clarity, with communicate with clarity and consistency.
00:11:08:14 – 00:11:32:06
Right. So what I mean by that is, in when they put this into practice, everything changes for the better. For example, if your technicians don’t know what their daily revenue goal is because you just didn’t communicate it, then they’re going to go. They’re going to follow their plan. And their plan is not always your plan, because their plan is going to be the path of least resistance.
00:11:32:08 – 00:11:52:20
Right. So, the first thing is we’ve got to communicate with clarity and consistency. So every day a technician has to know what their daily revenue goal in is. And about halfway through the day, for example, this is your process, just like you’re coaching a group of, basketball players. Your process is at midday. I’m going to give you an update.
00:11:52:20 – 00:12:08:01
If your goal if your revenue goal for the day is $2,000 and you’re at $500, I’m going to say, hey, you’re at $500 and I’m going to send a message out to the team that says, hey, as a team, we need $5,000 today. This is where we are. How are we going to get there the rest of the day?
00:12:08:02 – 00:12:29:04
Right. So you’re going to communicate that every day. And if you do that consistently, consistently, consistently before you know it, if you don’t communicate what the revenue, the goal, what the revenue goal of the day is, they’re going to call you out on it like a month later, they’re going, no, hey, what’s our goal today? Right? I haven’t seen it yet.
00:12:29:06 – 00:12:46:23
I kind of a cool story in teaching and how that, worked also when I was, doing Hvac meetings, you know, I was in every one, right? And the ones that I would chair when I would end, I’d always tell my people, hey, I love you all, have a great day. And, you know, and they they expected that, right.
00:12:46:23 – 00:13:08:06
Well, when I started teaching seventh and eighth graders, when the bell rang, I would say, hey, I love you all guys. Have a great day. I’m not going to lie, the first couple of times the kids would look around like, this coach, when I mean, he’s kind of a creeper, right? Well that’s okay. You can’t hurt my feelings, I promise.
00:13:08:07 – 00:13:24:18
About a couple of months into the school year, the bell rang one day, and I was busy doing something, and I didn’t say, hey, I love you all. Have a great day. When the bell rang, the kids just sat there. They didn’t leave while the kids finally, a few seconds later, said, hey coach, when do you love us?
00:13:24:22 – 00:13:46:08
Oh yeah, I’m sorry, I love you. Have a great day. Now they’ve got permission to leave, right? When you communicate with clarity and consistency and they expect it now, it’s just it’s the norm and not the exception. So when, business owners learn that lights go off, tickets go up and everybody’s happy. Man, that’s a great story. Gone.
00:13:46:09 – 00:14:02:08
And, you know, it reminds me of the, back when I was running dad’s business. You know, I had service techs that just cared about making it. They didn’t really care about the big picture. They didn’t understand the big picture because we weren’t real good at communicating it up front. But once they got it made, it made a lot of difference.
00:14:02:08 – 00:14:16:15
So, you know, this has been so good. I tell you what I’m going to do, I’m going to invite you back for another episode. Like right now we’re going to go and close this one out so we can move on to the next one. But let me say this. You know, thanks a lot for sharing your experiences and insights with us today.
00:14:16:15 – 00:14:41:13
You’re going to be able to get on get on again and let’s, let’s share some more and got guys and gals. Coaches like Coach Wayne here are available to help you think through the leadership, financial and strategic challenges of running a contracting business and a whole lot more. Check us out at my contractor university.com. Thanks for listening to Cracking the Code where we make running and Hvac business fun profitable and stress free.
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Don’t forget to subscribe, comment, like and share this episode! Until next time, keep on cracking.
