The HVAC Relationship-Driven Profit Chain
Are you building your business around brands and transactions or building foundational relationships that actually drive profit? If growth feels harder than it should, the problem may not be your pricing, products, or marketing. It might be as simple as how you’re partnering across your business.
In this week’s episode of Cracking the Code, Drew Cameron breaks down what partnering for profit really means in HVAC. He explores how profit flows through relationships with homeowners, team members, distributors, manufacturers, and referral partners — and why contractors who focus on people instead of logos build stronger, more resilient businesses. You’ll hear how becoming a trusted resource, choosing partners invested in your success, and helping others win creates both financial return and long-term loyalty.
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00:00:00:05 – 00:00:19:18
There are a lot of bad contractors out there in all trade. It shouldn’t be all about the box to the brand. It’s about our relationship. One vision, one voice, one outcome. Together we rise as one to.
00:00:19:19 – 00:00:38:17
Welcome back to Cracking the Code. Drew Cameron, let’s talk about partnering for profit. Sounds good to me. I love the topic and I love the idea and concept. And I think we’re going to, shake up some ideas as to what people think when they hear that that that title. So, yeah. Happy to have that conversation. Yeah.
00:00:38:17 – 00:01:07:05
And so let’s just start off with a definition. When we say partner, we’re not talking about legal partnerships with, people or organizations. That that term gets thrown around a little differently when you start thinking about a legal construct. We’re really talking about looking at working together as a team to impact each other’s lives is what it comes down to.
00:01:07:05 – 00:01:35:02
It’s a partnership that says, hey, I’m a I’m a struggling contractor. Maybe I’m really good technician, but I’m really struggling at being a business owner. And I need your help. And Mister Distributor, you’re my you’re my lifeline right now because you’re the guy that sells me stuff that I then sell and install and maintain. And maybe you’ve got some access to some tools and resources.
00:01:35:02 – 00:02:01:13
Or maybe Mister Manufacturer. You know, no money in this industry starts at the manufacturer level and comes down and actually starts at the contractor level and goes upstream. So contractor makes a retail sale, gets turned over to the contractor. Right. So the homeowner turns over money to the contractor. Contractor pays his people, pays his other bills, including yours, Mr. Distributor.
00:02:01:13 – 00:02:27:13
So we’re talking to multiple entities here, and then Mister Distributor has to pay his manufacturer, his suppliers for the materials that he’s distributing. And, you know, the the flow continues going up uphill. So if we’re going to have a true impact on the financial well-being of our industry, we have to recognize that it’s a partnership at the contractor to consumer level.
00:02:27:15 – 00:02:57:16
It’s a partnership at the contractor team mate level. It’s a partnership between the contractor and the distributor and ultimately to the suppliers to that distributor. So to the manufacturers of the equipment or the accessories, the enhancements that we can offer. So it’s all about looking at the human sitting next to you and working with you, working for you, working around you.
00:02:57:17 – 00:03:21:20
You’re working for them. All the different humans that are involved here. There’s a there’s a need for us to look at each other as partners in profit. Now, I’ve asked a lot of homeowners when I was selling jobs. I said, do you want me to earn a reasonable profit, an unreasonable profit or no profit? And guess what they said most of the time they know.
00:03:21:20 – 00:03:39:03
Some would say probably a fair profit, a reasonable profit. Yeah. I mean, needs to be reasonable. So that thank you for that. Thank you for that permission to to earn a reasonable profit. That’s what we do. We’re not trying to gouge you. We’re not trying to do anything to hurt you. We are a partner in your success of being safe, healthy, comfortable and efficient.
00:03:39:03 – 00:04:00:15
And to do that, I have to hire people that are higher quality than what many people hire that cost a little bit more money. So our projects typically cost a little bit more money than everybody else. Because when you hire some of the best you know, you can have to compensate them accordingly. And even though they were the best when we hired them, we know that they need to be better tomorrow than they are today.
00:04:00:19 – 00:04:30:15
So we’re constantly investing in tools and training to help them be even better for you. That’s for your benefit. That’s not for our benefit. It’s for your benefit. That’s why we do everything for your benefit, because you ultimately are the most important partner in our success. So with all that kind of as a framework, I mean, we’ve had a lot of good conversations about communication, about the importance of of being, you know, just really good from a systematic approach standpoint.
00:04:30:19 – 00:04:56:20
We’ve talked about all kind of different things. But when you think about kind of escalating the relationship that says, you know what, I need to partner up with people that really care about me too. And so as a consultant, I’m sure you’ve had this this discussion before with a lot of your clients. Being that we’re both former contractors, I get this question pretty regularly.
00:04:56:22 – 00:05:25:15
People will ask me for David, if you were back in the business today, what brand would you sell? So would you ask the wrong question? You’re like, oh, no, that’s the question I’m asking. What brand of equipment would you be selling? I said, you’re asking the wrong question. What do you mean? I say, the question should be which local wholesaler that serves your area is most interested in your success?
00:05:25:17 – 00:05:48:19
That’s the one you need to partner with and whatever product they sell, that’s what you sell because you want to support people that want to support you in a partnership of growth. So when you throw that out to people and they start looking at things a little bit differently, I just did a presentation to a man for a manufacturers group of, of salespeople.
00:05:48:19 – 00:06:12:21
We started talking about that, and they’re like, wait, why? Wait a minute. It’s all about the brand. No, no, no, the logo on the cardboard box is not the reason that a contractor wants to do business with you. You need to understand that contractors want to do business with you because you want to do business with them, number one, and that you’re going to help them grow.
00:06:12:23 – 00:06:30:04
You’re going to partner with them in their success because you know that that’s your retail sales force, and you’re so interested in their success that you’re willing to do what you can do to help them get to that point in their business. So with that kind of is the framework, drew, what what are some of your thoughts on that?
00:06:30:06 – 00:06:50:08
Well, I love the, the malted faceted a, you know, approach to this. And I’ll throw a throw another facet in there for you, which would be, you know, third parties, right? Because you talked about coworkers. You’re talking about vendors, right? But then we have the third parties, you know, that, you know, the do stuff that we don’t do, for example.
00:06:50:08 – 00:07:15:16
Right. You know, as well. Right. So, for example, I mean, back in the day, Cameron and Sons, we were not an oil company, right? And we, you know, we were not a chimney company and we were not in a specialist company, but a lot of that stuff was needed, right? We in some areas we were we required, you know, certified electricians, you know, master electricians, you know, based on the permits and, you know, so we had the third party of that.
00:07:15:16 – 00:07:39:05
Right. And so sometimes, you know, we don’t do certain things, but just because I don’t do it doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t, or at least that I shouldn’t provide a resource. Right. And so but I love that because I think we’re all connected in the collective. Right. And the collective is what does it take to get a result, to get an outcome.
00:07:39:07 – 00:08:01:10
Right. And I always like to say one vision, one voice, one outcome together we rise as one. And the way we get better is together. And so I love that, like you and you talked about that, about getting the people on my team, I got to basically create a great work experience so they can have a great livelihood so they can take care of their family so they can show up as the best version of themselves.
00:08:01:12 – 00:08:20:09
Knowing that that you know, that that, that their live, their lives are taken care of and they can focus on the craft of taking care of these customers. Right. And and so we certainly want to do that with our, with our coworkers. And like I say then with our vendor partners, it’s like it shouldn’t be all about the the box in the brand.
00:08:20:11 – 00:08:41:18
It’s about our relationship. And do you know, do I help you accomplish your objectives, Mr. Vendor? And will you help me help me accomplish my objectives? Because that’s what that’s what’s going to, you know, build the loyalty between us. And more than anything, that’s what our vendors want. They want loyalty. They want, they want us to, you know, they want to be our only provider.
00:08:41:18 – 00:08:59:17
And if not the only provider, they want to get the bulk of our business right. Any manufacture will tell you they typically want about 75% of your business. They know that you’re not going to sell 100% of their stuff, but they typically want about at least 75%. Right. And and so my job is to realize we’re all in this together.
00:08:59:19 – 00:09:33:09
And, and if I win and you lose to me, that’s a some loss, right? It has to be omni beneficial. Everybody wins. Right. Not everybody gets everything that they want, right. Yeah. Yeah. Because that’s someone winning and someone’s losing. Right. So we all have to win at some level. And I think and I think that’s probably the you know, the problem with wins and losses, right, is someone’s basically raising a trophy and someone gets no trophy.
00:09:33:15 – 00:09:59:15
Well then someone says, well we give participation trophies. Wow. Okay. Now now no I want everybody being better for the experience. Right. And I think that’s kind of why I think in terms of partnering for profit, you know, it’s everybody profits and it’s not always money. Oh absolutely. Because think about this. If the home owner is the one that’s funding the entire distribution channel, right.
00:09:59:15 – 00:10:18:17
Because they are if the homeowner is the one that’s funding it all, you can’t look at it financially as being a win for them because they’re getting ready to make they’re making an investment in our industry. Think about that. Right. They’re making an investment in the contractor. They’re making an investment in the distributor. They’re making a an investment in the manufacturer.
00:10:18:19 – 00:10:45:00
And when we look at things as a partnership and especially in sales, I am partnering with you to ensure that your family lives in the safest, healthiest, most comfortable and energy efficient home possible. That’s my job, and I love the fact that you brought in the ancillary guys, the the sheet rockers, the the the insulators, the windows guys, the doors guys, the roofing guys, all those different people are a part of our team.
00:10:45:00 – 00:11:05:18
Ultimately, if we’re a really good servant to our customers, if we see something, we should say something. If we see that they’ve got a problem with unsafe electrical stuff in their basement, you know, it’s like, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this before, but, you know, because they probably don’t know what they’re looking at most of the time.
00:11:05:18 – 00:11:23:01
Right? And we do we we do have a feel for this, especially the Hvac industry, because think about it. You have to be a high voltage guy. You got to be a low voltage guy. You got to be a metal worker. You got to be a piper. You got to be a fitter. You got to be controls got you got to be all.
00:11:23:01 – 00:11:40:22
You got to be the refrigeration guy. You got to be the gas piper. I mean, you got all these different things, or in your case, the oil pipers up there. You know, you got all these different. You got all these different skill sets that get bundled up into one trade. It’s like, gosh, man, you don’t have to do them all to your point, but you need to know people who do.
00:11:41:03 – 00:11:58:15
Yeah. How many of us have ever been asked, do you you know, a good plumber? Do you know a good, pool guide? You know, good, you know, drywall, right? Painter? And what the customer is saying to you is I like you and I trust you, and I believe in you to be a resource for me. I wish you did it.
00:11:58:15 – 00:12:21:15
But because you don’t, you probably know good people. And I will trust. Or at least consider your referral, right? Exactly, exactly. And so, as I said a moment ago. Right. Just cause you don’t doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it right. Meaning you should refer and partner with us. We’re talking about with people, right? And maybe there’s no monetary, you know, thing between me and the drywall or maybe a specialist company, meaning the oil company or things like that.
00:12:21:18 – 00:12:44:06
No financial relationships and no contracts. Like you say, between us, it’s a free referral. And I allow that relationship to exist directly. I don’t subcontract that out. And the reason I don’t, because then and I’m taking liability for it and I say, listen, I work with them, don’t work with them. But I’ve had many, many of our customers, you know, who that use them and, and experienced good results by working with them, if you like.
00:12:44:06 – 00:13:00:23
I can provide you not only the, the, you know, the provider, but I can also provide you some people that I’ve referred to them who’ve been taking care of them, if you like. Right. So I can provide referrals on behalf of them. And, and then that way that happens. The cool thing about that is, is, number one, that they trusted us enough to ask, right.
00:13:00:23 – 00:13:18:23
Number one. Number two. Good. Saying. Yeah. Yes. Number two is it doesn’t slow down my process, so I don’t have to wait for them to go and assess the need to assess this abatement market and get a provider who’s then going to try and get it done when when they get around to it, like, no care. And we can keep going.
00:13:19:01 – 00:13:42:05
Right right, right. And it’s an excellent job. Yeah. My job will be taken care of. I’ll be able to afford these people, you know as well. And, and I think also because I’m the person that does that we talked about in another segment of cracking the code. We talked about being unique versus and being the best. It makes me unique because I am a person I had back in the day.
00:13:42:05 – 00:14:16:20
I called it the Golden Rolodex. But you know, your contact list. You know, I had a list of landscaping people, pool people, pest control roofers, whatever somebody needed. I knew the best and I considered to be the best in our area because I didn’t want anything to slow down our connection of working together. And number one, I also wanted to put you, the homeowner, in the best position to feel good about our relationship, in our experience, and and get a good livelihood because there are a lot of bad contractors out there in all trades, without a doubt.
00:14:16:22 – 00:14:36:17
Yeah, without a doubt. And and if they’re not equipped to, to assess roofers, at least they know that I’m in the construction. And I probably knew good players. And I network with good people who do good jobs. And and so I think that’s also what led to our growth and, success at our, at our company, without a doubt.
00:14:36:17 – 00:14:58:18
And so here’s an interesting thing. And you just you just brought something up in my head when I sold, when my dad sold the business back in 99, I started a consulting business back then and started doing some training on stuff. And, I found that most people didn’t know how to really create a referral based business.
00:14:58:19 – 00:15:13:14
And so I created a little process. We called it unlimited Hvac referrals. I got a workbook and the whole nine yards and do a presentation on it. And I’m going to I’m going to resurrect it and turn it into an LMS course. You just gave me that idea. So I’m going to do that. But here’s one of the principles in that.
00:15:13:14 – 00:15:40:09
And you just described it perfectly. I call that a referral alliance. Right. And and the way we did it, it hold service company is when they asked us, who do you recommend for? I had a printed list and I said, I’ll just show you who I use. Here’s who I use now. You want to get the best service at your house, refer the guy, say, look, I intend to refer you if you do the right work.
00:15:40:09 – 00:16:01:04
Guess what? All of a sudden they they’re falling all over themselves to do the right work because they know you’re an influencer within the market. Because they see you on TV, they see you on the news, they see for fortunately, they don’t see up your picture on the post office wall. But, you know, you’re a known commodity.
00:16:01:04 – 00:16:21:07
You’re working with the youth and youth soccer program. You’re, you’re you’re part of the community and everybody knows who you are. And you got a great reputation. They do your fence. You know, you’re going to get more business from the next guy who said, you know, a good fencing guy, right? Here’s the fencing guy, right? Say, I had a printed list and I didn’t call it a referral alliance externally.
00:16:21:07 – 00:16:38:16
I mean, that’s what I called it internally, but I had a referral alliance. And guess what? They reciprocated. So when the poor guy kept getting referrals from us, hey, you know, good heating and air got. Yeah. Called David at Holt Service Company. I mean, it was just it was just beautiful and there was no expectation that that would happen.
00:16:38:21 – 00:17:01:01
But it did happen, right? Because it was helping both win. So when we think about partnering for profit, it does go horizontally. It goes vertically. And it just it’s omni right. It’s an omnipresent type thing when you take it seriously man. That’s that’s powerful. Thank you for bringing that up man. It’s you just made this session a whole lot better.
00:17:01:06 – 00:17:18:09
Thank you. Yeah yeah. No you’re welcome. And and and I love that because to this day I that’s who I am. I pride myself on my network. I know the best marketers. I think I know the best people who do software and, you know, branding, you know, whatever it may be. The, you know, a contractor needs. I tell them, hey, listen, if you need anything, you know, reach out.
00:17:18:09 – 00:17:34:06
And I get people who call me all the time. And it’s funny how many people I have referred, but I don’t see that kind of coming back. And I don’t do it for that reason. Like, I don’t do it because, well, you now, you know, Adams Hudson back in the day referred that guy so many times, right? Joe Cassar right.
00:17:34:06 – 00:17:52:13
So many times. Dan Antonelli from Kick Charge, right. So many times. None of them have ever sent business back my way. And I don’t basically. You guys, you guys, you guys suck, you know? You know, you haven’t done anything for me. I’m going to stop doing it. No, I do for somebody because it’s who I am. It’s my identity and I want to help.
00:17:52:18 – 00:18:11:03
And if I never get anything back, you know what? What I did get back because I felt good, right? And I took care of another human being like we talked about in another session. Right? Humans helping humans. And if it comes back to me, great. It does come back to me in many other ways. I think the universe returns it back to me, but I don’t do affiliate deals with anybody.
00:18:11:03 – 00:18:28:19
Right. And I didn’t do any of the referral deals and commissions and things like that. Kickbacks back in the day, either because I wanted the relationship to be clean, right, and neat. And if you got something from it, maybe you, like you said, you know, you refer things back to me if you if in fact, it helps you too, right?
00:18:28:21 – 00:18:48:17
Because that’s what I want. It’s just like I want people, you know, to take care of each other. Yeah, yeah. And so in, in, in my words, you just described what I call emotional income versus financial income. Right. So I’m immediately receiving the income of being able to help someone else. I’m fine with that. I could stop right there.
00:18:48:19 – 00:19:07:14
If it turns into financial income. That’s just a that’s just icing on the cake. Yeah. You know, I always believe that if you do the right things for the right reasons, the world will take care of you. I think that’s what Doug said in a different way. Right? If you help enough people get what they want, they’ll help you get what you want.
00:19:07:14 – 00:19:39:16
So helping people is always in fashion. It just always is. Yeah. Unless you’re if we start, you know, if we stop being transactional and coin operated as humans, I think we’d be better off. And like I said, we talked about in another segment, Humans Helping Humans. This segment’s obviously partnering for profit. If we if we basically hire good people and give them a great, you know, great coworker experience, not a great contractor coworker experience the best in class in the marketplace employer experience, right?
00:19:39:18 – 00:20:01:08
So they can have the best lives that they can. Or. So if I got to bring in pet care and daycare now, right. And, and financial, consultants and things like that to help you basically build tuition accounts for your kids. You know, that’s what I’m going to do, right? Because I can. Right. And give you that thing so that when you’re here, you don’t have to worry about going home and taking care of all that we got you.
00:20:01:09 – 00:20:23:22
We’ll bring that in, because we can assimilate that. And we have scale to do it right. I’ve got a client who’s a member, who’s doing that exact thing, and he’s, he’s saying, listen, we’re going to provide daycare. We’re going to provide, you know, pet care. We’ll do dog walking service. We’ll bring in financial consultants to help these people understand how to set up, you know, their their retirement funds and their, tuition funds for their kids and things like that.
00:20:24:00 – 00:20:41:00
And he says, I don’t want them having to worry about life. Right? Life is tough. Life is tough. If I can make life easier for my people, guess what? I provide a better experience so people can come knocking on my door to work for me. And then that allows me to go ahead and market and take care of more homeowners and customers.
00:20:41:00 – 00:21:04:02
Right then I go to my vendor and I say, listen to me, what do you need to get what you need out of this marketplace? Partnering for profit means, looking at everything through the eyes of all the individuals around you and trying to help them be better off tomorrow than they are today. And really, the profit, maybe the emotional profit.
00:21:04:04 – 00:21:29:10
It may be financial profit. It’s certainly always profitable to do the right thing for the right reasons. Your partners are the folks that work with you and for you, the folks that work up from you, down from you, and all around you. So think about as you’re working through your day, look for ways to help the person next to you be better tomorrow than they are today.
00:21:29:13 – 00:21:43:05
You’ll earn a profit in ways that you’ve never imagined. Man, this has been another great one. Drew, I appreciate your input on this, and we look forward to speaking with you on another crack in the code a bit.
00:21:43:07 – 00:21:43:09
Of.
