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Matt Michel Biographical Information
Cited in the book, “The 100 Greatest Sales Tips of All Time,” Matt Michel is listed as one of the hundred “legendary figures” in the world of sales and motivation. The North American Technician Excellence Program and Contracting Business Magazine recognized Matt with the first ever “Golden Toolbox Award” for leadership in the HVAC industry.
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Professional |
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The Service Roundtable The nation’s largest private contractor group |
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Today, Matt is CEO & President of the Service Roundtable, an Internet based business alliance dedicated to providing small service businesses with the information they need to improve sales, profitability, and business performance.
Matt founded the Service Roundtable in 2002 with funding by angel investors, including professional angel investors and leading air conditioning industry professionals. Service Roundtable investors include four past national chairmen of the industry’s largest trade association, two of four living industry hall of fame members, several past national contractors of the year, and so on.
Within six months of its launch, the Service Roundtable became the largest private contractor group in the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning industry. In 2003, the company added plumbing.
The organization’s member companies represent more than $2.5 billion in sales with members in all 50 states, most Canadian provinces, Australia, and Europe. The company plans to expand into a number of additional vertical markets.
Read What Members Say About The Service Roundtable (Be Sure To Scroll Down The Page)
Take a Tour of The Service Roundtable
Visit The Service Roundtable’s Home Page
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Decision Analyst One of the world’s leading private marketing research and marketing consulting firms |
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Prior to launching the Service Roundtable, Matt was Vice President of the Advanced Technology Group for Decision Analyst, serving such clients as:
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· A.O. Smith · Aire Serv · Alabama Power · Amana · Amtrak · Armstrong · Carrier Corporation · Citgo · Contractors 2000/Nexstar · Department of Energy · Dibold · Earthlink · Environmental Protection Agency · Ericsson |
· Excellence Alliance · Fax4Free.com · Fedders · Front Range Solutions (Goldmine software) · Glass Doctor · Glovia, · GroupMAC/Encompass · Guadalupe Valley Telephone Cooperative · Honeywell · HylsaMex · Invensys (Maple Chase) · Lennox Industries |
· LumberDesk.com · Moen · The Museum Company · The National Association of Realtors · The National Cutting Horse Association · Nippon Telephone & Telegraph · Nokia · North American Technician Excellence · Oklahoma Natural Gas · Overhead Door Corporation · Penton Media · Peregrine Systems |
· Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors · Portland General Electric · PPG Industries · Primedia · Ryobi · Sage Telecommunications · Sears · Sprint · St Bernard Software · Time/Life · Trane · Verio · York |
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Aire Serv The oldest continuous residential air conditioning franchise system |
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The Aire Serv franchise system was created by Matt in 1993. He grew the company from a clean sheet start to 65 locations, and achieved a #233 ranking in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Franchise 500” within 24 months, before assuming overall marketing responsibilities for the Dwyer Group Trade Services (Aire Serv, Mr Electric, and Mr Rooter).
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Titus The world leader in air distribution systems; subsidiary of London based, 37,000 employee, $5 billion Tomkins plc |
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Starting at the beginning of a sharp downturn in high rise building construction, Matt turned around the company’s VAV terminal and DDC controls business units, generating the first profit for DDC controls and gaining more than nine points of VAV terminal market share in 24 months, leaving Titus as the world leader in this product area.
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Lennox Industries A Fortune 500 air conditioning manufacturer |
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Matt joined as head of corporate factory automation, moved into corporate marketing research, progressed through a series of promotions, and was the head of marketing west of the Rocky Mountains when he left Lennox.
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Turbo Refrigerating Company A leading manufacturer of industrial ice harvesters & thermal storage systems |
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Matt joined Turbo out of college as a Project Engineer, performing design engineering and manufacturing engineering .
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Publications |
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An award winning writer, Matt has published a vast number of technical papers and trade journal articles. He writes “The Rant,” a bi-monthly featured column for Contracting Business magazine. He is also a contributing writer for a number of publications, including Contractor magazine, Contracting Canada, Plumbing & Mechanical, Reeves Journal, The PHC Profit Report, the CASRO Journal, Quirk’s Marketing Research Review, and a variety of other leading trade publications.
Matt is the publisher of Comanche Marketing, a leading Internet based marketing publication for small, service businesses. His articles have been reprinted in numerous newsletters, magazines, and websites.
Subscribe to Comanche Marketing For Free
He is the author of the book, Never Lose A Customer: 10 Steps To Building an Outstanding Customer Retention Program, The Power of Positive Pricing: Pricing Strategies To Grow The Top Line While Building The Bottom Line, and working on a forthcoming book, The Way of the Comanche: A Novel of Small Business Transformation.
eBooks by Matt include:
· Life Design · 50 Comanche Marketing Tips for Building Your Service Business · The Little Book of Business Facts · The Comanche Marketing Guide to Business Card Marketing · The Comanche Marketing Guide to Lead Generation for the Bored Comfort Consultant · 21 Ways to Get More From Your Next Home Show · Staying Positive in a Negative World, Build a Better Mousetrap: 34 Ways to Boost Print Marketing Performance · The Comanche Marketing Guide to Cracking the Public Relations Code · The Comanche Marketing Guide to The Oldest Appliance Contest.
All eBooks are available to Service Roundtable members.
The following 150 articles and columns by Matt are available online:
1. 16 Ways to Make Your Print Marketing Shine 2. A Comanche's New Year's Resolution - Part 1: Response Charge Pricing 4. A Tale of Two Types of Contractors 7. Applied Learning Associates - The Best of Comanche Marketing 8. Beating the big boxes at water heater sales 9. Big Box/Utility Competition Part 1 10. Big Box/Utility Competition Part 2 11. Big Box/Utility Competition Part 3 12. Build A Better Mousetrap: It Begins and Ends with Marketing 13. California to Repeal the Laws of Physics 15. Create Value With a Diagnostic Report 16. Coffee Cup Marketing (Pt. 1) 17. Coffee Cup Marketing (Pt. 2) 18. Coffee Cup Marketing (Pt. 3) 19. Common Business Myths Part 1 20. Common Business Myths Part 2 21. Common Business Myths Part 3 22. Complete Idiots 23. Contractors Vs. Everybody Else 24. Customer Product Knowledge Part 1 25. Customer Product Knowledge Part 2 28. Discounting by Subtraction 30. Don't Try To Save Your Way To Prosperity 31. Employee Family & Friend Promotions 35. Evaluating Franchise Opportunities 37. Everyone Sells: Part 1 - The Couch 38. Everyone sells: Part 2 - Jennifer 39. Everyone Sells: Part 3 – “Inside” Sales 40. Everyone Sells: Part 4 - Tommy and The Kid 41. Everyone Sells:- Part 5 - 15 Persuasion Techniques 42. Exploiting Environmental Hysteria For Fun and Profit 45. Fifty Observations About the Art of Service 52. Follow Up First 53. Future Plumber: Where The Past Is Prologue 54. Grow Your Business Geometrically, For Free 55. Guest Editorial by Matt Michel Frank Blau: The Servant Leader 57. Have You Calculated The Cost of a Customer? 58. Have You Told Your Friends Yet? 59. Hire a Professional Graphic Artists – It’s Money Well Spent 60. HOW TO ENSURE A RETURN ON COMMUNITY DONATIONS 61. How To Keep Home Depot Out Of The Water Heater Game 62. Hurry, There’s Still Time to Give Thanks 63. HVAC Forum: Remembering John 64. I Have Seen the Enemy...:: 65. Impoverished Craftsman Part 1 66. Impoverished Craftsman Part 2 67. Impoverished Craftsman Part 3 70. Lead Generation for the Board Comfort Consultant, Part 2 71. Lead Generation for the Bored Comfort Consultant, Part 3 72. Lead Generation for the Bored Comfort Consultant, Part 5 73. Lead Generation for the Bored Comfort Consultant, Part 6 75. Make Your Trucks Mobile Billboards, Not Bulletin Boards 76. Making Cold Calls Work Part 1 77. Making Cold Calls Work Part 2 84. Matt Michel on Managing Your Business 85. Modifying to Stand Out Part 1 86. Modifying to Stand Out Part 2 88. New Year's Marketing Part 1 89. New Year's Marketing Part 2 90. Newsletters: A Powerful Marketing Tool 91. One-On-One Marketing Part 1 92. One-On-One Marketing Part 2 93. Partnering Tips to Increase Sales 94. Plot Your Efforts and Track Your Results 95. Press Release Rules Part 1 96. Press Release Rules Part 2 97. Pricing: Response Charges Part 1 98. Pricing: Response Charges Part 2 99. Promotional Writing: Long Copy Sells 100. Psssst ... I've Got a Secret:: Contracting Business 101. Selling Like a Pro 102. Selling Like a Pro Part 2 103. Selling Mindset 104. Service Agreement Customers Are Special, So Treat Them That Way 105. Service Agreements Part 1 106. Service Agreements Part 2 110. Sound the Trumpets & Blast the Horns 111. Sticking With The Tried and True 112. Stuck in the Middle 120. Tell 'em What You've Got! Part 1 121. Tell 'em What You've Got! Part 2 123. The Comanche Marketer - Bubba's Bike Race 124. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series - Pts 6 & 7 125. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series - Tip #9 126. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series #'s. 10 -14 127. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series Continues 128. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series Part 1 129. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series Part 2 130. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series Part 5 131. The Comanche Marketer Mousetrap Series Pts. 3 & 4 132. The Comanche Marketer The Mousetrap Series Intro 133. The Company Did Everything Right, Except... 134. The Final Installment: Make Your Business Cards Work for You ... 136. The Industry Has Gone a SEER Too Far 137. The Law of Equilibrium Part 1 138. The Law of Equilibrium Part 2 139. The Loyalty Ladder 140. The Most Underappreciated Guy in the Industry 141. The Mousetrap Series - Tips 15 thru 20 142. The Mousetrap Series - Tips 21 thru 26 143. The Name is the Game 144. The Power of Positive Pricing 145. The Problem With Flat Rate Pricing 146. We Have No Technician Shortage, We Have a Surplus of Owners 147. What Flavors Do You Offer? 149. When Clutter Makes Dollars, It Makes Sense 150. You Can't Change Home Centers, But You Can Change Your Own Company
Matt’s work appears widely throughout the plumbing, air conditioning, electrical, and other industries, although not always under his name. He has ghost written articles for others and prepared sales and marketing manuals and courses for a number of organizations. He developed Results Driven Marketing, a consumer marketing system that was employed by four service franchise organizations. He created the salesperson’s self-generated leads program employed by a national retailer. Matt developed the marketing course used by a national consolidator and the advanced marketing course used by an exclusive contractor alliance.
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Public Speaking |
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Matt accepts 20 to 30 formal speaking engagements a year with conferences, manufacturers, utilities, trade associations, university groups, civic organizations, and Wall Street. He is frequently featured as a keynote speaker and is considered one to the top speakers in the air conditioning and plumbing industries.
The following videos are from Matt’s presentation of 173 Simple Ways to Get and Keep Customers, delivered to a chapter of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America. The presentation took 45 minutes.
1. Introduction 2. 20 Low Cost Ways To Get Customers 4. 25 Off The Wall Ways To Get Customers 5. 8 Ways to Boost Average Tickets 6. 9 Ways to Generate More Referrals 8. 5 Ways to Exploit Environmental Hysteria 9. 13 Retention Steps to Take At Once 10. 7 Ways to be Easy to Do Business With 11. 4 Unusual Ways to Keep Customers 12. 12 Ways to Build Memorability 15. 6 Measurements To Keep You Focused On Customer Retention 16. 3 Tips For Handling Complaints 18. Close
Matt’s standard presentations include…
· Comanche Marketing Highly popular, Comanche Marketing is a fast paced, motivational presentation of more than 100 marketing tactics small business owners can put to use immediately. Comanche Marketing is focused on in-home service businesses and can be structured to fit within a 60 minute to a 120 minute time slot.
· Comanche Marketing Seminar The Comanche Marketing Seminar is a full fledged marketing seminar designed for service companies. The seminar addresses a full range of marketing principles from a service perspective, such as the four P’s of marketing, plus the two P’s of service, marketing planning, marketing communication, and so on. Seminar participants leave the knowledge and tools necessary to assemble a marketing plan. The Comanche Marketing Seminar can be done within one day, if necessary, but better fits within a two day format.
· Comanche Selling The HVAC sales version of Comanche Marketing, Comanche Selling was originally developed for Sears Heating & Cooling’s new sales professional training. Over 50 practical company and individual selling tips are introduced. Comanche Selling fits within a 45 to 60 minute time slot.
· Just The Facts A number of facts from research studies about small business, management, and customer service are presented with lessons for business owners to help them boost their personal and company productivity. This is motivational and inspirational, but also informative. Just The Facts fits in a 60 to 90 minute time slot.
· Life Design As any high acheiver knows, goal setting is a key part of life success. Life Design is a seminar on personal goal setting that utilizes the principles taught by such motivational greats as Earl Nighingale, Denis Waitley, Stephen Covey, Zig Ziglar, and Michael Gerber. Life Design teaches individuals how to develop emotionally powerful goals, and then shows how they can be attained through the companies where they work. Life Design includes presentation and personal exercises. Life Design fits within a 30 to 60 minute time slot.
· Passion For Service This keynote address centers on people as the key differentiating factor for a service company. For a service business, the people are the product. Passionate people will set any business apart, will overcome almost any deficiency, and will result in passionate customers. Yet, passion starts with the boss. A Passion For Service is designed for a 60 minute to 90 minute time slot.
· Simple Ways To Get and Keep Customers Similar to Comanche Marketing, Simple Ways is a rapid fire presentation of marketing methods suitable for small business, ranging from tried and true suggestions that everyone knows they should do, but frequently do not, to unusual, out-of-the-box but successful and highly creative methods. The number and actual suggestions can be tailored to fit the time slot and audience. This presentation has been delivered within time frames ranging from 50 minutes to two hours and from small groups to more than 400.
· Staying Positive in a Negative World Business owners are assaulted by negative information, yet must motivate their staffs and themselves. Staying Positive in a Negative World introduces over 50 practical techniques people can use to keep upbeat and forward focused. Staying Positive fits within a 30 to 60 minute time slot.
· The Power of Positive Pricing Few contractors charge enough. Positive Pricing teaches them how. Yet, Positive Pricing is more than charging enough. It is charging correctly. It is using price as a strategic tool to grow the top line while building the bottom line. Positive Pricing introduces response charge strategies, flex pricing, and more. Positive Pricing fits within a 90 to 120 minute time slot.
· Training to Turbocharge Your Technicians No business owner would send technicians into the field without tools. Or would they? In truth, technicians are unequipped for sales and business. Their training has not equipped them with the soft skills needed to build customer relations, generate additional business, and boost satisfaction. Unfortunately, company owners are usually ill-equipped to design and lead company training efforts. Training to Turborcharge Your Technicians teaches owners how to design an internal company training program that energizes technicians, satisfaction, sales, and retention. Turbocharging Your Technicians fits within a 60 to 90 minute time slot.
· Marketing to Build a More Profitable Small Business Most small business marketing is (C)ruddy, (R)otten, (A)wful, and (P)itiful. In other words, it’s C-R-A-P. Marketing to Build a More Profitable Small Business introduces classical direct marketing and graphic design principles to business owners, marketers, and salespeople. The program takes 60 to 90 minutes.
· Developing a PHC Service Agreement Program Done right, a service agreement program improves cash flow, provides steady work for technicians during slow periods, and ties customers to your company. Developing a PHC Service Agreement Program addresses the need, how to design an effective service agreement, pricing, and supporting sales and marketing material.
Other/additional presentations can be created or customized as needed. To contact Matt about a speaking engagement, call 214.995.8889 or email him from the link below.
Email Matt Michel About a Speaking Engagement
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Industry Service |
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Matt has served or currently serves on a number of industry advisory boards including:
· The Air Control & Distribution Devices Section for the Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Institute · The Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Institute’s Industry Awareness Task Force · The Curriculum Advisory Board for Universal Technical Institute · The Editorial Advisory Board for Contracting Business magazine · The HVAC Comfortech Advisory Board · The NATE (North American Technician Excellence) Board of Trustees · The National Advisory Board for the National Comfort Institute · The National Advisory Council for the Thermal Storage Applications Research Center · The Standard 885 Engineering Committee for the Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Institute
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Engineering Contributions |
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While Matt has made his mark in marketing, his background is engineering. As an engineer, Matt developed the first solid state control system for a thermal energy storage system. He was also named as a “Tomkins Innovator” for his contributions to the development of Titus’ cold air distribution technology.
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Education |
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· Bachelor of science degree from Texas A&M University (1983) · Master of business administration degree from the University of North Texas (1987)
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Personal |
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Married since 1984 (Pam), Matt has two daughters (Mackenzie and Madison). He is active in his church, youth sports, and a variety of civic boards and organizations. An accomplished heavyweight runner, Matt has earned over three dozen middle distance running awards.
Matt is also Texas state salsa champion. His Smoked Raspberry Salsa won first place in the State Fair of Texas Salsa Competition and the North Texas State Fair Salsa Competition. His Tequila Lime Salsa won second place in the North Texas State Fair Salsa Competition. Matt also makes an award winning Tequila Lime Chili.
Matt lives in Flower Mound, Texas.
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