Haller Enterprises – Growth and Technology Oriented

It’s something we in the industry don’t see enough of. Haller Enterprises, a mechanical contracting firm based in Lititz, PA, saw substantial growth in their the residential and commercial service and replacement business in 2009.

Rick Haller started the firm in 1981 and it grew steadily. Today, Haller employs more than 260 employees with expansion into HVAC, plumbing, hydronic and electrical contracting, now to include several locations in central PA.

Binocular Vision

It was their ability to look into the distance while watching a shifting market years ago that led Haller managers to make strategic changes to shore-up the firm’s business. Early indications that the construction market was softening led them to strengthen their resources for service and replacement work.

Today, company managers report that tough economic times, if anything, have sharpened their focus on managing the business.

“Haller has expanded through conservative growth, never growing on speculation or for the sake of gaining size and stature,” said John Michel, vice president of the Retrofit and Service Division. “We’re attentive to building long-term customer relationships, first, and that leads to smart growth and profitability.”

One first-encounter surprise is Haller’s headquarters facility, an artfully-designed gem designed to meet the fast-paced needs of the growing firm. And though the two-story structure is only nine years old, the owners already added substantially to its size in ‘08, making accommodation for the larger number of employees with additional offices and a “Haller University” training facility. There, employees learn the latest in safety and installation techniques, the latest changes in building codes, and receive certification training.

Evidence of the company’s success can also be seen in other nearby communities. Haller now has branch offices in Mechanicsburg, PA, 40 miles to the west of Lititz; Palmyra, PA, 20 miles away; and York, PA, 25 miles to the south and west. The company’s three key divisions are Commercial Service and New Construction, Residential New Construction, and Residential Retrofit and Service.

Haller isn’t your typical mechanical contracting firm, especially if you consider its location in the historic, rural community at the heart of Pennsylvania’s Amish country. Though the area is susceptible to the strained market conditions seen nationwide, the region’s industrial and commercial diversity, tourism, wealth and seasonal changes provide steady opportunity for business and growth.

“We’ve prepared for and nurtured our growth with care,” said Michel. “It’s been an amazing process to see and be a part of. Frankly, we’ve all been surprised by the pace of growth here, but much of it stems from how things began when our senior managers – Rick Haller and Lindy Bair – chose to build the company’s foundation on firm respect for the employee, attentiveness to customer needs, and knowing when to turn to experts outside the company.”

Training and software – platform for growth

Key facets to the growth of Haller’s Retrofit and Service Division, growing at a brisk pace, are a software platform they invested in and implemented in 2005 and, soon after that, a link with the Seattle-based training and management gurus at Business Development Resources (BDR, Inc.).

“We needed and found HVAC contracting management and sales presentation software,” said Michel. “We’re certain that it attributed successfully to the growth of our division, helping us to achieve a 46% revenue jump in the first year.

“It’s a well-conceived software selling platform that greatly improves and simplifies sales presentations, and adds to our already solid technical background,” he added.

“We found that the system, Opportunity Manager, quickly took our professionals to the next level,” he said. “It met our high expectations. We recouped our investment in the software within several months with successfully sold jobs that included a number of large residential jobs where high efficiency equipment was installed.

“Very quickly, customers told us that the interactive nature of the presentation and its ability to share multiple options to meet their desires were a key to getting the job,” continued Michel. “And we’ve heard pretty much the same thing from other customers since then. Internally, the software has given us great consistency in pricing and has enabled us to manage our margins closely.”

Working in conjunction with the use of “OpMan” software is Haller’s growing relationship with BDR. “It’s helped us immensely to see and hear things from a different perspective,” said Michel. “BDR’s experts, whose sole focus is the HVAC industry, have empowered us with broader industry experience and information. But the work isn’t done. We continue to learn and to refine management of the business, thanks in part to the knowledge and skills they’ve shared with us.”

Service work, the key to growth

According to Michel, Haller now has 30 service technicians – double what they had just three years ago. “BDR’s service expert, Jennifer Shooshanian, has helped immensely,” asserted Michel. “She and others from BDR have been here several times and, each time, we gain new and helpful insights. With Jennifer’s guidance, we now have a process in place for all facets of service operations – from pricing, telemarketing and dispatching to how we show up at the customer’s home and communicate with them.

A year ago, Haller managers proposed the idea that the company get into duct cleaning. Through BDR’s network of client companies, Haller managers called and spoke at length with several contracting firms that were running successful duct cleaning operations. “We quickly learned about the process, the best equipment on the market, and the job skills needed to make it work. It’s now a valuable and profitable piece of our business,” continued Michel.

Building sales, with a twist

Another piece of Haller’s success has been the investment in building a capable sales force. The twist is that candidates from within the industry don’t necessarily have an advantage.

Haller’s sales staff has grown steadily. They’ve found that they can groom “outsiders” for these positions. According to Michel, they look first for the right fit culturally, looking also at a candidate’s energy, communications abilities and other assets that aren’t easy to pin down.

“First we put them through Opportunity Interactive’s 18-step personality profile,” said Michel. “If they do well with that, and several other internal steps, we usually move them pretty quickly toward job preparation. Through the process we’ve developed with BDR and Opportunity Interactive, we can get a new sales professional – actually, they’re comfort consultants – up and running in a very short time,” said Michel. “Some of them exceeded sales of well over $1 million last year.”

Michel says that they rely on Opportunity Manager aptitude and skills testing to help them identify the types of people who typically excel as sales pros. The process of grooming a sales professional also entails time in the field with installers and rigorous in-house training.

Software – sales advantages

At its core, the Opportunity Manager software package gives structure to and streamlines the sales process from running the sales lead to tracking sales staff performance. It also has a special feature to set a contracting firm’s desired profitability into the pricing. The program’s interface is designed to engage the customer, helping them to create their own system while educating them about the benefits of better, higher efficiency equipment.

During the initial sales visit, the software leads a salesperson through a Manual J-based load calculation, adds HVAC equipment and capabilities based on the customer’s desires, calculates labor time and rates, and imports photos from the home to personalize the presentation, making them available for immediate use, and even for electronic transport back to the home office for review prior to quotation.

“The company that developed the software, Opportunity Interactive, spent two full days with us to introduce our staff members to the software, a service that comes as part of the investment,” added Michel. “Several of us were trained in the use of the software, but the sales staff has become especially proficient with it; it’s a helpful point of differentiation for Haller.”

“Now, our sales presentations are so much more comprehensive,” said Edward McFarlane, Haller’s sales manager. “They include data on the building or home, several equipment options, a complete cost quote, and photos of old and new equipment. It maximizes our time in front of the customer.”

“One module in the package is like a virtual showroom,” added McFarlane. “It makes it a lot easier to show homeowners the advantages of having high efficiency equipment,” he continued. “We’ve also found it much easier to build homeowner interest in programmable t-stats, air cleaners and other accessories.”

“Our salespeople focus much of their attention on the explanation of system benefits – such as high efficiency hybrid systems, coupling a 16 SEER or better air conditioner with a 90+ variable speed furnace,” said Michel. “The equipment is well-matched to the area and our weather conditions. After all, they will see immediate and long-term benefit, given rising energy rates. But it all comes back to our ability to present it well and to communicate clearly with customers, showing them all the options that they have in a way that’s not confusing or intimidating.”

“The proposals have added greatly to the professionalism of our work,” added McFarlane. “We leave behind a color printed proposal with pictures, equipment descriptions, inclusions and exclusion of work, options, discounts and a bottom line price . . . not a hand-written bid on a piece of paper.”

“We recently added three more salespeople,” concluded Michel. “Our presentations are strapped down and consistent. And though the new construction market has slowed considerably, we’re still gaining market share. The recipe is working.”