Jackson Systems will sponsor the first ever “National HVACR Service Managers Forum” that will be hosted by ACCA.  Read more about the event below.

Service managers play a key role in a contracting company’s success. In response to many requests for better educational opportunities for these important players, the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) will host the first National HVACR Service Managers Forum on October 9 & 10 in Houston, Texas.

“To succeed as a service manager, you can’t just be a technical expert, you have to be a people expert, an organization expert, a management expert,” said Ray Isaac, president of Isaac Heating & Air Conditioning, ACCA 2008-2009 chairman, and a former service manager himself. “The Service Managers Forum is a terrific opportunity to help these professionals improve themselves and the companies they work for, and is an important step in ACCA’s goal to help professional contractors differentiate themselves.”

The two-day intensive educational and networking event has been designed by contractors to provide maximum learning impact on the people who manage service departments, or who are being groomed for possible management positions in an HVACR contracting business.

The Forum is built around six real-world workshops, each of which is being offered twice so that attendees will be able to participate in each one. The topics to be addressed are:

-Structure Your Service Department for Profit
-The Perfect Service Call
-How to Stay Cool When Customers Get Hot
-Finances for Service Managers
-Leading Effective Meetings and Training Programs
-Taking Your Service Agreement Program to the Next Level

In addition, dynamic general sessions will help service managers get great results from their teams. At the opening session, “Getting Great Results: Turning Talent Into Performance,” management guru Garrison Wynn will combine the results from the largest management survey ever conducted with real-life management and leadership solutions to show you how to get the most from your people, regardless of their skill level. Service managers will learn how to manage their top producers, how to hire for talent and turn it into performance, how to listen like a leader, and how to help low performers fight their way into the middle.

At the closing luncheon on October 10, service managers will learn how to communicate better with their employees, colleagues, customers and bosses during an interactive and engaging session, “Can You Hear Me Now?” Nationally-renowned communications expert Sarah Michel will help service managers identify their own natural style of communication, use their natural talents to create “buy-in,” reduce “mis-communication” and conflict, and use differences to create stronger teams.

Service managers will also get the unique opportunity to meet with, share with, and learn from other service managers from all over the country. At the Roundtable Luncheon on October 9, attendees will be able to choose “topic tables” and participate in conversations with other service managers on a variety of challenges and opportunities, such as GPS and fleet management, productivity pay, dispatching improvements, and many more.

“If you think it’s hot in an attic, wait until you’re behind a service manager’s desk,” Isaac said. “Many years ago, ACCA used to hold meetings for service managers, and I attended them and found they made a huge difference to my personal growth and our company’s bottom line. I’m proud that we are bringing them back, especially now when contractors are finding that service is not just a function, it’s a business. It’s where value is created for your company, through re-occurring revenue and client development.”

The National HVACR Service Managers Forum is being presented by ACCA in cooperation with the Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration NEWS. It will be held October 9 & 10 at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown in Houston, Texas. Houston is a convenient and inexpensive city for travelers, served by two major airports.

For full program information and to register for the Forum call ACCA at 703-824-8856.

For over forty years, ACCA has served the nationwide educational, policy, and technical interests of the small businesses who design, install, and maintain indoor environmental systems. For more information, visit www.acca.org.