Give-A-Sh**-ology Blog

Hey you, For those of you who have stuck with me for the newsletters and blog, I have a longer post to share with you. It dawned on me that it’s been 20 years since I bought the company. On March 3, 1999, I was 28 years old. The remaining sales staff had recently...

Hey folks, It’s been a while since Air Flow shared any news to share on the product front. Here we go!Bry-Air - Win Air Flow has joined up with Bry-Air for desiccant solutions Many of you remember Air Flow’s promotion of Advantix. Unfortunately, Air Flow’s success...

“How are you doing?” “Almost perfect.” That’s how Randy Sikkema answers that question. It makes me like him more, want to share more information with him, and work harder. Most likely, things get more perfect for Randy because of his engaging method to answering...

A few posts ago, I talked about the merits of prickly customers for the supplier. Think about the upside of being prickly - yourself. To be prickly, it is a requirement to state: “What I really want is ...”. This is in lieu of hoping the supplier figures it out for...

Perhaps it’s a Wisconsin cultural thing, but it’s rare that customers speak up when things aren’t going well. If it’s glaring, (missed date, incorrect submittal, etc.) it’s easy to make a point about a dropped ball. If the issue is attitude, fairness,...

For the last 4 years, I listen to podcasts, and almost every day.Many will think that’s weird. At 5-10 hours a week, it’s more time than what I spent in 4 years of college lectures and labs.I listen to health podcasts, leadership podcasts, religious podcasts, and...

About 6 times a year, my leadership group sees a presentation by a professional speaker. The topics are broad ranging. One such speaker was a professional negotiator. (I thought I had married the only professional negotiator in the world. ?) Anyway, Mr. Pro...

maestro [mahy-stroh] noun, plural maes·tros. an eminent composer, teacher, or conductor of music a title of respect used in addressing or referring to such a person a master of any art I’m pretty close friends with Vic Colwell, the national sales manager at Loren...

I’ve had plenty. Here’s the worst. When I first joined Air Flow in 1995, we had a warehouse guy named Gerry. He was a recovered alcoholic, and he had committed to 5 years at a job below his skill level, and after my first couple of years he quit after having...

You don’t know what to say at funerals? When a close family member of one of our team members dies, I usually go to the funeral. I encourage others from the company to go too. Some do, but most don’t. The pat answer for not going is “I don’t know what to say.”...

There’s a very small group of people in the US that are in the HVAC business and own their own building. We’re all in a little club and know a sad truth. The sad truth is that the HVAC system in a building offers no value. And when I say zero, it’s $0.00. Any...

Business consultants drive business by asking questions entrepreneurs can’t answer.  Here are a few choice ones: Is your process optimal? Are you getting the most out of your sales team? What are you doing to improve on your company culture? What is your strategic...