By Ralph Wolff, MCap, CSM Whether you are a one man servicer working out of your home or large enough to have a brick and mortar location, it is sometimes good to be small.

Small as you know is a subjective word and your definition may differ from Webster’s. Webster defines small as “having comparatively little size.” Or minor in influence, power or rank”. Some feel that small is a disadvantage when it comes to influence but it might just be what we need to survive.

A small business is personal. Many customers are starving for businesses that allow them to connect to something beyond the products and services they offer. A small business has a story to tell and one that most customers can relate to. Every-one loves a story and especially one that is honest and heartfelt. How did you start your business? I’ll bet that many can say that their dad or uncle or someone in the family taught them to repair appliances and then they took over from there. What a wonderful story, a family tradition. It’s something to be proud of. A story to tell and an envy of many who face the daily corporate grind.

Small businesses often gamer support from their communities and become very involved in community events. They support various churches, food banks and other community non-profits. These businesses lead with purpose and intentionality and attract customer who are drawn to or have an affinity to companies who give back to the community. Our country needs businesses with high moral fiber and customers are willing to support them.

An extremely important advantage to being small is that you are in a better position to provide a more personal service to your customers. Customers trust businesses that offer them sincere personal attention, and they respond well to businesses that know their names and remember details about former transactions. Remember the theme song from Cheers?

Making your way in the world todayTakes everything you got Taking a break from all your worriesSure would help a lotWouldn’t you like to get awaySometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name

Customers are proud to tell their friends and family that they have been doing business with your company for so many years and tell of their positive experiences, whereas a larger company may be less likely to care.

A small business will usually have a faster response time to address their customer’s needs. When it comes to customer problems, a small business is more likely to resolve issues rather than let it fester because the owner will know sooner and

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The Association for Service Professionals

take action. Without a lengthy chain of command and complex bureaucracies, your responses are immediate and satisfying to your customers.

Economic conditions are constantly changing. The cost of utilities, fuel, parts, health insurance, labor and the like are always in flux. The underlying cost of doing business is affected by the economy and large companies are very slow to react to these changing conditions resulting in loss of profits. An astute small business owner can make economic adjustments almost immediately, resulting in sustained profits and a happier balance sheet.

A small business will put together a network of strategic partners who are ready to meet the needs of his clients. The stra-tegic partnership concept is not new but it does create a higher level of credibility for the small business and its strategic partners. It also helps keep the customer from venturing outside of your profit circle. And finally, smart small business owners know that while the entrepreneurial fever that promises independence, does not mean they are independent. What it means is that while being independent, they are still dependent on many things in order to succeed. One of those is the need for a strong association to provide training, benefits and as we said earlier, the influ-ence and the power to promote the good will of the industry and your small business.

So while you should be very proud that you are an independent small business, don’t forget to enjoy the benefits of your Professional Appliance Association. PSA www.psaworld.com

PSA Training is continuing to sweep the country in 2017!

The BAT program focuses on basic principles and repair functions related to electricity, gas and refrigeration, the core basis of a successful appliance service technician. The BAT training provides a solid foundation for new technicians, along with a strong refresher course for more experienced techs that will make the product specific training offered by manufacturers more understandable and also help to make your technicians more efficient and effective.

In addition, new training classes for more seasoned technicians are being introduced, including our new refrigeration class-es- look to this space for sessions that will be held in your area!

There will be more training classes for 2017 that will be announced soon, so please keep your eye on PSA News and our web site www.psaworld.com, for the complete PSA training schedule. You can contact us at 888-777-8851 for additional information.

April 2017 Nashville, TN —Tribles Appliance Parts April 25-27 (BAT)

Chicago, IL—Sundberg America April 26-27 (Refrigeration)

May 2017 New Orleans, LA—APD/Reliable May 9-10 (Refrigeration)

Southern California (TBD)—Reliable Parts PENDING—CALL PSA @ 888-777-8851 for information

PSA’s Training All Over the Country!

Bloomberg- A report says Samsung will spend at least $300 million to move some of the production of oven ranges to the U.S. from Mexico generating about 500 jobs.

Samsung is in preliminary talks to expand its manufacturing operations in the U.S. with a new facility for home appliances.The technology giant expects to spend at least $300 million on the project and is discussing the plans with at least five states, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. The shift may involve moving some of the production of oven ranges to the U.S. from Mexico and could generate about 500 jobs, according to the Journal.

“This is a complex process that, like all strategic business decisions, will not be made final until it is determined through proper due diligence and planning that it is the best option for Samsung,” the company said. A Samsung representative in the U.S. wouldn’t comment beyond confirming the talks and said the company started reviewing options in the country early last fall.

The election of U.S. President Donald Trump influenced Samsung’s interest in a U.S. factory, according to the sources cited by the Journal. Trump campaigned on a promise of creating jobs in the U.S. and bringing back manufacturing, and has threatened to impose stiff tariffs on imports.

Samsung’s de facto chief, Jay Y. Lee was the only executive from a foreign company invited to a tech industry meeting Trump held in December, the Journal said.

Lee was not present at the meeting. He has been embroiled in a corruption scandal in South Korea since late last year and was indicted in February on bribery and embezzlement charges.

The U.S. is one of the biggest markets for Samsung, which makes everything from smartphones to processing chips, refrigerators and televisions.

Samsung to Shift Some Production ofHome Appliances to U.S.

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Thoughts from the Executive Director

By Randy Carney, PSA Executive Director

It’s spring! It’s sprung, though with some of the weather we’ve had recently, particularly in the north-east, you might not recognize this as spring. All I know is that I was forced to get my camper out of the storage facility, and they said it had to be out in the spring… so there you go.

Well, it will soon warm up and we can get on with yard clean up, spring cleaning and other various and sundry chores. And the WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO CUBS (this has never, ever been written before in any appliance industry publication, so soak it up) start defense of their title and the hazy,

lazy, crazy days of summer can’t be too far behind.

So—off we go…

• Reports keep coming through regarding the imminent demise of Sears, and what impacts that might have on the appliance service industry. It seems like these stories have been ongoing for at least the past 5 years, so excuse me if I don’t hop up and down and get too worked up about it. I do believe, however, that the day is coming, and probably quickly, where Sears does put an end to its suffering. In that case, I don’t think it will be anything earth-shattering- the business left vacant by Sears will be assimilated by other entities, most likely the DIY channel, which is where most of it has moved to anyway. There should be increased opportunities for inde-pendent dealers, and that is a positive. All in all, it simply another sign of the massive changes that this indus-try has experienced in the past 25-30 years, and a reminder that additional changes are always just around the corner.

• A larger question was recently raised on PSANet- what is the impact to the appliance service industry if A&E should disappear. This is another long-rumored industry shaker that has not happene3d yet, but one that I would also agree may likely happen in the not too distant future. Again, I view this as an opportunity for our industry- this would mean that maybe the largest number of appliance service techs in history would be out looking for jobs, and may give many of the independent service providers a chance to staff up to where they feel they need to be. Of course, not all A&E techs will be available- some will retire or move into other indus-tries, while others may not work out as technicians in other environments. It is something to consider as we look ahead, though.

• Shameless promotion time- PSA continues to sponsor training sessions across the country. You will see pro-motions in this issue for classes in Nashville, Chicago and New Orleans, and for NASC 2017 this fall in Ports-mouth, VA. The classes have been met with a lot of anticipation, and the feedback received has been great, so I would urge you to take advantage of attending or sending along some of your technician for these training classes. We will also be coming out with a round of training this fall, so keep an eye on PSA News or our web-site, psaworld.com, for additional classes in your area.

By Don Pierson- President, Certified Service Center

Where is our customer?

This is a question that hopefully we never have to ask, or in some cases we should always ask. When a customer comes to you for the first time do you find out why they chose your company over others? Do you know why previous customers did not come back? Do you know why your competitors are doing better or worse than you?

Once you have a customer doing business with your company, they are usually the easiest to maintain and require the least advertising and coercing to make them repeatedly use the services that you provide. They are also the best source of proving leads, through hopefully their voluntary statements reflect total satisfaction with your company. Do we track these folks to make sure they come back in the future? Do you reward them for providing leads? Do we give them incentives to help your company secure their service work in the future? Do you try to get them to sign up for a preventative maintenance schedule? Do we send them service reminders? These are important services that most customers do appreciate. Don’t be a pest. Be a company that wants their customers to enjoy dependable service and long product life from the products that they own. As their servicer ,you can also be a valuable consultant on what it takes to achieve long life and dependable oper-ation for the products that you service.

Also, your existing customers are the ones that you should try to fully understand. All people are different and so are most customers. Some are very demanding. Others just kind of go with the flow. Most customers appreciate follow up calls and also questions about other products that you may have serviced when they give you a call about a new repair. They like to be recognized when they call. Some customers don’t want to be bothered by a stranger. A real benefit today for the small locally owned and operated companies is that you can strive to recognize your customers and treat them like neighbors rath-er than a line item on a spreadsheet or a call out queue. Something as simple as recognizing a name or asking a question about a recent purchase can be very important to a customer. Since we all live in the day of computers we can still try to treat everyone like they are your only customer and work very hard to never lose a customer unless it is by your choice.

Treating customers with respect and placing a total emphasis on keeping them a satisfied customer is the daily goal for ev-eryone in the company. Thank them for their business, their continued loyalty, and their ongoing decision to use your prod-ucts and services over a long period of time. Make them the benchmark for the service you provide and guard them closely.

Keeping Your Customer

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Day 2–Basic: GasGas Basics, Safety, CharacteristicsFuel Gas Code requirements for Gas appliancesGas testing devicesGas Ranges, operate and test components

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• Send your New Tech• Send your Tech Who Needs Help in These Areas• Send the Guy Who Just Needs a Refresher!

Professional Service Association71 Columbia Street • Cohoes, NY 120471-888-777-8851 www.psaworld.com

The B.A.T. program will be coming to your area in the near future, so keep in touch with your parts distributors!

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“I learned more aboutrefrigeration and how itworks, and how to diagnose problems. Thiswas my first training andI couldn’t be more happyabout the stuff I learned.”

“Thank you, Jim, for sharingyour knowledge and helping me further my knowledge of refrigeration and how toproperly run diagnosticson units.”

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do it with other appliancesand more frequently.”

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evaporator systems and LGand Samsung products.”

“I learned a lot aboutrefrigeration, especiallyabout brands that Ihaven’t had theopportunity to work on.”

“Very informative! Especially using meters to test the thermistor simulators and compressor terminal test points. I now have a better understanding of how to check a VCC compressor or linear compressor. Thanks PSA!”

“An excellent review ofcontrol systems,

troubleshooting and repair. Ilearned more about multiple

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If interested, please call 310-532-3895 or email stella.arndt@assurant.com.

CL12438_2017_aa © 2017 Assurant, Inc.

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