Strong HVAC Business Fuels Rapid Electrical Growth
by Tom Watts
April 2, 2010
Jim Wilson’s knowledge in HVAC made him a success in the electrical world — allowing him the time and money to provide his family with the perks they always dreamed of.
Wilson, 40, owner and general manager of Mister Sparky in Baton Rouge, La., employs 13 people, including both One Hour and Mister Sparky franchises.
During a 12-month period from September 2008 to August 2009, his Mister Sparky business — made up of 99 percent residential clients — amassed nearly $1.2 million in revenue.
But before all the success is a story that only Jim Wilson can tell.
HVAC BEGINNINGS
Wilson graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from Louisiana State University.
“I joined my step dad’s (family) HVAC business in Baton Rouge, learning every aspect of the HVAC business,” said Wilson, noting that business, River City A/C, started in 1980. “It is very diverse: commercial, residential, new construction, and multifamily service company. My main focus, once I joined the business, was to help improve and develop the residential service and replacement, or retail, side into a more efficient, focused division of the business, rather than just another thing the business has to do.”
Wilson helped implement specific business practices that enhanced his division of the business, such as a more focused service agreement program, specific replacement marketing and sales tracking process, frequent customer service training for technicians — many of which were implemented as an Airtime 500 member.
“That business now does over $6 million with $3 million in residential retail per year,” Wilson said.
Wilson’s HVAC knowledge was a platform he added to a burgeoning electrical service career. And the result of adding an HVAC background his father taught him with his personal electrical aspirations: rapid growth and family vacations.
“I now work around 30 hours per week,” Wilson said. “(And) in the past year I have been able to travel extensively — a real passion of mine.”
GOING FOR IT
Mister Sparky owner Jim Wilson of Baton Rouge, La., and his wife, are all smiles on a beach in Portugal where the Wilsons took in a vacation that most people dream of.
“I knew I had the skills and knowledge to take it to the next level,” Wilson said. “I saw an opportunity for my own personal growth and a real business opportunity.”
With no customers and about $100,000 of his own money, Jim Wilson “went for it.”
“As a true, 100 percent start-up, I have been able to build my One Hour with $485,000 my first year, $1.3 million in 2005, and have realized about $2.3 million in sales each year since 2006, and I am able to live the life I want every day.”
In 2006, while experimenting with the Home Standby Generator business, Wilson met Carl Beasley of Beasley’s Electric, who worked closely with him in installation of the generator systems.
“Carl later did the electrical work for my new building, and he shared with me his frustrations in the steadily declining new construction business,” Wilson said. “Knowing Carl to be a quality operations person, we explored the opportunity of transforming his once new construction electrical business into a residential service retail business.”
Living near the Gulf Coast with consistent threats from hurricanes, Wilson and Beasley were able to identify a need in the marketplace for an amazing number of home standby generators.
“After tweaking some advertisements and training, my comfort advisors from the a/c side, we were able to put together a program for homeowners in our area,” Wilson said.
For a period of 12 months from September 2008 to August 2009 when the company was running full steam, Wilson sold and installed $966,841 in home standby generators in his area.
“Now, that was nice, but we had to make a true commitment to get into the generator business,” he said.
TWO BETTER THAN ONE
Already being familiar with the Clockwork Home Services franchise opportunity as a One Hour A/C, Wilson said he looked at the Mister Sparky opportunity and made the decision to form a partnership and to become Mister Sparky No. 64.
“The real opportunity here was to first identify ourselves as specialists; train our sales, service, install crews; and then develop a service and maintenance program that would link that client along with their repair and future replacement needs to Mister Sparky,” Wilson said. “We have thus far been successful, and the future is bright for this division of our business.”
Now, being a dual franchise — both One Hour and Mister Sparky — has given Wilson’s company a unique opportunity to share his client base.
“We currently have 941 club memberships (service plans) in place with our One Hour,” he said. “This allows us to speak to homeowners about their electrical needs, pass out literature, and introduce our Mister Sparky company to them.”
Nearly one-third of Wilson’s service leads for Mister Sparky come from this crossover marketing. “We also have sold numerous HVAC replacement jobs to our Mister Sparky clients and generators to our One Hour clients,” he said. “It is taking time, but we will eventually get Mister Sparky up there with our One Hour in sales.”
Much of Wilson’s overhead is shared, particularly in the call taking and bookkeeping areas. “This has allowed us to somewhat streamline our overhead and make both companies more profitable,” Wilson said.
When it comes to increasing sales revenue, Wilson said owners often don’t look in the right places.
“We, as owners, often complain that we do not have enough sales because the phone isn’t ringing enough,” he said. “This is sometimes true, but more often than not, owners need only look within at the opportunities they already have to find the answers.”
With regard to One Hour, Wilson said sales can most easily be increased by first training your technicians. “They should be able to offer a diverse number of products such as IAQ, Service Plans, and Air Flow solutions to a client, and be well-trained on the benefits to that client,” he said. “Our technicians are really more like consultants that are trained not only from a technical aspect, but more importantly from a customer service perspective. This allows technicians to increase their average ticket, bringing in more revenue for the company, all by doing the best thing for the client, and by just keeping their eyes open. This almost ‘magically’ drives up profits because there is little overhead associated with an increased service ticket.”
Wilson plans to use the same selling principles to continue to grow the Mister Sparky business.
DO THE RIGHT THING
At his office, Jim Wilson, owner and general manager of Mister Sparky in Baton Rouge, La., has forged a successful electrical enterprise.
“Franchising as a whole has allowed me to spend more time with my family and less time in the office,” he said.
Because of the people Jim Wilson has put in place within his business, he is able to leave and come back, normally without a single hiccup. “I credit the franchise systems and OpX for guiding me through the years to create a professional place of business that virtually runs on its own,” he said. “Going into 2010, we would like to continue to build our brand awareness in our marketplace through various marketing outlets. Additionally, we would like to further streamline our service and repair, as well as our Home Standby generator divisions through such efforts.”
Most recently, Wilson won the “Fastest Growing” Mister Sparky franchise award for 2009.
“It now sits next to our “Fastest Growing” One Hour award from 2005,” Wilson noted. “We are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish in such a short period of time since joining Mister Sparky in early 2008.
Tom Watts
