A/C Maintenance Expert David Ariano, Owner of Ravinia Plumbing, Heating & Electric, Dispels the Myths and Misconceptions of Keeping Chicago’s North Shore Air Conditioners Running Cool All Summer Long

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Can you give us an example of one of your customers or one of the outcomes of one of your service calls where you really helped them to really succeed in keeping things maintained in a way that extended the life of their unit and kept their house really cool all summer long?

David: Sure. It’s just a matter of keeping track of maintenance schedules and knowing which piece of equipment has been repaired or replaced because sometimes some homes just have one furnace, one air conditioner. Other homes can have multiple and our computer systems track which repairs have been done to which system so that we know maybe there’s a blower motor that we had to replace in a customer’s house several years ago and maybe it’s failed again, and because of our records, we know that component is still under a manufacturer’s warranty. The customer is not going to have to pay for a new motor. We’ll handle the warranty through the manufacturer. So, that will save them money and there’s no reason they have to pay for it when we can apply for the credit on the customer’s behalf of that failed component. There’s a lot of that work done as well.

Markus: That’s great. I’m sure your customers really appreciate that. Let’s face it. When you get things repaired, there’s a cost involved, so when you can save them that kind of money, that definitely builds up trust as well, so that’s great. What inspired you to become Chicago’s North Shore HVAC Service Leader?

David: Well, I just like helping people whenever I can, and sometimes help is just nothing more than a customer calling up and asking a couple questions about, “My system is doing this. Is that okay? Is it operating properly?” Yeah, if we can help them out with a phone call, fantastic. Sometimes a customer needs to change the batteries in a thermostat and they can’t do it or they’ve accidentally pulled it off the wall and it’s a minor repair and we’re in and out. There’s a lot of repair work where it’s smaller in nature. Not every repair job is big and expensive and has to be changing out a system. There’s certainly some of that that happens, but most of our repair work is just small and routine in nature and that’s fine. We don’t need to make tons of money on every job. Sometimes we’re in there and it’s something as simple as a circuit tripped or just a fuse burnt out and it’s a minor repair that costs next to nothing and that’s fine. Maybe sometime in the future there is a larger repair, then they’re happy to call us because we treated them fairly on the first go-around.

Markus: There’s a lot to be said for building up that goodwill for sure. So, David, can you think of or share a lesson that you learned early on that still impacts how you do business today?

David: Yeah. My customers aren’t just the people that call in that we help with their systems but they’re also my employees. So, it’s the golden rule. I treat everybody the way I would like to be treated… fairly, honestly, and if I tell somebody I’m going to do something, I do it. So, if I can keep my internal customers happy, they’re going to want to keep our external customers happy and everybody wins.

Markus: That’s good. Creating a win-win situation. I love it. That is great. What would you say is the most important question that Chicago’s North Shore homeowners should ask themselves as they consider regular air conditioning maintenance?

David: Just to make sure you get on a routine schedule. Certainly everyone has busy lives today so the fact is we have a lot of customers that ask us to contact them, so we have systems in place where once a year we’ll contact those customers for air conditioning maintenance or sewer maintenance or maintenance for their back-up pumps or their RPZs or any system they have in their home. We have some customers that ask us for maintenance reminders on systems that we don’t even work on, but it doesn’t matter to us. It’s just programming a reminder in a computer and they’ll get the reminder.

So, if we can help them to maintain their house properly and get more life and enjoyment out of the systems in their homes, so much the better.

Markus: That really is going above and beyond… that’s fantastic to hear. I really wish we’d hear more of that happening in today’s world that we live in! So to hear that you’re doing that even on systems you don’t even maintain or don’t even repair is really fantastic. That’s what customer service is really all about.

What would you say is the most important thing that our Chicago North Shore homeowners should consider when they’re evaluating an HVAC service contractor?

David: Well, I guess it gets down to trust. Of course, it’s not always about price either. I mean, normally the lowest-price guy isn’t always going to be providing the best quality of service. That’s hard to do. I mean, if you want to have a nice beef meal, I think you’re probably going to get a nicer piece of beef at a steakhouse than you are at a fast food chain. So, certainly the fast food chain is going to be cheaper, but there are certainly differences in quality and we’re more concerned with providing customers with a higher-quality product. I’d rather have to apologize every once in a while for price than have to constantly apologize for low quality.

Markus Loving

#1 Best Selling Author, National Speaker. Markus Loving is long a time entrepreneur and a host on Business Innovators Radio Show and contributing reporter for Business Innovators Magazine and Small Business Trendsetters where he covers leaders and trendsetters in Business.

As the founder of OnlineMarketDomination.com, over the last 10 years, Markus has been empowering business owners across the country to Dominate Their Market Online.with Reputation Marketing, Local Search, and Authority Presence Marketing. Markus gets great joy in Demystifying the Internet for his clients as he educates them with the most cutting edge and innovative strategies, tools and processes.