TOPIC: FRANCHISE CONVERSION

Steve Terschluse, Franchise Owner
Aire Serv® Heating and Air Conditioning
Belleville, Ill.

Hirth Plumbing and Heating, in Belleville, Ill., kicked off 2004 by celebrating its 100th anniversary. The State of Illinois proclaimed Jan. 15th Hirth Plumbing and Heating Day, the City of Belleville dedicated the whole month as Hirth Plumbing and Heating Month, St. Clair county presented the company with a plaque of recognition for contributions to the community, and the anniversary was entered into the U.S. Congressional Record. As a family operation that dates back four generations, the company epitomizes the great American success story.

But this year, the company also will celebrate the fourth anniversary of its Aire Serv® Heating and Air Conditioning division, a franchise that was awarded to Hirth just four years ago that now represents approximately 60 percent of the company’s business.

According to co-owner Steve Terschluse, a company as old as Hirth still had plenty of room to improve, and the Aire Serv franchise was the perfect answer.
The business, which was founded by his great-grandfather George Hirth in 1904, was ready for some changes.

“We used to do everything the old way,” Terschluse said. “It was a regular practice to take every call, go out and handle the service, bring the work order back to the office, mail an invoice and hope to get paid within 30 to 60 days.” Not anymore.

“In 2000, we had one heating and air conditioning technician on staff, and we decided to try and grow that part of the business,” Terschluse said. “After intensive searching, we found Aire Serv and discovered that it best fit our way of doing business, giving us a program to follow to achieve our success.” That included the flat rate pricing menu that allows Aire Serv to handle more calls more efficiently, receive prompt payment and always stay on top of earnings as they happen.

Today, Terschluse has 12 heating and air conditioning technicians and an overall staff of 32. He said franchising revolutionized the way the company does business, but it also took serious commitment. He credits his General Manager and Vice President Thomas Simmons for being the catalyst behind Aire Serv’s growth.

“It’s not easy for a contractor who has been around a long time to adopt another system of policies,” he said. “It was an exhaustive process. People don’t want to lose their names. Owners don’t want to paint their trucks. Technicians don’t want to wear booties in the house. It seems awkward in the beginning. But the more we adopted the Aire Serv® system, the more successful we became. It’s second nature to us now, and the team is going to do it and succeed because of it as well. As the implementation of Aire Serv® continued throughout our operations, it gave us the means of crossover heating and cooling opportunities with our existing plumbing clients, who for years would not recognize us as a heating and cooling company.”

Steve, an engineer, along with his co-owners and brothers David Terschluse, a licensed plumber, and James Terschluse, a stockbroker, continue to raise the bar for the family business.

“Last year, we served 10,000 customers overall,” he said. And the Aire Serv® franchise territory that includes five counties on the Illinois side of the St. Louis metropolitan area is experiencing explosive growth that the family wants to continue to capture.

If history tends to repeat itself, then the combination of a solid family business, a forward-thinking franchise and a dedicated management team should make the next 100 years a piece of cake.

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For more information, contact Eric Abercrombie, 254-745-2400, eric.abercrombie@dwyergroup.com

TOPIC: Female Franchise Owner

Marilyn Betty
Aire Serv® Heating & Air Conditioning
[Aire Serv of Middle Tennessee]
Murfreesboro, Tenn.

“Grandma is starting a new business.” That’s what Marilyn Betty’s grandchildren are saying these days about her decision to open her own Aire Serv® Heating & Air Conditioning franchise in Murfreesboro, Tenn. But it’s no surprise to them that this mother of five and grandmother of six is tackling another business with gusto. Marilyn has been conquering a male-dominated business world for quite some time.

It all started when her late husband decided to retire from being a water treatment salesman to open a business that manufactured water treatment chemicals for cooling towers, boilers and waste-water businesses.

“We had five kids approaching their college years, so I figured I better get involved in the business and help it succeed so that we could afford for our kids to go to school.”

Not only did Marilyn get involved, she ended up running the whole company after her husband suffered a series of heart attacks. It was her sheer determination that enabled Marilyn to grow the business and pay for 20 years of college tuition for her children. Her husband later passed away, and Marilyn soon was left looking for a new challenge.

Marilyn had considered opening her own HVAC business, and she spent almost two years researching her options, studying the marketplace and writing her own business plan. She later met and married an HVAC technician with 40 years of experience in the industry. And she also got involved with Excellence Alliance, a group of independent contractors that had recently formed a business arrangement with Aire Serv® Heating & Air Conditioning.

That is when Marilyn’s idea started to turn into a reality. “I had looked at other franchise opportunities. I had researched starting a business all by myself. But no route had a solid handle on the financial side of the business, and I didn’t want to keep reinventing the wheel and learning things on my own like I did with my previous business,” she said.

When she discovered Aire Serv®, her problems were answered.

“You have all the pieces of the puzzle put together in a way for people to understand,” she told Doyle James, president of Aire Serv®.

Marilyn said Aire Serv’s business format was the key to her success. With the franchise system in place, she was ready to go to work.

Now, Marilyn is tapping into customers in Murfreesboro, Nashville and the surrounding area while addressing another obstacle. She wants to hire female HVAC technicians to work in her business. Although there aren’t a lot of women in her line of work, she knows from firsthand experience that female customers are naturally more comfortable when a female technician comes into a home to offer superior service and meet their needs.

She is one tough grandma!

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For more information, contact: Eric Abercrombie, 254-745-2400, eric.abercrombie@dwyergroup.com