The global COVID-19 pandemic brought many industries to their knees, including the HVAC equipment industry. The unfortunate events have led to equipment and parts shortages. Some significant challenges contributing to the situation include:
 

• Manufacturing delays: Many factories shut down when the pandemic hit. When they reopened, they faced staffing challenges due to CDC guidelines, causing delays in manufacturing.
• Equipment shortages: Manufacture delays brought about equipment shortages, including a limited supply of finished AC units and water heaters. Consequently, it's difficult for contractors to keep up with installation and repair demands.
• Spike in residential demand: The summer of 2020 saw an increase in residential demand for HVAC, especially conditioners, because of the July heatwave in Eastern North Carolina.

 
How It Will Get Worse
The HVAC is undergoing a worker shortage, with the demand for skilled workers outpacing the number of qualified applicants. This is because skilled trades workers are exiting the labor market, especially as the Baby Boomers retire. In the transport sector, the worker shortage limits the number of trucks hauling HVAC replacement parts.
 
The problem will also get worse as semiconductors continue to experience a shortage. These are tiny electronic chips responsible for keeping appliances running. The slow production of semiconductors will slow down production elsewhere.
 
What That Means for Your Plumbing Business
The demand for HVAC equipment and installation has risen with the pandemic, which is attractive for businesses. However, it is a disadvantage because equipment and personnel shortages can make it challenging to fulfill the demand.
 
Since your business isn't immune to the effects of the pandemic, it's essential to maintain excellent relationships with your suppliers. This will help you keep equipment in inventory and minimize price increases for the customer. While it would be inevitable to increase prices in some cases, ensure you do all you can to keep the price spikes manageable.
 
For help on how to handle the growing demand for HVAC services amid the pandemic, Insta Answer is your go-to resource. Contact us now to see how we'll manage your calls!

If you're new to budgeting, you may not know where to begin. A budget is crucial to understanding and directing your financial flow. Whether you've struggled to make one in the past, or are new to financial planning, these tips can help you out:

1. Preparing your Budget
Start off by creating specific timelines for each step along the way to create a sense of urgency, which is important for any service business. You may want to involve your management team for input on specific budget numbers for every section of your business. While at it, be sure to access any historical data for building your business plan and budget.

2. Getting Buy-ins
Budgeting is much more than just crunching the numbers. You are also budgeting people, so you need to hold a meeting with your staff to get buy-ins. Let them know what you have in mind for business, or them, going forward, and any other goal you have.

3. Building the Budget
Since the budget isn't a business plan in any way, you need to be sure it provides direction for your next financial year. It helps you set goals, and be able to measure them in due time. It becomes your daily guide that leads you to your long-term goals.

4. Budget Implementation
A budget you can't implement would be of no use to your business. It requires you to set realistic goals that can be achieved within a given timeframe. You should also be ready to make any adjustments along the way since some goals may change, or unforeseen eventualities happen.

5. Budget Execution
If you know your business has enough financial muscle to stay the course, you can begin to execute the budget. It's during the execution that you review the cost-benefit analysis, decide how best to achieve your goals, and coordinate and communicate the budget.

Budgeting can be quite complicated if you don't what to look for, or where to start. Insta-Answer can take care of your customer service needs, so you can attend to other important matters of your business, such as budgeting. Let our virtual receptions step in when you step out to attend to other issues. Call Insta-Answer to see how we'll handle your calls.

Sometimes, when it comes to keeping a business thriving, image can be everything. In the property management industry, which relies so heavily on the look of the housing and services you offer, you should always strive for beautification. Here are 5 tips for improving the look of your property management company and the properties you own.

1. Keep up with regular cleaning and maintenance of the grounds and common spaces.
Keeping a clean property can prevent accidents and injury in the most serious circumstances - say, tenants tripping over a fallen branch. It also makes a great first impression on anyone visiting and keeps your current tenants happy. So prioritize it!

2. Conduct regular inspections of the property and units.
Quarterly inspections of the grounds and all units performed by a professional inspector help you stay ahead of any problem areas and necessary repairs before things get out of hand. They also help you make sure your tenants are taking care of their units.

3. Invest in beautiful marketing materials.
Not every prospective tenant will be able to view your properties in person before deciding whether or not to rent. To help make sure your company is putting forth the best possible representation of itself, invest in marketing that will emphasize the beauty of your properties.

4. Understand that your image goes beyond what meets the eye.
Sure, getting everything to look pretty is incredibly important, but something that can often be overlooked in a property management company’s efforts to improve its image is perfecting communication and customer service. The impressions of your tenants, investors, employees, and potential renters alike are sure to be influenced by how your company treats them. As such, having a customer service team that is as pristine as the grounds of your now-beautiful properties matters.

For help with that, Insta Answer’s 50+ years of experience in customer service and decades specializing in property management is here. Give us a call today to see how we’ll handle your customer’s calls.

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The elevator industry can be tough to navigate and has a lot of moving parts (pun intended). So, managing an elevator company leaves you with a lot of factors to consider. Whether you’re just starting out or are already established, here are 5 important elevator coverage details you need to consider.

1. What kind of elevator equipment will you cover?
From proprietary equipment to new tech, customers expect companies to handle all kinds of elevator parts. They want to ensure that their needs are taken care of, so making sure your company is transparent about what you cover will lead to fewer conflicts with your customers.

2. How much preventative maintenance do you offer?
You know that elevator repair is a huge part of your company’s responsibilities, but preventative maintenance is just as important. To keep your customers’ elevators running smoothly and prevent future issues, your team needs to offer monthly maintenance plans.

3. How often do you inspect your elevators?
Just as important as preventative care, thorough elevator inspections can help stop evolving problems before they become too big to fix. These inspections should go right alongside those monthly maintenance visits. In fact, it’s not just a matter of opinion; frequent inspections are required by code in many places.

4. How reliable are your emergency services?
Nobody likes to think about the worst-case scenarios, but in such a dangerous business, you have to. To ensure everyone’s safety, make sure you offer your customers 24/7 emergency call representatives to help elevator passengers in any critical events. A helpful, reliable, quick-responding team to answer any emergency calls is a must.

For help with that, Insta Answer’s 50+ years of experience in customer service and decades specializing in elevator dispatching is here. Give us a call today to see how we’ll handle your customer’s calls.

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Every industry has its challenges, and the propane industry is no exception. Navigating the ins and outs of the business can be challenging, so knowing exactly which obstacles to avoid can save you time and money. To help, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 heating oil and propane industry mistakes, so you can be on the lookout and stay on track.

Rapid Expansion
Many companies make the mistake of thinking growing your business can only yield benefits, when that isn’t actually the case. Growing too fast can lead to neglecting to update protocol to account for higher capacity, overpaying for acquisitions, and - moving into our next pitfall - running out of money.

Mismanaged Finances
Managing cash flow requires minute, dedicated supervision of your business’s actions, which is something that is quite easy to lose track of. Without the proper planning, including fall backs like reserve savings or lines of credit, your business will inevitably fail.

Inaccurate Billing
Time and accuracy are paramount when handling all billing matters between your company and your customers. When this is done improperly, you allow the risks for not being properly compensated, not receiving payment in a timely manner, accumulating debt, unhappy suppliers, and more.

Undercharging
Sometimes, propane business owners try so hard to please their customers and attract new ones that they undercharge for their services. A major cause of this is only taking into account the price of the propane they are supplying, not also the work put into each customer’s services.

Poor Customer Service
This is a big one. No matter how great your company is, things will surely take a turn for the worse if you don’t prioritize the relationships you have with your customers. Maintaining such relationships requires superb customer service offered to your customers at any time of the day or night for whatever their issues may be.

For handling that, Insta Answer is here to take your customers’ calls 24/7 with the experience, knowledge, and kindness they deserve. Get started today with Insta Answer.

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