Episode 26 - The Air Conditioning Podcast |Darren Hill & George Parashis| Actron Air

10/15/20 • 59 min

Howdy folks and welcome to Episode 26 of The Air Conditioning Podcast. This week, we sat down with Darren Hill (Business Development Executive) and George Parashis (Sales Account Executive) of Actron Air.

Actron Air have been a household name in Australia when it comes to climate control in your home for many years and Darren and George helped us to understand a bit more about their product and their business.

Here’s a sneaky peak of what we covered.....

> Where and how did Actron start? (2:30)

> How long have you both been working with Actron and where have you worked previously? (5:00)

> Having worked with other Manufacturer’s we tend to become very passionate about the brands and advocates of their products, how did you go shifting your mindset from one brand to another? (8:50)

> You mentioned being able to wind down the fan on your variable fan indoor ducted units so you can operate a single zone, does this apply to a specific control system? And does the compressor wind back as well? (10:15)

> With the Inverter Technology that you’ve now adopted, can you see that you will be moving in that direction or are sticking with digital scroll compressors? (13:30)

> Actron ducted outdoor units have traditionally been top discharge units, are you looking to introduce side discharge? (16:15)

> Within your range, what unit capacities do you go up to? (17:40)

> Can you tell us more about your Package units? (19:30)

> Where is the technology developed? Is it here in South Australia or interstate? (22:15)

> Actron seem to be doing great things with their wall controllers, do you think this is because you’re an Australian company that you are catering for what appeals to the Australian market? When compared to other international manufacturer’s they don’t seem to place as much emphasis on their controllers because it appears that they are not of great importance, would you agree? (26:00)

> Can you control your zoning through the wall controller? (30:10)

And much more.

We’d like to thank Darren and George for joining us on the Show and if you want to get in touch with the team at Actron Air, you can visit their website https://www.actronair.com.au/ and check out their sleek looking “NEO” wall controller.

Until the next episode peeps....ta ta.

Here’s a sneaky peak of what we covered.....

> Where and how did Actron start? (2:30)

> How long have you both been working with Actron and where have you worked previously? (5:00)

> Having worked with other Manufacturer’s we tend to become very passionate about the brands and advocates of their products, how did you go shifting your mindset from one brand to another? (8:50)

> With the Inverter Technology that you’ve now adopted, can you see that you will be moving in that direction or are sticking with digital scroll compressors? (13:30)

> Actron ducted outdoor units have traditionally been top discharge units, are you looking to introduce side discharge? (16:15)

> Within your range, what unit capacities do you go up to? (17:40)

> Can you tell us more about your Package units? (19:30)

> Where is the technology developed? Is it here in South Australia or interstate? (22:15)

> Can you control your zoning through the wall controller? (30:10)

And much more.

Until the next episode peeps....ta ta.

Previous Episode

Episode 25 - The Air Conditioning Podcast | Michael Steckler | Tradify

G’day guys and welcome to Episode 25 episode of The Air Conditioning Podcast. In this episode we Zoomed with CEO, Michael Steckler of Job Management System, TRADIFY.

Based in New Zealand, Tradify is a one stop shop for Tradies who want to stay organised and being used by over 15k Tradies in Australia.

Tradify has been designed to benefit those not only working in HVAC&R but Electrical, Renovation and Maintenance, Plumbing, Construction, Security, Landscaping, flooring, Carpentry, Roofing, Painting, Concreting, Earthworks, Fencing & Decking and.....um....have we left anyone out?

With Tradify, you can easily track jobs from quote to invoice and everything in between, get paid faster with online payments, scheduling, professional quotes, timesheets, Profit & Loss analysis and it talks to the major accounting platforms.

Here’s some of the stuff we covered....

> Can you start by telling our audience more about Tradify and how it came about? (1:40)

> Being based in NZ, do you have many clients from Australia? (2:50)

> What sized businesses does Tradify cater to? (3:20)

> Besides the HVAC industry, what other industries would Tradify be suited to? (3:50)

> What differentiates Tradify from other similar platforms? (4:40)

> What does the average person need to do to get the platform set up and usable? (6:10)

> What devices and operating systems are compatible with Tradify? (7:15)

> Can you share with us some of the main features that a tradie might use on Tradify on a daily basis (8:10)

> What Accounting platforms is Tradify compatible with? (12:20)

> Is it difficult to connect Tradify to your Accounting Package and done by an Accountant or is it straight forward so that the tradie can set it up themselves? (13:30)

> How do you come up with the features? Is this via an online suggestion platform? (14:00)

> Job tracking is a feature, can you tell us more about it? (15:30)

> Do you come across many roadblocks in terms of features or technology and how do you prioritise in order to overcome them? (16:30)

> How often are you releasing updates with new or improved features? (18:00)

> How have you set up the pricing, is it paid per job created or on a monthly payment cycle? (19:10)

And we covered heaps more....

We’d like to thank Michael and Tradify for coming onto the Show (and Richie for arranging it!) and if you want to get in touch with the team, you can visit them at www.tradifyhq.com/au

And....Michael and the team at Tradify have kindly put together a special offer for our loyal Air Conditioning Podcast listeners!

When you sign up to Tradify, simply use the Discount Code “ACPODCAST” and you’ll receive a massive 50% off Tradify for 3 months! You must get onto Tradify and take advantage of this offer while you can, and until the next episode guys......catcha!

Next Episode

Episode 27 - The Air Conditioning Podcast | Al Levi | The 7 Power Contractor

Hey guys! Welcome to Episode 27 of The Air Conditioning Podcast and wasn’t it a beauty! This week we were up bright and early to Welcome Author of The 7-Power Contractor, business and life coach and all round nice guy, Mr Al Levi. If you haven’t already heard of Al Levi, you need to. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Al started out working in a family HVAC & Plumbing business before eventually selling his shares of the company to his brothers and heading out in to the big wide world on his own.

Fast forwarding to current day, Al Levi has gone on to become one of the most successful mentors to some of the biggest names in the Home Service industry, including Tommy Mello. We had a blast speaking with Al and tried to cram as much of his Gold Nuggets into the episode as time would allow! But don’t despair, we didn’t get to cover anywhere near as much as we’d hoped to, so Al has kindly offered to join us on the Show again in the future for Round 2. (Ring-a-Ding-Ding!)

We hope you enjoy the episode as much as we did bringing it to you and be sure to grab a copy of his incredible book The 7-Power Contractor, available on Amazon, Audible and where ever else you get your hands on it!

Here’s a snippet to whet your appetite.....

> Al, can you take us back to where it all began and share with our audience how you got started? (3:00)

> Running a company as you did with some 70 odd employees, how difficult was it to introduce systems? Were you met with much resistance from your staff? (7:00)

> For someone just learning about systems and starting out, it can be very overwhelming. What would your advice be around exactly where and how to get started? (14:00)

> In your book you cover the 7 power points for a successful business, can you expand on those briefly to give our audience a taste of what you cover? (19:00)

> You refer to marketing and advertising as being two different things, can you elaborate? (27:00)

> When it comes to hiring good staff and then retaining them, can you tell us how you went about doing that? (31:00)

> When it comes to handing over the operation manual to a specific staff member for a specific task, do you just hand it to them and they go through it at their own pace or do you coach them through it? (35:00)

And guys that was just the tip of the ice berg!

You must get yourselves a copy of The 7-Power Contractor, even if you’re not keen on reading, its sharp and to the point. More gold than Kalgoorlie and what’s more is available on Audible so you can listen on your way to and from work, between jobs and mowing the lawn!

We’d like to sincerely thank Al for joining us as our guest on the show and are already looking forward to speaking with him again.

To get in touch with Al, you can reach him at [email protected] or hit his website at https://7powercontractor.com/.

Until the next Episode folks...Catcha!