Streamlining HVAC Operations Through AI Integration

Imagine having the power of advanced AI tools like ChatGPT and Cloud at your fingertips, enhancing your efficiency and making you look exceptionally knowledgeable in your field. In this episode of the Successful Life Podcast, I, Corey Berrier, share my personal journey of integrating AI into the HVAC industry. From eliminating ad clutter to delivering precise answers to complex technical queries, AI has proven to be a game-changer. We'll explore how these tools are revolutionizing email communication and marketing campaigns, especially for those of us juggling ADHD. Discover how AI is not just supporting but empowering new technicians by providing instant, accurate information and reducing their reliance on overworked colleagues.

The conversation doesn't stop there—we'll dive into the transformative benefits of AI in business operations, focusing on personalized hiring assessments. Learn about our successful partnership with Nexstar and how AI-driven evaluations for over 4,000 technicians, CSRs, and dispatchers have dramatically improved job performance and retention predictions. We'll discuss the critical importance of adopting AI to address the ongoing labor shortage, predict supply chain issues, and enhance training schedules in anticipation of industry shifts like the 2025 refrigerant change. Tune in to understand why early adoption and continuous learning of AI are key to staying ahead in the HVAC industry. Thank you for your unwavering support—don't forget to share and review to help our podcast grow!

Chapters

• 0:57 The Power of Artificial Intelligence
• 23:25 Benefits of Using AI in Business

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:57

Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast. I'm your host, corey Barrier, and today, folks, we're going to be jumping into a topic that is really revolutionizing our industry, and that's artificial intelligence, or AI for short. Now, I know a lot of you might be thinking I work with my hands. I don't need this new technology that I don't understand and I don't want to understand it, and I get that. But I can tell you right now it is going to be essential for your business moving forward. It's going to help you do things faster. It's going to help you do things more efficiently. It's also going to help you to be more profitable, and I think everybody listening to this call wants to be more profitable, more profitable. So let's start with something simple like using AI for your search engine. Now, most of you probably use Google, right? Most of you use or Safari on your phone, whatever but I can tell you it has made you know. Using chat, gpt or Cloud for my search engine. It makes everything so much easier. It's cleaner, it's more effective, because you don't have to dodge a bunch of ads, you don't have to worry about who's paying to get your eyeballs, and it's a game changer because it really cuts through the noise of all the stuff that you see on Google, and you know you got to think about this. When you're bombarded with ads constantly, eventually, you know I God knows I I lose focus, that's for sure. And so listen, by using one of these ai tools, you kind of cut straight to the chase and you just avoid all of the fluff that you normally get when you're using a normal search engine. So, and really it's. You know, there is some bias to the searching, the AIs that I'm talking about here, but it's not as much bias as you're going to be dealing with on a normal search engine and, quite frankly, I just feel like I get way better answers and quicker answers. So here's an example If you need to troubleshoot something out in the field I've talked about this a while back we built an HVAC technician bot and when I was working at my previous job as a sales manager at an HVAC company, when I would get really hard questions, we've all had engineers or electrical engineers who are going to buy a system from you and they ask some of the hardest, craziest, ridiculous questions that nobody, quite frankly, should be able to answer.

Speaker 1: 4:26

However, I can tell you there was one guy that was an electrical engineer. It was asking the most ridiculous questions you could ever think of. You could ever think of questions that most people even people that are industry, have been in the industry for a while Couldn't even answer. So what I did is I pulled out my technician bot and every time he asked me a crazy question I just typed it in and he gave me the answer and it looked like I looked like I knew I look like the smartest dude on the planet and it's accurate. You know, our HVAC bot, specifically, is trained on all the HVAC knowledge in the world and so it's very accurate. But really that's just a tip. You know, that's just kind of a tip of the iceberg.

Speaker 1: 5:22

What I've talked about so far, we're using, you know we're using AI for all sorts of tasks like writing emails. It helps to, it helps me to craft an email that sounds like you want to hear it. In other words, it's my information in the. In the I type excuse me, I type my information into the into the chat bot, or the AI, I should say and it just puts a spin on it to where people can understand it a little bit better. I've talked about this many times. I'm ADHD. So sometimes my information going in is a little bit crazy and you probably can identify with that. Like, for example, another way we've used AI is through marketing campaigns. Another way we've used AI is through marketing campaigns. Just, you know, really streamlining the communication is one of the most important things that I use this for, and one example would be like, let's just say you've got a new technician in the field and they've just come out of trade school, or maybe they didn't even go to trade school, maybe you're just training a green horn that really doesn't know that much about the HVAC industry or plumbing or electrical, and instead of having so having that individual depend on another human being who's doing three other jobs if he had, he or she has this HVAC bot. They can just type that, the question in and get the answer. And you know I don't know about you, but that it's a game changer, like it's. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

Speaker 1: 7:23

And some of you might be thinking well, is AI going to replace me? Well, it depends, I suppose, but likely not. Ai is not here to replace you. It's a tool, just like your wrench, just like your, you know, just like your tools that you use every single day. Your skills, your experience and your problem solving abilities are irreplaceable. But here's the thing. I need you to hear this those of you, those of you that are not embracing AI, you're going to fall behind, and I 100% don't want that. For you, it's almost like refusing to use your phone for email, right? I think anybody who's listening to this would think that would be a crazy statement for me to say, hey, you just shouldn't use your phone for email, but you could do that, right? You're just going to make life much harder on yourself and far less efficient, that's for sure. So there's, so I'll tell you.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Another way that we're using AI is to stay on top of industry trends. I mean, we all know that we've got a refrigeration change coming in 2025. And that always causes some confusion. It always causes a lot of questions. Just go to your whatever AI you're using, whether it be chat, gpt or cloud, and you can find out exactly what's going on in the industry for you, for pricing, for manufacturer pricing, for price increases, for, like I said, refrigerant changes. Anything that you want to know, it's there, and you know, I was on a panel yesterday and I can't mention the panel because it's private, but I was on an industry expert panel yesterday and we were talking about the new refrigerant change and there was a lot of questions around manufacturers and how much product are they producing now? Who's you know, stockpiling refrigerant, who's not? And a lot of these questions could have been answered just by typing it in the AI.

Speaker 1: 9:57

And look, I'm not saying you need to become an a you know, uh, an ai expert overnight, but you need to start small, right. You just, you just need to start, because using uh, you know, just just by using an ai chatbot for your web search or use it to draft an email to a client, is going to be a game changer for you. Just experiment with it, play around with it and you'll be surprised how quickly it becomes an indispensable part of your toolkit. Believe me when I tell you it will be the best thing that you've ever done and it'll be the best thing for your employees. If you've got employees or if you're out in the field either, or it doesn't really matter.

Speaker 1: 10:48

You've got to remember AI is not this scary thing that a lot of people think that it is. It's just not. It's not going to take over the world, but it is going to be another tool in your arsenal to to help us work smarter, not harder, and in our line of work. Who doesn't want that? I want that. I know you want that. So to just give it a shot. I mean, give it a shot. Embrace the future, because it's here and it's going to be the future of HVAC, plumbing and electrical. I mean, all of our industry outside of us, working with our hands, is going to be powered by AI. There's so many things that are powered by AI right now that you don't even realize, and so you know.

Speaker 1: 11:46

One of the other ways that we've seen AI working is in our hiring process. I mean, you can literally automate from applications. So let's just say, for example, you put a job on Indeed or Monster or one of these job boards. What happens next? You get the application. You have to read it over, try to decipher if the person's telling you the truth or not. Then you have to shift it, or your HR person gets it, or whoever gets it your sister, your brother, or maybe it is you and then you've got to call that person and talk to them. Then you've got to bring them in and then you've got to interview them in person and then you've got to get back with them. It's just a long, arduous process that can be eliminated and, quite frankly, can be done better than how you're doing it right now by using certain tools in. You know certain AI tools.

Speaker 1: 12:55

And listen, you don't want to jump on every single AI bandwagon out there and I wouldn't tell you to do that because you'll be my God, you'll be stuck in your office 24 hours a day on the computer and that seems a bit ridiculous. So, all right. So, look, I'm a sales guy. It's a lot of sales guys listen to this call a lot of business owners, and let's just talk about how you can use AI with your sales teams, your technicians, your CSRs, your dispatchers. Look, this also is changing the day-to-day operations, especially for our sales teams, technicians, customer service reps, anybody that's out in the field and for salespeople, ai is a game changer, because imagine having a virtual assistant that can pull together customer data, service history and, potentially, upsell opportunities. Now, I should have your attention at this point, because upsell opportunities we all want some sort of upsell opportunity and if you could have that in the palm of your hand, why would you not do it?

Speaker 1: 14:23

Ai can analyze patterns in customer data. They can analyze and predict what customers are most likely to buy that IAQ product or that water softener or that tankless water heater Like. If you have a better idea of who you're talking to, meaning the customer, you've got a much better opportunity to upgrade that person to a different replacement or a higher ticket repair repair. And you know, when you allow your sales teams to focus on what they're good at, which is selling, they're most likely going to succeed. And technicians you can use these AI tools to diagnose issues faster and more accurately and you can put in error codes. You can get instant suggestions for potential problems and solutions.

Speaker 1: 15:52

And this doesn't replace you, doesn't replace your expertise. It's not smarter than you. It just enhances your ability to perform better in the field. And you know you can confirm what the AI suggests by your own knowledge. You know, test it out and ask it questions that you already know the answers to. And, believe me, you will be shocked when you get these answers back because they're unbelievable. And it's going to look. It's going to change, not change. It's going to help you to troubleshoot, to troubleshoot and get the problem solved at a quicker rate.

Speaker 1: 16:33

I mean, look, it is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and for CSRs it's transforming customer interactions. I mean, you know as well as I do CSRs you get a call in from a customer. Csr has to go from one screen to the next. They have to look up information here, there and everywhere. You can get chatbots to handle these routine inquiries, freeing up your human beings, your human CSRs, for more complex issues. You can also analyze customer sentiment in real time. In real time, like during calls. What I mean by that is you can have an AI tell you if the customer's upset, if the customer's happy, if the customer is satisfied, dissatisfied, and you can have AI provide prompts for that CSR to de-escalate issues and problems and give the opportunity to upsell the customer, give them opportunity to sell service agreements.

Speaker 1: 17:51

But here's where it gets really exciting AI in the field. So we're seeing AI mobile apps all over the place and they could do anything from generating quotes on the spot to scheduling follow-up appointments and God knows, we all need help on the follow-up game. That's for sure, money is in the follow-up. So some companies are even experimenting with augmented reality systems that overlay repair instructions and part information directly to the technician in the field to view and let's not forget, you know, let's not forget about training. You know, ai can give you simulations that can provide hands-on experience for new technicians without having the risk of costing you money, with your customers and mistakes, and you don't want to practice on your customers, and the bottom line is this AI is not replacing the workforce, it's making them better. It's empowering them to make better decisions and giving the people in the field tools to make better decisions, to provide a superior service for your customers. And if you want that, it's right here in front of you, and so so look, whether you're in sales, or your field, or your field, a technician in the field, or manning phones as a CSR, ai has something that will help you, and you just got to jump on board, and in our industry, it can mean the difference between getting fabulous results, profitable results, and going out of business. And I'm just being honest with you here. Remember, the companies that embrace these technologies are going to be the leaders for tomorrow. So how can AI help you in your specific role? Trust me, your future will thank you, and so I just want you to really think about that and utilize this stuff in your business.

Speaker 1: 21:10

So I mentioned this earlier, we've got a refrigerant change coming in early 2025. And this is a big deal, and you can use AI to prepare and train your teams at a record speed. It's you know, as we approach this transition, approach this transition, we're using AI to create comprehensive training and programs for the technicians, because it's the right way to do things and if you think about this right. So first, we're using AI to compile and analyze all available information on refrigerants. This includes technical specifications, handling procedures, safety protocols and equipment compatibility, and so AI helps sift through a massive amount of data quickly. So AI helps sift through a massive amount of data quickly I mean, like light speed quickly to ensure the most up-to-date and relevant, to make sure you have the most up-to-date and relevant information. So there's interactive training models that are built through AI that'll help you to move the, help you move faster, to move the, the help you move faster. And these are not just standard, one size fits all training videos. Instead, they adapt to each technician, uh, their learning pace and style. Ai tracks progress, identifies the struggles and provides additional resources or explanations as needed. And so we can also use AI to simulate various scenarios for technicians that, when they encounter this new refrigerant, troubleshooting exercises, safety drills, even virtual reality simulations of installations and repairs. It's like giving our techs a hands-on experience before they ever touch the real thing.

Speaker 1: 23:25

But it doesn't really stop there. We're also using AI to create personalized quizzes and assessments. I mean, one of the things that we've done over at WhoHires partner with not Service Titan Lord, have mercy, partner with Nexstar, and had a little over 4,000 technicians, csrs, dispatchers take a test or take a quiz, a questionnaire, and then we took that data and it's really, it's just math, it's just advanced math and ran it through our AI system to predict your next hire and how they're going to do. Are they a flight risk, are they going to be a good employee? And who doesn't want that? I mean, we know we just talked about this on that call yesterday there's a massive labor shortage.

Speaker 1: 24:21

This is not news, but what is news is there's a better way of doing things, and so just think about everything that I've mentioned today and how that can be beneficial in your company and listen, you can't. I would not recommend just hiring somebody to come in and do this. You need to find somebody that understands how AI works. Find somebody that understands how AI works, so that way, when you jump on this train, you're going to be as successful as you possibly can be, and there's a bunch of AI gurus out there that think they know everything. And you know, just do your homework. Do your homework we, you know. One of the other ways that you can use AI is to predict the supply chain issues as the industry transitions, and this helps with inventory. This helps with training schedules more effectively, and the beauty of using AI for this training is it's not static. It's new information that becomes available as regulations are updated.

Speaker 1: 25:43

And by the time 2025 rolls around, your team wants to be fully prepared to handle this new refrigerant safely and effectively. God knows. The last thing you want is for something to go sideways, and this is a major shift in our industry and the companies that prepare the best and have training processes in place, and for not just their sales team but just their technicians. And look, we're not just keeping up with the changes here, we're staying ahead of the curve. So, whether you're a salesperson or a technician in the field, you really want to learn how to adapt this new technology to make your life easier and to make sure that you have a successful year next year.

Speaker 1: 26:41

You know, if you've been around the industry for a while you've been through a refrigerant change you know that it's sometimes a bit bumpy because people don't really understand it. They don't know. Well, there's a lot of questions and you don't want your guys out in the field not having answers, and this is the easiest, most effective way to make sure your team looks like they're rock stars, and they will be rock stars because they'll have the right information at the right time and you'll smoke the rest of these companies that are not doing this. You know, if you can just, for a moment, step out of the old way of thinking I mean, the old way of thinking is well, I'll just wait till 2025 and deal with it.

Speaker 1: 27:36

Well, I just don't believe that would be the smartest thing to do. You know a lot of us wait till the last minute to do things. This is not going to be one of those things that you're going to want to wait until the last minute to do, so I would just encourage you just to start. All you have to do is start. Download ChatGPT. Spend 20 freaking dollars for the app that's the pro version or download Claude and this stuff's going to blow your mind and don't try to do it all in one day, because that would be physically impossible.

Speaker 1: 28:22

I've been working on this for years well, almost years about a year and a half and the changes that I've seen in a year and a half have been astronomical. I mean y'all, we are literally three decades ahead of our time because of this technology alone. So I would encourage you, don't be nervous about it, don't be scared about it. I would encourage you just to jump in the game and just start learning it. Don't be scared about it. I would encourage you just to jump in the game and just start learning it. And if you don't know where to start, reach out to somebody that you trust and they can help you.

Speaker 1: 29:06

So look, guys, I appreciate you, appreciate you listening. Do me a favor If you see this on social media, share it. If you are listening obviously you're listening to this episode give me a review. Just go down to Apple, scroll about halfway down below this podcast rate and review the show. It helps me, it helps the show grow. We did about 55,000 downloads last month, which I'm just super grateful for. I'm super grateful for your commitment to listening to the show and supporting the show for as long as you have. We've been going well over four and a half years now and made some pretty good strides and I'm really really happy about that and I'm really grateful that you guys have stuck around. So no more time, any more of your time. I appreciate you listening and stay tuned, because we've got some I mean badass episodes coming up with some badass leaders in the industry. We'll see you guys later.