Tampa area Baker Distributing Company and Florida Cooling Supply (FCS) hosted their 2020 ICP dealer meeting at the Tampa TopGolf facility on March 4, 2020. The meeting began with an afternoon social hour followed by a business session and dinner.

Wyatt Swartz, President of Baker Distributing Company’s Florida Division, greeted the contractors and provided an overview of what they can expect from their distributor. “We have accomplished a lot in the last year to earn your business, from streamlining online procedures to offering technical training and partnering with Watsco Ventures to help you grow your businesses. We have a mix of AC equipment products second to none in ICP under the Comfortmaker, Tempstar, Heil and Grandaire brands. We also do a tremendous job with parts and supplies. We are the exclusive Manitowoc distributor in Florida and stock refrigeration equipment and parts as well. To bring all these things together, we have what I consider the best team of people in the market to support you every step of the way.”

Baker eCommerce Integration Specialist, Maria Korbos, provided updates on 2020 advantages, stating “We have added a lot of Mobile App enhancements including real-time order status and additional jobsite calculators, implemented the StockPro inventory management solution and started our guest WiFi rollout.”

Maria also discussed the Watsco Ventures offerings, ranging from a variety of consumer financing options through Credit for Comfort, SBE business training and coaching, Housecall Pro software to manage dispatch, invoicing and marketing, OnCall Air to elevate sales, empower technicians and streamline the sales process and Alert Labs remote monitoring and diagnostics systems.

Bob Arena, ICP Regional Business Manager, wrapped up the business session discussing sales tools available from the manufacturer. “Our job is to help you sell. I’m not going to talk product tonight; I’m going to focus on what’s new that will help you sell successfully. How do we grow our business? By acquiring new customers, selling up, new markets and closing more jobs. Baker and FCS provide you with a great offering of business and sales tools to help you succeed and ICP has some programs to complement what you have available.”

Bob introduced the AdVantage Tools, a Facebook interface to help contractors stay top-of-mind with visitors to that platform. He stressed the importance of imparting value as the key to selling higher tiered equipment and summarized the benefits to the homeowner of variable speed equipment.

The meeting concluded with several hours of friendly competition hitting golf balls from the climate-controlled bays.

Additional photos are available here and at flhvacinsider.smugmug.com.