The Unified Group — an association of leading independent HVAC commercial contractors in the industry — recently held its Annual Meeting and Owners’ Forum in Hollywood, Florida. The event allows business leaders to step away from the hectic pace of their day-to-day activities and provides them a valuable time to focus on overall company and process improvement while networking with peers.

“The best part of the meeting was getting to further build relationships with other contractors in the group, with plenty of time for discussions and thoughts to be shared,” said Derren Saucier of Temperature Inc.

Entrepreneur and business advisor John Howman kicked off the first day as this year’s guest speaker. A Vistage Chair since 1991, Howman helps business leaders tackle some of their toughest issues and guides them to make decisions that will benefit their companies. His insight into people and exceptional market analysis capabilities, coupled with his business acumen and creativity, helps create passionate, driven and successful work teams. During the session, Howman created a workshop environment for attendees to learn how to achieve results from their vision. Few companies fail because there wasn’t a vision — they fail because they can’t execute the vision and get concrete business results. The secret? Making sure everyone understands their role so the implementation goes smoothly.

On the second day, Shane and Melissa Dick of Atlas Accounting and Consulting discussed the financial benchmark that all Unified Group members participate in. To put owners’ minds at ease, they shared what is normal and discussed KPIs and ratios that companies should measure, such as gross margin and revenue per technician. They also provided a dashboard template to help members track these items more easily.

“The benchmark review is always great to compare where we are with other best-in-class contractors that are in The Unified Group,” said Scott Krum of Legacy Mechanical. “There are always certain metrics I bring back that we need to strive to achieve.”

Large group discussions on the topics of marketing and how to recession-proof a business were followed by breakout sessions for small groups to explore strategic issues and challenges that are important to their organizations. Throughout the forum, members presented the latest technologies they use, such as Learning Zen, Smart Sheet and Mind and Body to keep employees healthy.

In addition to working on business solutions together, members enjoyed fun social events, like a margarita mixology contest, dinner in town and a closing dinner on a private yacht with a DJ.

The Unified Group is comprised of innovative, forward-thinking business leaders who are focused on continuous improvement. Visit www.theunifiedgroup.com for more information or to join.