Billy Gregus, owner of Integrity Refrigeration, called in and asked a question every contractor is asking in 2026:

What is actually working in HVAC marketing right now? PPC? LSA? Guerrilla marketing? Where should contractors be putting their money and energy to get the best ROI?

In this episode, Derek Cormier breaks down exactly how Climate Experts approaches marketing and why that strategy continues to produce results.

Like many contractors, Derek initially handed his entire marketing budget to a large agency and hoped for the best. While it produced some results, he quickly learned a better approach: segment your marketing among specialized vendors and have someone on your team managing performance and accountability.

At Climate Experts, the majority of leads still come from referrals, supported by a strong referral program and consistent marketing to existing customers. The company also has its own CMO who works with the team weekly, manages vendors, tracks performance, and ensures every marketing dollar is being spent effectively. Combined with an internal marketing coordinator and a social media strategy built specifically for the trades, the company has developed a system that delivers measurable ROI.

This episode is a real-world answer to a real question from a contractor trying to determine where to invest marketing dollars in 2026.

What You'll Learn:
• Why many contractors get burned by large marketing agencies
• How to segment vendors based on their strengths
• Why your existing customer base is your most underutilized marketing asset
• What a successful referral program looks like
• Why having an internal marketing leader changes everything
• How trades business owners should approach social media
• What is producing ROI for a multi-million-dollar HVAC company in 2026

Topics Covered:
• HVAC marketing in 2026
• PPC vs LSA vs guerrilla marketing
• Referral marketing for contractors
• Marketing to existing customers
• Managing multiple marketing vendors
• Building an in-house marketing team
• Social media for HVAC companies
• Home service lead generation
• Marketing ROI for contractors

Who This Episode Is For:
HVAC contractors, plumbers, electricians, and home service business owners who are spending money on marketing and want to know what's actually working. It's for contractors who have been burned by agencies, owners looking to scale from $1M to $10M+, and anyone wanting a clearer strategy for growing a home service company.

About Escape the One Man Show:
Escape the One Man Show is a podcast for contractors and trades business owners who are tired of being the bottleneck in their company. Host Derek Cormier shares the leadership lessons, systems, marketing strategies, and operational frameworks that helped build Climate Experts into a multi-million-dollar home service business.

Have a question you want answered on the show?

Call 321-495-7788 and leave a voicemail. Your question may be featured in an upcoming episode.

Keywords:
HVAC marketing 2026, HVAC lead generation, PPC vs LSA, contractor marketing, home service marketing, referral program, HVAC business growth, social media for contractors, marketing ROI, HVAC leads, contractor podcast, trades business marketing, Climate Experts, Derek Cormier, Escape the One Man Show, marketing budget for contractors, home service business growth, HVAC company marketing strategy.

Every contractor thinks they need to hire someone with years of trades experience to become a manager. This episode will change the way you think about leadership forever.

In this episode of Escape The One Man Show, Derek Cormier sits down with Climate Experts COO Krystal Hernandez to break down her incredible journey from stay at home mom and part time office admin to running operations for a multi million dollar HVAC, plumbing, and electrical company.

Six years ago Krystal knew nothing about the trades. No HVAC experience. No accounting background. No management experience. Today she oversees office operations, customer service, dispatch, accounting, HR, staffing, and marketing.

This episode is not about motivation. It is about a proven blueprint for building leaders from within your company instead of constantly searching for outside hires.

Derek and Krystal discuss why culture fit matters more than experience, how to identify leadership potential in your team, the biggest mistakes contractors make when promoting employees, and why some of the best leaders in your company may be hiding in plain sight.

If you are tired of being the bottleneck in your business and want to build a team that can grow without you this episode is for you.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: Why hiring experienced managers often backfires. How to identify leadership potential in your employees. Why culture fit beats experience every time. The framework Climate Experts uses to promote from within. How accountability creates leaders. Why bad hires destroy company culture. The importance of coaching and mentorship. How to build management teams without relying on outside recruiting. Leadership lessons from growing a multi million dollar trades company. What contractors get wrong about promotions and management.

TOPICS COVERED: Building leaders from within. Promoting employees into management. Hiring vs developing leaders. Company culture in the trades. Leadership development. HVAC business growth. Employee accountability. Coaching and mentorship. Women in the trades. Trades business leadership. Internal promotions. COO development. Management training. Scaling a home service company. Building systems and processes.

WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR: This episode is for HVAC contractors, plumbers, electricians, and home service business owners who are struggling to find great managers and leaders. It is for owners who feel stuck because everything depends on them. It is for contractors who want to stop hiring people who look good on paper and start building leaders who are aligned with their culture and mission. It is also for anyone in the trades who wants to grow into leadership and create a bigger future inside their company.

ABOUT ESCAPE THE ONE MAN SHOW: Escape The One Man Show is a podcast for contractors and trades business owners who are done being the bottleneck in their own company. Every episode host Derek Cormier shares the real systems, leadership lessons, hiring strategies, and growth tactics that helped build Climate Experts into a multi million dollar HVAC, plumbing, and electrical company in Florida.

Want to work with Derek directly? Visit www.escapetheonemanshow.com

Have a question you want answered on the show? Call in and leave your question at 321-495-7788 and it may be featured on a future episode.

Most contractors are terrified of losing a key employee. A technician who knows everything. A manager who holds the whole operation together. Someone who has been there so long that the thought of them walking out the door keeps you up at night.

That fear is not a loyalty problem. It is a systems problem.

In this episode Derek Cormier breaks down why the fear of employees quitting is really a symptom of two things, a weak recruiting process and an even weaker training system. If one person leaving can derail your business you have built your company on a foundation that was never meant to hold weight.

This is the episode for every contractor who has ever held back on holding someone accountable because they were too afraid of what would happen if that person walked.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:The real reason you are afraid of employees quitting has nothing to do with the employee and everything to do with your systems. Derek breaks down what it actually takes to stop being held hostage by your own team — from building a training program that develops technicians from the ground up, to proactively coaching out poor fits before they become a crisis, to recruiting so consistently that no single person is ever irreplaceable.

Topics Covered:Why fear of employees quitting is a recruiting and training problem not a people problem. How to build a training system that develops technicians from scratch instead of depending on experienced hires. Why you need to always be developing your people and never stop. How to proactively coach out poor fits while hiring their replacement in the background. Why a repeatable onboarding and training process is the foundation of a scalable company. How tools like Loom and Trainual can save your managers hours every week on onboarding. Why every contractor over three million in revenue needs a dedicated in house recruiter. Why one good selling technician will pay for their position many times over. What it actually looks like to build a company where no single person can hold you hostage.

Who This Episode Is For:This episode is for HVAC contractors, plumbers, and electricians who are tired of walking on eggshells around key employees. For trades business owners who know their training is inconsistent but have not fixed it yet. For contractors doing one to five million who feel like they are one resignation away from a crisis. For any owner who has ever held back on accountability because they were scared of losing someone. And for anyone ready to build a company where great people want to stay and no one person can destroy you by walking out the door.

About Escape the One Man Show:Escape the One Man Show is a podcast for contractors and trades business owners who are done being the bottleneck in their own company. Every episode host Derek Cormier breaks down the real tactics, leadership lessons, and culture shifts that helped him build Climate Experts into a multi-million dollar home services business in Florida.

Have a question you want answered on the show? Call 321-495-7788 and leave a voicemail. I will play it on an upcoming episode and break it down just like this.

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