Last year, I started a series on Mingledorff‘s after following their content and meeting the team in person at one of their Atlanta locations.
I follow the Mingledorff’s podcast – Caffeine and Coils hosted by Jenny Brown and Deanna Lassiter as it is one of the only HVACR Distributor podcasts in the channel; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/caffeine-and-coils/id1701491521
This podcast was started at the end of 2023 and uniquely covers the HVACR distribution business. The Mingledorff’s team reaching and communicating with end customers, manufacturers, and their fellow associates with a fun and informative podcast with high production value.
For this update I wanted to share details on a recent podcast Jenny and Deanna did with Shane McKnight the General Manager of Holden and Associates.
Holden represents the leading manufacturers in the air movement and distribution industries (Greenheck and Titus) throughout the state of Georgia for the last 60 years and is also owned by Mingledorff’s (which is a unique twist – a distributor who owns a manufacturing rep firm)
Key Trends and Opportunities highlighted in the Podcast
What Has Changed about the Commerical HVACR Channel
Warehouses are going Vertical in Metro Areas-
Data Centers…Data Centers….and more Data Centers
Labor…The shortage of Qualified Personnel is a Challenge
I thought Shane said it clearly and concisely on the Commercial HVACR labor issues concisely, “I would say the biggest issue our contractors have right now is labor. Georgia is one of the hottest markets in the world, and very business friendly, so lots of businesses want to move here, lots of people want to move here for jobs and because of the climate. HVAC contractors can’t find people to staff to build these jobs. So, labor continues to be a major, major factor in how fast we can build jobs.”
Key Takeaways for the Channel
Mingledorff’s is diversified in both Residential and Light Commercial HVAC served by the Mingledorff’s locations and Holden serving the Commercial, Industrial, and Education HVAC Markets. Different lines for each, different service models, and the ability to serve close to the entire available HVAC market in Georgia.
Holden and Associates is supporting engineers and architects on large projects, and having to do much more expediting and project management (for the large projects like Data Centers with long lead times) to keep their customers up to date on when the product will arrive, where it is will delivered (or stored until needed), and more. This specify, order, and managing of big commercial equipment process is night and day different from the core Mingledorff’s residential business.
The Holden business requires deep technical knowledge and support that needs well trained and experienced associates who are in lock step with their contractor customers (if you listen to this episode Shane does an excellent job talking about their technical training and support).
When the market changed, (warehouses going more vertical in Atlanta), data centers coming on to the scene, (Holden undoubtedly has a team of associates who dove in and learned that new business), and labor shortages and product lead times grew…they adjusted to the customer needs. The Holden business and the HAVCR channel business in residential both require top trained and experienced distributor support for your end contractors. The relationship and support playbook are still the proven way to win in the channel.
I appreciate following the Caffeine and Coils podcast. Every two weeks there are episodes that deliver great information on the channel. Kudos to Mingledorff’s for the effort and I suggest you give them a listen and follow their work.
As always, we would love to get your feedback, so please feel free to comment below or reach out to me directly at jgunderson@channelmkt.com
