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The Service Roundtable’s Hall of Leaders
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Tom McCart |
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Years ago, there were rumors about a super salesperson in Florida, who sold more replacements by himself than most companies. The rumors were true. The salesperson became the first person to record $1 million of residential replacement (i.e., retail) sales in the air conditioning industry. The salesperson was Tom McCart.
Tom was one of the most successful salespeople in the history of the industry. He’s been inducted into the Contracting Business Hall of Fame. He was presented with the “Thomas R. ‘Doc’ Rusk Award.”
As Tom’s early success was reported in the trade press, it led many business owners to rethink their business models and consider hiring salespeople of their own. Without realizing it, Tom helped change the way an industry went to market by serving as a role model, proving what could be done.
Tom’s sales approach was different than most. He spent more time before and after the sale than other people. He didn’t hard sell. He made friends, recommendations to friends, and followed up to ensure his new friends were happy.
No matter who might have signed his paycheck, Tom worked for the contractors he served. When a contractor was struggling, Tom would observe, taking mental notes, and then offer his critique. The critiques could be harsh when needed, but no one ever objected. No one objected because each contractor Tom helped knew deep down that he was right. Moreover, they sensed that Tom sincerely cared. He approached from a position of genuine care and concern. When he offered help, he offered a bit of himself.
When Tom felt a contractor was behaving self-destructively, he could be relentless in the pursuit of change. He would prod continually using a dry sense of barbed humor, picking at the behavior like an old sore until he saw action.
Tom could be impatient at times. He was on a mission. Time was of the essence. When he was most exasperated, Tom would demonstrate. More than once, he took the owner of a company and told him to pick out a street. While the owner shook his head, Tom would proceed to knock on doors and introduce himself and the owner, passing out business cards.
He knocked on door after door, dragging a disbelieving, uncertain, worried contractor with him. Door after door. Sooner or later, Tom would knock on the door of a homeowner who was ready to replace, but because of time, lack of a contractor relationship, or pure inertia hadn’t acted. The homeowner would say something like, “You know, I’ve been meaning to call someone to look at our air conditioner. It’s pretty old and we’ve been thinking about getting a new one. Could you take a look at it?”
The contractor’s disbelief would be replaced by awe.
Many people knew Tom from his training classes. When Tom trained, he was “on.” He was a performer. He inserted theater into his training to drive home the points he wanted to make. After watching Tom teach a class, it was easy to see how he could sell so well.
Actually, it’s a mistake to use the word “sell.” As Tom would say, he didn’t sell, he helped people buy. In fact, he went so far as to make up business cards with “Assistant Buyer” as the job title.
As a salesperson, Tom would select lower income neighborhoods and show people who thought they couldn’t afford it, how they could buy a new air conditioner and reduce their debt with a home equity loan. He helped people. He made friends.
Tom, like many legends of the trade, was brought into the industry by the most legendary contractor of them all, Ron Smith. Tom learned to sell at Ron’s Modern Air in Fort Myers, the New York Yankees or Green Bay Packers of contracting companies. The team Ron assembled included Tom, Charlie Greer, and John Young. This was a magic group in a magic company. Talk with Tom and a special glint in his eye would appear when he mentioned Modern. His “ego wall” was filled with the plaques he won working for Modern.
Tom came from retail. He didn’t know the rules for selling HVAC. He didn’t know that one person couldn’t sell more than $1 million of replacements by himself. So he did it. He was the first. A copy of the Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News article announcing the feat sat on his desk until the day he died.
Today, everyone recognizes a million dollar salesperson as special, but few consider one extraordinary. Like the milers who followed Roger Bannister after he broke the four-minute mile barrier, many can do it once they know it can be done. When Tom broke the million dollar sales barrier, no one knew it could be done. Tom’s accomplishment is even more remarkable when one considers that it occurred over 20 years ago in a one season market.
Late in his life, Tom was struck with cancer. He beat it. Tom is a fighter. But then he was hit with a disease he wouldn’t win, ALS. Still, he fought.
Tom was given six months to live. Many would have given up. Tom fought on and lasted more than two years. In his last year Tom was confined to a wheelchair, with limited use of his arms, almost completely dependent upon his wife, Diane, who stood by Tom through his illness as bravely as Nancy Reagan stood by her husband, but with far less help.
While his body was thin and gaunt, Tom’s mind was active and alert. He was still fighting. He was still fighting for the contractor. Tom was a frequent contributor to the HVAC Roundtable. Each post Tom made reflected more effort than many exert in a day. These were gems of treasure from a man’s who had something to say worth hearing.
With great sickness some withdraw from the world. Not Tom. If anything, Tom was more giving of himself, more willing to help, and more on a mission. Many stop growing early in life. In his death match with this terrible disease, Tom continued to grow. In the face of ALS, he did not despair. He became a better person.
Tom was a true Servant Leader.
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© 2008 Service Roundtable |
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