Mark Swepston of Atlas Butler Heating, Cooling & Plumbing: 5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business
An Interview With Jason Hartman
SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM GOALS: Everyone on your team needs to know your short and long-term goals. They need to know why they are there, what their role is, and why they are important to the company’s growth. If they do not agree with you, they most likely need another opportunity. Keep repeating the goals over and over again even if you are sick of hearing yourself.
As a part of our series about 5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Swepston.
After having spent his entire professional career — more than 45 years — in the heating and cooling service industry, Mark Swepston serves as CEO and Owner of Atlas Butler Heating, Cooling & Plumbing. He is devoted to growing the company’s workforce and their technicians’ capabilities, while also focusing on innovation on a larger scale, such as incorporating new technologies, navigating changing economic landscapes, and managing the personnel of a thriving company.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Entering college, I planned to be a math teacher and a wrestling coach. By the time I learned what teachers were being paid, it didn’t take long for me to change majors. Rather than be in the family business, I set my sights on being a banker. After graduation, I started graduate school but thought I better have a job, so I went to work for Atlas Butler in the accounting department.
I met a speaker at a financial seminar who had helped develop the Zero-Based Budgeting concept. We ended up having dinner and he planted the seed of what a great opportunity I had leading a family business rather than being one of many at a bank. This helped me channel my focus into being a part of something great and 45 years later, I’m still involved.
Can you tell us a bit about your family business and your role in it?
When I committed to staying with the business, I had a brother five years my senior who worked in sales. I became the assistant service manager and then service manager because I liked to help solve problems and the departments were independent of each other.
Over the next few years, we doubled the size of the service department and at the same time my brother decided to leave the company. At that time our sales were about $3 million with about 40 employees. Today we are on track to do $40 million with 150 employees.
As owner and CEO of Atlas Butler, I believe that when you run a family-owned service business, you exist to assist those around you. It’s not only about solving our customer’s problems but working to build a great environment where people want to work. My son Michael is now president of the company and doing a fantastic job. It truly is a dream come true. We’ve had many great offers of those wanting to buy the company, but we’re simply not interested. Michael and I love the people and can’t imagine a better work environment.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?
In 1997, we were recognized as the Small Business of the Year for the State of Ohio in a reception at the White House — the only HVAC company in the country to receive that award.
We decided to make a family trip out of it, and we all went to Washington D.C., including my mother-in-law who volunteered to go along so that my wife and I could attend a couple of events while she took care of the kids.
Along the way, we met a gentleman who was on the selection committee for this award, and he set us up for a special tour of the White House. Our challenge was that when we were sent the envelope for the tour it only included one pass. To solve the problem, he gave us a name and phone number to call and ensured us that this person would make sure all the passes were available. We learned right away what building the right contacts can do for you in life. As it turned out, he was a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton and the name and phone number he gave us was Hillary Clinton’s personal secretary. It was a great experience and we all enjoyed the tour.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Not so much a funny mistake but more a matter of circumstances. My older brother was always the family member who was going to take the reins from my grandfather and father while I considered a career in finance. However, after working at Atlas Butler for several years, he determined that he wanted to forge a different path and I stepped in to lead the company as the third generation of the Swepston family to do so. I never realized what this re-direction would mean to me — the impact on our community and the creation of good jobs in the region, all while fostering a business that would continue to be a part of my family. It’s hard to think I almost missed out on this!
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Over the years we have focused on providing service for homes and businesses for HVAC and plumbing systems.
I realized early on that fixing the equipment as quickly as possible was not the key issue; everyone expects that to happen.
The key has been that for every person, whether we are proving service for them or they work on our team, that TIME is the most important issue. Each person’s PERSONAL TIME.
We answer the phone and/or email as quickly as possible. We try to schedule the call the soonest available for our customer we arrive on time. If any follow up work needs to be scheduled we return at the time we promise.
In addition to prompt service we schedule sales calls and follow-up installations the same way through our central scheduling system. Customers appreciate the respect for their time and our employees appreciate that they know what to expect, too.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
No matter how hard we try, our business is dependent to a large degree on the weather. We are working with some software companies to see if they can help us more accurately predict the demand so we can respond fast and reduce the overload on our team members.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Two people come to mind from the early days but the lesson I learned from them still helps me today in all aspects of life.
Efficiency: Jess Malone
Jess was dyslexic during a time when most people didn’t talk about it. In fact, he only attended school through ninth grade. But what people didn’t know is that he was brilliant and one of the most mechanically efficient people I have ever met. He was also a craftsman and insisted things were done right to a very high standard. What did he know how to do? Focus, do things right the first time, and always look for ways to make improvements.
As we have grown, it is great to see that we now have six to ten “Jess Malones” on the Atlas Butler Team.
Trouble Shooting: Nelson Evans
Nelson had a knack for taking complex problems and coming up with a solution to get systems back in proper working order. He knew how to break things down to the basics and rebuild the “system” so it would work the way it was intended. He could go out to jobs designed by the best architects and engineers, but the systems would not work in practice. He would find a solution and then, in a very diplomatic way bring the original engineers into the process to get their support for changes to the systems.
The biggest lesson that I learned from Nelson was not just on the mechanical side. The troubleshooting practices he used for improving systems also played into solving people’s issues, too. Using these practices makes life easier for me when things get off track and need a resolution.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
From the day I was born I was raised in a family where church and the Boy Scouts were an important part of our life. Our family raised dogs for Pilot Dogs, and my father and grandfather were always involved in volunteer efforts. As kids, we always went along to help.
In the Jaycees (when I first started working full time) the key saying for me in the Jaycee Creed is, “Service to Humanity is the best work of Life.” I have always believed that and always will. I don’t know how to build, work, or volunteer for an organization that exists for any other reason.
Most recently, I have been focusing my time and funds on the Elevate Northland Project, which hopes to revitalize what some have called a “forgotten” neighborhood around Columbus. Our company’s volunteer time and contributions has helped played a role in developing a new community center.
For more than 20 years, our company has championed causes closest to his heart, impacting the children, families, and elderly of Central Ohio. I have also served in leadership roles for the Salvation Army and the Kiwanis Club of Columbus. My favorite experiences have been around the holidays ringing the bell and distributing food and gifts for Christmas Cheer events.
As a leader in Atlas Butler, I try to inspire our associates to invest in their neighborhoods. Last year, Atlas Butler supported more than 32 organizations in Central Ohio. It’s more than supplying funds, time, or resources. It’s about changing lives. We know that each initiative supports a bright future for a friend and neighbor.
Ok thank you for that. Let’s now pivot to the main parts of our interview. How do you define a family business? How is a family business different from a regular business?
Most successful family businesses are different. Their focus is on the services they provide and their long-term success. Publicly held businesses have to hit quarterly performance goals and do not always look at long-term performance.
In your opinion or experience, what are the unique advantages that family-owned businesses have?
Being able to work on developing an atmosphere that the team enjoys. We aren’t made for everyone, but we work hard to create what we think is a good place to work. A large percentage of the people who work for us have been recruited by people who already work for us. This is something we take great pride in.
What are the unique drawbacks or blindspots that family-owned businesses have?
Everyone needs to do their part and keep an eye on how things are being handled. Just because someone is asked to do something does not mean that it is being done the way it should. Also, even if it’s a big risk, one should be open to hearing from others if something isn’t being done right or if there is a better way to do it.
What are some of the common mistakes you have seen family businesses make? What would you recommend avoiding those errors?
Those in leadership tend to put people in positions that they do not deserve. The lack of basic skills or leadership abilities can hold the company back.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders of family businesses to help their employees to thrive?
- Build an atmosphere that you can support 110%
- Not everyone is going to like the choices you make for the business
- FOCUS! Most entrepreneurial people are always looking for the next big thing; but the ones who really thrive are the ones who can focus on their core business and blow by their competitors.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean with a story or example?
I have always liked the saying, “Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way.” True leaders work just as hard or harder at developing their leadership skills as they do the basics of their business.
I have one friend who spent many hours each week (I’d say 20 to 30 hours) developing his leadership skills and he hired people to handle the technical skills. The result? For the twenty-plus years that he had the business, the average annual compounded growth was over 20%.
Here is our main question. What are the “5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business”? Please share a story or example for each.
DESIRE to Build the Business. If you don’t have that burning desire, find a place where you can be in the number two position, not the leader.
FOCUS: Most entrepreneurial people are always looking for the next big thing; but the ones who really thrive are the ones who can focus on their core business and blow by their competitors.
METRICS: Have an accurate way to know the performance of each person working on your team every day, if not every hour. In today’s world, you need to know the effectiveness of every person every day if you want to proceed toward your goals.
SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM GOALS: Everyone on your team needs to know your short and long-term goals. They need to know why they are there, what their role is, and why they are important to the company’s growth. If they do not agree with you, they most likely need another opportunity. Keep repeating the goals over and over again even if you are sick of hearing yourself.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
Warren Buffet
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Get the political leadership of the country to work together to build a great country.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
