Russell’s Heating and Cooling and FreshLime were featured on NBC News to discuss how Buddy, owner of Russell’s Heating and Cooling, uses the FreshLime platform to make customer interactions more convenient and valuable to his business.

How it All Started

In 1977, Buddy Smith’s parents, Russell and Audrey Smith started Russell’s Heating and Cooling. Once they retired in 2000, Buddy took over and now runs the show along with 90 highly-trained technicians. Buddy’s parents believed in the value of strong customer service when they were in charge and Buddy carries on with the same core values today

“People want what they want and they want it now.”

Buddy understands the importance of attracting and keeping customers. Because of that, Buddy works with FreshLime to make his business more reachable for its customers. According to FreshLime’s CEO and founder, Jay Bean, “70% of customers will do business with the first company that interacts with them.”

The FreshLime platform makes life easier for small business owners because it allows for seamless interactions by pulling all of their customers’ messages into one single location. Customers can reach out to businesses and get answers around the clock in the way that is most convenient for them, without business owners having to check more than one inbox.

Buddy says that Russell’s Heating and Cooling‘s customer service reps have always been great at answering phone calls, but they were not regularly checking social media channels, emails and texts. Now all of their messages come directly to them without having to login to several separate services.

“It’s nice to have technology and have a third party to help you through that process.” -Buddy Smith

Make your business accessible to customers by allowing them to reach you when, where and how they want to talk to you.