MARCH 2021
In this issue
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CEO’S MESSAGE TO BLUE HAWK STAKEHOLDERS
IMARK GROUP UPDATE – BLUE HAWK Retirement Now Part of One Member Insurance Network
IMARK GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE CAPTIVE – Better Benefits, Better Rates
THE DASHBOARD – On Track to Be a Game Changer
BLUE HAWK GIVES BACK 2021 – Concern for Community
2021 BLUE HAWK ANNUAL CONFERENCE – A Virtual Gig
BENCHMARK BLUE – 2020 Roller Coaster Ended the Year Strong
BLUE HAWK UNIVERSITY UPDATE – Who was in the top 20?
NEW BLUE HAWK VENDOR PARTNER – One New Vendor Partner
BLUE HAWK SOCIAL MEDIA – Like us and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
CEO’s Message to BLUE HAWK Stakeholders
Lance Rantala
Dear BLUE HAWK Community,
It’s been a long and aggravating wait since our last in-person conference in 2019. However, the BLUE HAWK Team is thrilled knowing we can once again gather with our co-op’s stakeholders at our Annual Conference on April 20 – 22, 2022. Even though registration started a little sluggish, our attendee count has reached pre-pandemic levels.
To welcome our attendees back to normalcy, we have incorporated a few new twists and throwback activities at BLUE HAWK’s 18th Annual Conference. Members and Vendor Partners should arrive early to take advantage of our inaugural Wednesday Workshops. In addition, we are introducing a New Product Showcase on Wednesday evening and Member Peer-2-Peer Networking Groups on Thursday.
During the Ride the Tide Celebration, the Throwback Thursday Dunk Tank will be raising money for our 2022 Gives Back partner, American Red Cross. So, whether you will be in Orlando or not, this is your chance to donate money and dunk someone for a good cause.
Once again, we are grateful for your patience with our virtual meetings in 2020 and 2021. You can never replace in-person networking and bonding, yet we tried. Moreover, we appreciate your collaboration and solidarity during the pandemic. You proved to us how vital BLUE HAWK is to your businesses. Thank your ongoing support and cooperation.
As a member-owned, member-controlled, and financially transparent co-op, BLUE HAWK looks ahead to continuing our work with our Members, Vendor Partners, Solution Partners, and Alliance Partners to ensure the survival and growth of independent HVACR wholesalers.
GROW WITH BLUE!
Lance Rantala
BLUE HAWK CEO
IMARK Group Update
BLUE HAWK is excited to announce BLUE HAWK Retirement is expanding. BLUE HAWK Retirement is now part of One Member Retirement Network, which includes IMARK Group Retirement. Both IMARK Electrical’s 866 members and IMARK Plumbing’s 660 members now have access to take part in our group 401(k) plan. This expansion allows even more independent wholesalers to pool their retirement assets to create an even stronger buying position and leverage that scale into lower fees and a higher level of service for everyone.
BLUE HAWK Retirement has been helping our member participants with their retirement plans for more than five years. We’ve already reduced fees on four occasions for existing program members during that time. The addition of IMARK Group opens up the opportunity for even more reductions. In addition to these cost reductions, BLUE HAWK Retirement and IMARK Group Retirement offers:
- Reduced administrative duties for you and your staff
- Rid yourself of your existing personal fiduciary liability
- Lower fees through group buying power
- No audits, no audit fees, and no 5500 filings
- Professional investment oversight
Better Benefits, Better Rates
Welcome to captive insurance.
IMARK Group now has a medical insurance option to provide relief to Members who face ever-increasing healthcare costs. Members of BLUE HAWK, IMARK Electrical, and IMARK Plumbing can now take advantage of the IMARK Group Health Insurance Captive, which is part of the oldest and largest medical captive in the U.S. This captive gives IMARK Group the same purchasing power, claims cost containment, and clout as a Fortune 100 company.
A captive is an insurance company whose purpose is to assume risk on behalf of its owners. Conceptually, captives bring together a group of like-minded businesses that pool their dollars into a collective fund. By doing so, a captive can:
- Greatly reduce the volatility that mid-sized clients would face if they were self-funding on
their own - Use collective buying power to build benefit programs that rival most Fortune 100 companies
In practice, captive members contribute anywhere from 15% to 35% of their total healthcare spend for large and catastrophic claims via premiums to the stop-loss carrier and captive. The captive or carrier then pays the large claims, and employers use the rest of their healthcare spend to pay for their broker, their third-party administrator, and any smaller, more predictable claims. If the captive runs better than expected, the employer receives their share of the profits. If the smaller claims don’t happen, then the money never leaves their control. That’s self-funding, with less volatility.
On Track to be a Game Changer
The Dashboard delivers incredible value for all Members, Vendor Partners, and the co-op staff. We believe over the next year The Dashboard will completely revolutionize how our Members engage with the cooperative to maximize their Vendor Partner purchases.
The Dashboard online interface allows Members to easily see year-over-year performance with our Vendor Partners, identify and quantify conversion opportunities and focus on incentive goals. The Dashboard makes it easy to see how to make purchasing decisions that will maximize your rebates.
Joe Welch, president of Badger Metals, recently took a tour of The Dashboard. Here is what he had to say about it, “I am excited to see how The Dashboard impacts rebate growth for our company and BLUE HAWK as a whole. I believe the impact will be dramatic and will become even more positive as it continues to develop. We have been trying for years to analyze purchases and incentive data to maximize our rebates, with limited success. The Dashboard will now do that for us accurately and in real-time. We expect to see large increases in our rebates by utilizing The Dashboard. And it’s only going to get better as more Vendor Partners upload data.”
Vendor Partners and the co-op staff can easily see year-over-year performance by BLUE HAWK Members and assist Members in their awareness of opportunities to grow their Vendor Partner purchases and increase their rebates.
Vendor Partners, schedule a 30-minute Dashboard Tour using the button below.
Member access to The Dashboard requires a confidentiality agreement. Members, email Michelle Phillips for the next steps to get started with The Dashboard.
BLUE HAWK Gives Back 2021 – Concern for Community
2016 BLUE HAWK Gives Back at North Texas Food Bank
The 7th Cooperative Principle is Concern for Community.
For 2021, BLUE HAWK is going to focus our Gives Back initiative on our communities. If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that community matters. So many people are still struggling to get through this pandemic and now more than ever our communities need support. We know so many of you already do a lot in your community, so keep up the good work. And we want to hear about it.
For the rest of the year, send us your stories of giving back to your community. Whether it’s through your team doing hands-on volunteer work, making charitable donations to causes in your area, donating supplies or other items to those in need, etc. Wherever you feel the need is most impactful in your area, please take advantage of this opportunity and dive in.
We will be sharing photos, stories, and whatever information you send us. If your company’s philanthropic event already took place for the year, send us that information also.
Let’s help others get through this year and beyond.
Thank you for your continued support of our Gives Back projects.
2021 BLUE HAWK Gives Back Sponsored by:
BLUE HAWK Gives Back has logged more than 3,378 volunteer hours since May 2012, including MERISTEM, Father Joe’s Village, Durso Park Playground Project, Joshua Station, Christopher Reeve Foundation, The Ulman Cancer Fund, Surf Rider Foundation Beach Clean-up, Habitat for Humanity, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, The National Parkinson’s Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs, Girls on the Run, Arizona Basset Hound Rescue, The Tiffany Foundation, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, The Kori May Memorial Endowment Fund, Mountain Girl Rescue, Fund Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, United Way of Genesse County, and American Red Cross Midwest Division.
2021 BLUE HAWK ANNUAL CONFERENCE
As you know, BLUE HAWK Annual Conference has been moved to a virtual gig again for 2021.
The Virtual Gig will take place from April 28 to May 28. The Cyber Face-to-Face selections have been launched. You will receive your matches a couple of weeks prior to the start of the Annual Conference.
One advantage of the Cyber Face-to-Face Meetings is the flexibility to divide and conquer your scheduled appointments. Now you can assign the best people on your staff to be involved in the right discussions.
In addition to the Cyber Face-to-Face Meetings, we will be using various technology platforms to deliver the typical content you have come to expect from our Annual Conferences.
- Annual Business Update
- Board Elections
- Awards and Recognition
- Buy BLUE Promotions
- And More
Keep an eye out in your email for more details to come.
Thank you BLUE Sapphire Sponsors:
Benchmark BLUE
The ride is over. The 2020 roller coaster ended the year strong for Benchmark BLUE participants.
With the dust settling on a volatile year, BLUE HAWK Members ended 2020 strong: 57% of BLUE HAWK Members’ CoScore went up in Q4 2020 as compared to Q4 2019.
On the year, BLUE HAWK Members improved profitability, despite soft sales growth. The median EBITDA margin for the group jumped up from 3.7% in 2019 to 4.6% in 2020.
- Participation Fees for Benchmark BLUE are waived the rest of 2020 and throughout 2021.
- Schedule a 15-minute Zoom meeting with CoMetrics CEO, Paul Giudice, to tour the platform and see how benchmarks can help you make 2021 all that it can be: Meet with Paul
Itching to get back out there?
We are too. We are hopeful that we will be able to hold our Fall Advisory Forum this October in Pinehurst.
We will be sending out more information and registration soon.
BLUE HAWK University
BHU Member Recognition is based upon the total number of Vendor Partner product training modules completed during the previous three months.
TAP TO OPEN
Way to go! Top BHU Participants
- James Sterbenz, Clausen Supply, IA
- Edward Fennell, HVAC Distributors, PA
- Shane Hicks, Winsupply Kansas City #291
- Nicholas Fitzgerald, Winsupply Kansas City #291
- Rich Booth, API of NH, NH
- Joe Petraglia, HVAC Distributors, PA
- Justin Bigler, Contractors Heating and Cooling Supply (Mountain Contractors), UT
- Nicholas Mullet, A/C Supply Inc, LA
- Weston Kallas, Contractors Heating and Cooling Supply (Mountain Contractors), UT
- Paul Lewis, Victor Distributing Co., FL
- David Acciari, ABR Wholesalers, NY
- Kevin Matthews, Sid Harvey Industries, NY
- Michael Willie, Columbus Climate Controls, OH
- Kyle Calkins, Weathertech Distributing, AL
- Stephen West, Trible’s, Inc., MD
- Isaiah Sancen, Toro-Aire, Inc., CA
- Justin Pedeaux, A/C Supply Inc, LA
- Scott Pruitt, Trible’s, Inc., MD
- Charleston Andrade, Distributor Corp of New England (DCNE), MA
- Sean Baldwin, R & E Supply, AR
New Courses this Quarter
- Diversitech: Full Line Concrete Pads
- Diversitech: Full Line of Plastic Pads
- DiversiTech: TrueStart Igniter Overview
- Malco Products: Metal Hole Cutters
- Malco Products: Sheet Metal Folding Tools
- Packard: Big vs. Small HP
- Packard: Titan FX Multi-Rated Run Capacitors!
- S&P USA Advancing Ventilation Company Overview
- S&P USA Ventilation Systems: IAQ & Outside Air Solutions
- S&P USA Ventilation Systems: Jet Fans – The Smart Solution to Parking Ventilation
- S&P USA Ventilation Systems: Optisizer 2 Basics
- S&P USA Ventilation Systems: PV-DEDPV Dryer Exhaust Duct Power Ventilator
- Schwank/Infrasave superTube IR Tube Heater
- Watts: GAC Filtration Systems Module 1 Introduction
- Watts: GAC Filtration Systems Module 2: How Backwashing GAC Filter Media Works
- Watts: GAC Filtration Systems Module 3: Backwashing GAC Filter Media Applications
- Watts: GAC Filtration Systems Module 4: Sizing and Installation
- Watts: Reverse Osmosis Systems Module 1: Introduction
- Watts: Reverse Osmosis Systems Module 2: How RO Membranes Work
- Watts: Reverse Osmosis Systems Module 3: Applications
- Watts: Reverse Osmosis Systems Module 4: System Performance
- Watts: Reverse Osmosis Systems Module 5: How to Size an RO System
- White-Rodgers: 36J and 36G Series Gas Valves
- White-Rodgers: Heating Controls
- White-Rodgers: Universal Single Stage IFCs 50M56U-843 and 50X57-843
If you would like to get started with BLUE HAWK University Vendor Partner Product Training, email Michelle Phillips at bhu@bluehawkcooperative.com.
Don’t forget about our May BHU Promo. Take advantage of that by contacting Andrew Olsen to get started today at andrew.olsen@bluevolt.com.
NEW BLUE HAWK VENDOR PARTNER
Fieldpiece Instruments
Primary Contact: Craig Rodriguez
P: (714) 634-1844
www.fieldpiece.com
Electrical Tools, HVAC Tools & Test Instruments, Refrigeration Tools and Reclaim & Recovery Tools
For information regarding our Vendor Partner Program Details, visit our password protected BLUE HAWK Online Community. Enter your User Name and Password and click on the BH Vendor Partner Tab.
