Spence Levy Of Air Esscentials On How To Take Your Company From Good To Great

Asa part of my series about “How To Take Your Company From Good To Great”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Spence Lev.

Spence Levy founded Air Esscentials in the year 2007 and from then on, Air Esscentials has been scenting spaces across the world from Casinos, Hotels, Trade Shows, Cruise Ships and more. He has an entrepreneurial background that includes successful ventures in start-up companies, business development and experience in multiple companies (both large and small). Mr. Levy has built multimillion dollar companies from the ground up. He has senior managerial experience with companies in both the public and private sectors, having built and sold several global distribution and sales companies. Mr. Levy has degrees in Advertising/ Public Relations and Marketing from Johnson and Wales University.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

Ifounded Air Esscentials in 2007 after I walked into popular hotels in Miami and asked if they wanted to do a free trial of a scent machine in their lobby for a week. After the week was up, every hotel received such rave reviews from customers, that they signed a contract with me and bought the machine. From then on, Air Esscentials has been scenting spaces across the world from casinos, hotels, Trade Shows, cruise ships and more.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

I’ve never considered giving up, because it’s not in my nature. As, there are too many people relying on me; both my personal family, and the Air Esscentials family. During Covid, our business took a huge hit, and all four of our main industries we served shut down. Because public places no longer needed our services, I took this as an opportunity to pivot. We contacted a manufacturer to see if they were able to make a disinfecting fogger that could fight the virus. We were able to find a completely safe hospital grade, FDA approved disinfectant for people to use and thus was born “virus first aid kit”. We sold thousands of these disinfectant machines to hospitals, fire departments, homes etc.

This was able to save the company, as we could then expand, obtain more warehouses and bring back every employee as well as hire more people on board.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

When scenting an environment, everything is custom and there are different environmental factors that affect scent and air flow. The machines are installed through the air conditioning systems, so if the AC is not on, the scent will not be distributed. Depending on the season, a there might be an additional need for scent machines. We would receive 50–100 calls from clients during the winter or cold during cold fronts to ask where the scent went. We learned throughout the 18 years that a quote in the summer might not be relevant to a quote in the winter, as it could require more machines. Air Esscentials sticks to their word and will eat the cost in order to keep original quote.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Both the quality of customer service and the quality of the product is extremely important to us.

We are not willing to cut corners on quality in the name of money. The Air Esscentials team will not use products that they won’t use for their own personal homes. We only use products made in the US that is tested and approved by non-bias third party group.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?

Customer service is at utmost importance to us, as we are in this business to build relationships. It is important to us to be invested in the long-term relationship with clients in order to make a difference in their business.

It is essential to us to have a good reputation by delivering the best costumer service, this will in the long-run be a and win-win for everyone involved. We have gone above and beyond in many cases, where we have lost money in the name of customer service.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. Can you help articulate for our readers a few reasons why a business should consider becoming a purpose driven business, or consider having a social impact angle?

Every month, the company picks a different organization to contribute to. A lot of the organizations that we work will have an environmental focus, as that is a personal cause that is important to me. We also made a point to continue to donate to charities throughout covid.

We also contribute a percentage of online sales to different organizations. Some organizations that we have worked with are Miami Waterkeepers, Autism Awareness, and Paws for You.

We even have developed a new line of pet fragrances in partnership with a company called Symrise that is approved by veterinarians and are safe and calming to animals. Air Esscentials is used in vets offices and pet shelters as the scent helps to reduce stress for animals that visit.

In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?

Human Resources is such a huge component of running a business that is typically underestimated. HR is an important touch point to keeping the organization running smoothly. In any setting, there are an array of different personalities that all must work efficiently together. Human Resources keeps everyone in check so that they can work well together.

Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand and essential to be successful in general. In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?

Customer service was lacking from the bigger competitor companies, which thankfully redirected their clients to us. Our way to stand out against larger companies in the space, is to have amazing customer service, that a larger company can’t compete with.

How can our readers further follow you online?

Instagram

Website

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!