Coleman dealer’s wife
keeps business running during deployment

Norman, Okla. -- Doug Brantley has been a member of the Tennessee Army National Guard for 23 years. During that time, he married his wife Kim, fathered a son, purchased Brantley Heating & Air Conditioning and, most recently, spent a year serving with the Guard in Iraq.

Doug, Kim and their son Will Brantley

Brantley joined members of the 194th Engineer Brigade of the Tennessee National Guard at Fort Bragg, N.C., in November 2004. The following month the brigade left for Iraq, where Brantley applied his engineering background to a variety of construction projects throughout the country and earned the Bronze Star for his service.

Word of his deployment reached Brantley about four months before he headed for Fort Bragg. As he got his affairs in order, he faced the prospect of leaving a family he loved and a business he had purchased eight years earlier. “With respect to my business, my biggest concern was maintaining my customer base while I was away,” Brantley recalled. “There really wasn’t much I could do about it apart from putting people in place that I thought Kim could call on for help if she needed it. I also made the decision to scale back our new construction work and ductwork installations.”

Prior to her husband’s deployment, Kim ran the office, answering phones, handling billing and taking care of payroll issues. She had no technical background in the HVAC industry, but soon found herself running the business and practicing on-the-job training.

Looking back on that difficult year, Kim said, “I probably knew just enough to be dangerous! I had managed to pick up some things about the business as I worked in the office before Doug left, but that certainly didn’t prepare me to step into Doug’s shoes.”
Kim’s new role was not an easy one to assume. Plagued with some personnel issues early on, she found herself with fewer people she could rely on for help. Fortunately, she was able to communicate with her husband on a fairly regular basis, thanks to the internet.

“I don’t think I could have survived without that ability to communicate with Doug,” Kim said. “I was able to ask him about model numbers and pricing issues, and if he didn’t have an answer for me, he could at least direct me to someone who might be able to help.”

Equipment Supply Distributor Inc. (ESD), Johnson Controls’ Coleman distributor, also provided Kim with support. According to Doug Brantley, “Anytime she or the guys here had a technical problem, the folks at esd were always available to talk on the phone or drive up here from Memphis to help figure out the problem.” Kim echoed Doug’s praise for the people at ESD.

Charles Humphreys, president of ESD, said that it was natural to want to help Kim: “Kim is a very capable young woman, but I can’t imagine what it’s like for a small business when the principal is suddenly absent for a year. We just wanted to support Kim with whatever she needed to make her situation less stressful and to protect the business.”

Home since last December, Doug Brantley is working hard to make up for the year he lost. “I’d like to take some additional training, but at the moment I’m still busy trying to build the business again. It’s just good to be home and to have a business to return to.”

As for Kim, she’s back doing the invoicing and happy to return to a more limited role in the business. “It was definitely an adventure,” she said, “one I hope not to repeat anytime soon!”

For more information about Coleman, visit www.colemanac.com.