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Meet the People of Mitchell: April Johnston

For 25 years, Assistant Service Manager April Johnston has been one of the most familiar friendly voices answering the phone when Mitchell Cooling and Heating customers call in asking for help.

Johnston joined the Mitchell team during her senior year at Dacula High School, back in 1996. As part of a work-based learning program, she would spend half her day at school, then half in the Mitchell “office.” At the time, the whole operation was run from a single, long desk with one computer and two phones, all of which she shared with Kathy Mitchell and Lindy Strickland. 

“We were literally elbow to elbow,” says Johnston. “We worked hard and we laughed, and we just had fun.”

In the early days, Johnston did a lot of filling out paperwork, filing, and making copies. “Everything was on paper, so everything took longer,” she says. “The copier was my best friend.”

As the company grew, so did Johnston’s responsibilities. In time, she took charge of answering customer calls, dispatching technicians, and coordinating the daily service schedule. While additional team members now take some of the customer calls, you’ll still often hear her voice when you call in. Some long-time customers even ask for her by name.

People You Know

Though raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Johnston went to Dacula for school, church, and softball practice. “It was a very small town when we were younger,” she says. “Everybody knew everybody. Until a few years ago, just about everybody who worked here, we knew them or knew their family.” (Mitchell is now headquartered in neighboring Auburn, Georgia.)

It’s part of why she has stayed so long at Mitchell. “I get along with everyone,” she says, “I’m paid well, and they treat me well. And when it comes down to it, they know me. We’ve been through the good, the bad, and the ugly together. There’s a lot of benefit to really knowing the people you work with.”

She says that many of Mitchell’s customers feel the same way.

“They like that it’s the same people when they call, no matter how long it’s been,” she says. “They know they’re not just another customer to us.”

Rearranging the World to Make It Work

“I do the best I can for every customer, every time,” Johnston says. “Not just because they’re someone special. Not because they’re so-and-so’s mother. Every customer who needs help is someone who needs help, and I do everything possible for them. I will rearrange the world to make it work.”

After 25 years at Mitchell, she and Lindy Strickland can even troubleshoot some problems over the phone, saving customers a service call by talking them through something simple like flipping a breaker switch back on.

“We don’t try to charge them for things they don’t need,” she says. “We’re not constantly pushing something new on them. We’re honest, and we do what we say we’re going to do.”

Family and Fun Adventures

Johnston and her husband have three children, two now grown, married, and out of the house. Because of the pandemic, it has been over a year since she last saw her son, who is in the Army and currently based in Alaska. She hopes she’ll be able to visit him soon. Her daughter lives close by, so they’re able to visit her more often. Johnston’s youngest is still at home and is enjoying time as the only child in the house. 

Johnston and her husband are nevertheless content making the most of their time with family. “We enjoy being together, doing whatever comes up or just hanging out,” she says. “We may wake up Saturday morning and decide to go for a mountain hike, head to the lake, visit an antique store, or just take off for the day.” Sundays and some weeknights are taken up by church.

After years of marriage, they know each other well and have been through a lot together. Loving someone, trusting them, and knowing them well for so many years… What else could anyone want?

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Is it time for your spring HVAC maintenance? Give April a call to schedule it or talk with anyone else in the office by calling 770-995-7585. You can also schedule service online.

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Meet the People of Mitchell: Lindy Strickland

A member of the Mitchell Cooling and Heating team since 1994, Lindy Strickland wears many hats: human resources, office manager, customer service, and dispatch. In her first year with the company, she was also our lead childcare provider.

Back then, owners Chris and Kathy Mitchell ran the two-year-old company out of their home. While Chris was out installing heating and cooling systems in new construction, Kathy and Strickland took turns answering the phones, scheduling calls, and taking care of the Mitchells’ young daughter.

As the company grew, they soon moved into a proper office space, and Strickland focused entirely on company operations. She was later promoted to office manager and now oversees the office team. She still answers the phones and schedules service calls as needed. (If you’re already a Mitchell customer, you’ve undoubtedly spoken with her from time to time.) But as the business and team have grown, Strickland has taken on accounts receivable, paying bills, human resources, and office management.

“When I first started, everything was done on paper,” says Lindy, “paper service tickets, and each customer had an actual paper file. When calls came in we had to pull the files and give past customer information to the techs.”

Technology has since greatly streamlined that process. “Over the years, the computers and iPads have made things much simpler,” she says. “The techs now have the ability to see all the past information, the history, for each of the calls they have. That frees us up to help more customers.”

Good People Who Work Well Together

Strickland is not alone in her long tenure with the company. Assistant Service Manager April Johnston has been with the company 24 years. New Construction Manager Gus Loaiza has been with us for 25 years. General Manager Bill Lord is the new kid with only 20 years at the company (though he has 30 years experience in the HVAC industry).

“That gives people confidence in our staff,” says Strickland. “They know who we are when we pick up the phone. They’ll get to know a particular tech and always request them by name. They’ve had them in their homes and know them on a personal level.”

For Strickland, the people of Mitchell are like a second family.

“We have a good, honest, dependable group who are here to do their best at what they do,” says Strickland, “whether it’s in the office or working out in the field. We all pitch in wherever we’re needed to take care of our customers to the best of our ability.”

Family, Faith, and Mountain Hikes

Outside of work, Strickland is very active in her church, although the present COVID-19 restrictions have limited that somewhat. “We can’t be as involved as usual,” she says.

“Our family spends a lot of time together,” Strickland says. She and her husband have adult children now living in Savannah and Athens, so they frequently road-trip on the weekends to visit one or the other. Her son, currently in school to become a physical therapist, is getting married soon, so they’ve been helping to prepare for that important day.

Strickland and her husband also like to go hiking in the mountains. “We’ve taken a couple of trips out to Colorado,” she says, “and this year we went to Montana and Wyoming. We go up to the Smokies often and hike all over North Georgia.”

These hikes are all day hikes, she says. “At night, I want to take a shower and sleep in a hotel.”

Sleeping in a tent, with no heating or air conditioning? It’s just not for her.

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Is it time for your regular HVAC maintenance? Give Lindy a call to schedule it or talk with anyone else in the office by calling 770-995-7585. You can also schedule service online.

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