WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN — Contractors 2000 has announced new changes to its membership criteria in order to join and meet the needs of its members in varying stages of business development. Contractors 2000 is a teaching and sharing organization serving HVAC, electrical, and plumbing service providers in the United States and Canada. According to the organization, the market areas for its members will be substantially reduced to a population base of 300,000. This opens many more market areas that previously were closed to membership.

The organization announced that it will offer different levels of membership in order to match the service needs of individual members. Current members and prospective members can choose between four separate levels, each with a different selection of resource materials, training, programs, and services. Each membership is offered at a different investment level.

MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS

Gold membership provides most of what Contractors 2000 has to offer. The organization says that Gold membership is best suited for contractor owners who want to grow their company quickly.

The membership includes a library of reference manuals that the organization says takes up about four feet of shelf space. Also, unique to the Gold membership is a point system for the organization’s training programs. It includes many services that other membership levels will not have access to or will have to pay extra for.

Contractors 2000 offers eight management-level academies, two sales schools for technicians, two self-study programs for customer service, and, most recently, they have added various technical skills training schools in HVAC and plumbing. Electrician skills training is scheduled to be added shortly.

Silver membership is similar to the organization’s original sole membership. At this level, the library of resource materials is included and most of the training events can be attended on an a la carte basis. Only one Gold and/or Silver member will be accepted per market area of 300,000.

Bronze membership will include the core elements of the resource library: a two-volume set of what the association calls its Best Practices Operations Manual, other financial and operational manuals, and the Customer Service and Satisfaction self-study program. Companies at this level receive a weekly newsletter and access to educational materials and growth-related information available through the Contractors 2000 website. Bronze members may join without market limitation.

The organization says that the Bronze membership level will allow a contractor who might have been locked out before by market area saturation to join and benefit from Contractors 2000 resources.

The Buyers Group membership is focused on participation in the organization’s Preferred Vendor Partnership program. Contractors 2000 has joined with manufacturers, distributors, and service providers to offer goods and services at a discount and/or with rebates to their members.

This program is one of the fastest growing within Contractors 2000, both in member participation and vendor numbers. The Preferred Vendor Partnership program is available to all membership levels within the association.

For more information, visit www.contractors2000.com (website).

Publication date: 08/12/2002