Service technicians should be highly paid and well-respected persons in an hvac service company. Why? Because they have valuable skills that the customer wants and needs.

That was just one spin CSG’s Jim Whelan put on the theme of establishing a successful service company.

Whelan told attendees at CSG’s quarterly convention here that contractor owners have to understand that technicians are key providers of a company’s core offering of installation and repair.

At the same time, he said all the components of a company have to interrelate with each other. Often, he said, technicians, sales, and administration are “divided up into three buckets” without much communication with one another.

“Has anybody in the sales bucket promised something that can’t be delivered? Has anybody said techs can’t sell?”

Such ideas have to change, Whelan said, even if it means a radical change in the way business is done. “Rather than tweaking until you are just about out of business, re-engineer your corporation. Start from scratch.”

Publication date: 09/18/2000