• Contractors 2000 Members Find Their Gateway to Learning

    Oct. 1, 2003
    Contractors 2000s Super Training Week, which was held September 18 - 20th in St. Louis, brought six of the organizations finest contractor business academies

    Contractors 2000’s Super Training Week, which was held September 18 - 20th in St. Louis, brought six of the organization’s finest contractor business academies together in one location under one theme: Gateway to Learning.

    The SuperTraining Week allowed owners and their managers from one business to attend a single event while taking different specialized courses. This year, there was a full university of intensive and specialized contractor business schools to choose from.

    Gold Star Management Academy™, Contractors 2000’s premier service management school, was filled to capacity at Super Training Week. The Gold Star course is designed to train service managers in a service contractor business. The course covers recruiting, hiring and retention, incentive programs, coaching and training plus planning and implementing. Content is provided by four owners of service contracting shops and members of Contractors 2000.

    A new course designed to boost the profitability of contractors involved with heating and cooling replacement premiered at Super Training Week. The course, called The Replacement Game — Play to Win in HVAC™, is intended to point out the differences between running a service company from an installation business. Contractors 2000 member, John O’Connor, of O’Connor Plumbing and Heating was a developer and one of three instructors for the course, in which he shared the business model that has been working profitably in his company.

    Business Owners School of Success™ (BOSS) is a course for business owners who have a successful, stable business but want to grow it, expand it or change it in some way. This course focuses on personal leadership and the ability to direct and motivate others. Each attendee’s leadership strengths and weaknesses were surveyed, charted and analyzed, then attendees were taught how to leverage strengths and compensate for weaknesses.

    Open Book Management — The Great Game of Business™, showed attendees how to tap into the universal desire to be a winner. By comparing the operational environment of a contractor business to those of professional sports, owners and managers are able to create a team atmosphere so all employees pull together for the common good.

    The Marketing Masters Academy™ at Super Training Week focused on what to say and where to say it for the highest return on a marketing budget. Member/trainers for this course, who also own contracting businesses of their own, showed how to plan, budget and effectively track marketing tactics.

    Finally, powerful presentations through planning, practice and self-confidence were taught at the Train the Trainer™ course. Attendees learned and practiced powerful techniques that gave them the ability to motivate others at their company meetings.

    “The amount of content is spectacular. I am leaving this seminar with a whole new tool bag for conducting meetings, crammed to the top,” wrote Ron Dorris of Ron Dorris Electric who attended the St. Louis school.

    After the three days of training, each attendee to Super Training Week attended a graduation ceremony, receiving an individual certificate of completion and a lapel pin from their course.

    Contractors 2000 is a teaching and sharing organization providing members who own independent electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling service contracting firms with business practices in management, operations, marketing and finance. For more information, contact Lisa Schardt at 888/ 609-5490 or visit www.contractors2000.com.