The Key to Everything: Make It Work

Finally, one other key success factor is Integrity’s approach to sales. Heikkila says his sales training and experience also came from the 12 years he worked with Johnson Controls. Their strong belief in continuous training stretched beyond technical work and included sales.

“They taught us how to listen to customers, how to talk to them, and how to ask questions. I learned how to ask open-ended questions and when to ask close-ended questions.

“One of the key Success Factors I learned at Johnson that I carry even today is that we are all in this together.

“My mentor at Johnson Controls always emphasized the importance of making every job work as best as possible. If the engineer isn’t right about something, fix it within reason. Make it right, so the customer’s system works how it’s supposed to, without any warranty call backs,” Heikkila continues.

“Therefore, I always ask for the mechanical drawings before they go out to bid. We ask the engineers and designers to let us review those drawings and then mark them up for corrections to show where to add balancing devices.

“We do that on every job. Some of our largest medical facility customers LOVE that.

“The idea is to fix it on paper, so it works in the field. It’s about team and cooperation. We are all in this together. Everyone wins.”

Bring Integrity Back to TAB

Heikkila says knowledge is the secret weapon to help you help your customers.

“Knowledge will bring you business. It helps create your success. So be tenacious in your efforts and don’t hesitate to call someone when you have a question. That is how you build relationships and increase your knowledge about your partners, customers, business, and projects. Those relationships help build trust, and we all know how important that is. By the way, all of that brings integrity back to the TAB trade.

“And remember. It’s better to do an installation job once by ensuring everything is as right as it can be in the drawings. All of this requires training — the knowledge, sales, and the way to communicate,” Heikkila concludes.

For these and so many other reasons, High-Performance HVAC Today selected the team at Integrity Test and Balance, Inc. as this month’s Contractor Spotlight. Congratulations to Kevin and his entire team.