When Contractors 2000 announced its name change to Nexstar® (see CB, Feb. 2004, p. 12), President and COO Greg Niemi promised that the name change was not merely cosmetic.

“The change of our name is only part of a series of sweeping positive changes we will make to respond with solutions to the needs and ambitions of our members,” he said.

The first is a “next generation” customer service training program for technicians. Contractors 2000 first developed and offered a customer service program for technicians in 1994. This new release, 10 years after the initial program debuted, has been completely redeveloped from the knowledge base gained over the past decade.

The new training program includes sales tools and aids to reinforce the new approach to building and retaining satisfied customers, and also takes into account the changes that have taken place in customer expectations.

A second new training program, this one just for dispatchers, was also released at the meeting. The objective of the dispatcher training program is to maximize the profitability of each customer call through a nine-step process. The program fills a key training role in the association’s efforts to provide a complete service training lineup.

This Super Meeting also presented an arrary of full-day educational workshops in areas of finance and business planning. Subjects included building legacies, brand management, tax strategies, estate planning and family/partner relations.

Nexstar is a teaching and sharing organization designed to provide residential service contractor members in the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing trades with sound business practices in management, operations, marketing and finance. For more information, contact Lisa Schardt 888/609-5490, or visit www.nexstarnetwork.com.