Since February 2011, our column has aimed to change the way the electrical contracting industry views service in its daily operations. Using a service-based business model, we have presented ways that electrical contractors can awaken to the prospect of increasing their customer base by shifting the focus of their operations from project-based to service-centric.


Beginning with this issue, we embark on a new and exciting route to bring you the latest topics in service-based electrical contracting business. Future columns will occasionally feature a “coffee break,” an informal interview with a representative of a successful electrical contracting firm that actively engages in service work. We hope you will enjoy this new format, and, as always, we invite your comments by email.


Greg Stewart, CEO of The Superior Group, Columbus, Ohio, has devoted his entire working career to the electrical construction field. He got his start in the business in the 1960s helping his father wire houses, churches and small commercial installations. Today, from the vantage point of an industry veteran with more than 40 years of experience, he can look back on having been responsible for the management of more than $600 million of put-in-place electrical work in the Columbus area alone. Along the way, he has gained recognition for his sought-after expertise in heavy power distribution, mission-critical facilities, state-of-the-art controls and much more. Several years ago, he decided to step forward to devote time and effort to the betterment of the electrical contracting sector by serving as an officer in his local National Electrical Contractors Association chapter, which led to being elected vice president of NECA District 2, along with eventual roles in Electri International and with the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committe (now known as the Electrical Training Alliance). In recognition of his service to the industry, he was named to the Academy of Electrical Contracting. Despite the well-respected position he has earned, he humbly describes himself as a “project manager” at work. When he is able to slip away for a break from the demands of a thriving organization, he is an avid fisherman.


While The Superior Group has an impressive reputation for its involvement in large construction projects, at the other end of the spectrum, your company appears to be highly committed to pursuing small jobs and service work. 


That’s absolutely true. We take pride in a long history in service work and are continually striving to grow that part of our business portfolio by leveraging skills and relationships—and being available to serve our customers’ needs at all times.


Speaking of being available at all times, more electrical contractors are touting their capabilities to provide “24/7” coverage for customers. What is The Superior Group saying to its customers about 24/7 availability to respond to their needs? 


These days, it is absolutely essential to be available to respond to customers’ needs at all times. We make sure that our customers understand that, by calling our main number any time of day, they will be in contact with a live person who will put them in touch with whoever they need. Moreover, we are a one-stop shop for everything from low-voltage systems and data work on up to high-voltage work. We are reliably available 24/7/365. We believe that’s what “24/7” should really mean when any firm claims to offer it.


Herculean efforts to respond to customers’ after-hours emergencies can often result in being more praiseworthy than profitable. They might carry a big price tag for the customer but only a small profit for the contractor. 


That can happen. On occasion, going strictly by what an accountant might say after examining the financial report on a job of that kind, the profit may not seem to justify the effort. But in our experience, the customer will usually not forget who takes care of their business at midnight whenever the need arises.


Has anything in particular driven your success in service work? 


Superior Group is organized into business-unit teams to emphasize expertise and enhance performance in the delivery of a wide range of electrical capabilities to our customers, who still enjoy the benefit of always knowing that they can look to and rely upon a single point of contact within our company. Our service and small projects team focuses on all of the aspects of electrical work that their name implies. Having a team dedicated exclusively to service work has proven to be highly important to our success in it.


Without divulging any secret recipes for success that The Superior Group may have developed, can you tell us a little about capabilities that distinguish your service business from competitors? 


It’s no secret. What we are really selling is ourselves and our teams and the expertise to provide a higher value proposition than our competitors. Through this approach, we can maximize the total customer experience that we offer to our clients. In that way, we can retain their business and gain referrals from them. Relationship-based repeat business and recurring revenues come from great customer experiences.


In this column, it is our constant mantra that capable electrical contractors should continually strive to build up the proportion of service work in their overall sales mix. What further advice to our readers would you add? 


First, we totally agree that service work constantly deserves that kind of emphasis. But above all, it’s important for every electrical contractor to engage in business development in a disciplined way to constantly seek new avenues to leverage their skills and relationships. 


The Superior Group has often been observed in the industry as being at the forefront of new trends. 


I began working for my father. It was the early 1960s. We wired houses, churches, office buildings—you name it. I learned to do business the way business had been done in our industry for 50 or more years before that: working locally, bidding competitively and developing relationships as the available jobs required. Now, half or more of what we do today involves installing and using technologies that did not exist then. The way electrical contractors do business must evolve alongside those technologies if they hope to remain competitive and build their companies.


Looking into the future for electrical service work, what do you foresee? 


It’s very possible that it will devolve into a case of “haves” and “have-nots,” in which those electrical contractors who have chosen to focus on it—and invest in it—will land at the upper end of charts signifying their success at developing their service organizations, and those who merely bump along without paying proper attention to it will find themselves stuck in the mud at the lower end. To be a winner in the delivery of electrical service work, an electrical contractor in the future will have to go well beyond merely promising 24/7 service. Total success will require that electrical contractor to be ready to deliver an array of integrated solutions to respond to more complex needs that customers present to them.


If that characterizes the future of electrical service work, what is The Superior Group undertaking now to prepare for it? 


We see two broad areas requiring attention. First, we need to steadily increase training for our field-service electricians. As opportunities grow, so must the general capabilities of our people. But, second, we must develop a cadre of specialists in data, controls and systems. In those facets of the business, technology continues to move ahead at a breakneck pace. We have to stay abreast of it. And while we are on the subject of technology, there is another kind that we must not overlook. It is the technology that we utilize to administer our business. We have to ensure that we bring that sort of increasing capability to our service delivery.


You appear to be very upbeat about your own company and the industry in general. 


That’s entirely correct; I am. Because electrical contracting provides so many opportunities—like the strategic initiative that Superior Group has undertaken in its offering of integrated solutions to a wide variety of steady customers—it opens up countless routes to success. Of course, getting there still requires plenty of hard work. Remember those cooking products with directions on the back of the package that say, “Just add water”? If the makings of a successful electrical contracting business came in a box, the instructions on the reverse side would say, “For best results, just add sweat.”