Building a symbiotic relationship between contractors and manufacturers

By Emma Peterson.  

Learn how product trainings can not only benefit contractors in the field, but also the manufacturer behind the product. 

In a new CoatingsCast® episode, Megan Ellsworth is joined by Jeff Romero from Progressive Materials (PM). Jeff is the technical and education coordinator for PM and he stopped by for this episode to talk about training opportunities available to contractors who work with PM. This is the first of a multi-part series, so make sure to keep an eye out for the next episodes! 

Jeff opened the conversation about how important training is, both on the contractor’s side and the manufacturer’s side. He explained, “We have as much on the line as our contractors do. We really hold ourselves to a high standard, not only with the products we provide but also with the service we provide our contractors.” One example of that support is the training that PM offers.  

The goal of this training is to help contractors gain familiarity with the proper installation of PM products and to develop a symbiotic relationship between contractors and PM. Jeff elaborated, “Familiarity with the product is absolutely number one. Number two is the more you develop a relationship, that translates to support on jobs, whether that means helping you qualify jobs or helping address an issue that maybe you're not familiar with.”  

This has become especially important as coatings have grown more popular, and more contractors have begun expanding their offerings to include coatings. Jeff explained, “We work with a lot of contractors that have just gotten into coatings. They start landing jobs, they start adding sales teams, they start adding crew guys, they start adding applicators and then we come in with a course for them, whether that's online or in person, that lifts the load off of you as a contractor to have to make sure these guys are trained.” Overall, by providing this type of training support, PM is not only helping their contractors’ businesses grow, but they are also helping ensure the success of their products. 

Read the transcript, Listen to the episode or Watch the whole conversation to learn more about how PM’s training help roofing projects succeed.