I recently was given the task of writing a monthly blog article. I know this means that I am getting older because that was a term I heard several years ago, but was not sure what it was all about. So, I will let you know something about me, Hays Service, how we help people, and the culture we have established over the last 70 years.
A Little Bit About Me
I have been involved with my grandfather’s original company since 1977. I came to work here the same month I graduated from Georgia Tech, which was also the same month I married my wife. We just celebrated 40 years of marriage and six children, born and raised. My dad also graduated from Georgia Tech in 1950 and is 90-years-young. I learned most of my good business habits from him, and now I am passing those along to my oldest son who joined the company. Being a mechanical service provider for four generations has allowed us to pass along lessons learned through good and challenging experiences.
We have a tendency to succeed for periods of time and then “fail forward” for periods. This time of “failure” can create the greatest learning opportunities if used wisely. These hard lessons are applied to improve operations and morale, and make everyone stronger. We have personal ups and downs, some extremely tragic. I lost my son when he was 11-years-old, who died suddenly while playing with a friend. These situations tend to break us, and we have to rely on our faith and friends to keep us moving forward while we gather ourselves. It was during this period of time I learned who I really was and what I wanted out of life.
A Little Bit About Hays Service
Enough about me and let me talk about how this applies to Hays Service and our customers we care for everyday. We care about making our customers and employees feel important. In turn, that creates a culture of high trust among employees and business partners. You might say that it’s “easier said than done.” Many of our employees have been with us for at least 10 years, some 30 years. You must live each day with the same attitude and ethics that creates this climate. That is not easy when temperatures are soaring, equipment is down, people are upset, and you must do the right thing. This goes for every employee, not just a few. How we approach our clients about pricing, attention to detail, cleanliness, safety, and any of their other concerns is critical to long-term relationships. (Our stated core focus is “Building Lasting Relationships”.)
I will try over the next year to articulate what we do to create that climate of trust internally. I think it will be obvious how that greatly benefits our customers and what we do to become a trusted partner with them. We know we must be accountable for what we do and the payback it creates. The maintenance world is scattered with countless stories of no accountability or lack of work being done on time (or at all). I have always said you cannot buy maintenance services based solely on price. It can be disastrous over time. Many of our customers have come to us desperate to find true solutions to their rising costs and premature equipment failure. Being promised some level of prevention that fell flat left them with insecurities and constant repair bills.
Until my next blog, we will continue making good things happen for other people. We will also grow our team with proper coaching, training, and instill the ethics my dad taught me 40 years ago. I appreciate our customers and employees more and more as I grow older. Thanks for your loyalty and trust … you have mine every day!
– Cal Hays