In Control: Pro Kontrol is Focused on the Customer

Pro Kontrol is a wholesale distributor that knows how to maintain its focus. After 25 years in business, the company is all about HVACR controls, its customer service and technical expertise.

Marc Bergeron (left), vice-president and Pierre Martin, president at Central Services Reception Office, Laval, Quebec.

"We fire the customers that we cannot help in their business," says Pierre Martin, president and co-owner of Pro Kontrol, based in Laval, Quebec. "The ones who do not value the value-added that we bring, those customers belong to our competition. We manage to keep only the best customers."

This is the philosophy that has guided Pro Kontrol since its founding in 1985. Pierre Martin and Marc Bergeron joined Pro Kontrol in 1985 after graduating from technical school, then purchased the business in 1991. The founder was an HVACR controls contractor who realized he could use his technical expertise and experience to help other contractors by becoming a distributor. That emphasis on expertise is what has always separated the business from its competitors. "It was the first Canadian HVACR controls-only wholesaler," Martin says. "And we still sell no equipment."

Pro Kontrol is headquartered in Laval, located just outside of Montreal, and operates branches in Ontario and Nova Scotia and two additional branches in Quebec. The business has grown through Pro Kontrol's acquisition of three companies. "We acquired these companies with great potential, put our recipe in place and ended up with great results," Martin says. Pro Kontrol has no formal acquisition and growth strategy, he says, but he and co-owner Marc Bergeron keep their "eyes and ears open and we grab the opportunities." Pro Kontrol would like to enter new markets and always looks for the right partners to emerge.

So what is Pro Kontrol's "recipe" to produce great results? "World class customer service, the most committed people and major brand products of top quality," Martin says. Surely, these are terrific ingredients for success, but it takes more than just words to make this come to life. What ties all of this together is Pro Kontrol's philosophy of making it easy for their customer, he says. That means asking them the right questions at the beginning of the process and being as proactive as possible. This helps avoid mistakes down the road that can lead to delays and higher costs. By the time the order is placed with Pro Kontrol, the customer knows that he is in good hands. "They don't have to worry because they know that we're taking care of it," Martin says.

Patrick Dansereau (left), Laval's branch manager and Linda Lanteigne, technical sales advisor, at the Laval branch counter.

Pro Kontrol takes care of it with its technical expertise. The business is less about selling and more about taking a "counseling approach" — analyzing the specifications or controls requirements of the job and then selecting the right products that will make that contractor — and its project — successful. Working with customers as partners gives Pro Kontrol's 50 employees the opportunity to focus on customizing solutions without the pressure to sell them products. "Many wholesalers out there think that wholesaling is about keeping the stock in back warm and dry," Martin says.

In addition to the technical training that employees receive from HVACR manufacturers, Martin notes that people who possess this technical ability "are curious by nature and they learn by themselves and also learn a lot through the Web.” Pro Kontrol has been a HARDI member since 1996. Martin says Pro Kontrol "gains a lot as a company" through its involvement with HARDI.