By: Steve Rolandelli*
In a recent study, we asked 214 professionals who work with NATE-certified HVAC technicians to evaluate their agreement or disagreement with certain claims about the value of such certification. Their responses reveal that it has a positive impact on both the operations and marketing of firms that employ technicians with such accreditation.
More than two-thirds talk about NATE certification as something that gives their companies an edge in marketing and customer relations. 78% of respondents partially or totally agree with the fact that "having technicians certified in NATE gives their companies a competitive advantage". In addition, 66% agree that "customers respond positively to the fact that my company has NATE certified technicians."
Most of the people who participated in the study rated accreditation as something that also makes a difference in the technician's performance. 63% say that "the calls for complaints for the work carried out by NATE certified technicians have been reduced in my company". In addition, 66% agree that "there are fewer refrigerant discharge problems in my company in the work done by technicians with the certification".
The responses also reflect strong support for training in general and NATE certification in particular. Nearly 3 in 4 (74%) agree that "a trained, NATE-certified technician is more valuable to my company than one who has training but is not certified by NATE." Almost the same percentage (73%) approve of the following statement: "All things considered, NATE offers the best certification program for my company."
The 214 firms in this analysis employ a total of 1770 HVAC technicians, of which about two-thirds are certified. Most of the people in the studio currently work with one or more non-certified technicians, but they support the idea of them being trained. In fact, 65% stated that "one or more technicians in my company will be certified with NATE next year." About 76% said that "technicians without accreditation in my company are interested in getting certified." And 78% indicated that "my company would invest time and money to help technicians get accreditation."
A deeper evaluation of the data reveals that the more technicians a company has, the more positive attitudes they have. Among study participants in companies with 5 or more technicians (about a third), the vote for all claims was about 80%, within which the majority "strongly agreed," giving them an extremely positive response profile. Although we doubt that there is a direct causal relationship between having accredited technicians and the size of the company, there is definitely a correlation. At the very least, this suggests that small businesses that want to improve will need to adopt NATE certification in order to compete at that higher level.
One last observation: The question format used, which asks respondents to agree or disagree with a number of statements, is frequently used to measure attitudes toward products, programs, brands, manufacturers, and other issues among professionals. In many cases, particularly among those involved in construction, respondents tend to take neutral or moderate positions at most ("a little"). They tend to be skeptical or indecisive and generally don't want to take a firm attitude, even as support for something they've long preferred.
The response profiles observed in this analysis are certainly more positive than expected. This can be taken as an indication that NATE certification has a real impact on many of those who are exposed to it.
*Steve Rolandelli is director of customer service for Decision Analyst, Inc. and works extensively on construction-related research. Your email address is: [email protected]
