Smart Business Magazine, June 2013

12 Smart Business Philadelphia June 2013 Tozour Energy has built a strong reputation by understanding its strengths and routinely devising innovative solutions to help customers solve their heating and cooling needs Tozours past experience helped him understand the value of finding something that youre really good at and then focusing on providing the best experience you can to every customer in that realm When we leave a job and call the client or anybody asks the client how we did if they say anything other than I want Tozour Energy Systems on my next job we failed Tozour says Thats the ultimate measure of the job we did Heres a look at how Tozour built a culture that empowers employees to do great work and provides the motivation to continue reaching higher Get involved in hiring You need to take a lead role in identifying and hiring the right employees to represent your company and provide exemplary service to your customers You dont delegate to your B and C players Tozour says You really make The people we want are the people who in their heart really want to be exceptional DOUG TOZOUR FOUNDER AND CEO TOZOUR ENERGY SYSTEMSsure your A players are in the search doing the search talking to people The minute you delegate hiring down below the top performers you really do risk hiring more of what the interviewee is The key is to get your best people involved in the process Tozour works very closely with Kevin Duffy the companys president to find those employees We spend a lot of time trying to figure out what people are really good at and trying to get them to do more of that and then building teams around that Duffy says That helps us a lot organizationally Testing is an important part of the hiring process along with interviews and feedback from references and referrals If were hiring for a sales role they go through the Sandler sales aptitude testing Duffy says We do testing of personalities to see how they will work in a team environment We work hard to understand what their core personality is like Do they have a tendency to make excuses Do they step up and take ownership It gives us perspective on what kinds of questions we should ask so that when they do come on board we have a sense of what they are all about Tozour says hiring the right people is about a lot more than just finding someone who can do a particular skill People come in many stripes Tozour says The people we want are the people who in their heart really want to be exceptional Those folks live on challenge They want change You hear the cliché Dont change Leave it the way it is Thats not who we hire We tell them day one when they come into the orientation that we promise two things Challenge and change The day we dont deliver on that challenge you come see me because either were screwing up or youre in the wrong place In order to stay on top of your hiring you need a strong HR department that can help you by understanding the kind of people you want to hire We have a full time human resources person whose main role in life is sourcing finding interviewing and developing great people Tozour says We want people who are creative inquisitive and always questioning how we can do it better COVER TOZOUR ENERGY SYSTEMS