The Electric & Gas Industries Association (EGIA), a nonprofit organization focused on energy efficiency and contractor education, has launched HVAC Distributor University, a new training platform for HVAC distributor sales teams.
Founded more than 85 years ago, EGIA provides education, financing programs, and workforce development support to contractors, distributors, and energy service companies across the United States. The organization also operates initiatives such as Contractor University and Optimus Financing, aimed at improving business outcomes across the HVAC and home services industries.
The newly launched HVAC Distributor University builds on EGIA’s past distributor-focused training efforts but marks the group’s first fully developed offering for distributor sales teams. The platform combines on-demand online courses with optional in-person and virtual workshops, creating a flexible and scalable learning system that addresses the growing complexity of supporting contractor customers.
Bruce Matulich, CEO of EGIA, said that HVAC Distributor University aims to better equip distributor sales teams to meet contractor needs. “Contractor success is often influenced by the support and expertise they get from their distributor partners,” Matulich said. “HVAC Distributor University equips distributor sales teams with the tools they need to become true business-building partners to contractors.”
The curriculum is designed to strengthen business knowledge, communication skills, and coaching strategies for distributor sales representatives, particularly territory managers and sales leaders. Early course offerings include training in understanding contractor key performance indicators (KPIs), value-added selling for distributor representatives, contractor financial literacy, strategies for incorporating financing into contractor discussions, techniques for new business prospecting, and overall performance and productivity improvement. A foundational course in HVAC system basics is also available.
Additional courses are scheduled to launch later this year, including modules that help distributor sales representatives coach contractors on pricing for profitability, managing repair-versus-replace discussions, building service agreement programs, and executing effective marketing tactics.
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