The Welsh Wire: Nate McFadden, Elevator Service Inc.

How do you survive in a sea of whales and sharks? By swimming faster, smarter and more nimbly.

Nate McFadden has been the President and CEO of Elevator Service Inc. in Grand Rapids for the past year-and-a-half. Elevator Service Inc. is a 30-year-old elevator construction, modernization and repair company. His small firm successfully competes in an industry dominated by four giant companies. How does he do it?

“In this industry, customers are not really satisfied with the multinational corporations and there’s a real opportunity for us to to be different and to win on being courteous, thoughtful, doing a good job, being safe and communicating well,” Nate tells Sheri Welsh in an interview for The Welsh Wire podcast. “That’s the simple part of it, but I also think it’s having the courage to go after larger projects and then having the plan in place to execute if we get them.”

Nate says their customer service success stems from Elevator Service Inc. nurturing its reputation as a “destination company” for workers in the elevator construction and repair field.

“I think if they’re (employees) are engaged, if they’re happy, if they believe in what the institution’s trying to do, then customer services is a natural byproduct of that,” he says. “I think that’s the reason we’re a destination employer. We don’t just say we like to take care of our people – if it’s a personnel issue it’s automatically my most important thing to do.”

Listen to Sheri’s entire interview with Nate McFadden.

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