If you don’t know Mark Talley, we’d like to introduce you. Mark just joined our Mid Atlantic Regional Sales team. He’ll be assisting contractors, distributors and end users in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Since part of being a [P2] sales representative involves working with energy efficiency contractors, Mark’s a good fit for the job. He has over 20 years of experience in contracting. “I work really well with contractors because I understand what they go through on a day to day basis. I know the kind of support they need and how to provide it to them,” says Mark.

Whether he’s offering his technical expertise, performing audits or providing support on a job-site, Mark hopes to make life easier for [P2] customers. “For every customer, I ask myself ‘what can I do to help them that my competitors can’t?’ It’s my goal to offer solutions that are not only more energy efficient but also more profitable.”

For those in sales, you know you either love it or hate it. Fortunately for us, Mark loves it. “As a salesman, I like getting out there and talking to people about products I believe in, and I truly believe in [P2] and its products.”

If you’re planning a retrofit and live in the Mid-Atlantic region, give Mark a call at 919-345-7711.

As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to thank our partners for a great year.

Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be both taking some time to spend with our families and running our factories full-tilt.  This isn't out of some Scrooge'ish sentiment on our part, we love a good roast chestnut as much as the next guy.  It's simply because we've got orders to fill, and we're trying to get as much product out our doors as possible before the end of the year.

That is, on the whole, a very good problem to have.

So - as many of us at [P2] will be alternating between filling out overtime slips and sipping hot cocoa over the next couple weeks, we'd like to say thanks.

Thanks to all of you who partnered with [P2] this year to help business across the country cut their energy costs, reduce their energy consumption and enjoy better, longer-lasting lighting.

Have a very happy holiday.  We can't wait to do even more in 2012.

[P2]’s offices will be closed on:

• Friday, December 23rd
• Monday, December 26th
• Friday, December 30th
• Monday, January 2nd

Last February, we told you about the Engineering A Brighter Sudan project. In case you missed that blog post, here’s a quick recap. The project was started by a team of four engineering students from the University of San Diego who wanted to build a solar-powered primary school in Theou, a small village in southern Sudan. The team contacted us for help and we decided to donate all the energy-efficient lighting fixtures as well as our engineering expertise, lighting ballasts, spare parts and the shipping costs to get the materials to the Sudan.

Today, we’re happy to report that all the materials are shipping out this week and will be on their way to Sudan later this month. As promised, we offered our expertise by designing the lighting system for all the school’s classrooms as well as its sports field. The system will be installed when The Engineering A Brighter Sudan team returns to Sudan next summer. According to Lou Preston, [P2]’s National Marketing Director,  the school should be up and fully functional by the fall.

We want to thank the Engineering A Brighter Sudan team again for asking us to participate in such a worthwhile project. We look forward to seeing the new school once it’s finished.

[P2]'s West Cost Phone Service Has Been Disrupted

In 1976, Mike Doyle was a graduate student at USC. Then, the radiator on his car sprung a leak. Which, turned out to be very lucky for us.

Mike's faulty radiator set him on a path that made him into one of the most capable and experienced sales executives in the energy-efficient lighting industry today, our very own VP of Sales and Marketing at [P2], and the recent recipient of a Certified Sustainable Lighting Consultant (CSLC) certification from NALMCO.

So how did a leaking radiator set Mike on that path? Well, when Mike needed cash to fix his car back in 1976, he walked out of the BioChem lab and into what was supposed to be a summer job at a company named Sign Maintenance Industries. It was the beginning of Mike's career in the lighting industry.

Mike started out as a service dispatcher, and over the next three decades moved from that position to working as a regional manager running service trucks and crews, and then into several corporate sales positions. In Mike's own words, he held "just about every position in the company, except president and controller."

The company grew during Mike's tenure. Back in 1976 the company had a fleet of four trucks, and by the time Mike moved on in 2007, he was working for a more than $100-million business that was one of the largest lighting contractors in the country.

2007 was the year Mike felt ready for a new challenge. Back in 1992, Mike was one of the first customers of a new company called Precision Reflector Design. Mike liked using their products, and had a good relationship with the company. In 2007, Precision Reflector, which had changed its name to Precision-Lighting, was looking for someone who could create a national sales footprint.

Mike was the man for the job. With over 30 years of experience on the contractor side of the lighting industry, he knew the challenges that lighting contractors face every day in the field.

"From the start, our sales strategy was to become a valuable partner to our customers," says Doyle. "At our core, [P2] works to help our customers succeed, because we know that their success is the path to our success."

Practically, that meant building a national sales network made up of experienced lighting professionals. Finding those experienced professionals is something that Mike admits has been his biggest challenge as VP of Sales and Marketing.

"Our sales force is made up of lighting experts, people with eight to twelve years of experience as a lighting contractor or specifier," explains Doyle. "Those people can be hard to find, but they're essential to being a good partner to our customers."

After a merger with Paragon Lighting in 2009, the combined companies became Precision-Paragon [P2], with Mike still at the helm of [P2]'s sales and marketing operations.

On Mike's first day at Precision-Lighting, Mike was the sales force for the company. Today, he's head of a national sales organization he built with representatives working closely with our customers across the country.

And, as of this year's NALMCO Convention - he's officially a Certified Sustainable Lighting Consultant. Which made us ask, what makes the CSLC certification attractive to someone who is already one of the most experienced lighting professionals in the industry?

"I learn new stuff every day," says Mike. "I was involved with NALMCO as a contractor for 20+ years, and now as a manufacturer and associate member, we still support the goals and direction of NALMCO."

"The education programs NALMCO provides are unmatched in terms of helping people to be successful," he continues. "Our people are well qualified, they understand the green market, and NALMCO certifications like CSLC help demonstrate that."

Whatever Mike's reasons, we're just glad to have him at [P2]. In a season of giving thanks, we're quite thankful that Mike's radiator gave out on him 35 years ago.