Direct Field Support Coaching Program
Virtual ride-along coaches follow every new tech for 30-60 days, curating the real-job learning that onboarding alone cannot deliver
Peterman Brothers runs a department called Direct Field Support. After the standard 3-day Indianapolis onboarding, every new technician is virtually accompanied by a Direct Field Support coach for approximately 30 to 60 days. The coach does not ride in the truck physically. They are on the phone or video with the tech as calls run, coaching them in real time through the specific situations the formal onboarding covered in the abstract. The mechanism converts classroom knowledge into applied habit before bad habits form. The department is dedicated to this function; it is not a manager's side responsibility. Chad described it as a major operational win after discovering that sending a new tech out with a senior tech to learn produced wildly inconsistent outcomes depending on which senior tech did the teaching.
- Classroom onboarding alone does not create behavioral change in the field
- Real-time coaching during live calls anchors the knowledge in actual context
- Consistency requires a dedicated department, not a manager's side task
- 30-60 days of coaching is the minimum to form reliable habits
- Peer-based informal training transfers the senior tech's personal style, not the company standard
- Run centralized 3-day HQ onboardingEvery new hire, regardless of branch, comes to the Indianapolis office for a three-day onboarding on alternating Mondays. This establishes the same baseline knowledge for every person entering the company. The onboarding is standardized and does not vary by branch.Pro tipSchedule onboarding on alternating Mondays so it is a predictable cadence and the cohort is small enough to be manageable.WarningOnboarding alone creates the illusion of readiness. Techs can repeat back what they heard. They cannot yet apply it to a real homeowner standing in a kitchen.
- Assign Direct Field Support coach immediatelyOn the day after onboarding ends, the tech is assigned to a Direct Field Support coach. The coach begins virtual accompaniment on live calls from Day 1 in the field, not Week 3 after the tech has already formed habits.Pro tipThe coach should have a call sheet for each tech showing what was covered in onboarding, so they can anticipate which real-call scenarios will surface the gaps.WarningIf the coach is also responsible for managing existing techs or running calls themselves, the coaching function gets deprioritized in busy periods. The role must be protected.
- Coach in real time through the call lifecycleThe coach is active before the tech enters the home (review the job notes together), during the diagnosis (available by phone if the tech is unsure), and after the call (debrief on options presented and outcome). This is not a weekly check-in; it is call-by-call presence in the first 30 days.Pro tipUse the debrief to reinforce what went right, not only to correct what went wrong. Positive anchoring on successful calls accelerates habit formation.
Before Direct Field Support, Peterman Brothers used the standard trades-industry approach: pair a new tech with a senior tech and tell the senior tech to teach them everything. Chad described this as a recipe for disaster: the quality and content of the teaching depended entirely on which senior tech was assigned and how much time they were willing to spend on it. Inconsistency across locations made this unscalable.
Extracted from Owned & Operated ($100M HVAC episode). Peterman Brothers built this department after finding that the old 'send Bill with Jimmy, teach him everything' model was a recipe for inconsistent knowledge transfer across a multi-location company.