Touting Their USP

Your author (KW) has a conversation with Vong Keovongsa (VK), co-founder of ESG, a new startup focused on helping elevator companies succeed.

When your author first learned about Elevator Services Group (ESG), she Googled the company and landed on a webpage for an Australian outfit that’s a subsidiary of Greek elevator manufacturer KLEEMANN. She then sent an email to ESG principal Vong Keovongsa, apologizing for the late hour (it would have been midnight in Australia). He responded with the news that he is based in Tampa, Florida, within the U.S. Eastern time zone. Keovongsa’s name sounded vaguely familiar, and your author realized she had spoken with him several years ago when he was with Madden Elevator of Louisville, Kentucky. Then, he led the company’s HR department and assisted with marketing and sales. Now, he has joined forces with Madden Vice President Susie Madden to launch this ESG. He took time to speak with your author about ESG’s unique selling proposition (USP).

KW: When and how did ESG come about, and what is your industry and educational background?

VK: The ESG name is brand-new (the company launched in July 2021), but it is a culmination of my involvement in the elevator industry, which I’ve been a part of for 12 years, and Susie Madden’s experience running a successful elevator service business. I started as regional HR director for what was then ThyssenKrupp Elevator based in the Tampa area, a position I held for nearly five years. I then founded Vertical Recruiting Group, leveraging a large network of specialized recruiters and partner recruiting firms that enabled me to deliver fast position fill times and a high caliber of industry-specific talent to our clients. I ran that company for three years, then took a position as vice president of HR at Oracle Elevator Co. in Tampa. There, for more than one and a half years, I was directly responsible for formulating and executing the company’s HR strategy.

I got to know Madden Elevator and Susie Madden when I became sales manager there for approximately one and a half years. As co-founder and principal at ESG, she is active on the leadership team to help provide industry insight and guidance to clients, as well as drive the growth strategies of our company. 

Prior to launching my career, I graduated from Villanova University with an MS in HR management, and I also have an MBA from Tampa College. I very much enjoy helping business owners in the elevator industry succeed. It is the primary reason I formed ESG.

I’ve worked with lots of industry players on both sides — union and non-union. With ESG, we are offering services beyond HR to elevator-industry clients. For example, we will be rolling out an industry-specific digital business platform that will allow our clients to digitally create and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for their businesses in real time. We aim to deliver the right data to the right people to help our clients successfully run their businesses. We are very excited about it and are passionate about the fact we get to stay in the elevator space. We both live and breathe elevators.

KW: Describe the company setup and its values.

VK: Although we are registered in Florida, we are 100% remote. It’s just the two of us, but even at this early stage, we have established partner networks and a team of advisors. These are experts in their subjects. They include not only HR professionals, but marketing executives, safety specialists and a chief financial officer. Our safety program partner is certified and vetted by the National Association of Elevator Contractors (NAEC) to provide elevator-industry-specific services. ESG clients have on-demand access to our support services and team for one fixed monthly fee.

While our early success was focused on providing recruiting services for TK Elevator and a handful of independent elevator companies across the U.S., today ESG also provides A-Z HR services, safety administration, marketing, sales management, custom digital business platforms and elevator industry talent for specialized projects.

Our core values are to support, advise and grow our clients’ businesses. We want to support them by doing things for them administratively and advising them on what direction makes the most sense for their business.

KW: What is ESG’s growth strategy?

VK: We want to grow through referrals and being actively involved in the industry. We (had planned to attend) the NAEC trade show (in New Orleans) to get to know potential clients, and we (were) excited about that. We aim to grow through being an initial resource for the elevator industry through 15-30-min, no-obligation conversations. I take a lot of joy in assisting business owners and am more than willing to spend a little time in helping them understand our services or point them in the right direction.

KW: What is your geographical focus?

VK: Right now, we’re really focused on the U.S. In the future, we could see the rest of North America come into play. Our motto and our experience would resonate in any location. If you don’t know how to, say, grow your maintenance base, or maybe your sales team is lacking direction, we feel like we could plug into those situations. We can help by creating customized internet landing pages and develop very-targeted marketing strategies.