Business View Magazine | June 2019

116 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 The value of good, long-term relationships can never be understated. With respect to large customers, Phillips declares, “Marathon Petroleum has been a great partner. They’re the type of company we hope to latch onto – they’re big, they have lots of work, and they’re demanding but they’re very clear on their expectations. And they reward, they actually grade, very well. Meaning they take the effort to provide feedback. Based on the feedback, the grades, the scorecards that are given, they reward their top performers. So that’s been great for our company – it’s almost like guidance from a parent. Marathon have been of prime importance to us. Along the way, some smaller companies have embraced us. One called Pro Petroleum, based in Phoenix, has given us some very significant-sized projects that has helped in our growth. Not as big as Marathon, but those customers have been key as well.” Phillips Tank & Structure is proud to be part of the community of Braddock. It’s a fascinating historic town and the site of Andrew Carnegie’s first steel mill – the Edgar Thompson Works – that is still operating. Phillips explains, “Braddock is right outside the city of Pittsburgh, but it’s heavily industrial and had a reputation as a very rough town. But it’s an amazing story because there’s an eclectic mix of industrial, with a brewery, with artists, with different things that are happening. We’re very tied in with Braddock and recently opened our second office here. We expanded beyond our current location and renovated the second floor of what was a duckpin bowling alley to become our design office. We moved all our engineering there last fall.” As for other major initiatives, Phillips reports, “We’re going to keep growing without marketing. I’m a day-to-day estimator and project manager. We don’t go to the trade shows. We still don’t have a salesperson on staff. It’s all word of mouth. And we’re going to continue that way as long as we keep growing like we are. It’s almost scary to think of what would happen if we actually put people out there knocking on doors. And those who do get a chance to work with us, they stick with us. We started out doing engineering, always