Sixteen years ago, a Trane Technologies hiring manager in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, made Chris Jones an unusual offer: skip the desk job, enroll in the renowned Graduate Training Program in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and return as a sales engineer.
Chris, a mechanical engineering graduate who had lasted exactly seven minutes in his first traditional interview before realizing a desk career wasn’t for him, didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Today, he’s Trane Technologies’ Energy Services Sales Leader for the Northeast, operating out of Connecticut and covering New York, New Jersey and New England. 16 years in, he’s more energized than ever.
“I’ve spent my entire career chasing work that feels cool, impactful and engaging, and I always find it at Trane Technologies.”
Chris Jones
Northeast Energy Services Sales Leader, Trane Technologies
He has stories to prove it. “I went into a chiller plant at a hotel in New York City and in the back, behind a chain-link fence with a tarp over it, there were train tracks — the ones Franklin D. Roosevelt used to leave a nearby hotel without being seen.
“In this job, you get to see things no one could ever pay to see.”
The freedom to build your own career, the support to succeed
A shift in family priorities brought Chris back to New York City four years into his Harrisburg tenure. “The great thing about this company is that it has a lot of locations, so I was able to keep working after I relocated.” He joined the New York office as a service account manager.
The energy services part of the business was still taking shape, and Chris and his New York colleagues spotted an opportunity in their corner of the world. Infrastructure projects were being treated as necessary expenses, but Chris and his team wanted to reframe them as financial investments with measurable returns. “In many cases, you can invest a million dollars into replacing a piece of machinery in your basement and make a better financial return than any other option available to a building owner. That’s the message we wanted to lead with.”
His sales leader, Andy Merrill, gave them the room to run with it — and what they built in New York became part of the many successful energy services initiatives unfolding across the region. Today, Chris leads a team of roughly 10 salespeople spanning the Northeast, working on large infrastructure projects in K–12 schools, municipalities, higher education and commercial real estate.
Ask Chris what gives Trane Technologies its edge in the market, and he doesn’t hesitate. “All of our businesses are integrated under one roof — service, equipment, energy services, operations. That lets us collaborate and be nimble in a way that most others simply aren’t.”
But for him, the deeper advantage is the people. “This kind of sales can’t be scripted. It’s more like playing jazz than reading off a sheet of paper.” Our salespeople are some of the most impactful consultants in the industry.
“Our salespeople are more like consultants — some of the most impactful consultants in the industry.”
Chris Jones
Northeast Energy Services Sales Leader, Trane Technologies
Working as a team for a greater cause
Chris believes the company’s culture of hiring collaborative, motivated people, combined with generous training and support, has a lot to do with why their sales executives are so successful. “We have a strong team culture,” Chris says. “There are so many experienced people at Trane Technologies, and we have access to all of them. They’ve seen it all, and they’re always ready to give you their time, share their knowledge and problem-solve with you.”
That internal support gives Chris and his team the confidence to take on work that matters beyond the bottom line, including pressing environmental challenges. “Sustainability is an important part of our work. We want to reduce our emissions to address climate change.” But for Chris, the mission is also deeply local. “We work with customers in underprivileged communities that have old, polluting boiler plants. How do we impact the air quality in those areas? That’s something I think about.” But his thinking doesn’t stop there. “I also think a lot about how we can make our grids more resilient and reliable.
The importance of mentorship
That kind of mission-driven thinking is something, Chris believes, you grow into as you develop your career. “Talk to 10 people at this company who do the same job, and you’ll see that none of them do it the same way. From each one, you’ll pick up one thing. And all those little pieces start to form a new mosaic of who you are as a sales executive for Trane Technologies.”
Professional growth is also backed by the company’s investment in its people. “Trane Technologies provides you with all the resources to help you succeed as long as you can articulate what you’re trying to do and the tools you need to get there.”
Aside from taking advantage of programs like the Sales Leader Development Program and the Center for Creative Leadership, Chris credits much of his success to the support of his mentors. “I was fortunate to have a series of unbelievably strong mentors throughout my career — many of them with no formal obligation to help me, but they went out of their way anyway.”
Now Chris is on the other end of it. “In the last 51 minutes, two former Graduate Training Program grads have called me. Neither of them is on my team, neither of them reports to me. They just want to run an idea by me when I’m free. That’s the whole reason I’m here. I love it.”