In just under six years working for a Kansas-based coalbed methane supplier that was a client of JGL Solutions, Mike Giesen, had seen JGL’s microbes clean up scale, paraffin, and corrosion in his employer’s SWD wells. Pumpers previously had to change pump filters daily and schedule acid treatments weekly. He’d also seen the microbes separate oil from the produced water, sending enough of the product to the sales line to contribute significantly toward paying for the treatments. All this was much better than the results he’d seen from chemical treatments, which were costly and toxic.
He loved the JGL results and he loved the company’s family atmosphere. So he took a job in the sales department, where he also handled daily operations. Eight and a half years later, the now 41-year industry veteran is Operations Manager. He’s still excited about where he works, what he does and how he helps clients.
Giesen starts every client conversation with open ears.
“I listen to make sure we know what’s going on with their well or SWD/waterflood. I want to ensure that we’re all on the same page and committed to the same goals for the wells. This communication helps us decide on the exact microbial blend needed to meet those goals.”
In addition to ears, an evaluation includes hands and feet—getting water samples, onsite evaluations and more. “We try to be there as much as we can,” he said, especially in the initial stages, “so we can actually see the problem and identify how to do to solve the customer’s water flow issues.”
The next thing Giesen enjoys is getting the phone call from the client awhile later. “There’s nothing better than when you see positive results and you get those call or smiles from a satisfied client—you hear them say, ‘it really works,” or “I couldn’t do this without you.’”
Perhaps his most favorite ‘Thank you’ came from a former doubter. As Giesen made a sales call one day, a doubter at the site compared him to a used car salesman. After a trial period in which JGL’s microbes solved a once-a-week hot oiling nightmare in what the client called “the paraffin field from hell,” that pumper now tells everyone he couldn’t do his job without JGL’s treatment.
To the doubters, both Giesen and JGL Founder and President, Bill Lantz, have an offer: “Give us your hardest well—your biggest challenge.” While Giesen is careful not to make gaudy up-front promises, he says the company’s results have indeed turned many doubters into believers and loyal clients.
Representing a process that is an innovative outlier—different from decades-old hot oiling—Giesen admits to working extremely hard to get customers the best possible results, to overcome the doubters. “We do hands-on sampling and evaluations of every site and stay on top of everything all the way through,” he says.
With all this joy in his work, Giesen notes that what gets him out of bed every day is a higher purpose.
“Every morning I’m grateful that God has given me another day to serve Him,” he says. Also there’s the family, including the grandkids.”
The family feeling extends to JGL itself. Giesen enjoys being part of a company that recognizes each employee as an individual and rewards them as such.
He also fully understands the responsibility the salesperson has to the rest of the employees. “They depend on me for their livelihood,” he says. When Giesen sells more work, everyone at the company benefits. The old saying, “Nothing happens until a sale is made” is deeply ingrained in his mind.
There are different strains of microbes for different issues. JGL Microbes are able to blend into one treatment, tailor-made to your system.
Synthetic chemicals are man-made copies of naturally occurring chemicals in nature and are for the most part toxic and/or environmentally harmful to personnel, plants, animals, aquifers, etc. Microbes are more effective than chemical because of their biological process, they produce natural chemicals and by-products in situ making them much more effective for common oilfield applications.
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