By: Kelly Bond, Bridgepoint Advisors, LLC
Featuring: Jeff Handy, FSS Technologies
Owning a business is both fulfilling and demanding, often resulting in long hours and restless nights. This is especially true for security business owners, who work around the clock to protect others’ property and livelihood. From financial management to customer satisfaction, they juggle countless responsibilities, each carrying its’ own set of challenges and pressures.
In this continuous series, I share the experiences of business owners as they reveal their biggest concerns—and the strategies they use to overcome them.
This month I spoke with Jeff Handy, President and CEO of Detroit-based FSS Technologies, a family-owned business with over forty-five years of experience as a leader in fire protection contracting and providing security system service and life safety solutions.
Jeff, what do you find that keeps you up at night?
Like most small business owners, there are several concerns that keep me up at night. The reality is those concerns can change daily. Cash flow, manpower, backlog, economy, equipment, fuel prices, insurance costs, and the general daily operations affect the business and my ability to sleep at night. Not to mention staying ahead of the ever-changing environment of the industry. Every industry faces changing environments, as business leaders our mission is to plot the course of the business in a direction that will allow us to optimize in a fluid environment.
How have you worked to overcome it?
For me, I have two primary objectives. First, plot the course for the business monthly, quarterly, annually, and five years out. Secondly, building, developing, and regularly assessing our great leadership team. Our leadership team is trustworthy and operates the business as I would. They meet daily for 15 min with each of their teams and then fifteen minutes with me to cover the metrics of the business. By holding the meetings, the leadership team as a whole maintains a complete grasp on the business as these meetings create great communications and collaboration among all team members. Each month we set target Key Performance Index metrics and cover them daily, discussing anything that is off pace. The meetings may sound burdensome, but the reality is having a daily overview reduces the stress and allows me to focus on what is important. I don’t lay in bed at night wondering about the little things.
When it comes to the industry, building relationships, providing the solutions with the latest innovations and technology for our customers, creating multiple niche segments, and providing a broad offering covering all our customer’s needs is key to staying ahead of a consumer market whose needs are constantly changing.
I’ve observed over time that as a company grows, it becomes more difficult to provide personal service. However, providing exceptional service, responding to customers’ needs, letting your customers know they are important remains just as crucial. As we have acquired smaller companies, we found in most scenarios that the prior owner knows all their customers by name and provides that exceptional level of personal service. Therein lies the danger.. An owner or a couple of partners in a company can only provide personal service to a limited number of customers. We believe providing too much personal service that is not outlined in a customer’s service agreement will limit a company’s ability to grow.
Our team provides every customer with a great experience when they contact the company. As we all know, there are customers that require more personal care than others and providing those key customers with a higher level of personal service is essential. Alas, providing great service to all your customers is crucial for retention and growth.
What advice do you offer other business owners?
I mentioned growth a couple times. If you are not growing, you are dying. To grow, as an owner, you must free yourself of the day to day and focus on charting the course for the business. The morning meetings have done wonders for our teams, they increase communication and collaboration, put focus on problem areas, stop the proverbial fires, and provide the overview for leadership to operate the business.
Along the way of acquiring companies, we have seen owner after owner who unsuccessfully tried to grow their business because they were so hamstrung by their day to day that they could not plot the course. Take the time to invest in good leaders and give them the power to operate the business. In turn, you will be allowed to stop being the business and start leading the business.
Thanks Jeff! I appreciate you sharing with us. I completely agree that you need to have plans, goals and a strong leadership team.
Stay tuned for next month’s article.
About Kelly:
Kelly Bond brings over twenty-five years of industry experience to her clients. A 2024 inductee into the Security Sales and Integration Hall of Fame, she serves as Partner of Bridgepoint Advisors LLC, representing buyers and sellers of alarm and integration companies.
About Jeff:
Jeff is the President and CEO of FSS Technologies, a family-owned business serving the upper Midwest, serving in that role for over 10 years. His experience in the security industry spans over 35 years with prior experience at ADT and Siemens Fire.