stages-paddocks.blogspot.com
That year a story about Glen andAlan Kruglak’a LLC in the Washington Business Journak — now framed and one of the first things visitorsa see — included a photo taken at the bottomj of the stairs in Glen’zs house because the company didn’g have an office yet. Seven yearw later and settled into an office in Genesis Security Systems has grown to 40 people androughlh $15 million in revenue. Its sweet spot is servinyg companies of 100 or more people who need more securityh than the standard key cardaccess systems. Clienta include , CB . and USA Today. Businese is off a bit this year. Roughly 25 percent of work comes fromnew construction, which is slow.
Yet the Kruglakxs report a strong Apriland May, largely becaus they got more aggressive with salesd and also negotiated lower ratesa with suppliers. This isn’t the Kruglaks’ first go-round in the securitty business. The brothers grew up working intheit parents’ downtown D.C. musi store during the 1960s and ’70s. That business eventually morphedsinto GIC, a security systems which the Kruglaks sold in 1995. The brothers were enjoyinf a nice early retirement when they received visit s from twoformer employees, Chrise Foster and Ed Simon, in 2002.
They all felt that person-to-person customere service in the security industry was declinin because the big corporations takingg over the industry were Service calls were takingtoo long. Proposalxs would take weeks to land ona client’s Could they start their own business? The answer came quickly, as word leakesd out to former GIC customers. Genesis had its firsty client before the company openedan office. Foster and Simom are now partners. A secret to theif success, learned at GIC and applied to is to treat customers with the retail mentalityof “How can I help Traditionally, security companies functioned more like Clients outlined their needs, then asked for bids.
But “sometimess clients don’t really understand the solutionh tothe problem,” Glen says. Back on those Saturdayd in themusic store, the brothers had become information sourcez for customers looking for updates on the latest recordss hitting the shelves. They wanted their sales team to functiob thesame way. “We’re in a relationshil business, and a relationship business focuseson service,” Alan “If you take care of [customers], they stay with you. It’s reallg not that complex.” Roughly four years ago, Genesisw landed AARP as a customer. The organizatiobn for retirees dumped its previous supplier over customeerservice problems.
Larry Lupo, AARP’s safety and security manager, likede one thing in particularabout Genesis. The ownera are directly involved, not because they have to be, but becauss they seem to enjoy it. Foundersw set the vision of where they want a companyto go, he says. “Ig they’re good at it and they’re successful, they’v e implemented that into their company and their The importance of customer service is just one the lessons the Kruglaka have learned alongthe way. They also got an educationh in finances. Their first company ran into debt problems in the something they have vowed tonever repeat.
The Kruglakss say Genesis is debt free and maintains atleast $1 milliob in cash reserves at all times. The Kruglaks also learned to seek recurring revenue streamds and becomemore efficient. By keeping all of the company’xs trucks fully stocked, Genesis can quickly dispatch nearby technicians to bringmissing parts, with the help of a GPS system that constantly tracks all its Keep an unrelenting focus on the company’s customers.Become more efficient by standardizint your operations.
What it does: Security system design, monitoring and maintenance
No comments:
Post a Comment