SS&Si...
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Subscriber Discussion
SS&Si Claims To Be "The New Face of Security Distribution"
Dan Gelinas
Nov 30, 2018JH
John Honovich
Dec 03, 2018Btw, I encourage you to look at SS&SI's Facebook group. There are lots of groups and forums but most are just filled with petty self-promotion or spam. This one is well done.
U
Undisclosed #1
Dec 03, 2018If he can pull it off, God bless ‘em, more power to him. Good marketing, good support... the two integral ingredients necessary to sustain a flourishing business; there are too few people these days who get it.
John Bazyk
Dec 03, 2018He's doing it right. He took over Burglar Alarms Online one of the largest groups on Facebook. I run a facebook group of almost 12,000 members and drive a ton of sales for a pellet grill company. This is how many people want to do business now. His prices are higher than what I pay now. If they were lower I would buy from him. He's a nice guy and is determined to make this happen. I have no doubt he will be successful. He probably won't be the next ADI. But he doesn't need to if he wants to hit a 7 figure income.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Dec 03, 2018The personal touch is what I like. I hate adi because to them I’m just another number and no matter who I deal with there, service is crap.
Daniel S-T
Dec 03, 2018I can see how the personal touch would be nice, but is is sustainable? As this guy grows his business, won't it just be impossible to be personally fielding calls from 500, 1000, 10000 dealers/customers?
At a certain point, when you get too large the person touch kinda does go out the window, no? I mean I still get personal service from my local ADI, as I've known most of the Employees for ten years now, but outside of that I don't really expect personal service from ADI upper management.
John Bazyk
Dec 03, 2018You can sustain that personal touch. I started out with 1 customer. Our company obviously had a lot more than my one customer at the time. Now I have several hundred customers I have personally signed. They still refer me because of my "personal touch" here's the catch though. I have 4 people who help me with that personal touch. Those four people know how important every single one of my customers are to me and they help provide that personal touch when I am too busy to.
At the end of that day, Jake shouldn't be taking calls or taking orders anyways. His personal touch won't come in the form of selling anyone. That's what makes the social media world different. His personal touch comes from interacting on social media.
My group of Facebook has over a 95% engagement with nearly 12,000 members. Members often mention the personal touch of the head of sales/engineering. He can work from anywhere. I've been with him at Memphis in May and other BBQ competitions where we are both responding to people on social media while eating lunch. It's not hard to stay highly engaged anymore. You no longer have to engage directly with people. If someone posts something and I engage with that one person, there are thousands of other people who see that interaction and now they all think I have a personal touch.
The world is changing. For years I have heard "well the security industry is different" that's just not true.
Clint Hays
Dec 03, 2018A personal touch doesn't mean you have to only deal with that one person. To me it also includes knowing that if there are problems I can call the "owner" to get it sorted out rather than submitting a ticket online.
That is still scalable with proper staff that is empowered to take care of customers.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #7
Dec 05, 2018Everyone starts with 1 customer. Several hundred with yourself an 4 assistants is still a very small scale There is more staff than that at a single ADI Branch. The question of whether it is sustainable is a valid question. Personal touch will only be a good as the person providing it. A single persons bandwidth has its limits, and once you pass those limits the personal touch falls off or has to be handled by another person. Regarding Facebook acting as the personal touch through interactions on Facebook. If you have 12,000 people @ 95% engagement means you have 11,400 people who are actively engaged. I would have to challenge that number or your definition of "Engaged". the customers I am engaged with I speak with personally on a minimum weekly basis. I would not count an email blast as being engaged customers, just like I would not count my followers on linked in as having all read an article I posted. Or my followers on Facebook being engaged because I posted an articled that got a like form them. Facebook people click like without reading all the time. 11,400 people divided by the 5 (you and your 4 employee's, means 2280 people per team member which is far more customers than you stated you had. (Several hundred). Call it 250 working days in a year that's a little over 9 "different" customers a day without repeating at all just to speak with each one once a year. I don't see that happen, and speaking to a customer once a year is not what I would define as being engaged. If those 11,400 customers are all commenting on a regular basis or asking questions on the topic or article on a regular basis, then your all buried in reading those comments or responding.
John Bazyk
Dec 05, 2018My book of business at our alarm company is different than my following on Facebook for pellet grills. You would have to read the whole thread before commenting here to see that. My point is about using Facebook groups to engage at a higher level than ADI could ever do so.
95% engagement is what I get off my Facebook analytics. An engaged facebook user means they are actively commenting, liking or sharing content. My point is, that through social media groups you do not have to engage directly one on one anymore to be seen as an engaged company.
Background: 95% of our group members in the last 28 days have done at least one of the following; 2,887 posts, 27,916 comments and 63,822 reactions. Our typical week we see anywhere between 50 and 100 new members added.
Facebook pushes groups much harder to a users news feed than your typical LinkedIn account or an official Facebook page especially when that facebook group is highly engaged like mine. Facebook sees the value in community engagement. Join an active facebook group, participate once or twice and you'll see how that group takes over your news feed and how many alerts you get of what's going on in the group.
Example: A person asks a question on Facebook via posting a new question to the discussion board and I or someone else from the pellet grill company respond. Thousands of people will see those responses and see that as being engaging.
While we may not directly engage with a person many will see that we are engaged with people on a regular basis, this kind of public exposure is not available if simply calling your favorite customers once a week. This allows us to stay engaged with thousands of people every week without actually having to reach out and talk to each person.
If managed right, not all Facebook groups are, they can be a HUGE benefit to company growth. We've seen the pellet grill company grow dramatically over the last 2 1/2 years or so mostly due to engagement inside the group. Jake has taken a hold of an opportunity I had not seen anyone else do until he did it. There are others following his lead. We will see if he has what it takes to increase engagement and drive more business to him. It does take time but it's far less time consuming than traditional methods.
Jake Voll
Dec 03, 2018It's a fair point Daniel! I field a lot of calls but I also have the best team a guy could ask for! I certainly value 1:1 interaction and spend a lot of my day on that, but as John Bazyk noted, with social media, I can interact with thousands of people. They can read, view, like, comment, and share at a time that is convenient for them. And many of them message, email, and text allowing me to do the same. Plus, there's always a solution for demand outpacing production, eh? ;)
JH
John Honovich
Dec 04, 2018I agree that social media helps one scale. IPVM is certainly a testament to that. And to that end, I could see social media helping SS&Si improve customer acquisition, i.e., steady / increasing prospects reaching out to you, rather than cold calling every integrator over and over (Hi LTS!).
The challenge in scaling is customer service. People who know the industry, speak fluent English, are helpful and enthusiastic, etc. are in short supply. Can a distributor hire enough of those people and still maintain close enough prices to be competitive with box movers? I don't know but it's something I am curious to see.
Jake Voll
Dec 03, 2018The irony of this coming from "Undisclosed Integrator #2" is just too much!! :) Thanks for reading and commenting. I hope to have the opportunity to meet the man behind the number!
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Dec 03, 2018Reading title of the article i was thinking this was about swim suits and sports illustrated.
Oh well....
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Dec 03, 2018Companies like SS&Si and Brooklyn Supply really understand how people want to shop today.
If I know what I want, I might as well order off a website. If I just want to email a shopping list to a rep and get a price quote back, I'll go to ADI or Anixter. But there are always going to be people who need or want that personal touch. Maybe I need product recommendations, or I need material to build a presentation, or I need some sort of out-of-the-box solution, or some weird shipping arrangement.
It's not easy to do well, but if you can manage it, you'll build a loyal following.
Jake Voll
Dec 03, 2018Hey, Undisclosed Distributor #4! Who wants to take the easy road anyway?
U
Undisclosed #5
Dec 04, 2018@Jake, unsolicited advice: replace the & in your company name, since the symbol is illegal in domain names...
JH
John Honovich
Dec 04, 2018As for domain names, SSSI.com is available through the company selling it is demanding $32,800:
I did find typing SS&Si a bit confusing because it's an atypical naming convention and has the string of 'S'. Not sure how big of a business issue it is overall but it could be incrementally better to have an easier to spell name.
U
Undisclosed #5
Dec 04, 2018I did find typing SS&Si a bit confusing because it's an atypical naming convention and has the string of 'S'.
Also, as you know, there’s the similar sounding Security Sales & Integration, or SS&I, that might trip up searchers.
@Jake, what do your S’s stand for? And why the little “i”? I did look for an expansion in your online info but didn’t see any any.
Jake Voll
Dec 04, 2018Hello Undisclosed #5!
It stands for Security Sales and Solutions, Inc.
Why is the "i" little? At the time i was reading about a writer/philosopher who wrote "i" in lowercase as an act of humility. Or something like that... And i thought it would be cool to incorporate it in our logo.
I'm suspicious of sssi.com being listed for sale all of a sudden! Who are you Undisclosed #5 and are you sure you won't take less than $32,800?!? :)
U
Undisclosed #5
Dec 04, 2018Why is the "i" little? At the time i was reading about a writer/philosopher who wrote "i" in lowercase as an act of humility. Or something like that...
i think therefore i am?
no offense, but you don’t seem like the lowercase “i” type :)
also, well done here:
I’m suspicious of sssi.com being listed for sale all of a sudden! Who are you Undisclosed #5 and are you sure you won't take less than $32,800?!? :)
It’s because of a bidding war going on right now between Sikorsky Support Services Inc, Safety Sleep Systems International and the Scottish Sheep Scab Initiative.
U
Undisclosed #6
Dec 04, 2018Amazon is coming.
Can you feel it? Can you feel it? Can you feeeeeeel it!!
Good luck SS&Si
Jake Voll
Dec 05, 2018Spooky!!
I think it’s safe to say Amazon has arrived.
Nobody moves boxes better than Amazon.
There will be a void created as box moving specialty distributors consolidate (ie. low voltage into electrical). I plan to fill as much of that void as we can. It’s a better time to be growing marketshare than fighting to maintain it.
Then again, I’m just a guy with a lightbulb and some really awesome customers who dig it.
As for the luck, I’ll take all I can get. Thank you!
U
Undisclosed #5
Dec 05, 2018I’m just a guy with a lightbulb...
Riddle: How many guys with a lightbulb does it take to change an industry?
Answer: 8, two on Facebook, two on LinkedIn, two on Twitter and two on the phones!
John Bazyk
Dec 05, 2018Why was Amazon so successful? Was it their large inventory? Distribution network?
I would submit that Amazon was as successful as they were because of their ability to capture reviews from so many people. Most people who shop on Amazon trusted Amazon reviews. We're seeing that is not as much the case anymore. What we are seeing now is how Facebook groups are dominating consumer trust. Consumers (people who purchase alarm equipment for their alarm company are consumers too) trust people inside of a Facebook community more than people they can't engage with directly on Amazon. I'm not saying that Jake is going to be as big or bigger than Amazon or that Amazon will slowly crumble. What I am saying is that if a small alarm distributor wants to grow in a highly competitive market where his prices are the same as just about everyone else's and where he probably doesn't have a budget to get a booth at ISC west....than taking over and dominating a facebook group filled with B2B customers is the best way to get attention. I mean he's already got an article about him on IPVM one of the most read industry publications on the internet.
U
Undisclosed #6
Dec 05, 2018Amazon is not going to crumble. Jake will succeed. Thanks for submitting your opinion on why Amazon is successful. Consumers want to use the least amount of effort and time to find the best bargain, low price comparisons along with the warmest online review that aligns with whatever logic is going on in the potential customer's mind. Shoppers may be hunting for the best price, are pressed for time, are seeking additional discounts or simply agree with a what the review states. Additionally seeing the graphical 5 stars above each review posted by someone they will never meet also influences the confidence to add that item to the cart. The gullible are easy targets while the avid shopper will exhaust will flip thru all the channels prior to making a selection be it the facebook communities you trust, Alibaba, Amazon, Anixter and even the Little Nickel.
To answer your question why Amazon is so successful is easy.
Answer: Amazon is a way of life.
U
Undisclosed #5
Dec 08, 2018Jake, thanks for the LinkedIn invite!
One question, how did you know my name?
Jake Voll
Dec 10, 2018Top Secret!! Lol
You had clicked on my LinkedIn. I usually send invites to anyone who views my profile.
JH
John Honovich
Mar 21, 2019An interesting new promotion from him:
It takes some serious _____ to ask people to wear a picture of you...
Brian Rhodes
Mar 21, 2019
U
Undisclosed #5
Mar 21, 2019
U
Undisclosed #5
Mar 21, 2019
This will go over big with the crowd at ISC.
Jake: Hi, I’m Jake Voll from SS&Si, top of the BAO group! I have your complimentary sticker showing me some love that I’d like you to wear prominently for a couple days. Then I’ll hunt you down and call you out whenever I see you on the floor to give you a “prize”. Best of all its totally free!
Now, just tell me where you want me to stick it ;)
Jake Voll
Mar 22, 2019Undisclosed #5, man you nailed the pitch! 👌Did you overhear me practicing?!
Don’t forget though, the hilarity of it all helps get them to smile while holding a lightbulb up for the picture! 💡😆
The compounding effect of posting that picture to social media magnifies it!
And ultimately, while many of them may peel that sticker off right after the picture, it won’t matter. We’ll have shared a moment and I’ll have accomplished my goal:
To make them smile, laugh, and remember me! They may not even buy anything ever, but they’ll remember the goofy guy with a lightbulb! And for that, I’ll heart them forever!
Or not. Maybe they’ll think it’s weird, refuse to pose for a picture, and soon forget me. Lol good thing stickers are cheap! 🤣
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Mar 21, 2019Their reps are annoying and they’re overpriced. Worst thing I did was apply for an account- they would call weekly and bug me.
Jake Voll
Mar 21, 2019Sorry to hear our reps bugged you too much. We realize that most dealers practice just-in-time inventory so we try to follow up on a weekly basis. Sometimes customers tell us to cool it and we're happy to accommodate communication preferences. As far as pricing, I'm always happy to work with dealers to meet or beat the competition and I find we're very competitive overall. In any case, I want you to know that your feedback has been heard and appreciated. I'll discuss it with the team so we can continue to improve. Thank you!
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