Tips from the trenches: Advice for small business success

Tell us about the first few years at Piper.
In college I worked in Publix with my best friend Don O'Lone, who is now our Vice President of Finance. They taught us about the importance of customer care and how to motivate people to achieve it. Early on at Piper we used these principles to stay focused on what’s important. That helped us grow to around twenty employees in just a few years, yet we remained based out my bedroom during that time. The company’s focus was on constructing sprinkler systems for commercial buildings and working as subcontractors on every project. Because we were so busy we forgot to sell and when things suddenly slowed down we nearly had to lay people off. It was an important lesson and we decided not to be so dependent on the construction side of the business.

How did you reposition the company for growth?

Chris Johnson

We shifted Piper to a full service fire protection company by adding alarm monitoring and system repair so that construction was less than fifty percent of our business. During the recession we were in great shape and as the economy improved, we’ve ramped up our construction services.

What advice has your dad given you?
He told me when I first got involved to be careful of the wave. In other words, selling at a loss to get business never makes sense. When we bid projects we are very careful to be disciplined about covering our costs. At the same time we offer a very fair price to our customers every day. Costs, solid cash flow, and minimal debt are always on the top of our minds.

What are the most important marketing activities for Piper?
Not that long ago marketing for us was mostly Yellow Pages advertising and of course referrals. Now, we have a cross-functional marketing team with team members from every department that helps guide us as sort of a sounding board. We’ve shifted to placing a lot of emphasis on networking and search engine optimization, and search engine marketing with Google AdWords and Bing Local. Also, we try to post fresh content as news on our website and use social media. And, members of the cross-functional marketing team join a networking group or get involved in an industry organization. In particular, the Central Pinellas Chamber of Commerce has several business leads groups that have been great for us in terms of new business.

What makes you and Piper successful?
First, success starts with how well you’re thought of in your community as well as by your competitors. In a similar way we hold our customers in high regard and listen to what they have to say, and provide what they want. For instance, we kept hearing that it was expensive to replace fire existing fire hydrants and suppressant systems, and why couldn’t old systems be repaired to current standards. So, we started doing just that, saving customers money and in the process carving out a profitable niche for Piper.

How have you evolved as a leader?
Aside from treating our customers like gold and giving them great value, I truly feel like our employees are part of our family. That way we act as a family on behalf of our customers. Also, I usually get in around 6:30 am and have an open door policy. Even with our tremendous growth I know every member of our team. Plus, I know it’s important to lead by example. Many days after a long day at the office I head to a networking or business meeting before finally making it home. And, I’m an encourager by nature and without a doubt, take my responsibility of chief cheerleader seriously and have some fun with that.

What are the biggest challenges for you and other small businesses?
For us, finding skilled tradesmen is difficult. As you can imagine we rely heavily on experienced people to design, install, and maintain systems that can be very complex. Particularly in today’s high tech world this is becoming more and more of an issue. To help, we support local apprenticeship programs as well as train entry-level people for the future of our company. Talking about technology, on the business side it’s hard to find the right internal systems that are right-sized for a company like ours, especially in sales, accounting, and service management. For other small businesses, I think they struggle getting to the next level because they don’t or can’t keep investing what’s needed. In the first ten years of Piper we did not take any money out except for modest salaries. That really helped to fund our growth.

What do you do for fun?
I’m a commissioner for Youth Soccer in Pinellas County as well as a mentor to young referees. Growing up in Florida I decided to try snow skiing and now I’m hooked. And, one of my biggest pleasures is playing card and board games with my kids.