NSCA 2009 Excellence in Business Winners Revealed
NSCA announced the winners of its 2009 Excellence in Business Award. Recipients will be honored at the 2009 Business and Leadership Conference sponsored by InfoComm.
NSCA announced the winners of its 2009 Excellence in Business Award. Recipients will be honored at the 2009 Business and Leadership Conference sponsored by InfoComm, Feb. 26-28, outside Phoenix, Ariz..
The 2009 winners include: Copp Systems Integrator for Strategic Advancement; Sharp’s Audio Visualfor Marketing Strategies; Halco Life Safety Systems for Project Development; Verrex Corp. for Growth Strategies; and Safeguard Security and Communications for Recurring Revenue.
“Business owners and managers are all evaluating ways to run their companies more smoothly and cut costs,” said Ray Bailey, president of Lone Star Communications and Business and Leadership Conference planning committee member. “These companies exemplify the strategies needed to ensure a growing and stable business during tough economic times.”
The awards recognize each company’s use of creative, visionary strategies to build successful business models.
Copp Systems Integrator wanted to find additional ways to grow business beyond the traditional model of bidding for jobs. The company moved to a business-to-business model, implementing more proactive and sales-oriented methods. Copp realized that becoming a great integrator meant investing in the resources to do so, which led the company to focus on applications specific to customer needs, sales training, a new quote system, and strategic relationships with former competitors.
Even though Sharp’s Audio Visual’s traditional marketing methods worked well, the company decided to run national television commercials to set itself apart. The commercials ranged from client testimonials to the abstract, and helped increase business. The commercials aired to a wide range of audiences during local evening news, top 10 television shows, and the Super Bowl.
Halco Life Safety Systems earned its honor by ensuring more efficient use of time, accurate billing, and better rates for customers when it automated job processes with simple software applications. After each completed job, the entire team can review the project data and discuss successes and areas for improvement. This has led to improvements in profits per job, personnel issues, and internal communications for a productive and happy work place.
Verrex Corp. recognized that core client requirements were critical to the company’s success. Verrex’s goal was to expand its market by increasing systems usage per core customer, which it did by developing a customer-centric environment and building relationships by focusing on local AV needs.
Safeguard Security Communications believed it couldn’t grow without understanding the importance and value of recurring revenue. Between 1996 and 2008, the company’s annual revenue increased from $6.3 million to $34 million, while monthly recurring revenue jumped from $125,000 to $458,000. An important step in this process was Safeguard’s intent to maintain strong monthly recurring revenue, which allowed it to purchase and expand into a commercial integration company.
