What Members are Saying...

Dennis Coleman - Chief Executive Officer – Engineered Fire Protection: “Here's something that I learned from FSI Best Practices Coach Brian Cullen. I should contact my broker as much as 90 – 120 days in advance with a list of questions to discuss. I can tell you that he was more than surprised. He was delighted. We were helping him do his job better. In turn, he had the lead time he needed to do a great job for us. We were able to switch to a great carrier, with attractive rates and a solid track record for responsiveness.  Having our people attend insurance-sponsored education has the additional affect of reinforcing their perception that we're a solid, well managed operation. We've also asked one of our best managers to join a special interest group sponsored by FSI Best Practices. These folks from around the country are discussing ways that we can word, or respond, to contracts from customers and GCs that may unwittingly create costly liabilities. We're sharing what we do in these periodic teleconferences. We're also getting back some great ideas from other firms in other areas.

Chad Huennekens – President – United States Fire Protection: “The FSI Self-Assessment Process had us somewhat apprehensive at first, but getting other peoples’ thoughts and gaining consensus provided good feedback for our plan. Aligning views with others is difficult sometimes and this was a good vehicle to communicate. Marketing plans emerged to change focus. Different backgrounds and experiences mean there are a lot more people involved, generating excitement and deciding where we need to go. We’ve become better at how we differentiate as a result of everyone asking themselves the hard questions. We probably wouldn’t be doing these things if we hadn’t gone through the process. For example, everyone thinks our safety is strong and good, but people need constant reminders and specific ways how to behave better. The tendency is to gloss over, while the need is to drill down. Open communication and dialogue is needed and helps everyone learn that it matters a lot to senior management. It needs to be more than lip service, making it more of an ongoing process that is slow and deliberate. I think other contractors should do the self-assessments more now than ever because tough times challenge leaders to find relatively inexpensive ways to get better. When times are slow, you have to do more to survive. If not working on doing the things to improve, eventually a bad loss or faulty installation will catch up with you. Especially when low price seems like it’s all that matters, you have to give a buyer more value in order to win the contract. The Self-Assessment process helps by finding out what people do best and what their interests are to do something better or going elsewhere to do more and unleash the creativity. The key is to empower people to take it to another level, drive it more deeply, expand their skills and broaden their experience with stretch goals.”

Rich Ray – President of Global Fire Protection commented: “The best thing I gained through the Self-Assessment process is awareness...what we're not so good at...little things flared up. We may think we're excellent at something and then we realize maybe we're not. That's even more important than the ideas that come out of it. We're forced to think about it when we’re all in the same room, debriefing about the Self-Assessments. The light goes on about so many different things. Some people are insulated from the rest of the operations. Insights and peer perspectives helped a lot. As for other Best Practices we’ve used, Medcor is the 2nd most amazing aha. Synergetic Solutions has been the biggest win for us financially, returning tens of thousands of dollars. If it doesn't make sense to a business owner the guy is dead!” 

James Lewis – Chief Executive Officer of American Fire Sprinkler: “Best Practices has definitely influenced and improved the way we run our business.  My skepticism of the Self Assessment exercise was quickly replaced with sudden, eye opening awareness of unaddressed problems.  Many problems were identified which have been affecting our company for years, but which were never exposed to management for various reasons.  Now everyone is on the same page and, through the continuous improvement process, our issues are getting the attention they need.  Brian also introduced us to valuable partners like Synergetic Solutions.  With very little effort and no cost on our part, they were able to get us a significant cash refunds for overpayment of workman’s comp.  As I have learned, there is always more room for improvement than one realizes.  FSI Best Practices will not only help you focus in on those areas, it provides the tools and guidance required to address them.  I highly recommend it to anyone who is seriously seeking to improve any aspect of their company.

Jeffrey Dunn, President - Carolina Fire Protection, Inc. “FSI has been part of my company team since 2008. During that time they have provided valuable consulting knowledge and tools for me to use in growing and maintaining productivity and profitability for my company. With Paul Johnson’s extensive experience in business management and in particular the fire protection industry, he has the expertise to help businesses be successful in today’s economic environment and beyond. Their programs, procedures and advice have served me and my company well. One great feature is that they look at your business with an open mind and come up with ideas that fit your specific need and company personality. They realize every company does not fit in the same box but the basics for success are the same. As a business owner, I respect that feature greatly. I would recommend FSI to anyone who is interested in profitable success.”

Dave Curran, Safety Director of Alliance Fire Protection wrote: “I explained to another contractor that one of the Best Practices to improve our workplace injury triage was introduced by Medcor nurses. It has been first-rate in helping with our workplace injuries, not only in assisting the injured worker, but also in control of claims and claim costs.”

Diane M. Doring, Director of Human Resources – SRI Fire Protection: “I am writing in reference to Paul Johnson, whose professional acquaintance I have made through Best Practices. I have found Paul to be extremely helpful.  Although I am an “old hand” at Human Resources, I am very new to the fire sprinkler industry.   Paul has helped me in numerous ways, most particularly by helping me to make contacts with other HR professional in the business.  On several occasions, Paul has also provided me with specific, customized reports to assist me in my organization’s efforts to put a pay-for-performance program in place.  I truly appreciate the help that Paul has given me and I look forward to working with him in the future.”

John Mammoser – Cybor Fire Protection:  “We have gone through similar processes to Self-Assessments and appreciate the value of a facilitator to keep people focused and on track. There is more benefit with FSI-BP because of the experience in the sprinkler industry and with the specific issues that are recognized. Our expectations were to prioritize, break down into manageable tasks, and create an action plan.  The checklists used enabled a better planning process because we take one step at a time. Professionalism and experiences brought high value to bring focus and move us in the right direction. First we gained consensus on the issues identified. Then we threw it back to the group for them to deal with it and validate the assumptions, conclusions and “to do’s”. While sometimes it may have been hard for some of the group to relate to each other’s areas, this became an important part of the process since they helped solve a problem because they are already outside the box and can be more objective. They add comments to make everyone think differently. When looking at things that effect the whole organization, it is helpful to have all the parts represented. People opened up and engaged positively about how to make a difference. In the midst of difficult economic times the tension was greater to start with, but people get more realistic about the challenges being faced.”

Forest Wilson – President- Cherokee Fire Protection: “I am writing to express my support of the Best Practices program. Cherokee Fire has already gained immensely from this program, primarily from the bid templates which are available on the Best Practices website. The templates contained language content which our previous ones did not…content which better clarifies bid inclusions and exclusions. Upon joining, I have found it to be a very valuable tool for our business. It is another fine example of how beneficial NFSA membership really is for the fire sprinkler contractor.  I cannot express in words how helpful this organization has been to Cherokee Fire since then. From the Engineer of the Day, to the Labor Relations, Training Department…and now Best Practices. I am very excited about the Special Interest Groups which are planned for Best Practices and improvement of the website and content as well.”

Eddie Kadlec  Jr. – President - C.L. Doucette: The FSI-BP team introduced one of their Best Practices for fire sprinkler contractors to get us started with some “found money.” It is a Workers Compensation audit of the experience modification that was performed by a company named Synergetic Solutions. Synergetic is a very professional company who helped CL Doucette by examining the last 7 years of WC payroll audits, claims and e-mod rules. They found a significant refund for the company. Their follow through was good, letting us know what was happening every step of the way, including getting the refund from the insurance company. We didn’t have to deal with the insurers. They did everything they said they would do, researching the laws and regulations, and they dealt with the carrier to get us the money. The 5 figure amount more than funded the minimal cost of joining Best Practices and was a great way for us to launch the process. We’re doing the Self-Assessments next.”

Sean Hill, President, Alliance Fire & Safety, Venice, FL: “The self assessment process is very revealing.  More than just pointing out areas of strength and weakness, it sets the stage for development of actionable plans that will result in improvement”