Q.1 Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
Ans. Specialty Alarm Engineering was incorporated in 1975 by my father, Alex Georgopulos, with service tailored individually to the needs of each client. I joined him in the company in 2008, and we pride ourselves on offering to the Chicagoland Area the highest quality installation and service for commercial fire alarms, commercial burglar alarms, and residential burglar and fire alarms.
Q.2 What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans. The top three pieces of advice that I’d give to budding entrepreneurs is to work hard on a business venture that you’re passionate about, don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice from others with more experience in the same field, and always hold yourself to a high ethical standard.
Q.3 What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans. The top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur are: a solid work ethic, because entrepreneurship is dependent on you having the drive and commitment to succeeding; communication, both within your company and outside of your company, to generate sales and good business relationships; and focus, so that you can remain dedicated without biting off more than you can chew.
Q.4 How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans. It varies from day to day, because I keep myself available to customers in case of emergencies, but I make sure to balance work with spending good quality time with my family.
Q.5 To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans. I attribute much of our success to the high quality of work we do, and the high quality of service that we provide. We have built up a very high level of trust with our customers, and that has given us a reputation for reliability and quality, which we take very seriously.
Q.6 How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans. Because of our customer relationships are so strong, word of mouth has been our most successful form of marketing. Many of our new customers come from friends of colleagues of theirs who have recommended us.
Q.7 What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans. The best way to achieve long-term success is to keep focused on the quality of your company’s work, and building lasting relationships with customers so that they know they can rely on your business long-term, and will want to recommend your business to others.
Q.8 Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans. In the next five to ten years, I see our business maintaining our high standard of work and customer service, with even more satisfied customers and new strong business relationships formed with new customers.
Q.9 How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans. Good employees have been very important to our success, because good employees maintain the high standards for work and customer service that we pride ourselves on.
Q.10 What motivates you?
Ans. My family motivates me. This is a company that my father started, and so family is very important to me both in business and outside of business. I’m motivated by family in all aspects of life.
Q.11 What are your ideals?
Ans. Hard work, and honesty. Both of these ideals are things that have served me well in entrepreneurship, as well as in a business where customers are trusting me with their safety, their business’s safety, or their family’s safety.
Q.12 How do you define success?
Ans. I define success as meeting our goals in sales, service, and happy customers. Every successful sale is not only a success for our business, but is also a home or business that will be protected and cared for to the high standard that we hold ourselves to. All successful service and every happy customer is a success for us and shows that we are continuing to keep our high standards.
Q.13 How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans. You build a successful customer base by always delivering what you tell the customers that you will deliver, and by making them feel heard and helped when they have questions. By giving a personable touch to every interaction with customers, it develops a relationship, and that becomes a successful customer base.
Company Detail:
Company : Specialty Alarm Engineering, Inc.
Contact : Mike Georgopulos
Address : 1820 Johns Drive
City : Glenview
State : IL
Country : 60025
Zipcode : USA
Phone : 847-729-1958
