Success Through Simplicity

We all know the acronym KISS, which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. It turns out that KISS can be the reason why certain companies have grown and prospered during the pandemic.  Fortunately, Sunstates Security happens to be one of them.

We view our operations in a way that’s very similar to the approach of Southwest Airlines.

Lessons from America’s Largest Discount Airline

When the pandemic struck and travel stopped, the major airlines accepted federal stimulus funds, cut flights and laid off staff.

Southwest didn’t. Turning down federal aid, the airline took advantage of historic low rates to borrow. When other airlines announced layoffs, Southwest promised no job cuts and furloughs through the end of 2020.

Southwest can do that because of simplified operations compared to competitors:

• One primary model of airplane, streamlining repairs and maintenance
• One class of passenger seats
• All-inclusive fares, which simplifies the ticketing process
• No reliance on the inefficient hub-and-spoke model used by other major airlines

The stock market has applauded, treating Southwest’s stock much more favorably than others in the industry. That’s the benefit of keeping it simple.

Simplicity at Sunstates Security

At Sunstates, we keep things simple with a focus on:

• What we do
• Why we do it
• How we do it

Simplifying what we do means sticking to what we do best. Many in our industry are focusing on new services, investing significant capital to acquire security hardware and software companies. For public companies or those driven by equity investment, shareholders and investors want to hear about “exciting” new developments.

We’ve experienced a 20%+ compounded growth rate over the past eight years, including 2020, because we put our time, energy and resources in our core business—providing security personnel. Instead of acquiring other companies and straying from our primary business, we continually hone our approach by focusing on employee engagement, training and quality assurance.

We’ve improved how we do it by stripping away inefficiencies and continually emphasizing “the why,” which is to be the best at providing security personnel. 

At Sunstates, we realized early on that all managers should be supporting employees and clients by working in the field, not sitting behind a desk. Our managers know our employees and our clients because they visit client sites. Casual conversations with clients and security officers lead to new insights and new ways to improve operations. Valuable information that might never make it into an official report happens during these discussions. This collaboration is made possible by a quality-driven leadership structure that gives our management team significantly smaller client portfolios than the industry standard.

We also encourage and offer incentives to security officers to cross-train, so they can pivot to a new client site or learn a new set of duties quickly and seamlessly.

Success Through Employee Engagement

At the end of the day, Sunstates Security is in the people business. The people we provide are specially trained and skilled at what they do. Every day, they’re building relationships with the clients they serve.

To provide the best possible service to clients, Sunstates has to do three things well:

• Attract and hire the best people
• Train and support those people
• Engage and motivate employees

To attract and hire the best people, we have to build a reputation in the industry. When prospective employees go to Glassdoor or other job boards, they see that Sunstates Security is rated significantly higher than the industry average, which helps us attract the best people. Then, we conduct a more in-depth interview to find security officers who will fit the Sunstates culture and treat our clients as their top priority.

Our employees see their supervisors and get real-time feedback and opportunities to improve every week. They receive support and encouragement to learn and grow. We regularly add benefits that exceed industry standards, such as paid vacation and a vacation buy-back program, and our employee recognition program hands out dozens of awards every month to recognize security officers who make our clients feel valued.

As Southwest Airlines will tell you, you take care of your employees, and they’ll take care of the clients, which—when you come right down to it—is pretty simple.

To discuss the impact of these trends on your organization, please call Sunstates Security at 866-710-2019 or contact us.