Another “Cool” Frontier

We’re entering another cool frontier here at H&S Protection. We’ve said over the past few years that we’re “no longer your father’s alarm company.” Instead, we’ve added products and services sought by businesses and homeowners that provide convenience and cost savings to our customers.

Now we’ve added more “cool” features. Alarm.com, our partner on interactive and automation features, has helped us bring to the market the full spectrum of what many next generation customers want – a smarter home or business. That means multiple features you can manage through your smart phone.

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Mike Horgan, our co-owner in Stevens Point, WI, recently had this system from Alarm.com installed at his home. He’s amazed at the convenience and cost savings. Here’s how he describes it:

“We installed the demo at our house so we can now remotely open and close the garage door or lock and unlock doors. It’s tied to your phone, so it’s very easy to use. Customers can control their lights or have a video doorbell installed. They’re all nice features to manage basic home automation. And it’s fun to play with!”

There are multiple conveniences provided by these new automated features. If you forget to lock the front door, you can check and lock it remotely. You can let contractors in if you’re not home. There’s an option to install video cameras, and you can use this make sure your kids get home on time, or whether they’re staying out too late. The system gives a thumbnail so you can see when the kids left or got home. “It’s a great parenting tool,” Mike observed.

The system has the potential to generate tremendous energy savings for customers over the long run. By automating the thermostat, you can set it to do such things as drop the temperature in your home or business after everyone has left (during the winter when you are heating) and you are a certain distance away, and then sense your return, and turn the heat back up as you get in close to home again.

Lights can be turned on and off remotely by the system. “You can almost pay for the system by the energy savings,” Mike explained.

“It’s cool to be able to check on your dog and cat and see whether the dog ate the cat yet,” he said, laughing. “It’s cool for parenting, energy savings, lighting. It’s just plain cool.”

The Alarm.com system is available to new and existing customers. It’s a total home or business automation package and “by the way, it’s an alarm system, too,” Mike added.

If you’re a current H&S customer, you can upgrade now. Contact us at our Pewaukee or Stevens Point office. We’ll be moving more heavily into the residential market with these new features. All from an easy-to-use app from Alarm.com.

A Heart to Help Others in H&S’s Nancy DeSandre

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When Nancy DeSandre lost her job in 2013, she began looking for work in a new field.  She had extensive customer service experience from  past jobs in the restaurant field so that’s where she began her search.  “In April of 2013 I found an ad for H & S Protection Systems on the internet and applied.  The interview went well and I was offered the position of Customer Service and the rest is now history,” she smiled.

Prior to working for H & S, Nancy was in ministry for 11 years working with men and women who were transitioning from prison  back into the community. “My role was similar to that of a case worker.  Two years prior to  release we would begin the process of  education  and gaining job skills needed for employment outside prison.  I worked with many organizations in the communities of Waukesha and Milwaukee to aide these men and women with housing resources, clothing, food, employment and healthcare needs for when they returned to the community. Many of these organizations and churches are our customers today and I get to talk to some of the same people I worked with in my past position,” she said.

She was also instrumental in partnering with The Salvation Army of Wisconsin, Prison Fellowship and the Department of Corrections to begin the Prison Aftercare Network of Wisconsin (PAN) which is still in existence to aide in the transition for ex-offenders (called “returning citizens”) from prison back to the communities they live in after release. “We trained hundreds of volunteers to mentor these men and women upon release and trained churches how to work with sex offenders who wanted to attend church services” Nancy said.

For H&S, Nancy is the service coordinator out of the Pewaukee, WI office, and her main role is to work with customers who need service and schedule these service issues.  “It involves troubleshooting with customers over the phone to diagnose the issue for the service tech to repair.  I also order all parts for upcoming install jobs as well as stock and service repair parts.  I organize and file paperwork and work to add and organize information in our database to make it more efficient for sales and service.  My favorite part of my job is to train customers on use of their software and phone apps for their new alarm or access systems,” she added.

As a single woman, “who is available to meet someone” Nancy chuckles, “I have four children and two grandchildren.”

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DeSandre is involved in many adventurous activities and hobbies.  “If it happens outside you will most likely find me.  I do stairclimbing and train on hills and stairs at the lakefront two days a week year round (yes at -18 wind chills).  I also love cycling — when the snow is gone I am gone.”

 

She recently completed her second year for the Great Cycle Challenge to raise money for children’s cancer.  “This year I rode 300 miles for the month of June. I added whitewater rafting, indoor rock climbing and now backpack camping in a hammock.  This winter I will learn how to survive winter camping. I love winter and why not take advantage of 12 months of camping instead of just 6?”

 

“I talk about H&S Protection to many people and carry a card so I can leave it when I am out.  I let them know that we are local and you will know your rep and your service tech  We pride ourselves on being fast and efficient.  And we guarantee  our work. Can you tell I like where I work?,” she laughed.

(Editor’s note: Nancy is behind the guy in green in the photo below.)

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H&S Sales Team Transitions as Two Retire

Several weeks back, two of our longer tenured H&S employees retiredjim rick– Jim Kurtz and Rick Janowski. Both worked in sales out of our Pewaukee, WI office. We were sad to see them go. But everyone reaches a stage where there’s a time to take the next step in life.

We appreciate the great years of service they gave us and our clients in southeastern Wisconsin. Over the years, they built relationships that can’t be duplicated. We’re proud to have had them as part of our team.

 

Every business goes through certain ebbs and flows, and losing two experienced long-term employees is always a challenge. We knew the time would come for Jim and Rick to hang up their spikes, and we’ve prepared for an orderly transition through the course of this year and into next. Their accounts will be shifted over, and other members of our team will smoothly assume their duties. If you are a customer, we trust these account changes will be seamless for you.

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In Pewaukee, our sales staff includes Danny Greco, Dave Kwasinski and Dan Revoy. You may reach any of them at our 262.574.7777 number. Danny has been with us for10 years, and in addition to sales has also worked as a lead technician. He handles many bigger projects for us, and is a trusted advisor. Dave has been with us close to two years and has rapidly picked up the security business model. He is excellent at analyzing a project thoroughly and giving accurate quotes to our residential and commercial customers.  In addition to his regular duties, Dave has already assumed some leadership responsibilities with our newer sales staff members.

Dan started with us earlier this year but has been in the security industry for several years. Hailing from Kenosha, he knows southeast Wisconsin like the back of his hand, and with his experience in our industry, he too is highly capable of providing solutions to fit your security needs.

 

We will continue to grow and evolve our business model and our employees in the years ahead. It’s with mixed emotions that we watch Jim and Rick take that next stop in their lives — happy to see them reach retirement and sad for all the memories and good times that come to an end at some point. We will continue to build our business and people to serve all our customers in a way that would make them proud.

H&S Completes Annual Road Pickup

Recently, H&S Protection completed our annual road pickup on a 2-mile stretch of Highway 66 between Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids. It’s an annual trek for many of us. There’s a lot of garbage out there, more than there should be, and it’s important for us to do something about it.

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Our employees live in the area, but we had several come up to join us from our Pewaukee, WI office as well. We all want to make the areas in which we live a little better. This is one of our commitments as a company and through our employees to help. We’re not going to change the world in a day, but we’re going to do our part.

You can expect that from H&S on the job site as well. We hire people with a “can do” attitude.

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Twelve staff members completed the highway cleanup June 5. Rain or shine, we’ll be out there again next year, picking up plastic bottles, bags, cans, old tires, wind-blown plastic bags and other items discarded by the side of the road. We’re doing our part to keep Wisconsin beautiful.

 

“It’s great to bring our people together from both offices, get outdoors and do some good for the local community. We’re to operate in the Stevens Point area, and do our part to make it a little better every day,” said H&S Co-owner Mike Horgan.

Family Business the Way to Go for Kelly Ransbottom

Working in a family business is the way to go for Kelly Ransbottom. Before joining H&S Protection three years ago, she lived in Little Chute, WI and worked for a family-owned company for 13 years. She found H&S to be a good and dependable company to work for when she moved to the Stevens Point area looking for employment, after answering an ad through a temp service.

Kelly’s husband Steve had been commuting to Plover from Little Chute for over 8 months. With their children having moved out on their own, they decided to downsize and reduce Steve’s commute to 10 minutes. “Recently we built a new house and are happy homeowners again,” Kelly said.

If you need to find something at H&S’s Stevens Point office, Kelly is the person to reach. She handles customer service, answer phones and resolves issues. She works on collections, customer invoicing, processing and posting cash and credit receipts. And, she handles other miscellaneous tasks that come her way.

She has been married to Steve for 19 years, and they have four children – Preston, Molly, Allison and Charlotte, as well as three grandchildren – Aubree, Walker and Shelby. Kelly likes spending time with her family and grandchildren. “I enjoy quilting and gardening. Flowers are my weakness,” she observed with a smile.

“I also enjoy taking pictures of nature – butterflies, birds and flowers, as well as photos of the grandkids – if they sit still long enough,” she chuckled.

Kelly can reached at H&S’s Stevens Point office — 715.344.0727

Guns and Ammo

Most retails stores that sell guns and ammunition have security – cameras AND alarm systems. Owners understand the value of that investment.

Last year, in our southeast Wisconsin service territory, we heard of two instances close together (in proximity and date) of break-ins and the theft of significant firearms. Despite security, the burglary still occurred.

While security systems – whether designed and installed by H&S Protection or another company – are not foolproof, they are deterrents AND they do help apprehend. In one of those two cases, video footage was used to quickly identify the criminal element.

So, yes, if you run a gun/ammunition storefront, you should have a security system in place. You should also make sure it is updated. These days, our video technology is enhanced from 3-4 year ago. You get higher resolution images with new cameras. Give us a call at either of our Wisconsin locations if you’d like one of our representatives to stop out and hear your concerns (Waukesha area – 262.574.7777; Stevens Point area – 715.344.0727). We’ll take a look and let you know what we think. If an upgrade or add-on makes sense, we’ll explain the details and why it would help you protect your site.

A year-and-a-half ago, we attended a gun and ammunition expo south of Milwaukee. We paid for a booth and met with many gun enthusiasts at the expo. Often when approached, their response was a smile and patting their hip, “I’ve got my protection right here.” We understand that perspective.
But it doesn’t help when you are away from the business. That’s why people hire H&S Protection. We’re your technology eyes and ears when you are away. You can’t “personally” protect your business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But we can. We appreciate the opportunity to give you that additional protection for your premises.

Restaurant Experience

If you go into a restaurant, you’re looking for a good experience – tasty food, superior service, reasonably priced drinks and dishes. You also want the restaurant to have “experience” – in other words, you want their people to know what they’re doing.

We’d like to add a touch of H&S Protection to your restaurant experience. We have a lot of experience servicing the security needs of restaurants throughout central and southeastern Wisconsin. It’s one of our strengths. As we do more of these camera and security system installations, what happens? We get better. Why? Because of our additional experience.

That’s a huge advantage H&S provides to restaurant owners seeking security services. Our sales and installation staff have sold and installed systems in countless mom and pop diners, large-scale restaurant and elegant eateries. We don’t know it all, but we know a lot, and we bring that to the table when you meet with us and want to find the best options to protect your business.

Let us help you enhance your restaurant experience. If you own or operate a single shop or a chain of restaurants, and you want to look at effective and unobtrusive ways to improve how your business runs, give us a call. You can find out much more about the H&S experience here on our web site.

Our experience can help you make your customers’ experiences better. Having a modern security system properly designed and installed is something that comes with the territory in the restaurant field. We’d welcome the opportunity to work with you to make your customer experience even better.

Oh, the Places We Go…..

Every security company has a territory. H&S Protection serves southeast and central Wisconsin. We’re proud to live in the state and provide our services to a significant percentage of the people who live here.

If you draw a circle around our two offices in Pewaukee and Stevens Point, how far would our team reach? Pretty far. There are no limits to the distance we will travel, but for the sake of our “core” territory, let’s lay out a few parameters if you’re thinking about hiring us to help you with perimeter protection, security cameras or a monitored alarm system.

Let’s take Stevens Point first. Is your business in Wausau? We’ll be there. Wautoma, Hortonville and Wittenberg? We can handle it. You can count on us in Nekoosa and Wisconsin Rapids. Waupaca? Yup. Marshfield? Set a time and date and our technicians will show up when you want them knocking on your door. Green Bay, Appleton, Neenah, Menasha and Oshkosh are all within our reach.

In Pewaukee, we embrace the Milwaukee metro area and much more. We’ll hit the Illinois border. In fact, we service multiple accounts in northern Illinois. Is your business in Madison, Janesville, Beloit, or Whitewater? We’ll make it. Heading north and west, we have clients in Beaver Dam, Hartford, Slinger, Fond du Lac, West Bend and Port Washington. We don’t stop there. Lake Geneva? Piece of cake!

We’re proud as a Wisconsin-based business to provide “down home” service. To us, that’s about being trustworthy, showing up on time, and doing what we say we’re going to do. We’d like to cover the entire state, and in fact, if the circumstances are right, we’ll roll a truck to your home or business regardless of how far you are from either of our two offices.

Give us a ring, or check out our web site for more information about our people and services. We want you to know us so we can serve you to the best of our ability.

Grandmother Connection Lands Josh Miller at H&S

Sometimes it’s a person you’d least expect who lands you your next job. In the case of H&S Protection’s Josh Miller, that was his grandmother. “She was out working in the yard and Steve Garritson, one of H&S’s owners, is her next door neighbor,” Josh relates. Through that interaction, Josh found out from his grandmother that H&S was looking to hire. There was a notice at the bottom of the H&S monthly bill insert, and Josh read the notice and found the position appealing, so he applied and was hired.

“It sounded like a great job. I knew Steve was a good guy. The job had somewhat regular hours and I had been working the second shift at Texas Roadhouse.” Josh found the “shift switch” to day work appealing so he had more time to see friends and family.

Josh likes working with electronics, which was another part of the position appealing to him. “I like taking things apart and putting them back together and tinkering around. It’s a cool job. I like coming to work every day,” he said.

The teamwork at H&S stands out to Josh: “Everyone is very nice and helps each other out. If I need to get a question answered, Mike Solomon may come out to a site to help me. If I call Ben Garritson, he’ll get me an answer. Matt Ballantyne and Russ Zanow help me any time I ask. It makes the work less stressful, and our projects go more smoothly.”
Outside the job, Josh enjoys the outdoors, including long walks and longboarding — a version of skateboarding with a longer board. “You go faster on it than a skateboard and can take hills better. I go 15-30 miles one way, and it’s good exercise, peaceful and relaxing. It makes it nice to be outside and enjoying the weather.”

Josh has two sisters and lives at home with his mother and father. And his grandmother lives nearby if you ever need help with your job search.

Steve Garritson Covers it All in 39 Years

Steve Garritson has seen a lot in his 39 years working in the alarm/security industry. He’s been on the front lines dealing with customers, watching corporate America rapidly buying out smaller businesses, handling operations issues and now as co-owner of H&S Protection, running his own business. He’s learned the business inside-out and now shares those lessons with H&S employees, helping them grow.

“I’m having fun with the new people we’ve been bringing in,” he observed. Over the past 20 months or so, H&S has hired six new employees as installers and in sales. “I like watching them grow, grasp the issues and succeed.”

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One of his favorite parts about being an owner is going out on sales calls. “The sales rep has already done the hard work. Some riding along with them on the call is gravy,” he laughed. “I’m taking a bit more active role there. We need those boots on the ground.”

Garritson, who runs the Pewaukee, WI office for H&S (co-owner Mike Horgan operates out of Stevens Point, WI), didn’t set out to join the alarm industry. His father met a man during his travels who was the owner of an alarm company looking for an employee, and Steve followed up in December 1979. He took a job with the company, which had 5 employees, in Elm Grove, WI. That meant moving up from Illinois to an efficiency apartment that had a two-burner stove, small refrigerator and a foldout couch/bed. “I didn’t know a soul in Wisconsin,” he said.

Steve worked in a number of positions for 5-6 years at the Elm Grove company, then struck out on his own, contracting to do service and installation work in the security industry, then branching out to subcontractor work. He hooked up with a subsidiary of Central Control Alarm (the biggest independent alarm company in the state of Wisconsin at the time) in Waukesha, where the Operations Manager position opened up in Milwaukee. He handled service, central station (alarm monitoring) issues and ran the guard service (a 24/7/365 dispatch service).

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“It was a tough job, but the best experience. When the beepers went off and you saw the 911 number, you knew there was a problem,” he observed.

It was there that Steve met Jim Kurtz, Lonnie Miescke and Chris Utter. He also connected with Mike Horgan’s father Ed, through the state alarm association (now the Wisconsin Electronic Security Association WIESA).

In 1996, Central Control was sold to Security Link, giving Steve his first taste of corporate America. He quickly decided it was not for him. “If my heart had been in it, I think I could have excelled. We had the right people above us and a good corporate trainer, but there was a lot of disarray.”

Steve joined with Utter and Todd Courtney to found Sentra Protective Services (which merged with Horgan Sales and Service to become H&S Protection Systems in 2007), bringing along Kurtz and Miescke.

Garritson enjoys the security industry, particularly that it is constantly changing. “It was stagnant for a while, but now we’re in the digital age. We’re fortunate to have smart people in the digital field who understand computers and IT. Our people jumped right in and learned it.”

Steve is married to his wife, Barb, and has a son Ben (who works at H&S in Service) and daughter Stephanie (a teacher at Kettle Moraine High School) and two grandchildren.

He enjoys family activities in his spare time, getting together with the grandkids, and looking forward to taking them fishing and swimming on the family pontoon boat. Steve also enjoys deer hunting and fishing with his son-in-law and Ben. “I’m in a good place right now,” he said with a smile.

“You know, I’d never really thought about the alarm industry before I got started in it. I probably would have worked in one of the trades, maybe carpentry,” he observed.