Show notes
Inspect Point Webinar- Optimize your Business Practices (March 31st 11AM)John Mackeyjohn@mackeygroupllc.commackeygroupllc.comFULL TRANSCRIPTDrew Slocum: (00:08):This is episode 20 of the Fire Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect Point. Today, my guest is John Mackey. John is the owner of the Mackey Group, l l c. It's a fire protection consulting business. Um, I actually had John on about a year ago. Uh, he was on the second podcast and went really well. A lot of listens to that. Um, John started his consulting business, uh, pretty recently. Uh, formally he was with the Hiller Group, um, head of their digital, uh, and just different technologies for the Hiller group. He's, he's done a lot to improve different businesses out there, uh, heavily involved in some mergers, mergers and acquisitions as well. So, uh, John's new role is, is looking at different fire protection companies, uh, both big and small, and trying to get their, you know, day-to-day operations, their business plans in line. Um, so it's just kind of a, it's a good topic to talk about with all the, the crazy pandemic talks out there, the looming recession if it's, if it's not already here.(01:11)So making sure your fire protection business is up to snuff with reoccurring revenue. Um, I think that him and I thought it was a, it is a great opportunity to really improve your business operations to when we come out the other side of this to really be rolling. So, uh, we got talking about that. And, you know, this podcast is really gonna coincide with, uh, a webinar we have in spec points, hosting a, a live webinar tomorrow, March 31st at 11:00 AM with our VP of Customer Success, uh, Jennifer Doyle, who's heavily and entrenched in a lot of day-to-day operations for different contractors. So she's gonna have a lot of tips and tricks out there to, to help improve your businesses. I will make sure to add the link in the podcast notes, as well as this post on social media. So, uh, make sure to subscribe and please enjoy. All right, we go. Um, thanks John for, uh, joining me. It's been about, uh, was it, it's been, been almost a year now since I put the first one out there, and thank you. Were that first one. So it's, uh, one year anniversary. We'll do it, we'll do, do it a little early at least.John Mackey: (02:24):Uh, hey, I appreciate you always, uh, look forward to opportunity to talk to you and share perspectives of, uh, what we're both seeing in the industry and, and, um, just offer my, uh, my insight for the listeners and, and, um, help out where I can.Drew Slocum: (02:38):Yeah, no, thanks. Uh, John, John was out about, uh, about a year ago. He was with the, the Hiller group at the time. He, he recently, uh, it's kind of out in his own venture now, the Mackey group. And I, I guess what is, I guess, tell the listeners what, what you're up to and kind of what your vision is.John Mackey: (02:56):Yeah, so, thank you. The, uh, yeah, the objective of the Mackey Group is to, um, really help investors understand the fire protection space. Um, what we see going on right now is, um, a lot of PE firms and investors coming in that don't necessarily understand our market. And, uh, what I'm concerned about is, as they go through their buying cycles, is, um, I wanna make sure that we've got good sustainable processes and practices in place with regard to how, how we acquire, how we integrate those companies, which I think is vitally important. And then, number three, how do we operate 'em with the use of software and technology? Because I wanna make sure that it maintains the structure, um, of our channels. Um, our industry has been built around those channels, and, um, we need to make sure that, um, the processes themselves are, are solid and, and, uh, sustainable, uh, so that, uh, the performance of our contractor base, uh, continue to operate at a high level. So that's the objective of the Mackey group and, and, uh, making sure that, uh, you know, uh, all the parties, um, really understand what it takes to, uh, to do this. Right.Drew Slocum: (04:07):Yeah,John Mackey: (04:08):No, so far so good. Got a contract in place and, and, um, helping my first client down that pass. And, uh, we'll see where this thing goes.Drew Slocum: (04:16):Yeah. Well, uh, I know the last five to maybe even seven years now, it's been, uh, you know, the, the industry's kind of contracting a little bit on the con on the fire protection contracting side, and there's acquisition out there. There's still a lot of new companies. I see 'em every day. But, um, what, let's get right to it. What happens moving forward from here? You know, with all the , I know we haven't talked, we'll get right into it. There's a lot of craziness happening, and I think there's a lot of stuff in flux, but there's potential opportunity out there too. SoJohn Mackey: (04:54):I completely agree. I think, you know, it, it is, you know, timing's never perfect, right? I think that, you know, personally, as you go through the process to, uh, to leave a, um, a good company like Hiller and, uh, try to venture out on your own, um, there's never a perfect time to do it. There's a good time, but no one had a crystal ball to, to see that, uh, COVID 19 was gonna come to the US with such a, um, a powerful impact. And, um, you know, so that's part of the learning process. I think we're all learning on how to deal with that. Um, but, uh, it is what it is. And, um, we're gonna get through it just like everybody else. Uh, we're gonna learn, um, in my case, I'm helping my client really understand, um, the resources available to, to get through this, uh, with regard to, you know, what is the Fire Suppression Systems Association, say, uh, what is N F B A saying, uh, what are we hearing from, uh, local authorities? And, uh, just helping to, to navigate, um, that information. As you know, it is changing minute by minute in every market we're in. Um, you've got, you know, the epicenter right now, or, you know, this week or today is in New York City. Um, but then you've got impacts in California and Michigan and Pennsylvania and, um, you know, other parts of the country. And, and I think it's gonna continue to ebb and flow.Drew Slocum: (06:20):Yeah, I saw Louisiana had a big, big spike yesterday. I've been, I've been tracking, uh, you know, I don't know if I should be tracking stats daily, but I, I am. And, um, I've had to keep on top of it for New York City safe cuz of the, the New York Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association trying to, trying to help out down there. But, you know, governor Cuomo's gotta quite the task he's up against. SoJohn Mackey: (06:43):He, he really does, I think most states do you know, again, there's, is there a rhyme or reason why, you know, uh, new Orleans has been hit so hard? I think some people are speculating that it has to deal with Mardi Gras, which just happened a month ago. Um, you know, so obviously I'm, it's gonna have some influence on it, um, in New York because the, the concentration of, uh, people, right? And in such a small, you know, relatively unquote small space. So, um, it's, um, it surely is a challenging time. Um, is this the right time to start a business? I don't know. Um, but on the positive side, I do think that there's plenty of opportunity out there. One, how do you help companies na nav navigate through the market right now? Uh, and then two, um, if you are an investor looking to, uh, to, you know, buy in this space, what does that look like? Because I do think that there are, uh, currently a number of good opportunities to, uh, to buy. And then secondly is that as we do come out of this, uh, there's gonna be even more opportunities, uh, to buy the right companies, uh, going forward.Drew Slocum: (07:47):Yeah, I've actually gotten a, a, a few calls on these random people in the industry saying, Hey, uh, you know, when we come out of this, if, if anybody's looking to get out, uh, I've been , I've been hedging, I've got some cash, you know, ready to go. So I think you're right there. Think there's going, you know, I don't think it's, it might, I think new construction is definitely gonna take a, a pretty big hit. Um, I, I talked to my brother-in-law today. He's been, he files a lot of the markets and the, uh, unemployment number that came out today was three point. It was crazy. 3.3 million or something. Um, more than doubled at what they projected. And, uh, a lot of that he said, was obviously the service industry, but some of it, um, a big chunk of it was, um, real estate, commercial real estate and warehousing. So if that's taken a hit, I don't know, that's, that's essentially new construction, right? IJohn Mackey: (08:45):Don't know it, yeah, again, I think it's, it's in pockets, right? Um, and, um, I think that, uh, yeah, the construction market is taking a hit right now. I, and you know, I think we're gonna get into it when we talk about what this means for fire protection contractors, but when you look on, um, the overall construction market is that, you know, essential work, um, in our, in our cities. Yep. And, um, most of the states have come back and said, that is not, and we're gonna, you know, ask that those job sites shut down. Um, so, which is impacting us as a, as an industry.Drew Slocum: (09:18):Oh, yeah. So yeah, Boston, uh, just read an article today, and it obviously could change, but Boston's gonna make it indefinite. It was supposed to. Maybe they put a two week stop to construction and we're one of the, one of the first cities, but they're gonna keep that going, which is, uh, you know, it's, I talked to a bunch of companies up there, their new construction stop, but their inspection and service has continued it. It's tough to get into some of the, the buildings they say, but, uh, I know N F P A, like you said before, and, and some of the other associations put out, um, actually put out some pretty good bulletins for the industry. And you've, if, if you're on social media, um, they're all over the place, but N FPA put out a good one, and they actually have a good landing page that I'll, I'll, I'll put it in the podcast notes for this when I post it. But, um, it's a good, if you're, if you're going into an inspection, going into the service, uh, it essentially says that fire protection's essential and, uh, tries to help out AHJs as well, uh, determine that too. So, yeah,John Mackey: (10:25):I think in, in today's climate, we need that clarity, uh, because, you know, you look at, uh, the information coming from fire chiefs and fire marshals, there was a posting today on LinkedIn, um, that reminded the readers to say, listen, you know, year to date there's 630 fires in the United States just in the last three months. Wow. Right On pace for 2,500. And that's just in the residential market.Drew Slocum: (10:49):Yep.John Mackey: (10:50):Right. So it highlights the need, uh, for us to continue to test and inspect and maintain these systems. Yep. Uh, residential or commercial, uh, cuz fires still occur. And so, uh, you know, I think that, you know, FSSA and n FBA and, and other associations, getting that information out is vitally important to one, help our industry navigate this, and then two, ultimately help our customers through it. Um, because the customers are dealing with a lot of different issues. You know, um, who's, who's in their facility, if it's still open, um, if it's not physically open, but they still have a facility engineer or, or maybe, you know, core employees in the building, you know, what needs to be maintained. Does that fire sprinkler system need to be inspected? Um, and the, the code says yes. Yep. Right. So, you know, let's, let's get in there and take care of it right now.Drew Slocum: (11:40):Um, yeah. Yeah. There's nobody in there. I, I, I might have mentioned this the other day on the other podcast, but there was a, uh, you know, we talked to somebody in Vegas the other day that does all the casinos fire alarm wise, or does a lot of them. And, um, you know, they're shut down for 30 days and he's like, my business is booming right now because they wanna get me in there. They don't like me doing tests anyway, so this is perfect time. Um, you know, so I think there are some, there's some pockets, like you said, that this, it will then fire protection will might even increase in some cases. SoJohn Mackey: (12:17):I agree. You know, I think that, uh, I, I talked to one contractor yesterday that says they're pro, they're operating at about 80% capacity right now. Um, all service, all their installation work has stopped, but, uh, their service work is keeping their, um, their organization busy. Not at a hundred percent obviously what you wanna be, but, right. Uh, I'll take it. I'll take 80% in this market right now.Drew Slocum: (12:39):Yeah, right. . Yeah. Right. That's pretty good.John Mackey: (12:44):But then there's, there's a caveat to that. They're also saying they're looking at it week to week. Sure. Right. Because that will continue to change mm-hmm. , um, in fact, to my earlier point that, you know, this, this issue continues to, you know, change minute to minute.Drew Slocum: (12:57):So you talked to, you talked to a lot of contractors, obviously, probably even more now, because you're, you're in a more of a consulting role, um, around the us. Are, are, is everybody doing remote work or are they, obviously you have techs in the field and construction that that continues, but are there operations and, and all that? Do they, are they still in the offices or are they remote working, or is it all over the place?John Mackey: (13:22):It depends. Um, I think first and foremost, the companies have made the commitments to software and technology over the last, um, three to five years Yep. Are able to work remotely. And, um, I think those that have done that, um, already had that skillset to be able to understand how do you schedule, how do you let your dispatcher work from, you know, outside the office and schedule technicians. Um, so the, the resources are in place, the business processes are understood. Um, I think that today they're learning more and more about it, but, um, those companies that made that investment, um, over the last three to five years are, are really able to take advantage of the ability to work remote. Yeah. And, um, it's, I think those companies are the ones that are gonna continue to, uh, to work through this. Right? Sure. What the CDC say, you know, your technician comes, you know, to a customer's place, you know, they have to have a mask, they have to have probably latex gloves, they have to maintain distance. Right. Um, you know, minimize any personal interaction, uh, and go do the work. Well with technology today, if the technician's working that inspection on his tablet, his or her tablet, then, you know, they're able to, um, send that, you know, that completely form to the customer electronically.Drew Slocum: (14:36):Right.John Mackey: (14:37):And, um, and, and everyone works or everyone's safe in that environment. Uh, so I think that, uh, um, most companies, if they have the ability to work remote, they're doing it. Um, if they can't and have to have fit people physically in the office, I've heard stories that, um, instead of putting a person in every cubicle that's a person…
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