CE Pro September 2022 - 40

CE PROFILE
Pair Electronics
PUTTING FAITH
IN PEER GROUP
NETWORKING
In addition to receiving lots of
lessons from fellow integrators
over the years through
attendance at CEDIA Expo,
buying group events and other
conferences, Pair last year
joined C12, a Christian-based
executive networking and
best practices sharing group.
It's a national group, with
local chapters split into 12
members who give presentations
on their businesses, decision
making, financial practices,
company culture and more.
At least once a year, Pair says,
executives give presentations
that include sharing key metrics
and financial information.
Pair notes that the group
can be both intimidating and
humbling, as he rubs shoulders
with some entrepreneurs and
franchise owners who run
mega-million-dollar businesses.
But he appreciates the honest
feedback shared in a forum
setting as 11 other people scrutinize
your plans and processes.
" We'll give them financials,
show what we did, how we did
it, what our profit margins are,
what are our highs, what are
our lows, " Pair says. When he
prepped for his presentation,
he discovered something needed
to be fixed in accounting.
" One of the big things I can
recommend to everybody else
in this industry is to check and
keep good financials, and make
sure all of your needs are being
met, " he says. " I heard what
others said in the meeting, and
decided I needed to make a
change. "
processes, they like it done a certain way. It's
worked out great, it's been lively. "
Lanier says the personality profiling has
enabled better communications among the
staff as they began embracing new operational
directives and providing him and Pair with
more input toward company goals.
" In order to grow the people, you've got to
know the people, so I needed to know them
from that perspective and tell them how to
communicate with Jason's style, " Lanier says.
" I had to learn Jason's style vs. a bunch of C
'detailed' people and he was a 'high' D ... but
the D can't deal without the C, so I had to
bring them together and keep them on the
same page. It was just building the team, the
culture is what I was tasked to do. "
Meetings Carry More Meaning
Pair Electronics also instituted leadership
training for technicians and other staff, and
Lanier worked with individual team members
to survey for feedback while building processes.
Every quarter he would go back with
an evaluation sheet and checklists to take
their ratings assessments on how particular
areas were progressing ... and surely enough,
numbers would be higher he found the next
time he came around.
40 | CE Pro September 2022
One of the roles Jason Pair has relinquished
is managing inventory in the company's
warehouse, where projects, racks and
trucks are prepped.
" The efficiency is showing, " he says. " One
of the things we've found is everyone has to
follow the process. Whoever doesn't follow
it is your weakest link. I'm looking for bottlenecks,
single points of failure, what would
cause Jason financial loss or hurt, liabilities;
or what's going to save us $50,000 if we
budget our accounts receivable better? "
Quips Pair, " They said I was the bottleneck.
I was doing it one way and wasn't looking
at other ways. The new people I've been
hiring, they look at it differently - they're
more tech oriented, they want to see the
blueprint instead of me, how I'd go to every
job and walk it one time as an introduction.
Now they're telling me they want me to be
there to greet (the customer) and say, 'Thank
you for using us.' "
He adds that relinquishing control of duties
that he's held for 20+ years has not been easy
in all cases, but it's been necessary. He says,
" I haven't looked back " after adding David
Pearson as warehouse manager, despite doing
the ordering for all those years ( " I always
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CE Pro September 2022

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