When you began your career did you ever imagine you would have a leadership role like you have now? What advice would you give your younger self?
I absolutely did not! My husband had a dream of owning his own service business and he brought me on to run the office, which I was happy to do. The business grew rapidly, beyond our wildest dreams. While my background was accounting, when our daughter Jennifer, came on board in 2008, the accounting work went to her, and I moved into a customer service/sales/marketing role because the business needed it. After 19 successful years in business, in January 2023, my husband passed away suddenly. The business has continued under the direction of my daughter, Jennifer Warren, my son-in-law ,Rob Warren, and I as we continue the legacy my late husband began. As far as advice to my younger self, I would say, always be open to opportunities to learn new things - you never know where they may lead. Keep up with changes in technology and current business practices. Read, network, sign up for webinars. If you try something and it doesn’t work out, that’s ok, maybe you learned what NOT to do and that’s valuable too.
Who inspires you and why? What is your most valued attribute in the leaders you respect or mentors you have had?
I’m inspired by the small business community. Because of technology, small business can successfully compete with big corporations. Years ago, this wasn’t possible! Today’s small businesses can provide the personal service that many customers come to rely on and prefer. So, if you lead a small business, take excellent care of your customers - if you don’t, someone else will! Build a strong team and make sure everyone on that team is 100% customer focused.
What did it take in order to trust yourself to step into leadership?
Even as a child, I wanted to lead -- it was something that always appealed to me and I had great parents, teachers and role models that encouraged me. In the various jobs I held, I was often promoted to greater responsibilities. I didn’t always have the answers, but I always worked hard and success followed. Every experience became a stepping stone that led to making All Pro Technical Service the successful business that it is
Have you experienced any hardships and how did you overcome the obstacles? When did you know, the business was going to make it?
We were very concerned about the well-being of our small business when Covid hit in 2020. Would we have to shut down for a while? Lay off employees? Then we learned that we were considered an “essential business” meaning that with a few restrictions, our work would continue.
Food companies, which is a large sector of our customers, were ramping up production to meet increased demand; entrepreneurs started businesses producing things like hand sanitizer; these companies needed us and our marking/coding equipment for their production lines. Our service work continued, as we entered customer plants wearing a mask, having our temperature checked, etc. Overnight travel often meant picking up food at a restaurant that was only open for takeout and sitting on your hotel bed to eat it. Supply and demand challenges worldwide were also a hardship, but we persevered and helped our customers weather the storm.
I knew our business was going to make it shortly after we began it in 2004. My husband was well known in the industry, and he had a strong belief in treating the customer well by pricing products and services fairly, prompt, professional technical service and staying in touch with the customer, whether they needed us at the moment or not, because they would need us eventually and he was right. Then, field service technicians who had worked under him with his previous employer heard about the new company and reached out to ask, “Can I work for you”? While that rapid expansion was not in our plans, we said yes and seemingly overnight All Pro Technical Service was serving customers from coast to coast.
What do you attribute your success to? Secret to your success…
Our success is in the hands of our fantastic team every single day! Whether it’s the phone call handled by our friendly and helpful office staff, the technical support from our technicians onsite at the customer’s plant, the guidance we provide in helping our customer match the right marking/coding equipment to their application/production needs, we always strive to give our best in everything that we do. We don’t think of ourselves as a sales company -- our role is to guide, educate and support our customers by helping them solve their production line issues, reduce their downtime, lower their maintenance costs. For us, that has made all the difference! Help people with their problems and they look to us as their partners, not someone trying to sell them something.
What advice would you give other local women leaders?
Network! I enjoyed the plant tours sponsored by Made in Missouri where I met other business owners. If you have an issue or are struggling with a challenging situation, some others have probably faced it too -- so meet up with others in your industry and with people in your local area - getting a fresh perspective on a problem is often very helpful.
Join the GRIT Community:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8987243/
Jennifer Bardot (left) (ownyourgrit@gmail.com, or 314-630-1451) is CEO and Founder of G.R.I.T. Community For Women.
Marianne Biangardi (right)(mbiangardi@uhy-us.com or 314-322-4871) is Sr. Associate, Marketing and Business Development, at UHY LLP.