Total Security Solutions has installed custom bulletproof barrier systems throughout North America for decades. Today they are among the fastest-growing private companies in the United States–and they didn’t get there by loading up a truck with bullet-resistant glass and driving from town to town. One of the keys to TSS’s success has been partnering with local glaziers and glass houses across the country. In these mutually beneficial arrangements, the glazier continues to work directly with their customer and passes measurements and specifications to Total Security Solutions. TSS then uses this information to engineer and fabricate a unique bullet-resistant barrier system for that specific facility, which they ship as a ready-to-install “kit”–including instructions and direct installation support (if needed).
Partnering with Glaziers is Key
As Total Security Solutions CEO Jim Richards explains, “Partnering with local glaziers is definitely core business for us. Glaziers are the guys with the feet on the street: They see the stuff that we never see, and are there with the customer as that local point of contact.”
Most importantly, partnering with local glasshouses maintains strong local business connections. “A contractor has a relationship with the glazier he uses; if the contractor is bidding a job that calls for bulletproof glass, he wants to use the glazier he knows. There’s no way that we want to get into the middle of that relationship.”
Secondly, partnering with regional glass houses gives Total Security Solutions special insights into a job. This isn’t limited to the glazier’s familiarity with the contractor and client. It includes a deep understanding of local tastes, building trends, and regional security concerns. These insights add depth to the Total Security Solutions design process. The result is a better ballistic system, smoother installation, and happier customers.
Finally, successful local glaziers grow their business and increase demand for TSS’s products and services. “When that first job goes well and they see how successful they can be at this–and that they have a good supplier they can count on–they go and look for more of it.”
Partnering with TSS: A Two-Way Street
But these partnerships don’t just serve TSS’s interests. First and foremost, the local glazier ends up looking really good. If a given contractor or client previously thought of you as “just some window guy,” that opinion is upgraded by several notches when they see their new ballistic system installed. Total Security Solutions can also help glaziers comply with building-code specifications, regulations, and industry standards. For example, the Veteran’s Administration has very specific expectations for how bullet-resistant glass is both permanently etched during fabrication and temporarily labeled prior to installation. Total Security Solutions can handle all of this prior to shipping the system.
Total Security Solutions brings three decades of experience, along with significant capital investments, to each system they engineer and fabricate. Any local glazier can cut and hang a few sheets of ballistic acrylic. Glaziers working with Total Security Solutions know they are installing an integrated system tested to UL standards, not just an assortment of components. Total Security Solutions’ designers think of everything, from proper framing and back-stopped seams to natural voice transmission and smooth package-passing systems. A Total Security Solutions barrier is a complete system independently tested to UL levels 1-8 requirements that stops bullets without slowing down business.
Finally, Total Security Solutions brings new work to glasshouses: When they know they have a reliable partner near a prospective client, they like to be able to bring in that local glazier to work with the client and handle the installation. “Nothing beats having feet on the street and authentic local relationships.”
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