We recently connected with Mohammed Ali and have shared our conversation below.

Mohammed, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a customer success story with us?

Acquiring a government contract servicing the city of Little Tokyo. The initial contact with the client (cold call) was made by me when I was 21 years old; I just turned 28. I did not start servicing the city until less than 2 years ago. I always periodically checked in, around 6 months apart for 6 years, with the head of the city counsel. She finally accepted my company after our 2nd meeting and as a result I now get to say I service a city being responsible for protecting 100+ businesses and government buildings as opposed to just an account. I specialize in armed cannabis security (dispensaries, grow operations, labs, distribution facilities, etc.; therefore, at this point in my business journey, I’ve received a service recommendation letter from the Head of Board Members of the city of Little Tokyo, which makes me proud to say as I earned it with persistence and consistency.

Mohammed, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I opened my security company, Strategic Security Services (SSS), a little over 5 years ago. I began working as a security guard for my brother and mother’s security company 10 years ago. I’ve been exposed to this industry since being a 5 year old, always in the office of my dad and mother’s security company at the time and talking to their guards and staff as child. Once I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from CSUN in 2018, I incorporated my business directly after. Due to the 5 years prior working with my mom and brother, I was able to acquire accounts and maintain them fairly easily when starting my own. I had experience managing 20-30 guards, while making sales calls in the office, supervising guards, and still working vehicle patrol. I now have 40 employees including security guards, office assistants and field supervisors.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I make sure that my clients become my friends. Initially, I believe having a strictly professional relationship is key; however there seems to always come a point in working with others where there is an opportunity to develop a friendship. This opportunity can benefit your business in many ways, as it did with me but people must be careful how close and what kind of things you’re willing to share as at the end of the day I provide services that I am paid for. Being selective on who you share social media with, introducing to your family, talking about non business related topics, etc. is extremely important while carrying on a close relationship with customers/clients of your business. Not all clients need to be as close to you as others, but keeping a handful of relationships with certain clients that feel like the relationship meaning more than just business can increase your probability of growing a company by the referrals and word of mouth sales that always comes as a result of these having these kind of relationships. I personally have gained a great amount of business and increased my company’s rate of growth quickly by befriending certain clients that know me much more than just a vendor for their establishment but as a friend that has a particular personal motivation to communicate with them in ways that are beyond standard contract agreements.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Being too nice. For my entire life up until reaching a personal threshold, I’ve been told that I’m a very nice person, however there is such a thing as being too nice. I never felt that being nice can actually result in negative things and counter-benefit you and actually create issues for oneself. I never wanted people to mistake my kindness for weakness, as the traumas I’ve been through in my life while being a business owner since the age of 22 has always made me feel much stronger than sometimes people perceive me. The trick is not to not be nice but to make it clear from the beginning of forming any relationship with anyone by voicing that you are not someone to be taken advantage of. After countless times of experiencing backlash resulting from people thinking they can hurt my business, I finally realized there must be a balance you need on you want to be portrayed even if instinctually that is a part of your personality as myself. Setting firm boundaries while maintaining a kind persona and possessing the element that shows you are not one to play any games is key as professionalism should be the core value of your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.strategicguards.com
• Instagram: @strategic.security
• Other: Corporate Office Line: 424.332.2678 Email for service inquiries: [email protected]

Image Credits
Nalani Sood