Listen without prejudice

By his own admission, Bill Muskin’s end of year reports from Roade Secondary Modern School would invariably read: “Great attention to detail, but could do better”. Detail and doing things the right way are edicts which remain with one of Northamptonshire’s finest sons, but at the moment it’s difficult to see where the 50-year-old managing director of Vision Security Group (VSG) “could do better”.

A quick glance at the facts tells its own story. From a standing start four years ago, VSG is now a hugely well respected, £42 million guarding business supported by a host of top quality clients – Exel, Abbey, Nestle and the Volkswagen Group among them. The company has scooped a hatful of industry accolades, not least the Best Customer Care Initiative Award at last year’s Security Excellence Awards. It’s also on the brink of relocating to a sparkling, purpose-built 15,000 square feet headquarters complete with dedicated 30-seater training rooms and a state-of-the-art, BS 5979-compliant remote monitoring station.

Not a bad return, then, for someone who professes never to have been an academic. The fact that he won the Science Prize at the end of his second scholastic year at Roade, though, suggests Muskin is nobody’s fool.

Muskin’s early career was influenced by both educational experiences and his father, who supported the clan – Muskin has three elder sisters and two brothers – in their Wootton abode by working for Y J Lovell’s as a site agent in the construction sector. Coupled with the fact that woodwork and metalwork were his favourite subjects at school, this pointed Muskin towards a four-year spell at Northampton Technical College (where he gained an HNC in 1974) followed by an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering.

How on earth did such a grounding steer this erudite professional towards a career in private security? Like many of his peers, by way of the police. “One day I was walking through Northampton town centre,” explains Muskin. “The Northamptonshire Constabulary had set up a mobile recruitment centre for the day, but what grabbed my eye was the police motorcycle sitting next to it. I love motorbikes.” A fact evidenced by the myriad pictures of Muskin speeding around Donington Park and Silverstone that adorn his office walls.

Muskin found himself chatting away to the police officer on recruitment duties, who suggested there might be a bigger world to explore beyond making tools for the rest of his life. He duly walked away from this impromptu ‘interview’ with an application form. “All of a sudden this young guy who’s a tool maker, rides motorbikes in his spare time and is obviously as mad as a hatter has resigned from a job he’s trained for and decided to become a police officer,” chortles Muskin in almost self-mocking tones. “My family couldn’t believe it.”

The making of the man

Looking back with obvious affection for the times, Muskin opines: “It’s the police service that really made me. ‘The job’ made me a much wiser and well-rounded individual, particularly in terms of being able to communicate with people. Most things we do in life revolve around common sense. My time in the police service certainly instilled that in me.”

Muskin spent his early days in the force based in Daventry, a small town just outside of Northampton, but the majority of what turned into a 16-year career with the Boys in Blue was enshrined in CID (including an eight-year assignment with the drug squad).

“That taught me a lot of great skills,” chips in Muskin. “As you can imagine, some of the cases we worked on were extremely complex, so your administrative abilities had to be watertight. Assimilating facts and data and putting reports together was another essential role.” A painstakingly-acquired ‘art’ that continues to serve him so well at VSG, in fact.

Muskin also participated in many training courses concerned with undercover work and covert surveillance, one of the best being a ten-week residential course in Liverpool run by a psychologist named Dr Eric Shepherd.

“The IRA was fully operational on the UK mainland at the time,” recalls Muskin, “so we were taught everything about the terrorist threat and how to deal with it. Non-verbal communication played a big part. How you can ‘read’ people without conversing with them. One of the biggest mistakes people make in life is that they talk too much and don’t listen. That’s why I’m a brilliant listener.”

When Muskin walked out of Campbell Square Police Station in 1990, having been forced to retire from the service after damaging a cruciate knee ligament twice while playing his beloved rugby, he made a solemn promise to himself that he’d never again be involved in police work – or indeed anything like it. “I’d reached the stage where I needed a fresh challenge,” explains this likeable, larger-than-life character – a trait he inherited from his father. “He was a man’s man, my dad. Someone who people wanted to be around. I like to think I’m like that.”

Approaching the milestone age of 40, Muskin had attained the “dizzy heights” of detective sergeant, but the offer of deskbound work and posts in the Training Department didn’t appeal once he’d been ‘sidelined’ following a police medical. What next, then?

Muskin’s brother-in-law Keith Barwell, an entrepreneur, was the brainchild behind the UK’s first free newspaper business. Having sold out to the Thompson Group, Barwell – who now owns Northampton Saints Rugby Club, the team Muskin follows with a passion – set up a family-owned and run business.

“The Barwell Corporation was a typical venture capitalist-type operation,” recites Muskin. “Keith wanted someone to be his right hand man.” Having talked the opportunity over with his childhood sweetheart wife Denise, Muskin boldly decided to take the plunge. His first tasks were to set up the company’s plush offices in Cheynewalk and quickly establish all of the necessary administration procedures. Before too long, Muskin was given a company car. Life was great. “I thought I’d really made it,” he enthuses. Until, that is, Barwell decided to add local private sector contractor Firm Security to his burgeoning commercial empire.

Shock to the system

“Absolute horror” is the phrase Muskin uses to describe that moment when Barwell broke the news that he’d be seconded to Firm, a £5 million turnover business operating out of a smallish unit on the Brackmills Industrial Estate. Muskin suddenly found himself sitting behind a formica desk in a dull industrial ‘box’, operating as the company’s contracts manager with responsibility for the B+Q account.

At the same time, Keith Barwell’s son Leon joined the business as sales and marketing director. Thankfully, Mick Owen (then Firm’s managing director) and operations director Roger Bonham had been in the police service together, and Muskin had worked with Owen, too, so all three protagonists knew each other well. Two constants in Muskin’s now seemingly ever-changing world.

“Mick said the security industry would come as a shock to me, and he wasn’t wrong,” recollects Muskin. “There were no real procedures and processes in place. I’ve always been a great believer in systems, structure and organisation.” As many Security Management Today readers will be well aware, these were the days when site instructions for a given contract were scribbled down in an A4 notebook. A totally alien concept for Muskin.

Barely six months out of the police service and it’s no surprise to learn that Muskin wanted to return. “I hated the security industry.”

Never one to shirk a challenge, Muskin steeled himself to tough it out. Of his own volition, he designed proper tender records for the company, incident report documentation and site visit paperwork to be used by Firm’s managers. Mick Owen loved Muskin’s proactivity, and soon copies of each would be rolled-out across the company’s portfolio.

Over the next seven years followed spells as operations manager and Human Resources director. The latter posting was crucial to Muskin’s career development. “I was deeply involved with training, recruitment and personnel,” suggests Muskin, before reverting once again to the third person. “You needed to learn employment law, and how to deal with industrial tribunals. That 18-month period was really enjoyable and taught me a great deal.”

Firm Security eventually moved to bigger offices in Wellingborough on the Dencora Business Park (where Chubb Security Personnel now reside, of course). According to Muskin, the new building made a statement. Keith Francis – now VSG’s operations director – came on board, having been the director of a car leasing company. Another sector where the margins are laughably low. “At the time I remember being really impressed by Keith’s logistical and sales skills,” adds Muskin. “We desperately needed someone with those attributes to progress the business.”

A management buy-out was on the cards but, within two weeks of Francis joining the ranks, Williams – part of Chubb plc – swept through Keith Barwell’s office doors and offered more money than the incumbent team could ever hope to muster. Muskin would have to think again about where his future lay.

Business under the spotlight

Barwell duly sold Firm to Chubb. It was 1998. At this point in our three-hour interview, one senses a raw nerve appearing through Muskin’s otherwise cool and reasoned exterior.

“All of a sudden we were under the spotlight from new owners. Initially, we were told that Firm would remain a separate entity and continue to be a national account business. Williams liked the way we managed those contracts,” states Muskin, proudly.

Gradually, though, the structures which Muskin held dear began to disintegrate. “Roger decided to leave and go sailing around the world, and then Mick contracted cancer and sadly passed away. That left me to watch as Chubb Wardens, KS Conquest and Firm were brought together under the banner of Chubb Security Personnel.”

Pretty soon, personal promises were broken. Firm’s old national contracts were split into branch networks. In Muskin’s eyes, an unworkable – not to say untenable – situation. At this point in our conversation his unease is tangible. “There was too much concentration on profit and margins to the detriment of service delivery,” he suggests. “There wasn’t a culture fit between myself and the new operation.” Enough was enough. Muskin left the company and was placed on six month’s gardening leave. Pretty apt, given that it was the summer of 1999. However, there was to be no lolling around in the sun. Far from it, in fact. “Some serious decisions had to be made about where I was going to go in life,” adds Muskin.

He didn’t really want to jump from one big contractor to another. Why couldn’t Firm’s past endeavours be replicated once more? “There had been a simple philosophy at Firm. Look after the people who work for you. They’ll then look after the customers, and maintain good relationships with them,” reasons Muskin. “That’s the secret of success in this industry. Officers are the most important part of the business.” A statement that’s so very true.

Time for some Vision

VSG wants clients to pay for the licences of our officers assigned to their sites. We’ll then pick up the tab for all the relief staff and the risk factor. In other words, staff turnover

Muskin decided to put tentative feelers out with regard to forming a new guarding venture. One essential ingredient would be someone with a business brain, and the ability to piece together an initial commercial plan. That someone was Des Lardeaux, the old finance director at Firm.

“Des could talk to the banks, and work out what capital we needed,” recalls Muskin. Keith Francis also decided to back Muskin’s vision of a Brave New World, much to his delight.

The company which Muskin founded was, of course, VSG. By Day One in March 2000, he’d already selected 17 head office staff but had no contracts – and just as many officers! Trading on past glories wasn’t an option. “I was under that six-month covenant from Chubb in any case,” adds Muskin, “and being the type of person I am I respected that to the letter.”

VSG has since grown from being the ‘new kid on the block’ to a current ranking of 11th in Infologue.com’s Top 20 players by turnover, and has built up a superb reputation in the process. Today, Muskin employs no less than 2,250 officers and 74 personnel based at the head office of this BSIA member organisation that received Investors in People accreditation within its first year of trading and, only recently, the National Security Inspectorate’s (NSI) highly-prized Gold Award.

What’s Muskin doing, then, that sets VSG apart from the crowd? Ever the team player, he immediately lavishes praise on the workforce.

“Our success is down to the quality and commitment of the staff, allied to the never-ending belief and drive for service excellence that’s realised through efficient management.”

Coming from someone else you might glibly dismiss such a statement as having been scripted by a polished PR consultant. The difference here is that Muskin’s word is matched by deed at every turn.

C2Q: the bedrock of service

There was almost an immediate recognition that the industry in general lacked any kind of customer service programme. In Muskin and Keith Francis’ eyes, this wasn’t – and never would be – acceptable. “This is a service industry,” interjects Muskin. “On that basis, we should demonstrate to both customers and staff that we’re delivering quality at all times.”

The subsequently award-winning Commitment To Quality (C2Q) initiative was born on 1 March last year out of the desire to make good on such a premise. “It has cost us a fortune so far, but the results it has yielded on the interaction between staff and clients have been great,” says Muskin. “C2Q is the best thing that’s ever happened to this business.”

C2Q is based on a set of agreed company and local standards. All site-based staff must adopted the former as part of their regular working practice, with performance measured on an ongoing and consistent basis. Company standards include automated log-on and completion of check calls, and forward rostering for a minimum period of three months in advance.

Local standards encompass employee presentation, knowing the customer, customer care and modular training.

Speak to many end users of security services and you discover that it’s not the ‘guys on the ground’ (ie the officers) that let them down, rather the lack of management of them by the service provider. “That’s why any one of our managers’ portfolios only extends to 15 contracts,” asserts Muskin with purpose. “This allows them to spend more quality time with individual clients. We make sure site visits last at least half a day, determining where the client wants to make enhancements to on-site security and then actioning those points within a mutually agreed timeframe.”

The clients are happy because security has been improved, while the officers are pleased and proud that they’ve been involved in that improvement. “Only yesterday I chatted to the security team at Mercedes Ilmor, and the feedback on C2Q was music to my ears,” adds Muskin. Money well spent, it seems.

Another side to the company

Muskin feels that the full force of the SIA’s work will not be felt for another five years or so. In line with the train of thought emanating from 50 Broadway, he’s a strong advocate of finding new and innovative ways of securing buildings.

What’s more, Muskin’s doing something about it. Having prepared a document on the impact of licensing two years ago (whereupon VSG estimated a total cost of £550 per licence, which wasn’t that far away from the truth), the company is now moving into remote monitoring. A business that Muskin is adamant will “work inside” the manned security strand.

The new systems-related business – run by business development manager Mike Tolley – represents a £500,000 investment. Muskin is aiming for NSI Gold Award accreditation to bring it into line with the guarding operation.

“This isn’t about us wanting to become the biggest contractor,” stresses Muskin, “but I do want to be recognised as the best in terms of quality and service delivery. That’s why I respect Reliance. They’ve grown organically. Anyone with the capital can go out and buy their competitors, but then how do you pull all the cultures together? It’s impossible, isn’t it?”

Muskin describes his management style as hands on. He feels that he brings honesty and openness to the business. Anyone who’s met the man will agree that he’s extremely personable and eminently likeable, and very obviously hard-working.

Muskin will surely need all of those traits and skills at his disposal in the coming months as the initial tentacles of regulation spread across the industry. When quizzed on the SIA’s progress to date, Muskin harks back to his own school report. “The SIA’s report should read: ‘Could do better. Must do better’. I’m fully in favour of the SIA and its objectives,” comments Muskin, “but an essential trick has been missed.” Interestingly, he feels strongly that the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) should have been devised and administered prior to officer licensing. “We ought to have started from the top and worked down. If a company cannot meet the basic criteria laid down by the ACS then it should be dead in the water.”

The seven-hour additional module on conflict resolution also rankles. “That’s going to do more damage to this industry than allowing us to administer conflict training in the right way,” says Muskin with total conviction. “Seven hours only gives an officer an awareness of conflict management.”

Muskin has always sent his officers on a two-day residential course delivered by Dr Tony Shepherd, a member of the Institute of Conflict Management. “That’s the Gold Standard”.

Muskin estimates that, over the next 12 months, licensing will cost VSG something in the region of £1 million – the lion’s share of the profits the company is scheduled to make this year, in fact. Not unreasonably, he’s asking clients to contribute something of that cost.

“VSG wants clients to pay for the licences of our officers assigned to their sites. We’ll then pick up the tab for all the relief staff and the risk factor. In other words, staff turnover. We’ve been very successful at working in partnership with our customers with regard to licensing. 90% of them have already signed up to our proposal.” Mightily refreshing to hear.

Having proudly shown me the interior of VSG’s new hq, Muskin realises time has caught up with us. Before we part company he unravels another memory that helps frame the man.

One of his greatest thrills came in 2003 when he met Her Majesty The Queen at a Buckingham Palace ‘Pioneers of the Nation’ ceremony to honour his own and VSG’s services to the business community, and other companies like them. “It was surreal,” recalls Muskin. “This village boy from Wootton going to see The Queen, and rubbing shoulders with famous sports stars, scientists and inventors.”

What did Her Majesty say, one wonders? “Oh, it wasn’t a long conversation,” replies Muskin with typical modesty. “If memory serves me well I seem to recall she wasn’t totally excited about the security industry.”

A humbling experience, then? “Yes. One that I’ll probably never repeat.”

Don’t bet on it, Bill. The smart money suggests the VSG story is just beginning.