Security Sales & Integration May 2022 - 59

EXECUTIVE DECISIONS
Big Idea by Ron Davis
When Selling Your
Company, Family
Comes First
IDEA OF
THE MONTH
When would you consider
selling your company?
" There is no
timetable to do
it, but when I'm
sure I have done
everything that I
can do to help grow
this machine that
has been so good to
all of our customers,
employees and
family, I will know
the answer, and I'll
be prepared to act
on it. "
- Mike Miller
▶ IT SEEMS LIKE DÉJÀ VU all over again. I remember
writing a column about this month's featured
individual, Mike Miller, 10 or 12 years ago.
And sure enough, I looked it up and in 2008 I
wrote a column on Mike's growing success in running
the Pasco, Wash., company that I described
as being as close to God's country as you can fi nd
anywhere out West. And that column had to do
with Mike's growing success as a business manager
in a small town. Now, 14 years later, I fi nd myself
writing about Mike again and also thinking
about mentioning the success that he has enjoyed
in the growth of his company.
During the elapsed time between the fi rst column
and now, Mike has come and gone as president
of ESA, and has become a familiar face of
the industry around the country. And as well as
I thought I knew him, I decided to delve into
his past and learn a little bit more. His company,
Moon Security, is now a rapidly growing, large
company that is among the leaders in the industry
- and Mike has become a go-to source of great
ideas for running a successful alarm company. In
fact, his great idea is to prepare your company as
though you were going to sell it tomorrow and
continue to run it with that thought in mind.
Moon Security operates three divisions - a
Ron Davis is an SSI
Industry Hall of Fame
inductee and President of
Davis Mergers and
Acquisitions Group Inc.
Also known as The Graybeards,
the company is
active in acquisitions and
mergers exclusively in the
alarm business.
securitysales.com
fi ve-star rated central station, branch offi ces
spread throughout the Northwest and a patrol
guard service. It's got 85 employees and Mike has
two sisters and a mother who own stock in the
company. By the way, it is also a chapter C Corp.,
which Mike bought when he assumed the CEO
role of the company. Th ere may be other family
members involved I don't know about.
It has a relatively low attrition rate of about 9%,
which is a good number for a company that size in
this industry. In 2012, Mike bought out his sisters
and mother, although they still have ownership interests
in the company. His mother, Ruth Ann, ran
the company for 32 years before Mike bought her
out. During that time, Mike was enjoying the benefi
ts of being the only son. He also learned about
the corporation and how you have to be as concerned
about raising capital, working capital, for
acquisitions and so on. He also learned how to read
fi nancial statements and work with the fi nancial
community to continuously raise capital.
Last year, Mike had a small stroke that changed
his outlook on life and forced him to refocus his
eff orts on running the fi nancial side of the business.
Today he is the man who has all the answers
for 85 employees, a seemingly infi nite amount
of relatives, various members of the fi nancial
community (i.e. bankers, fi nancial advisors and
accountants) in his hands, and does it very well.
And it's easy to say that Mike learned everything
he had to do to become a knowledgeable fi nancial
player in the industry.
In talking with him, it is clearly understandable
that Mike's thoughts are on the future and what
becomes of the company that both he and his
mother have successfully built. When I asked him
about possibly selling the company, he nodded
and said after a few moments of seemingly deep
thought, " Yes, I have given that some thought and
I'm still trying to work out all of the answers. I
know it's going to happen. I'm kind of looking
forward to it, but I will not be happy to leave the
business which both mom and I worked for day
and night to get where we are, right now. "
When I broached the question of when he might
consider off ers from outsiders to buy the company,
instead of answering immediately, for a few minutes
lost himself in thought. He then simply said,
" Th ere is no timetable to do it, but when I'm sure
I have done everything that I can do to help grow
this machine that has been so good to all of our
customers, employees and family, I will know the
answer, and I'll be prepared to act on it. "
In other words, Mike has positioned himself
for what might be a couple of years in preparing
the company for sale and making sure that his
family, other stockholders and customers are taken
care of in a way that will cause him not to look
back in future years.
MAY 2022 Security Sales & Integration 59
rdavis@graybeardsrus.com
http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration May 2022

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