Jeremy Metzger, Part 2: Hard Work Pays Off

INTRODUCTION:

Jeremy Metzger is the CEO of Axxiom Elevator. Jeremy graduated from Penn State and joined the elevator industry with Kone as a Sales Rep, with his first assignment in Tampa FL. After Kone, Jeremy spent over 15 years at Otis in multiple management roles and following Otis, Jeremy spent two years as COO of Oracle Elevator. In 2023, Jeremy became one of the founders and CEO of Axxiom Elevator. Jeremy is excited about the future and is looking forward to partnering with independent owners who are seeking the support of a partner to help them take their businesses to the next level.”

SUMMARY:
Building and selling elevator companies with CEO Jeremy Metzger.
Jeremy Metzger discusses building and selling elevator companies, with a focus on commitment and financial reward.

Starting a new elevator company with private equity investment.
Matthew Allred and Jeremy Metzger discuss their experiences in the elevator industry.
Jeremy Metzger and Matthew Allred acquired 5 elevator companies in 9 months, fully acquiring 2 in Florida and 2 in Arizona.
Metzger and Allred seek founder-backed companies to partner with, keeping founders involved in the business for long-term success.

Prioritizing customer needs and expectations in elevator maintenance services.
Jeremy Metzger and Matthew Allred discuss the value of Axiom’s customer-centric approach to industrial maintenance services.
Axiom prioritizes monthly visits and personalized service to meet customers’ needs, differentiating it from competitors.
Jeremy Metzger and Matthew Allred discuss the importance of clear communication and setting expectations with customers.
They emphasize the need to be upfront about what customers can expect from their elevator service, and to address any gaps in communication that may lead to misunderstandings.

Challenges and strategies for integrating multiple elevator companies.
Key challenge in acquiring and merging companies: ensuring knowledge sharing and integration.
Jeremy Metzger discusses efforts to streamline processes and support growth for acquired companies.
Metzger highlights the importance of back-office support to free up time for owners to focus on core business tasks.

Building and growing a successful private equity firm.
Matthew Allred and Jeremy Metzger discuss running a business, building relationships, and helping other business owners achieve their goals.
They appreciate the flexibility and autonomy of their roles, as well as the opportunity to work with long-time colleagues and build a successful business.
Jeremy Metzger: Vision for Axiom is to build a company he’s proud of, doing things the right way.
Metzger hopes to stay on and continue growing the business with multiple private equity firms.

Entrepreneurship, industry advocacy, and safety in the elevator industry.
Matthew Allred and Jeremy Metzger discuss the challenges and rewards of buying and selling businesses.
Metzger advises listeners to be prepared for hard work and financial risk, but also highlights potential rewards.
Jeremy Metzger shares insights on staying safe and being prepared in the elevator industry.
He emphasizes the importance of being an advocate for the industry and protecting its values.

TRANSCRIPT:
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Jeremy Metzger 0:00
It’s definitely hard. There’s no doubt about that, I think, you know, be ready to work, you know, harder than you ever have before and be prepared for that level of commitment that comes with it. I think, you know, when I look at these, these individuals that we’re talking to about purchasing their companies that the, the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into building their businesses is just so admirable to me to be able to see knowing what they put into this to get themselves to where they are. And it’s also very gratifying to be part of that, that moment where it pays off for them, you know, and they see the financial benefit of actually, what they built turns into something else than just, hey, this is my job for the last X number of years.

Matthew Allred 0:47
Hello, and welcome to the elevator careers podcast sponsored by the Allred group. I am your host, Matt Allred. In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers. Today, our guest is Jeremy Metzger, CEO of Axiom elevator, Jeremy graduated from Penn State and join the elevator industry with Kone as a sales rep with his first assignment in Tampa, Florida. After Kone Jeremy spent over 15 years at Otis in multiple management roles. And following Otis, Jeremy spent two years as COO of Oracle elevator. In 2023, Jeremy became one of the founding partners of Axiom elevator. Jeremy is excited about the future and is looking forward to partnering with independent owners who are seeking the support of a partner to help them take their businesses to the next level. This is part two. So for the for the second half of the interview, let’s talk a little bit about your business. And axiom elevator you’re CEO, right? What was it that that kind of sent you on that path? To say, hey, I want to I want to create something new.

Jeremy Metzger 2:05
Yeah, so I think it really came down to I’ve done a did the kind of OEM for 20 plus years with both Kone and Otis love my time there had a great experience with both some of the best people I’ve ever gotten to meet or people I’ve got to work with the both those companies. So you know, saw that aspect of, of elevator companies had the opportunity be Chief Operating Officer at at at the time was called Oracle elevator. They now since changed their name, I think the elevated services and saw the independent side of the business for a couple of years really got my hands dirty, getting involved in a day to day of that business and running a multi branch independent company, some similarities, for sure, to the OEMs, but also some other changes some other things that were a little bit different. And so all positive learning experiences for me, they were a non union company. So it gave me an opportunity to work with both the union and non union side of the trade. So a lot of again, got a good learning. And so ultimately, that I sat down and said, You know, I like the they were, they were also privately a public private equity owned business. So, you know, I got some experience there and got to understand what that was about. So sat down with one of your recent interviewees Ed Stachowiak who the individual that I had the pleasure of working with for quite a few years, at Otis and a number of different roles. And I said, you know, let’s, let’s figure out what what this looks like, you know, I think we can do this, I think we could do this as as well or better than maybe some others out there. We know a lot of the goods and we know some of the Bads that are different we’ve seen over the years with different companies and how can we take our ideas and our ways to a different level and, and build something that we’re proud of and build a very strong platform for our customers and make sure that we keep that as our emphasis so So really kind of put together a plan again, with my time working in private equity, I had an opportunity to meet quite a few different private equity groups over the years and really just kind of did a reach out campaign to say here’s what we’re looking to do. And we’d love to talk to you about it. If you have any interest. We’d love to talk to you. We were very pleasantly surprised with the with the amount of interest. I think elevator industry. Yeah, the the industry itself, I think it’s very desirable for a lot of private equity groups. It’s, you know, reoccurring revenue of maintenance. It’s a pretty protected business, as I just said, with with the economy going up and down. You still have a lot of regulations that require work to be done and some type of elevator work to always be taking place. And so I had a number of meetings With with quite a few different groups and ultimately settled on working with, with a company called Gauge Capital out of Dallas, Texas, and great group of people really loved that their vision for the company and what we wanted to do, they’ve totally agreed with our direction and what we were looking to do, and really had had kind of the right setup for us and to help us grow the business and and be partners with us on how we were going to do that. So we were very lucky to find them and be able to work with them. And again, it’s been a it’s been about a year, that’s hard to believe it’s been about a year since we’ve started. But it’s been a great start.

Matthew Allred 5:43
yeah. And you’ve acquired, what is it five companies at this point five.

Jeremy Metzger 5:48
So we’ve we’ve fully acquired for at this point, we are two in Florida and two in Arizona. So we kind of got coastal coastal operations right now. But have every expectation to kind of continue at that same, that same pace, you know, we did that in about nine months, where we had those those acquisitions and, you know, a lot of it comes to the market, what what companies are out there and interested in looking for a partner, we’re not looking to, we thought we it’s definitely a partnership for us, like we want founder backed companies, and we want companies that we’d love for the founders to stick around and continue to work with us. Because we feel that we found that that’s one of the best advantages of doing this is to keep their expertise and knowledge involved. And so, so we asked them to stay on and partner again with us, you know, they can they’re allowed to invest in the platform and be part of the overall larger business that we’re building. And, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of now where we say, Where are the right places for us to be? What are the right locations that we want to be in? And, you know, what, what type of companies are out there, that are looking for support and help and the things that we can come to offer them to help them grow their business as well?

Matthew Allred 7:04
Yeah, so a minute ago, you talked about kind of bringing, you know, what we know, bringing our, you know, the things we’ve learned to, you know, to this, the industry as it were as a as a new player, I’m curious, what what do you see as kind of the value you’re creating with axiom that, that maybe what’s the niche, that spot where maybe, maybe it’s not being served, or maybe not in the way that you and Ed see as, as needs to be?

Jeremy Metzger 7:32
Well, I think, the customer side of this business, and I’ve talked a lot about that already, but we think at some point, we’ve lost a little bit of focus, the industry lost a little bit of focus on on what we’re here to do, and what we’re about. And, you know, not going to point any fingers at any other companies out there. But I think in general, you know, we’ve seen a lot of companies go to, you know, less maintenance visits, maybe trying to use technology to help with the service related business and, you know, help them help help the customer maybe with less shutdowns as part of their desire and be able to diagnose issues before they become big problems. And again, in those situations where they’re able to do that, that’s terrific. But it also in some cases, has come at a lack of attention to the customer and a lack of maybe hands on visits to the equipment and to the customer themselves. So, you know, one thing that we’re we’re very adamant about is, you know, to give our customers the level of service that they anticipate. So, you know, we let customers decide, do you want monthly visits? Do you want quarterly visits? How do you want your business structured? How would you like it? And, you know, we, surprisingly, not very surprisingly, but they like monthly visits, they like people to show up, they’d like to see their technician. And so a lot of our business is structured around that so that the customer gets what they want. And we’re not dictating to them what what we feel is best for them, they can choose that, and trying to do the things that we talked about earlier, the phone call backs, and that very close budget, and you know, our, our sales structure is set up so that we have people full time dedicated to calling people and making sure that they know they know that somebody is there to discuss their things while we also have others who are dedicated to business development and actually being out to count executives who could actually be out talking to customers about the products and really trying to develop a program so that we don’t lose sight of our customers needs. And again, I think a little bit of this is is is what others would say too. So it’s really about implementation and process and making sure that you execute what you say. It’s all about the execution.

Matthew Allred 9:51
I like I like the thought of the letting the customer choose. Do they want you there every month every other month, every six months every year because because I think some of the rub that I hear and I’m not, you know, working in the field. So I, all I do is hear, I talked to a lot of people that, you know, if a customer is expecting every month, but you know, we’re only going to go there once or twice a year. That’s that’s a huge miss on expectations. But if somebody can sign up for and, you know, maybe they maybe they pay extra because they want more frequent touches, but but just being upfront about okay, here’s what we said we’re going to do. And here’s, here’s what we’re gonna you know, here’s the agreement, and just doing it. So there’s no, yeah, just the the confusion about well, they said regular, systematic, but I don’t see any, I don’t see them.

Jeremy Metzger 10:40
Yeah and what is systematic? Right, I think ultimately, you know, is it every month, is it every other month, is it two times a year, I think that’s the challenge is that, in some cases, I think certain elevators have been determined that they don’t need service very much. And they only need someone to come a couple times a year, which very well may be true with the newest equipment, computer based software, and it, it runs pretty well. And they don’t necessarily need a lot of hands on. But if the customer expects you to be there every month, and you’re not showing up, that’s that’s a big problem. And so having those upfront conversations being very open, and and I think, you know, being their elevator expert, which we discussed, but you know, I tell tell people, I tell my reps go out there and say, Look, if they’ve got a brand new elevator, let’s not charge them x per month, let’s tell them, Hey, you don’t need me here, every month, a quarter is fine. And you should not have to pay the same amount for that. So let’s let’s figure out how that works. And so we try to do all those different things to make sure the customer understands that they’re what they’re getting and upfront company that’s going to put their needs first. And and you know, it’s not necessarily differentiator in the sense of everybody probably says they do that everyone probably tries to do that. I think like I said, it’s about executing and actually having new customers understand that.

Matthew Allred 11:58
Right. Well, like, like you said earlier about calling people back, right, if they know they’re cared about, if they know that they’re, they’re important enough, that that you’re gonna, you know, take the time to explain things, and they’re not. I think one of the big misses I see is just that gap in communication. If I’m assuming x and you’re assuming y and there’s this gap between the two, I’m making up all kinds of stories in my head, about why you’re not showing up. And it’s not, not that I think I’m being cared about. It’s it’s quite the opposite. Usually. What are some of the biggest challenges of of kind of starting from zero? I mean, obviously, you bought existing branches, companies, but but really the overall corporate structure, you had to you had to create.

Jeremy Metzger 12:47
Right, we did. I mean, you’re starting out with a great group, you know, starting out with Ed Stachowiak as my COO, and Rick Morris as a CFO, all both people who have great, great background and in the elevator industry. You know, we now have Brad Simmons who came on just a little bit later as our chief people officer. And then we’ve been very, very lucky to be able to add Doug Huebner as our West Coast vice president who has 25-26 plus years in the industry. And Mike Graham mundanes, as our East Coast vice president, who again, has hold has held many, many high level positions within Schindler and Otis and worked with me at Kone as well. So. So we’ve had, you know, we’ve got a great kind of management team in place right now. But able to surround ourselves with really good people to be successful, lots of experience. And then when you build I think, when you’re looking at this, this lots of acquisitions and really combining this business together, you know, we wanted to really make sure that we were able to utilize this, this knowledge that we were that we were ultimately paying for but I felt like too often when you when you purchased a company, and then acquired and tried to merge them into the business, they still say stayed very secluded. So we’ve been doing things to really try to bring the branches together so that they can work with each other introducing them with each other, making sure that we know kind of the key people in each office who who’s very good at what type of equipment to be able to troubleshoot we’ve added some technical support resources at the national level so that so that if our if our supervisors or technicians in the field have questions they have people to call that are, you know, very, very knowledgeable and a number of different types of equipment so that so they have another layer of support. So all those I think things are tied to battling the change management issues you always have anytime you would bring a new way or an idea to a new company, right. So most of the companies that that all the companies that were acquiring were the other privately held companies who have been running the business for X number of years and have done it a certain way. And in many cases, we’re not trying to change those, those ways, but we’re trying to put together processes and plans in place to help them grow, and to help them manage it maybe a little bit differently, and hopefully a little bit better than they had before. And that, you know, they can be more successful. And in some of our operations, we’ve quadrupled the number of teams doing modernization work, and we’ve grown the maintenance base been able to help grow the maintenance base significantly. And we’re putting the systems in place the backhaul systems, because a lot of the independent companies out there, you know, some are using some form of an ERP to do maybe electronic time and do that type of thing. You know, we’re we’re trying to bring in a system that can help them do all those types of things that help them on the finance side and take off, the burden of anybody who owned their own business knows that, hey, the financial stuff kills me, the HR stuff kills me like, this is the stuff I really don’t like to do, but I know I have to do to run my own business. Well, if you can come partner with us, our Let us help support that with your back our back of house business that we have. And now let’s let you guys go out and do what you really should be doing is, you know, talking to customers selling some, some should be fixing elevators, some should be selling elevators, you know, and this is what a lot of the the owners really want to do is put me back into what I really like to do, and take off all the business stuff that I don’t necessarily want to have to be sitting in an office all day. And that’s what we try to bring to the table, give them that opportunity.

Matthew Allred 16:45
Yeah, thank you. And that’s, um, that is something that I hear from, from business owners that, you know, you, especially if you’re if you’re pretty hands on, you’re, you’re out in the field, you’re, you’re helping you’re doing, you’re coaching you’re selling, and then yeah, you got eight more hours of work up to midnight or whatever, just to get your billing and your collections and renew your insurance or, you know, what are all those things that are that need to get done? What, what do you love most about kind of running, running your own firm, you know, being in charge?

Jeremy Metzger 17:15
Yeah, you know, I would say, you know, this, this first year has been obviously extremely hectic, and lots of different things, lots of balls in the air at every given time. Again, the support I have with my team is amazing. And so that is what really keeps us going I think us building the relationships we’ve built over our careers has led to a camaraderie we have within within the business that is unique for any startup company. So it’s not while we’re a quote unquote, startup with a year under our belt, we’ve got people here that I’ve worked with for 20 plus years, and, and so we kind of know how each other thinks, and that helps out quite a bit. I love the aspect of getting out and talking to other business owners, successful business owners who, you know, are looking for that next phase of their of their career and their life, you know, having some type of equity event to help them and maybe secure their, their families and their business and where they’re at in life for however many years ahead, if not generations ahead, in some cases, and then still being able to participate and helping us grow our business and putting it to the next to the next level. I think that’s been that’s been really an amazing part of this role. And so, you know, day to day, you know, I can do things that I did in year one of my career, or I’m doing things that I’ve never done before, because, you know, I always had somebody at Otis who did that for me, or, you know, somebody else who did those things for you. And now running your own business, it’s much more like, we’re going to do it all we’re, we’re touching on everything. So, you know, a lot of times people look at a newer business and say, Well, yeah, that’s so much smaller than what than what I’m used to. And that’s very true when it comes to the big the big four and the business they run, but I can promise you, you know, I you’re going to do things at a smaller business that you’ve never done before, because you didn’t have to. And you’re going to learn so much more through that process. That that it really is a great kind of career development role to be able to do those types of things. And so I got to see that a lot at that at Oracle when I was the CFO and certainly seeing even more of that now here and coming up with the different different ways and different things that we can do.

Matthew Allred 19:46
Yeah, absolutely. What would you say is your vision for axiom What is it you’re you’re most hoping to accomplish? And you know, 5/10/ 20 whatever years?

Jeremy Metzger 19:55
Yeah, well, it’s funny because I think you know, people think private equity well Let’s, you know, a couple years and they just want to flip the company and sell well, that certainly has some aspects of truth when it comes to anytime you’re building through private equity, I think the private equity firms have a timeframe and have a plan in place that they want to build a business and they want to build a strong business and a business that is profitable and and obviously gains value, I think that’s, that’s what we do. Now I, I kind of came into this with a different mentality, I want to build a company that I’m proud of that we’re doing it the right way, we’re bringing maybe a fresh approach back to the elevator industry of how to do things. And while there’s no promises, as you go forward with, with how things are going to turn out, you know, I have every thought that, you know, when it’s time for Gage, to say, hey, we’re ready to move on, you know, we can find another partner to continue to do this with and continue to grow, I would love to be able to stay on and continue to be part of this business, not just with Gage, but with at least one and maybe two other private equity firms or whomever decides to come in at some point and have interest in being partners with us and growing the business. So. So it’s a longer term play for me, I know, again, with with most of the people on my management staff, they don’t have any intentions of going anywhere. And, you know, the next couple years, and so we have every hope to continue to grow this. And so as we do partner up with, with other with other companies, you know, we tell them flat out like, Hey, we’re, we’re not going anywhere, at least we don’t want to go anywhere. That’s not our plan. And we hope you’re the same, you know, we hope you want to stick with us as well.

Matthew Allred 21:42
Yeah. What would you say to somebody who’s and I talked to a lot of lot of people who, you know, they have dreams, aspirations of, hey, I want to want to build my own at some point. And I also talk to others who are like, wow, this is hard. Right? If I didn’t know, maybe I wouldn’t have done this what what advice would you give to others who were thinking about starting their own company?

Jeremy Metzger 22:04
Well, it’s definitely hard, there’s no doubt about that, I think, you know, be ready to work, you know, harder than you ever have before. And be prepared for that level of commitment that comes with it, I think, you know, when I look at these, these individuals that we’re talking to about purchasing their companies that the the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into building their businesses is just so admirable to me to be able to see knowing what they put into this to get themselves to where they are. And it’s also very gratifying to be part of that, that moment where it pays off for them, you know, and they see the financial benefit of, of actually, what they built turns into something else than just, hey, this is my job for the last X number of years. So it’s really been, it’s really been a great process. So I think anybody looking at, hey, this might be something I want to do in the future. You know, I think you keep in mind that with that hard work with that time with that dedication, you know, does there is there is a light at the end of the tunnel, although it may be 10/15/ 20 years, it could be much sooner if that’s what your plan is, and what you want to do. You know, we’ve talked a lot of smaller companies, I’ve been doing it for three or four years, and are just saying, hey, you know, it’s still rather like a partner right now. So. So there are there are those opportunities for those individuals, when they when they’re ready to do those things. But, you know, I, I think back to when I was, you know, just starting out in the career and maybe five or 10 years experience, you know, what, I have done something like this back then. And, you know, if I had the financial backing and the sport of doing that, I mean, I kicked myself for not doing it. At the same time, it’s a lot of risk. And, you know, with risk comes reward. And I think you’ve got to be that type of individual who, if you’re, if you’re able to assign that in your head, or you’re in a place of life, that that’s that’s comfortable for you then, you know, I wish you all the luck, I think it’s a great opportunity for anybody to do it. But just be ready to kind of be ready for anything and and just know there’s probably a there’s probably somewhere to land in this industry, no matter what happens. And I think that’s one of the positive things is Matt I’m sure you can help a few people find another role somewhere down the road if they if they need one. But but you know, it is it is always there to kind of have a backstop for you.

Matthew Allred 24:34
Yeah. Thank you. So we’re about a time I guess the last question I just want to ask is, you know, what, maybe words of wisdom or what would you share with just kind of the, you know, other business owners or maybe the even the stakeholders in the industry overall. That maybe you feel it’s something you feel passionate about?

Jeremy Metzger 24:58
Well, you know, we talked a lot about safety today. I mean, I think there’s, there’s one of those things that we always will want to make the forefront of anything we discuss is staying safe and being, you know, being prepared for what’s out there. So we always need to need to be part of that. I think the the industry that we have here is special, it’s it really allows a lot of people to have a very, very solid, terrific life, work very hard and have great rewards at the end, meet terrific people, be part of some of these associations that are out there so that you can get out and meet more people because you know, that there’s nothing better than going to an NAC meeting or and getting to see people you haven’t seen for 15-20 years. And again, it’s just amazing how you bump into these people over and over again over the years. So definitely partake in those types of situations as they pop up. And, and yeah, just be a steward to our business. Because I think ultimately, you know, we all represent this industry, we want to make sure that we do it well and we promote it to others and we protect it, make sure that we’re you know, we’re not allowing different things to come in and change who we are what we are as a business. So, always participating whenever you can to be to be an advocate is important. So I guess that’s that’s where I’m at in my in my life, my career when it comes to these things. Very, very proud to be in this industry. And certainly, you know, very grateful for everything it’s provided to us.

Matthew Allred 26:39
Awesome, Thank you, Jeremy. I appreciate you being on with me today. It’s it’s a lot of fun to get to know you a little bit better and talk about your career, your business and wish you the best as you as you keep building.

Jeremy Metzger 26:50
Thanks for what you’re doing. And again, great to spend some time with you today.

Matthew Allred 26:54
Thank you. Bye bye. Thank you for listening to the elevator careers podcast sponsored by the Allred group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting. You can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net please subscribe and until next time, stay safe

Transcribed by https://otter.ai