Mr. Tough & Mr. Smooth
This article was written by RON DERUYTER for the Waterloo Region Record.
It's often said that friends can't be business partners, but Gary Arthur and Tony Atkins say otherwise.
Gary Arthur and Tony Atkins joke that they are like a married couple. Through the course of the week, the co-owners of Tone-Gar Security Services of Kitchener talk to each other more than to their significant others. They work hard at skills, such as communications, that are the hallmarks of successful relationships. While friendships often become strained when friends go into business together, Arthur and Atkins insist that their friendship has grown stronger.
"The big thing is we are friends first," says Arthur.
"Everything else comes after that. If there is a problem in the business or I am doing something wrong, I need to know right away because we are friends first."
DEFINED ROLES
Arthur and Atkins, who first met when they were altar boys at an Anglican church in Kitchener, say they successfully mix friendship and business because they have complementary personalities and skills, and fairly defined roles and responsibilities.
"We have different ways of approaching things," Atkins remarks, prompting Arthur to interject that, "I am way nicer."
"I am tough," Atkins continues. "Our employees will tell you that . . . Gary is the smooth talker. He could sell snow to an Eskimo."
Arthur, a former salesman at the Pennysaver, is Tone-Gar's sales manager. The stylish 42-year-old also organizes security for trade shows, a side of the business that requires strong interpersonal skills. Atkins is the operations guy. The 35-year-old Conestoga College law and security grad takes charge of Tone-Gar's site security operations, which provide security services for properties such as shopping malls, hotels, factories and construction sites.
"We don't step on each others' toes," says Atkins. "Then we don't fight."
The one trade show Arthur won't do -- Jewellery World Expo in Toronto -- illustrates the difference in their roles and personalities. Arthur lets Atkins handle it because he doesn't like the heavy-handed security, which includes the presence of fully armed members of the Toronto police department's emergency task force.
"I just don't want to be there because of things that have happened," Arthur says, adding that one year an exhibitor's briefcase disappeared while the exhibitor was checking in, then reappeared empty a few hours later with a thank-you note inside.
Despite the defined roles of the partners, there is some crossover in duties. Arthur has done so many trade shows, he knows all of the ins and outs of security. Those abilities came into play during the massive power blackout in August 2003. It knocked out power on the last day of the Canadian Gift and Tableware Association show. Arthur marshalled his 45 guards and supervised the orderly evacuation of the building.
"You have to remain calm in situations like that," he says. "That is the most important thing."
Although Atkins still gets nervous before sales presentations, he can do them. "Gary has taught me how to be more polished," he says. "He helped me smooth out the rough edges."
The combination of skills and personalities appears to be working. Tone-Gar's sales have grown more than 20 per cent a year since the company was launched in 1996. Its sales now top $1 million a year. The firm has 200 clients in an area that stretches from Toronto to London and it employs about 150 guards.
100 EVENTS
It provides security for more than 100 shows and special events a year. It does so many shows in Toronto, it opened an office there in 2003.
Although Arthur and Atkins have known each other since they were kids, they lost touch for several years. They re-connected when they both worked security during Oktoberfest. They ended up side by side at the Concordia Club for six years, but really didn't give much thought to going into business together. Atkins was intent on joining the OPP while Arthur was making a good living selling ads. "I already was doing something I loved," says Arthur. "Security, for me, was something on the side." Because of their Oktoberfest work, Arthur's former wife asked the pair if they would do security for a national aerobics championship in London, Ont., she was helping to organize. They started to see a business opportunity when the organizers asked them to come back a year later. But Arthur was reluctant to plunge in . . . until he was laid off at his full-time job. "I said: 'Let's do it. Let's jump in with both feet.' " At first, only Arthur worked full-time. There wasn't enough business to support two families, so Atkins kept his part-time job with Brinks. "There were many small pieces of work and then nothing in between," Atkins recalls. "But it was enough to get some connections."
Atkins used his contacts, notably those he developed when he briefly played for the Kitchener Rangers, to pick up jobs at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. For example, Tone-Gar provided security when U.S. Olympic figure skating champion Tara Lipinski shot a television special at the Aud. A few years later, it provided security when Tiger Woods shot a commercial for Buick at Centennial Stadium. A photo in the firm's office on Otonobee Drive shows Arthur standing next to the superstar golfer. The company gained valuable referrals as it did more shows and events.
Within a few years, it was doing big trade shows in Toronto. Those shows, in turn, opened the door to opportunities to provide overnight and weekend security for major properties, including the International Centre and Toronto Congress Centre. "Word of mouth is huge in this industry," says Atkins. "Yes, advertising, marketing, branding all come into play, but it is mostly about referrals.' Tone-Gar also expanded by adding services. For example, it does first-aid training, both for its own guards and the organizations it works with.
Last fall, it added a canine division. Pax, a trained German shepherd, accompanies guards on their patrols, particularly at large sites that have lots of equipment and nooks and crannies. The extra services, like the in-house training Tone-Gar provides for all its guards, gives the company an added level of professionalism, says Atkins. That's critical in an industry that is still mocked in some quarters, he says. "We've heard it all -- 'rent-a-cops', 'wannabe cops," get a real job,' " he says, adding that friends and relatives got on his case for choosing a career in security over policing. Atkins is pleased security work is gaining respect in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
"I knew I would promote professionalism," he says. "But with what is happening in society, security is taking on a much larger role."
