President of two firms stays prepared
President of two companies relies on knowledge, preparedness
Atop Beth Hahn’s LinkedIn social media profile is a photo of her addressing a banquet hall full of people. At a glance, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about the president of multiple companies speaking in front of a large group.
The companies Hahn runs are Berkshire Systems Group Inc. (BGSI) and SAH Inc., Shillington-based providers of residential and commercial fire alarm and security systems. And under closer inspection, the people she’s addressing in the photo are predominantly male, as is often the case in her industry.
Hahn, who was born and raised in Berks County, downplays the relevance of gender, citing an incredible team of men and women around her. However, she also recently obtained a Women’s Business Enterprise certification for SAH, the company she started immediately after graduating college in 1988.
WBE certification is one of several moves Hahn made to reinvest in the businesses during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — a period of economic slowdown when other leaders may have sought to reduce expenses.
“Instead of saying, ‘We have to scale back or lay people off,’ we used that time to conduct additional training we don’t normally have time for,” Hahn said. “We used that time to get certifications that typically are very difficult to do this time of year.
“We used that time to ramp up our people and products we can offer our customers.”
If her own career serves as an illustration, Hahn is giving BGSI and SAH the same tools to succeed that she used herself: education, knowledge and preparedness.
No shortcuts to the top
Hahn wasn’t necessarily planning to go into fire alarms and security while earning her marketing degree from Shippensburg University. She was around the industry her entire life though, especially once her father, Robert Yerger, founded BGSI in 1982.
SAH — short for Secure A Home — launched in 1988 as a home safety retail store that naturally progressed into residential and commercial installation.
As a small business owner, Hahn felt like she needed to know every aspect of the work her company was doing, which meant not being content to sit behind a counter.
“I got my certification from the Pennsylvania Burglar and Fire Alarm Association,” said Hahn. “I also grew up helping on installations, then doing installations. I was doing programming, wiring, demonstrating systems — pretty much did the full gamut.
“I always felt the more I was out there in the field, the better I could serve the customer in the sales aspect. The more I knew, the more help I could provide.”
After all, help is what SAH and BGSI offer.
The companies specialize in full integration systems, which means a couple different things. First, they handle everything from the sale to the parts and installation for security, communication, video, fire alarms, sprinklers and suppression. Second, each package is customized to the specific client’s needs.
SAH generally handles residential and small businesses, while BGSI takes on the largescale commercial, industrial and public sector projects across eastern and central Pennsylvania.
“You don’t see an SAH home sign and know it’s going to be a keypad and two doors,” said Hahn. “The house is fully protected.”
Hahn doesn’t seem like one to take shortcuts, readily admitting she isn’t building a business based around being the cheapest, but rather by striving to be the best.
“We do not profess to be the least expensive in town,” said Hahn. “That’s not our plan. Our plan is to provide excellent equipment, service and installation for what we’re offering.”