Joseph E. Clouatre
Founder and President

Before I start talking about myself, I would like to tell you about the most important person in my life, my wife, Terry. For the past 27 years, Terry has been my wife, my best friend and my strongest supporter. We both share a passion for customer service and the continual improvement process. I would not have been able to accomplish what I have without Terry's support and participation.

I guess this is where I am supposed to tell you how great I am and list all my accomplishments in my life in an attempt to impress you. However, I owe my successes to the Teams that I have assembled over the past 20+ years. It was my job as a coach to make sure that I had the best people in the right positions so those Teams could succeed.  There were a few common threads that ran through each of these organizations and they were Extreme Customer Service™ and the Continual Improvement Process. Since I tend to be a very creative person, I would also say that my out-of-the-box approach to Sales and Marketing didn’t hurt either!

For the past 15 years I had the pleasure of working at Team AVS Inc. As President of AVS one of the things that I enjoyed most was receiving letters and e-mails from our customers going on and on about the extraordinary customer service they received from AVS employees. With 80-90 letters received, I often pointed out the fact that my name wasn’t on those letters; it was the employees' names.  It was my job to create a culture where the focus was on customer service (AVS installs electronic security systems across the US and Canada).

I was also fortunate to be part of several advisory boards for large manufacturing companies, including Honeywell. My goal was always to improve our process and think creatively when it came to marketing and connecting with our customers. In both our personal and business lives,  when we have a decision to purchase either products or services, we have many choices on where to spend our money and often times it comes down to the company that is going to provide the best service before, during and after the sale.

Prior to AVS, I was involved in a start-up opportunity with a company based in Philadelphia which wanted to open a branch in New England. This company was called SpectaGuard Inc. and evolved into Allied Barton, one of the largest contract security officer companies in the world. But back then it was just Joe Clouatre and John Redden opening the office. One of the reasons that I left a Fortune 500 company as the Security Manager was that SpectaGuard’s commitment to both their internal customers (employees) and external customers (clients) was unheard of in the industry. It was here that I learned how to grow an organization and the value of customer service. It was also here that I was introduced to and became a facilitator for Total Quality Management.

I was also employed for 15 years at Norton Company, which is now the Fortune 100 Company SAINT-GOBAIN. I held several positions there and was a Security Manager when I left. Norton Company was known as a leader in management training and development. It was during these years that I received a world class education in areas of business management and where I developed my passion for the continual improvement process as a facilitator for many Quality Circles.

It was a not an easy decision to leave Team AVS Inc. because they were and are my friends and family. However, I wanted to create Innovative Business Partners Inc. so that I can help other companies improve their processes, grow their organizations and build Teams that work hard and can have fun at the same time.

I have always believed you have to have fun in business, but it was one of my training programs with Disney that really drove that home. Several years ago Business Solutions Magazine did a feature article on my successes and what was going to be a serious story on sales and marketing ended up being titled “It’s All About Fun.”

I realize this is long, but if you've taken the time to read it, thank you! I thought this might be a better way to learn what I am all about.

Sincerely, Joe