Most people have seen Security Guards and understand their contributions to protecting people and property but far fewer are ever exposed to or fully understand the role that Private Investigators play in our daily lives. For most people they think that when a crime occurs, they simply call the Police and the Police will deal with it but until faced with a situation where there’s no immediate proof of a crime, or there’s not enough evidence to place a charge, or you need to find a birth parent, or you simply need answers about something that the Police consider a private matter, most people only get a hint of what a PI is or does through movies or television.
Having worked in the security and private investigations industry for most of his life, Axis understands where the gaps lie between Security Guards, Police, and their client’s wants and needs. Having worked in all sectors of the industry, first as a behind-the-scenes contractor, and eventually as the Founder and President of a successful Private Investigation Firm, Axis and his team have provided countless local and international investigations for clients including, but not limited to: Law Firms, Private Businesses and Corporations; Paralegals; Various Governments and Government Agencies, Law Enforcement Agencies; and Private Clients, including competing Private Security and Investigation Agencies from around the world.
The Luxury of Experience and Training
Axis started his career in the Security industry as a teenager assisting his mother, Security Site Supervisor in developing Post Orders, various documentation, and reports for her employer’s clients. When he became eighteen, his mother’s employer welcomed him into their company as a Security Officer and he quickly adapted and became a resource for others because of his years of knowledge gained behind the scenes. Axis took a brief absence from the industry during his schooling years and returned to the industry as a Private Investigator. Axis was quickly promoted based on his solid documentation skills, credibility, and reputation for legally obtaining accurate results. He operated primarily as a Sub-Contractor to larger Security and Private Investigation Agencies and based on his unique skill sets, his employer began to hire him out to work for multiple agencies at the same time. At one point, it was a safe bet that regardless which Greater Toronto Area Security provider was hired to perform certain investigations, Axis would be the Investigator that would show up to do the work, write the report and submit it to be rebranded for the end client.
In 2015, Axis incorporated his firm, Axis Vero Incorporated, and continued to service these larger Security and Investigation agencies directly. As more law firms, end clients and professional groups began to realize that Axis had always been their provider, his reputation was boosted, and his client list grew exponentially throughout Canada and the USA. Expanding his offerings to global law firms and private clients directly, he soon began conducting various investigations for local and foreign governments and was introduced to multiple Politicians. Axis is the best-known little-known secret of the Security and Investigations Industry. Those “in the know” recognize him and his work immediately, while those that either lack the necessary clearance or experience in the industry are often blindsided when their clients return from court defeated because Axis and his team have found evidence that was missed by other investigators that thought they had produced a complete result without being sure of it. It is common for opposing counsel to later become a faithful client of Axis Vero Incorporated for these reasons.
Axis is known for offering comprehensive training to Private Investigators and Security Professionals throughout Canada and the United States of America. However, with the continued growth of his firm from one (1) to currently four (4) Canadian Provinces, and beyond, with a satellite office in Europe, he has concentrated that training regimen to his own team of exceptional investigators rather than the general public. Axis advises he will reopen his training to externally employed professionals again but not until there is time to ensure that training is done correctly.
Service with a Difference
Most people that think of Private Investigators think of Cheating Spouses or Cloak and Dagger operations, and while Axis Vero certainly does those, there is so much more to what a full-scale International Investigation Firm can offer…and they offer it all! Background investigations, general research and vetting of people and businesses are a large focus, but not the full scope of the firm’s offerings. They also offer surveillance by land, sea, and air, TSCM (electronic bug-sweeping), intellectual property (IP) investigations, digital forensic imaging, analysis, and data recovery, harassment and employment investigations, criminal and civil investigations, undercover investigations, fraud and integrity investigations, process service, and much more.
The firm’s structure is completely different than its competition, which may be a factor in why so many of its natural competition become long-term clients. Axis Vero has never been structured for high profit. A traditional PI Firm focuses primarily on the sale of surveillance services – the reason being that surveillance focuses on hour after hour of billable time regardless of the result. If surveillance is successful, the agency makes its money. If surveillance fails, the agency might either recommend more surveillance or they might offer a combination of surveillance and some internet-based research, or site attendances (field work), or a garbage pull, etc. Most agencies following this structure bill on an hourly basis and after the fact. That means a client rarely truly knows where they sit in a budget until they’re over budget but by then they’re on the hook to pay.
Axis Vero was structured for high productivity and results for the clients. While they may incorporate surveillance into an investigation, it is one of many tools that generally follows a period of research. By doing so, the firm knows a large amount of information about the subject and/or the subject’s habits before PIs are deployed. This means that many hours can usually be saved, and the client pays much less for the overall file. Often a file executed in this manner can cost 4-10 times less to the end client to complete successfully. Also, the firm doesn’t have the traditional “us versus them” attitude with their competitors, Axis Vero embraces its competition as their clients.
Says Axis “The marketplace is vast and when any PI Agency provides exceptional service, reputations grow. I want investigators to excel in their jobs! We are invited by new clients to assist them; we don’t need to hunt or pressure clients to give us work. When a competitor asks for help, I make sure we do our best for them and their client. That will encourage them to become our return customers and ensure that they continue to thrive as well. It doesn’t matter what logo is on the report, in the end “those-in-the-know” recognize our work and otherwise we would not have that file to work on and our competitor would have an inferior product.”
An Open-Minded Leader
As a business leader, Axis Geffen is open-minded and flexible, and his working style is based on mutual respect. Whether he is dealing with a new or seasoned investigator or a new or seasoned client, he likes to remain open-minded and able to adapt to circumstances that arise or differences of opinion in getting to the finish line. His clients come to him respectfully because they’ve usually either been referred by another client that has had a successful outcome, or they were once the opposing counsel to an investigation that he performed, and they were impressed by the information gathered despite the loss they suffered to his client(s). “It’s a good feeling to know that when I’m called to speak about an investigation, both sides of the table are respectful of my findings and the manner in which they were found. In a few cases, we were advised that opposing counsel went straight into settlement mode once they saw our logo on the investigation report. That feels good,” says Axis.
As for his communication style, Axis is the only person in his position in his field that he is aware of that offers direct links to all of his social media, internet, or business-related review boards in their marketing materials. He encourages everyone to research him and his firm thoroughly and more than that, to contact those that have provided a review and talk to them directly. Axis is very flexible with everyone, and he does his best to accommodate the needs of others. As for his employees, Axis respects them and trusts them to do an exceptional job every time. He doesn’t need to breathe down their necks but with that said, regardless of where in the world he is, he always maintains an open and direct channel of communication with every employee on every file. “If they have any questions, they are provided a real-time connection to me directly. I will drop everything and assist them in any way I can because their work is a direct reflection of my firm and our results are a direct reflection of our mutual respect and teamwork,” asserts Axis.
Finding Balance
We asked Axis what he does when stuck or confused. Axis said that it depends on which location he’s working from. When he’s in British Columbia, Alberta or Europe, he tends to head into nature and clear his head. A walk in the mountains can be extremely rewarding and allows him to process a decision fully. When he’s in Saskatchewan or Ontario, he will occasionally call upon trusted resources and weigh his options in confidence. “For the most part, decisions aren’t hard to make once I’ve considered the benefits and/or drawbacks to those around me. I’m known to make decisions that will offer the best outcome for my staff. They trust and support me, and that makes it much easier. Occasionally, tough decisions need to be made but I accept that it is my duty and I act accordingly,” shares Axis.
Facing Challenges
There are always challenges coming at Axis owing to his work profile. Everything from Legislation and Privacy issues to obtaining and maintaining evidence can be a daunting task, and at times Axis has spoken out via Social Media concerning Bills, Legislation, and changes to Various Acts, because often Politicians don’t consider all of the aspects of something they put forward or the implications of a change they make. Still, he believes that the biggest challenge that he faced was “Sales”, or at least the concept of sales. “Having been a field agent for so many years, I know my work well. I can speak to almost any type of investigation from a real-world perspective and have a few real examples in my head from my personal experiences but schmoozing clients and “selling them” has never been a large focus for me. When I opened my firm to the public, it was terrifying thinking of how I would convince total strangers to buy my product,” recalls Axis.
Luckily, it was really easy to get new customers and build his customer base because he’s not “selling” his product; his experiences make prospective clients want his results. As a result, Axis is not often out golfing or skiing with clients or schmoozing them at dinners, to persuade them to give him business. Instead, they’ll golf or go to dinner to discuss and celebrate the landslide win they just earned through Axis and his team’s efforts and they’re ready to discuss the next few matters coming down the pike. “In this way, I’m not “chasing” business. My clients aren’t pressured, and neither am I. Sales is easy when you truly understand what you can offer and you don’t pretend to be capable of more than you can actually provide,” shares Axis.
Other challenges came with growth. Opening in multiple markets at the same time comes with its headaches and unfortunately, there are differences in employment laws from province to province. The benefits that Axis can offer in one place are not permitted in another place. Access to information differs and so do the wage level and cost of information access. Add to this that a province like New Brunswick has 200 licensed PIs with less than 30% regularly working, while Ontario has roughly 100,000 PIs working with only a small percentage of that trained in anything other than surveillance. It’s tough to find and vet the right caliber of investigators and then invest in them and their training to maintain the standards that our clients have come to expect. However, it’s a learning curve and Axis’ dedication to the team has been paying off. While in some cases it has meant that investigators are not engaged immediately, it has ensured that when they are deployed, they are far more successful than their competitors in the same regions.
Spreading Awareness and Training the Young Guns
For the safety of his investigators, Axis rarely posts any images of them online or in advertising of any kind. For the privacy of his clients, they rarely show any images, video, or other documentation of investigations conducted. To spread awareness about his work, other than his extensive client list who always recommend them, Axis turns to articles like this to share a glimpse of what they do without putting the team at risk. Additionally, he tries to engage in light posting across social media.
Axis has also written over 100 commissioned articles for the Shulman & Partners LLP Free Online Knowledge Base, which is regularly visited by various lawyers, mediators, and the general public going through or considering a legal separation, divorce, or other domestic matters. Family Law support has become a large part of his business over the years and these articles have helped countless numbers of people to navigate some of the most difficult and stressful times of their lives.
In the Years to Come
Axis was born in Ontario, Canada and although he has lived in different provinces and countries over the years, he has always maintained his roots here. For that reason, he opened his head office location here. As his client base expanded, Axis began to service multiple governments, law enforcement agencies, law firms and their clients as well.
“One of our Canadian Government clients advised that they could not find other service providers with the same consistency or quality of service in the other provinces. I thought about it and decided that if I dedicated enough time to finding and training the right PIs, we could not only service our government clients but also many law firms and private clients as well. We started systematically opening from the West Coast across Canada because we were seeing trends in the need for our services in these areas. Ultimately, we will continue to open across the country. We are also pursuing further avenues in Europe but those take longer to cultivate,” concludes Axis.
Ultimately, with the continued support of their clients and competition, Axis Vero Incorporated will eventually have offices across Canada servicing its clients and competition internationally. As Axis tends to sign off his commissioned articles, “Thank you for reading and please share with your networks!”
