Like millions of other Americans, Les Olson grew up during the Great Depression, a time in which family was just about the only thing many people could count on. And even there, Olson’s losses were heart-wrenching. An older brother passed away, and on Les’ first day of high school, his father died. That prompted him to leave school and help support the family. Sadly, it was not an uncommon tale for a generation that endured constant hardship and World War II.
“Les was hard on us. He kicked our butts when we needed it,” observed his grandson, Troy. “His was a special generation. Nothing is given. There’s no nepotism or sense of entitlement here.”
(from left) Troy Olson, President and James Olson, CEO
Olson created the Les Olson Company in 1956, providing dictation machines, and all 12 of his children spent time working there. Now, under third-generation leadership of Lisa Thaller, CFO and chairman, Troy Olson, president, and James Olson, CEO, the Salt Lake City-based dealership (which counts 19 family members as shareholders) has grown to a $50 million firm with eight locations in the state of Utah and another in Las Vegas.
Les Olson Company is proud of its 42-year relationship with its top partner, Sharp, and is the OEM’s largest independent dealer in the United States. The dealer is also a gold partner with HP, counts software solution relationships with DocuWare and PaperCut (among others) and relies on Continuum, Sophos, and Datto for its IT solutions. The dealer serves virtually every business vertical in its markets, with health care and mortgage leading the way.
Leading executives of Les Olson Co. and Sharp Electronics gather during the Les Olson Co. 2017 sales award banquet, held in January. Shown from the left are Lisa Thaller, Les Olson Co. CFO and Chairman of the Board, Pete Salmon, Sharp Electronics Vice President of Regional Sales and Service Operations, West; Rich Klug, Sharp Electronics Associate Director of Western Support; John Sheehan, Sharp Electronics Vice President of Sales; Steve Oda, Sharp Electronics Senior Vice President; Ted Kawamura, Sharp Electronics Chairman; Doug Albregts, Sharp Electronics of America President and CEO; James Olson, Les Olson Co. CEO; Mike Marusic, Sharp Electronics COO; Kirk Kahla, Sharp Electronics Senior DSS
From its legendary customer service to its catchy advertising jingle, Les Olson Company underscores the value of relationships not only with clients but within its “family” of nearly 250 employees. Cousins James and Troy offered a glimpse into how embracing technology while maintaining old-fashioned values and ethics has kept the 62-year-old firm as fresh and relevant as the day Les Olson himself first opened the doors.
How was business in 2017?
James: It was a phenomenal year for Les Olson Company. We experienced tremendous growth in our managed IT and MPS, with both departments recording double-digital growth. We also had single-digit growth in image and print. As you look across the industry, that seems to be down, but we’re up. It was a solid year for Les Olson Company in every way.
Les Olson Co. executive team members accept an honor during the 2017 Utah Best of State awards ceremony. Shown from the left are Troy Olson, President; Keith Adams, Vice President of IT; Matt Olson, Chief Technology Officer; and James Olson, CEO
What does Les Olson Company pride itself on?
Troy: We’re a tech company, and we pride ourselves on being the best service provider in any of our markets. Our founder, Les, had a phrase, “Good service isn’t expensive, it’s priceless,” and our business is built on that philosophy. We are a platinum-level service provider for Sharp, and that’s a select group. We’ve passed all of HPs certifications and were accepted into their PageWide XL program. All of our technicians at each of our branches have gone through extensive training, and James has been very instrumental in helping develop that program.
Your company boasts many longstanding relationships with customers. What factors have enabled you to sustain a high level of customer retention?
James: Les Olson Company prides itself in serving the community where we work. It’s all about our people, who do a phenomenal job. We provide great products at competitive prices and we sell value. It goes back to the customer service we provide to our customers and having relationships that Troy, myself and others on the executive management team help develop. We do ride-alongs with sales people and we’re in the field meeting with clients, talking to customers about their needs, where they’re heading and how their business is doing. That enables us to have a better impact on their business, and it sets Les Olson Company apart from the competition.
Not many family-owned dealerships can boast a lineage that traces back more than 60 years. How do you maintain consistency in the face of changing products and technologies?
Troy: The history of our company goes back to a man who absolutely loved and embraced technology. He used to talk about the day we’d have self-driving cars and we thought he was kind of crazy. He saw things we didn’t. Ray Olson, former Chairman of Les Olson Company and my direct supervisor, was the first one at our company to put a computer on his desk, and people thought he was crazy to do that. We grew our IT business organically three years ago, but we’ve had our own internal IT staff for nearly 20 years. They built our whole infrastructure, even installing most of the cabling in our buildings. We already knew how to do it right. We just made a $650,000 investment in a new network operations center. The managed IT platform was something we started planning on about six years ago, and we continue to adapt to technology. We have a philosophy that the world is going to change with or without you, so you might as well change with it and be one of the leaders. Recently, Doug Albregts and Mike Marusic from Sharp presented the concept of their new Smart Office technology. We can’t wait for the products and solutions that are going to come, because we want to take advantage of them. This love for technology comes from the top down at Les Olson Company.
Members of the Olson family gather around company patriarch Les Olson (seated, holding child)
What are some of your newer areas of business? Is it going the way you hoped?
James: With managed IT, we have been adapting to the landscape of the marketplace as things have changed in the IT space. We’re a company that is able to be nimble, and as we’re looking at that marketplace, we’ve made changes based on the feedback that we’re getting from the field. We’re finding out what the customer needs and we’re adapting to those needs to bring the best solution to compete.
Les Olson Co.’s shareholders; the company is now in its third generation of family ownership
Troy: It took about two years to make a profit in managed IT. We’ve learned a lot in three years. We partnered with a company called Growth Achievement Partners, who did fantastic job consulting and helping us grow that business.
Is there a product or solution that you are looking to add in the near future?
Troy: Currently, we’re looking at Sharp technologies such as their INTELLOS security robots. We’re interested in seeing where they go with that technology. We continue to watch what all manufacturers are doing, even though we’re very loyal to Sharp. We’re excited about the Foxconn/Sharp relationship and we believe it’s going to add a lot of growth opportunities for us as an independent dealer. I serve on their dealer advisory council and it’s been a really good forum for us to have open dialog with the execs of Sharp.
One of the measures your dealership relies upon is feedback from review sites. Can you provide insight into your growth of positive feedback, especially through Google?
James: In today’s marketplace, when choosing a vendor most of us like to see what others have to say. We look at what others feel about a particular company and how customers describe their experiences with that company. With our Google reviews, our branches are rated independently. Our customers speak volumes for what you can expect from Les Olson Company.
Troy: These reviews on Google provide valuable insight into our business to our clients and to us. Our growth of positive feedback is thanks to great employees who faithfully serve our client base. Chris Weenig, our chief sales and marketing officer, is a visionary who is very progressive with our marketing & sales strategy. He is constantly looking over the horizon to ensure that we are re-inventing ourselves to stay competitive in today’s business landscape.
Your company has gained notoriety for its TV and radio advertising jingle, which has resonated with customers. Tell us about its development and strength as a point of differentiation.
Troy: Larry, my father, felt that we needed a jingle because a lot of companies have memorable jingles. We have relationships with a lot of local TV and radio stations, and our CBS affiliate brought in a local recording artist. She learned a little bit about our history and wrote the jingle. When she sang it for the first time in front of the board, they looked at each other and said, ‘That’s it! No changes.’ They loved it.
We’ve updated the jingle over the years to keep it current. Many people recognize us for our jingle. We’ve had jingle singing contests with clients where we’ve given prizes to the individuals who could sing it the best, word for word. One time at an event, a competitor came up to me and said we needed to get rid of the jingle. Apparently, he heard his daughter humming a song, and when he asked her what it was, she started to sing our jingle. He told her not to sing it. We had a good laugh about it.
What do you look for in your employees? How do you recruit and retain good ones?
James: That first interaction you have with a candidate during the interview sets the tone. What their resume looks like matters, but we want to know about them as individuals. We’re hiring people to represent our company and they must have a customer service mindset. Whether they’re customer-facing or internal, they need good people skills. We recruit people in a number of ways—recruiters, local job listings, universities and community colleges. As far as retention, we have a profit sharing program. We match their 401Ks and provide a good, safe environment for people to work. We have people who’ve been employed here for more than 40 years, which is incredible. We support our people whenever they go through a personal or family crisis. The Les Olson Company is built on love and loyalty. We are very passionate about the people.
Sales and executive personnel from Les Olson Co., Clover Imaging Group and Las Vegas Motor Speedway take a moment to enjoy court side access prior to a Utah Jazz basketball game in 2017. Shown from left are Chris Weenig, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Les Olson Co.; Dave Augason, Les Olson Co. Salt Lake Sales Manager; Brandon Stoker, Les Olson Co. Senior Account Executive; Kevin Camper, Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Joshua DeBear, Clover Imaging Group; Naysan Gray, Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Troy Olson, Les Olson Co. President; Jesse Fisco, Les Olson Co. Account Executive
What was your biggest challenge in the past year?
Troy: Dealing with the compressed margins and low pricing in the industry. It started on the hardware side a few years ago, and now the cost-per-page level is really under attack. We mainly compete with direct manufacturers and a couple of larger dealers in our market. It seems like it’s a race to the bottom, and while there’s still a lot of loyalty, there’s a segment of the SMB that’s price-driven. For them, they need to experience the poor level of service that comes with buying on price. But there’s also been some opportunity in the last few months with a couple of larger manufacturers changing their go-to-market strategies. You can only afford to give it away and bleed for so long. As soon as you lay off people, the service goes downhill. We refuse to do that. It is what’s made Les Olson so successful. People buy from who they know, like and trust. If you have strong relationships and back them up with service, you will be successful.
What are your goals for 2018?
James: Our goal is to continue to grow our business. Our newest branch opened Jan. 2 this year in Manti, Utah, which is in the eastern part of the state. We’re seeing that with some of the less populated areas of the state, having that brick-and-mortar local resource makes a huge difference. Our managed IT is a key initiative, because it’s the future of where we’re all headed. Print has been reducing, but we believe that we can take away business from competition through the people that we hire, our strong business practices and best-in-class service. We’re really excited about 2018; our recent kickoff meeting was the best we’ve had to date.
What do you enjoy most about your job? What are your least favorite aspects of it?
Troy: Being out with our sales team in the field, helping cultivate relationships and close business is by far my favorite part. I’m a sales guy. I love watching the success of our people, whether it’s our customers or co-workers. We just had our sales award meeting and it’s very rewarding to see these team members who have worked really hard get recognized at the end of the year. I’d say my least liked aspect is the time spent away from my immediate family; but that is what the job requires.
James: The finest aspect of my job is serving the co-workers. From the customer relations side, I love being with our people in the field when I can. I come from the service side, so my comfort level is a little different. The greatest joy you can get is serving them, being there for them even if it’s an outside-of-work issue. I feel that’s a responsibility that we should take on as an employer. If they’re having an issue, we can and should help them. If they’re happy at home, then they’re happy at work. My least favorite part would be the pressure that comes with running a large organization, looking at each of the peaks and valleys of where we’re headed next and what’s our strategy. It is fun, but it can also be stressful. We’re blessed to be in a wonderful business with fantastic people.
Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
James: I’m an outdoorsman, a hunter. The most important thing is my family, being with my wife—we just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary—our two children and their spouses. I have two grandchildren who mean the world to me.
Troy: I’m an outdoors guy as well. We’re blessed with incredible mountains in Utah, and you can get up to 12,000 feet in a hurry. We have trails for running, hiking, enjoying the back country. I have three granddaughters, two children and I’ve been married for more than 30 years. We’re two blessed guys; our sweet wives are our biggest fans and cheerleaders.
James: Troy definitely has mountain skills. We like to call him the human goat. Talk about getting to 12,000 feet very quickly…he can get there in a hurry because he climbs hills like a mountain goat. He competes in 100-mile ultramarathons. Troy has literally been running for decades. He’s an extreme athlete out in the wilderness.
