Susie Woodhull gazes out the window of her office and sees the opportunity that lies ahead. The owner and CEO of Springboro, Ohio-based Woodhull LLC is not daydreaming, mind you. A 12,000-square-foot warehouse is being constructed behind the main facility and is expected to be operational this month.
When your company is coming off a year that produced 18% compound annual growth, and you no longer wish to rent off-site warehouse space, this is the type of gesture that can accommodate a growing business. And for this Ricoh-dedicated line dealer, which has been buoyed by impressive net-new growth and continued success in commercial imaging (file scanning), it’s easy to see past the COVID-19 trees and project a prosperous future.
While the Woodhull family has been an industry staple for 70 years, version 2.0 kicked off in 2000, four years after the original business was sold to what would become IKON Office Solutions. Having amassed a great deal of expertise under the original founder, Jim Woodhull (her father-in-law), Susie Woodhull purchased a Gestetner (Ricoh) dealer. Over the next 20 years, she grew it from nine employees and roughly $1 million in sales to 80 employees and $25 million.
Commercial imaging is a pivotal offering for the company, which has sold more than any other Ricoh dealer in the U.S. the past two years, targeting the legal and municipality sectors. Woodhull LLC also serves the health care and education spaces in the Cincinnati and Dayton markets, and just last year, made a bold foray into the Columbus market. The dealer, which also sells document storage software, counts copiers, MFPs, large-format/production devices, and software/cloud solutions among its offerings.
We spoke to Woodhull, President Bertrand Trick and Marketing Manager Robert Woodhull to discover more about “The Woodhull Way,” lessons learned in a changing business environment, and how the dealership’s approach empowers and emboldens employees in a manner that reflects the company’s quality brand of service presentation and delivery.
How was business in 2019 and during 2020 in the months leading up to the pandemic? How were you able to navigate through the pandemic, and what were the keys that dictated your success?
Bertrand Trick: We had 18% compound annual growth in 2019 that pushed us over $25 million in revenue. Things were going very well and our 2020 plans were to eclipse $27 million. The first quarter of 2020 was OK, and then things went south. Like any other dealer, we’re trying to do the best job that we can in this environment. Our current run rate looks like it’s going to come in 25%–30% below plan. We’re doing a good job on sales; our revenue is only down about 10 percent.
Our reps are hungry for sales and they’re trying to maintain as close to quota as possible. They’re aggressively pursuing our customer base and obtaining net-new business, with more than $1 million in net-new secured so far this year. So we’re getting deals, but there’s just not as much margin as pre-COVID.
Robert Woodhull: This environment blends well with our style of being a consultative company. We’ve pushed the value-add of being helpful to the customer or prospect. Many companies are tight on cash flow or looking for alternatives to help them work through this time.
Susie Woodhull: We’ve always trained our reps to be good listeners and try to help customers define some of the challenges they’re having, particularly unknown issues. We ask them about their attitude toward technology and where they would like to be, and then troubleshoot roadblocks. The consultative sale, for both hardware and software, is where we’ve focused rep training the past five years. Sometimes, when a client does want to make a change in their business, they find it easier to go with a new vendor. We always tells people, if you’re changing things, you can blame (any problems) on us. At end of the day, we’re going to be the one to help make sure everything’s working as expected, be it equipment or software.
What sets Woodhull apart from the competition?
Robert Woodhull: Being family owned creates a unique, dynamic culture. My mother has done an excellent job of supporting the employees. When you do that internally, it reflects on the performance the customer experiences. Through our feedback campaigns, what we learn goes beyond the efficiencies brought by the technicians, reps or the supplies desk. Everyone acts with a willingness to support and take care of the customer. Our technicians take time to explain what was fixed on the machine, or the supplies desk explains toner yields. That’s all based in the culture. My grandfather, father, aunt and mother instilled those philosophies. If you take care of the people who work for you, in return, they take care of the customer.
Susie Woodhull: We care about our employees a lot. During this COVID period, unfortunately, we were forced to furlough employees in all areas of the business. Since they had a lot to worry about, I picked up the employee portion of their benefits. They understood the need for the furlough and were grateful for having their benefits intact. A lot of people said, “You’ve been there for us, and we’re going to be there for you.” When someone is happy in their job, it definitely reflects on their performance. That is something we’re proud of, and our customers can feel it.
Doing business locally also resonates with a lot of companies. If clients have direct access to an executive team to discuss investments being made, I think it provides a sense of comfort in spending those funds. I’m always available to discuss any issues they may have. We’re not the least expensive vendor in the Cincinnati, Dayton or Columbus marketplace. But we expect a lot from our employees, and we deliver a lot. We ask our techs to do a full inspection; if there are feed tires that are getting shiny and grinding down, techs replace them. They perform a total overview of the equipment. And due to COVID, we ask them to clean the equipment before and after servicing. We call that the Woodhull Way.
The dealership had revenues of about $1 million when you took the helm in 2000, and it has since grown to $25 million. What have been the variables driving your 18% CAGR?
Bertrand Trick: The employees are highly dedicated; this is very much a family atmosphere. Our people are not only dedicated, they’re a great fit for the organization. Our turnover rate is extremely low, especially in sales. Where a lot of organizations have high turn rates in the sales department, we have a lot of tenure. It’s a combination of Susie’s leadership at the top and quality people driving the revenue. We reward net-new business through our compensation plan. All of those elements working together play a large role in our success.
Your net-new business increased by 25% in 2019 and, despite the pandemic, that rate has shot up to 30% in 2020. What is driving your new business takedowns?
Susie Woodhull: It’s always a headache for a customer to switch vendors, so we ensure the process is headache-free. Our references bear that out. For example, we had a large credit union that was a net-new account. We transitioned their MPS initially, followed by their MFP fleet a few months later. They were delighted with the switch to Ricoh printers. We integrated software, performed a lot of pre-installation work and talked with the third-party software folks. During the process, we did trials with a few pieces of new equipment to ensure they worked and tested their RFID cards. We came up with a very detailed delivery and setup schedule.
I think it’s OK to get egg on your face and make a mistake. Sometimes you have to step backward in order to go forward. Clients don’t mind as long as you’re not attempting to perfect it on the day of installation. We went through the whole pre-install and made some unique changes prior to the full installation. It was probably a 10-day process, and at the conclusion, it was very seamless.
The client was extremely satisfied. In fact, the COO wrote us, “You said what you were going to do and you did what you said. We rarely come across that with vendors, so thank you very much.” It’s that kind of feedback that we employ moving forward with other net-new accounts. We have a reputation for making commitments and following through.
With retirements looming, your dealership saw some restructuring in many key executive positions. Can you talk about the process of assembling/promoting a team that will ensure continued success moving forward?
Susie Woodhull: Knowing our long-term CFO would be retiring at the end of 2019, and given the role’s importance and responsibilities, we started looking for his replacement in 2018. Our new CFO had a 12-month learning period under the final year of the former CFO, so that transformation went well. Additionally, we brought on an employee from the original Woodhull to help with operations. We’ve hired some outside people as well as made conscientious decisions about promoting from within. We promoted our district sales manager to vice president of sales, and Bert went from that position to president. And Robert became marketing manager. We brought somebody else in to do day-to-day operations. It’s gone well; sometimes it feels like we have too many managers, but there are still some retirements looming in the medium future.
Talk a little about the company’s foray into Columbus, Ohio, a high-growth area. How have you been able to gain traction there?
Bertrand Trick: MT Business Technologies was once a big player in our market, and for a number of years we had an agreement—since the respective founders were close friends—in which they would take care of northern Ohio and Woodhull would tend to the southern part of the state. That eliminated a lot of head-to-head competition. When MT was sold four years ago, that opened an opportunity for us, given the proximity of Columbus to our Dayton offices, to move into that market. Columbus is the state capital and one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the Midwest. We have been doing quite well there; we hired a seasoned manager who has experience in the industry, and we have a couple of tenured salespeople. Our comp plan is weighted towards revenue rather than gross profit, as we want to get placements so the units will start generating clicks.
Susie Woodhull: We’ve been successful with a number of major accounts in Columbus. That city was shut down tighter than Dayton or Cincinnati, and it’s been difficult to impossible for new territory reps without any existing customer base to be successful. The “up and down the street” business is a challenge.
Tell us a little about your movement into pandemic-related products, such as temperature-screening systems.
Robert Woodhull: Copiers, scanners and MFPs have been the predominant base of our business, but we’re here to provide businesses with the technology to help them increase profit, improve processes and provide solutions for the pandemic. We spent two months researching a number of products in the market. We’re the professionals who consult and inform our customers so that they don’t have to take on that headache. We picked up a temperature-scanning product that’s robust with a cloud solution. But it also does things like integrating with door access and badge systems, and can perform dual authentication that requires employees to use their badges and have their temperatures taken in order to gain access. Being software driven, it offers future opportunities beyond temperature taking. So when COVID eventually becomes a memory, we’ll still be able to sell a product that helps our customers with access and door greeting. It’s a cool opportunity and speaks to our role as a service-focused company that provides solutions for customers, whether it’s workflow process, security or temperature scanning.
What are some of the benefits your dealership garners in being certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council?
Susie Woodhull: We’ve had female certification for 18 years. WBENC, which is new for us, is pretty much the standard. During this process, we’ve learned some of our customers needed to do business with a female-owned company. We’ve got the automotive industry within the region, tier-two suppliers like Honda and Toyota, and it’s been a boon for us. Some of our hospital clients have reaped large credits from doing business with a female-certified company.
WBENC certification is not something we can just put on our stationery or marketing materials, and then get flooded with business. Like anything else, we’ve really got to work at it. Many companies nationwide have diversity officers whose job it is to find diversified suppliers. But we need to create relationships with them; these companies want to know that they’re getting a quality vendor that’s up to their standards. That speaks to WBENC’s slogan of “dress up and show up.” We’re in the process of recertifying ourselves for the second year. I now have a better idea about how I need to be reaching out for this business in our territories.
Aside from COVID-19, what was the biggest challenge you faced in the past year?
Bertrand Trick: Finding quality employees continues to be a challenge, and the work-from-home scenario can be difficult. Susie and I are used to the Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 p.m. environment. We have most of the sales staff and service technicians working remotely, and that presents unique challenges.
What are your goals for the next 12–18 months?
Susie Woodhull: I think there’s still a lot of growth opportunity out there to be had. If remote work becomes normal, I think our challenge is going to be offering the right product mix so that people remotely can function and have the information from the office—accessing and sharing electronic documents—that they need. I don’t know that we have that mix in our current product offering right now.
Bertrand Trick: We have to get back to pre-COVID revenue and profit levels. Right now, in our marketplace, many businesses have not brought employees back to the office. Until that happens, they’re not going to be making many prints or copies. Fortunately, once they return, I think there will be a rapid ascent. Another key is maintaining our staff through this challenging time. When business starts to pick up, we’ll need to have the staff necessary to take advantage of the growth opportunities.
As the industry continues to contract and evolve, what will be the keys to success for the dealer community?
Bertrand Trick: For our core copier business, we need to maintain our current customers, protect and grow them, but also branch out into other opportunities within those accounts. Those opportunities could be solutions, thermal scanners or commercial imaging, while also continuing our aggressive pursuit of net-new customers.
Susie Woodhull: Subscription-based solutions that piggyback on hardware platforms are going to continue to grow. I think the whole subscription model is a work in progress, and we’re working on billing that on an easy, renewable annuity-type basis. We’re still trying to figure that out. Ricoh has been good in terms of coming up with different types of subscription-based software riding on hardware. I think there’s going to be more of that to come, which is a plus for the remote workplace. We just need to get a better handle on how to package it and how to renew it. That’s our new annuity stream.
What do you like most about your job?
Susie Woodhull: I find it satisfying to watch our people grow their careers and opportunities. I tend to like to work a lot, and the stress that’s been brought on with COVID has not been good. So for me, I’ve kind of learned how to take up new things outside of work, like traveling and going on walks, that can bring relief and pleasure.
Bertrand Trick: I like the ability to dramatically impact the bottom line. I think we’ve done a fairly good job of that at Woodhull over the years.
Robert Woodhull: I feel incredibly proud and privileged to be able to work alongside my mom. I started out driving the delivery truck and worked my way up; this is my fourth role in the company. I love the customer experience and what we provide for them. To alleviate a customer’s pain, develop long-term relationships and create value is highly rewarding to me.
Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Susie Woodhull: We love to cook. We can’t go out anymore, so we’re cooking even more. My family would say they love my pesto. I grow basil in my yard, and we have pesto all summer. I’ve tried different ways to freeze it, but it’s never the same. Experiencing good food and wine is a deep, satisfying pleasure.
