Earlier this summer, Dan Strull sat in an Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) L10 meeting along with his senior leadership team at GoodSuite, and he was checking his phone for updates on the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. MLB’s annual midsummer classic culls the greatest players from among the American and National League teams in a battle of the highest-performing individuals, those who have attained the elite ranks.
Strull paused and looked about the room at his own “players.” It occurred to him that GoodSuite, through savvy drafting (hiring) and strategic trades (acquisitions), had amassed a core of professionals who rank among the industry’s top performers. On the latter front, GoodSuite pulled off a pair of deals in successive years, obtaining Select Business Systems of Fresno, California, and most recently, Strata IT of Los Angeles. The deals enabled GoodSuite to nearly double its revenue to north of $10 million.
The upshot is that Woodland Hills, California-based GoodSuite is now poised to compete at a level Strull couldn’t have imagined when he founded the company then known as Copier Headquarters in 1998. And while GoodSuite has been able to carve out a slice of the pie in client-rich Southern California, he has designs on dominating the Golden State by 2025 (dubbed the Conquer California campaign) and believes his star-laden franchise is well equipped for even greater heights.
“It took time to build, and it’s because of the good people we have,” Strull noted. “They come to work every day and drive us to become better. I think everybody comes to work with a focus on delivering for our customers. They have a clarity in knowing what needs to get done in order to realize the goals we’ve set. So far, it’s been a great ride.”
If there were trading cards for all-star office dealers, Strull’s team checklist would include Paul Cooper, president; Brent Portera, the vice president of technology services; Christianne Strull, CFO and Dan’s wife; Jodie Grice, vice president of customer experience; Thomas Chacko, vice president of operations; Stuart Fratkin, executive vice president; Gary Dergazarian, sales; and Greg Smith, director of marketing. The Strata IT “trade” also added a heavy hitter in the form of Pete Robbins.
Needed Hug
It wasn’t long following the 2018 name change, on the heels of the company’s 20th anniversary, that fortunes began to truly skyrocket for GoodSuite. Strull turned to a buddy in the branding realm who helped devise the new moniker, a process that involved using the marketing wheel. Strull searched the wheel for descriptors that fit the company’s image, and one was a “mother’s hug,” which he felt was fitting—a call from GoodSuite was like a hug from mom. The friend suggested GoodSuite, and the “IT” embellishment in the name underscores the growing strength of the dealer.
“I was walking through the Las Vegas airport when my friend called and said, ‘I’ve got it, GoodSuite,’” Strull related. “Immediately, I went to GoDaddy on my phone and purchased the domain. It’s been one of the best-received changes we’ve made.”
Some of the biggest changes at GoodSuite have transpired within the last 10 years. Strull entered the industry fresh out of USC-Marshall, spending 10 years with Xerox before entering its agency program with Copier Headquarters. He spent 15 years as a Xerox agent before switching over to Sharp in 2015 as an independent dealer—another core change that’s marked GoodSuite’s ascension. From three employees at the onset, GoodSuite’s ranks have swelled to 60, and its offerings have grown to include Konica Minolta and HP.
A lion’s share of GoodSuite’s customer base can be found in Southern California—Los Angeles and Ventura County—along with Fresno following the Select Business Systems acquisition. While MFPs are still at the heart of its catalog, tremendous growth continues to surge in managed IT and audio/visual conference room/digital displays. GoodSuite also counts managed print, cybersecurity, backup/disaster recovery and managed VoIP among its primary services. The company witnessed 130% IT growth in 2021, and that figure has already been surpassed this year.
Moments in Time
Three of the biggest turning points in Strull’s estimation are the addition of Sharp, the hiring of Portera as vice president of IT and the Select Business Systems acquisition; a smaller deal for Advanced Office Automation (AOA) of Ventura has also fortified the dealer’s performance. The Strata IT deal (more on this shortly) has opened even greater avenues for growth and paved the way to a solid 2022.
“It’s been a banner year, a phenomenal one,” Strull said. “We set a goal for achieving net-new business, and we’ve crushed it already. I didn’t see it coming; it’s been a pleasant surprise. One thing after another has been falling into place. We were down about 13% in 2020, as we saw a couple of clients go out of business and a few switch to completely remote work. But 2021 was a bounce-back year; even with some customers not coming back, we’ve increased volume with our other clients and added a lot of net-new IT clients.”
Southern California (and Los Angeles in particular) is a highly fragmented market. Strull resists the urge to take on enterprise business simply because the SMB space here is such fertile ground. Given the region’s wealth of dealer vendors and the lack of a Death Star-level competitor to be feared, organic and acquisitional growth opportunities enable GoodSuite to focus exclusively on California.
One of the saving graces on the hardware side is GoodSuite’s rock-solid relationship with Sharp. It’s been mutually beneficial—as the president of the Professional Dealers Group peer organization, Strull has convinced a number of member dealers to take on the Sharp line because of the OEM’s track record in delivering product.
GoodSuite is in discussions to acquire a company that’s struggled with its current vendor in obtaining hardware. This dealer (pending completion, Strull will reveal the company at the end of the calendar year) has been besieged by backorders, some of which have been 10 months or more. He believes Sharp has stood out among the field in terms of delivering in a reasonable timeframe.
Strull notes his company’s backlog pales in comparison to many of his contemporaries. “Sharp has been the best business decision we’ve ever made,” he said. “Call it luck, call it God working on our side. It’s been a phenomenal move for us, our competitors and industry friends.”
Quality of Life
Like many dealer execs, Strull appreciates the salutary impact employees can have on customer relationships—treat your people well and they’ll take care of clients. His philosophy is that employees are more important than customers; providing them with a high quality of work-life enables them to have clarity in their jobs. Strull doesn’t want his employees to crash on their couches out of sheer exhaustion, completely spent at day’s end due to an onerous workload. Anyone experiencing this, he believes, should question the company and position they’re currently in.
“If you have clarity, know what you’re doing and like what you’re doing, then you’re not taxing your mind, and you’re not overextending yourself in your mind,” he said. “You should come home at the end of the day with energy so you can have quality of life. I spend all my days trying to remove roadblocks so our employees can serve our customers. If we make sure every individual has clarity, then we can have fun. We try to make every day for our employees and customers consistent, memorable and fun.”
Fun Fridays during the fourth quarter each year underscore GoodSuite’s commitment to enhancing the employee experience. In the past, Strull has whipped up pancake breakfasts, and team members can spin a wheel and win prizes. Massages in the break room and In-N-Out Burger treats are among a few (see the “Buddies for Life…” sidebar detailing the dealer’s commitment to the communities it serves).
including the Love Run
While IT has proven to be the golden goose for GoodSuite, not everything works out as planned. In one instance, however, serendipity played a role in ensuring Strull’s initiative gained some clarity of its own. A couple years ago, he embarked on a campaign designed to cross-sell managed IT to 25% of GoodSuite’s MFP clients. Through the first year of the program, the dealer managed to cross-sell 6% of the MFP clients, but it soon became clear to Strull that the path forward would be extremely challenging.
While Strull had hoped to entice upwards of 15 clients per month to avail themselves of GoodSuite’s IT services, he found that two to four additions per month was more realistic. Fortunately, the path to onboarding net-new clients through IT has proven to be more lucrative, to the point where the dealer now has a waiting list.
“The onboarding process is so robust, there’s so much to do that you can’t just flip a switch one day and support them,” he said. “You need to connect all their systems and ensure a good onboarding experience. That takes time. But we’re doing plenty of new IT clients, so that’s a good thing.”
Higher Strata-sphere
Strata IT has enabled GoodSuite to become more focused. Previously, the company used multiple tools for each discipline, such as remote monitoring, backup/recovery and cloud services, which meant there were approximately 16 platforms in which GoodSuite needed to become proficient. Strata IT helped cut that number in half. More IT experts and fewer tools equates to a higher proficiency level.
GoodSuite is growing its marketing department as opposed to sales, which is also helping drive new business. Strull read Darrell Amy’s “Revenue Growth Engine” and quickly refocused, hiring Smith as the marketing point person. Web submissions, phone calls, emails and other inbound queries have simply spiked the net-new opportunities to the point where new talent is needed to accommodate the work.
“It’s all about marketing digitally and giving customers as much information as possible without trying to sell them something until they ask a question that requires a salesperson,” Strull noted. “Between being more capable on the IT side and marketing handing us leads on a daily basis, it’s really fueled the net-new growth.”
When Strull began courting Select Business Systems, little did he know how much he would fall in love with the dealer, the employees and the city of Fresno. Heading into the deal, Strull assumed he would scale down the office and run everything out of Woodland Hills, with select sales people remaining in the area. But the growth has been so unexpectedly robust and the timber of employee so strong that Strull not only maintained the facility and most of its personnel, he’s hired additional staff.
In a short time, GoodSuite has embedded itself into the community. The dealer sponsors the Fresno Grizzlies single-A baseball team (Strull even threw out the first pitch at a game) and recently held a tailgate party prior to a Fresno State football game.
“We’re just loving our time up in Fresno,” Strull remarked. “It’s provided a roadmap for future growth. Fresno has shown us that we can do great things if we pick the right partner.”
Road to Growth
That roadmap entails identifying prospective acquisitions that share GoodSuite’s passion for clients and customers alike. Strull is considering adding more copier dealers but doesn’t believe obtaining another IT firm is the key to geographic growth. However, he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of adding another IT specialist. As in Select Business Systems and AOA, he’s seeking a vibrant staff, family-type atmosphere and more all-stars who will help elevate GoodSuite’s game. But organic growth isn’t an afterthought; digital marketing will continue to fuel the net-new pipeline.
There are diversification opportunities as well. The foray into the A/V space may be complemented by furniture, which Strull is currently exploring with the help of a consultant, while water and janitorial services are long-term options.
As Strull looks to 2023, geographic and product expansion are the main priorities in pushing GoodSuite to find its better self. “I’m not going to do a revenue projection because we crushed our number by August,” he said. “A big part of 2023 is growing into areas that we’re not in now. And we’re focusing on having happy employees. We want to make every day a fun day so that employees are happy when they wake up and happy to go to work. I seek quality of life above all else.”
Buddies for Life: A Huggable Reminder of What Matters Most in Life
Some indelible memories are forever etched in our minds, and for Dan Strull, one such instance occurred when he was strolling through a market in Southern California. A small boy, eight years old or so, appeared in front of him and exclaimed, “Hey, you’re that guy from the bear company.”
It matters not that Strull is the CEO of GoodSuite, a growing multi-million dollar office technology dealership in California. That’s trounced all day long by the recognition from a youngster—whose parent is in the military and deployed in defense of our country—who was likely the recipient of a Battalion Buddy Bear. It was a humbling, moving and meaningful moment, one Strull is not likely to forget.
“That was, like, the greatest moment of my life,” Strull said, emotion lining his words. “To give back to those who fight for you every day…it’s what drives us. And it’s so much fun.”
Strull, whose father served in the Army, happened upon Operation Gratitude while seeking out organizations his dealership could support. Operation Gratitude is a non-profit organization best known for assembling and delivering 100,000 care packages each year to U.S. service members deployed in hostile regions across the globe. The group also supports veterans, first responders, Wounded Warriors and their caregivers.
After donating a copier and tech service to Operation Gratitude, Strull inquired as to what other ways he could offer support. Volunteering to do the care packages was an option that was appealing, but what really grabbed his attention was the Battalion Buddy Bears. The volunteer participant purchases the skins and stuffing, then assembles the bears that are distributed to the children of deployed service personnel. An accompanying note thanks the child for allowing his/her parent to protect our country.
“We really ran with it,” Strull noted. “Then we did a program in which for every GoodSuite order we received, we built a bear in that customer’s name, so the tag would show our name and the client’s name. Then we started doing bear-building parties at schools and other companies. We’ve built thousands of bears; we’ve kind of become experts at it.”
During the company’s 20th anniversary celebration, Strull brought in 300 kids in a massive building party that yielded thousands of bears. GoodSuite has aligned with other organizations that support individuals who put themselves in harm’s way for others, such as Grateful Hearts, which salutes first responders. And Strull reimburses employees who pick up the checks for service members they encounter dining in restaurants. But Battalion Buddy Bears hold a special place in Strull’s heart.
“Living is giving. That’s one of our core values,” he said. “It’s something we think about on a daily basis. It reminds us of what matters most.”
