Living in two worlds doesn’t seem to faze David Willie, nor does working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Some people may know him as the owner of Waco, Texas-based CTWP, a multi-line dealer with more than 10,000 customers. But for the last 30 years, Willie has also been operating a large cattle operation, breeding the wagyu variety that produces some of the world’s finest cuts of meat, as well as raising calves and breeding stocks. As if that wasn’t enough to keep him occupied, he’s also a produce farmer, working the land for corn, wheat and oats.
How does he work in two places at once? Easy…well, maybe not easy. But Willie surrounds himself with impact players: Michael Stieg, vice president of finance; Dudley Jones, vice president IT and service; and Linda Norman, vice president, administration. Not to mention the sales and marketing teams that drive CTWP’s financial fortunes to the cattle and farm hands who plow, fertilize and seed the land while also weaning the calves and giving them their shots. Success comes from putting in the work, and Willie literally gets his hands dirty every day.
It’s a way of life, one he doesn’t intend to ever give up. Of his succession plan, he noted, “I dug a hole in the middle of my office. When I die, they’re just going to shove me in that hole and cover me up.”
It helps to have a sense of humor when you’re running two distinct operations in vastly different industries. We’ll leave insights into the ranching industry to American Cattlemen magazine. For our purposes, Willie the office tech dealership owner is a fairly compelling tale.
CTWP has a number of manufacturer lines: Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Canon and, most recently, Xerox. While it serves the needs of the legal, manufacturing, government, health care and religious markets, the dealer—which most recently posted revenues of $21 million—has truly excelled with independent school districts (ISDs), of which Texas has more than 1,000. CTWP’s book of business includes hundreds of ISDs, and Willie notes his team has spent decades cultivating long-lasting relationships.
Becoming proficient in the education realm requires a dealer to become more than just a vendor. It starts with developing relationships with the ISDs’ superintendents and the various IT department heads. Once the dealer has forged a relationship with a school district, Willie has no concern about the business being put out to bid come renewal time.
“We know how to deal with them,” Willie noted. “We participate in their educational programs and donate money to their foundations. We give them great service, provide equipment loaners and keep them forever—some have been with us 30 or 40 years. As a result, when other ISDs come up for bid, we’ll reach out to other schools and ask if they know those ISDs’ IT people. We’ll ask them to introduce us to these other ISDs, and from there we can develop a relationship even before the contract is up.
“ISDs are difficult. You can’t just get a bid in the mail, fill it out and think you have a shot at winning the business. You need to know the IT people. If they don’t know who you are, forget it.”
Starting Point
Fresh out of LSU, Willie cut his teeth in the industry as a sales manager for A.B. Dick Co., then later as branch manager for its San Antonio office. A.B. Dick III sold the distributorship to Willie, who got the company running with two employees and no customers to which they could sell duplicators and tabletop offset devices. As his dealership began to grow, Willie moved away from A.B. Dick products to sell those manufactured by Royal, the forerunner of Konica, as well as Minolta. CTWP was nearly done in when Willie tried his hand at selling word processors from Micom and became the largest independent U.S. company in that field. When IBM released its game-changing word processor, Willie averted financial disaster by pivoting back to the copier business.
CTWP’s HQ falls within the triangle of the Lone Star State’s major cities of Dallas, Austin and Houston, but Waco isn’t the only ranch in Willie’s empire. The dealer has locations in Marble Falls, San Antonio, Temple, Corsicana, Bryan/College Station and San Angelo. The Corsicana location is straight out of Mayberry; a general (office) store where people can drop off their FedEx packages, get photocopies for a nickel, purchase jan/san supplies and even have their passport pictures taken. The building has been refurbished—including a repaint of the original Coca-Cola logo on the outside—and is designated as a historic area. The Bryan facility also boasts a major share of the College Station market, including most of the copier installations at Texas A&M.
These aren’t just sales hubs; Willie points out that each of the offices has the ability to handle all the needs of clients within a 75-mile radius, backed by service, admin and inventory. In all, he estimates that CTWP covers 40% of the state.
Growth Catalysts
Two offerings that have been the backbone of CTWP’s 13% year-over-year growth are postage equipment and wide-format machines. A few years back, Willie acquired Xerox reseller Parson’s Office Equipment, a 60-year-old family-owned business that also specialized in postal equipment through FP Mailing Solutions. One of the employees onboarded with the acquisition was FP-certified on the gear, and he was soon selling for the other facilities in the CTWP network.
“We’ve taught our technicians how to work on the machines, and our sales reps have become knowledgeable on the equipment,” Willie said. “FP Mailing has provided good growth every month, and we find it easy to upgrade customers from Pitney Bowes. And with the new regulations regarding postage machines, it’s provided some great opportunities.”
Wide-format printing has been something of an epiphany for CTWP. The machines had formerly been viewed as engineering tools to produce blueprints, but Willie has found a wealth of applications within schools, churches and retail establishments. Each of the branches boasts output capabilities—in Corsicana, for example, the graphic designers create booklets, produce wallpaper and can churn out customized jobs. Christmas wrap has also become popular. Clients snap up the products, and many of them purchase wide-format devices from the dealer to do their own marketing and signage jobs, among other items.
“Small businesses come in, and maybe they need construction projects or something for their home, or they want the Christmas wrap,” he said. “We also do a lot of Christmas portraits. By offering these printed jobs, such as the wrapping paper, it keeps us front of mind with customers. We’ve definitely changed our thoughts about who buys our wide-format product.”
Help Wanted
The last two years have been successful and challenging for CTWP. Business is brisk, but it’s difficult to grow because the dealer doesn’t have enough sales reps to address the net-new opportunities available. Account representatives put a lot of emphasis on garnering renewals from its roster of 12,000 accounts, which is quite time-consuming.
“It’s tough across the board in finding salespeople, drivers, techs and admin,” Willie noted. “That seems to be a constant battle across the country. It seems like a lot of people don’t want to work. We interview candidates, go through the entire process, have them sign documents and then they never show up when they’re supposed to. It’s crazy.
“The challenge is trying to grow the business through people. Whoever you hire now isn’t going to be productive until 2025,” he added. “Instead of college graduates and 25-year-old prospects, we’re targeting high school seniors who want to be in the trades and have some computer or basic skills. We pay to train them for about six months with the hope of getting them going strong in two years. But then you have to hope that they don’t take what you’ve taught them and leave.”
Acquisition Avenue
Given the difficulty in securing new team members, acquisitions have proven to be an effective alternate route. Three years ago, CTWP picked up Hill Country Office Supplies in Marble Falls, a touristy town in wine country on the Colorado River. Hill Country is a Kyocera dealer, and Willie added Canon wide-format and the FP Mailing postage machines to its menu, but kept the location to the single MFP line. He liked that the area continues to grow and business volume is strong.
Willie notes that CTWP’s M&A fishing hole is comprised of primarily acquisition candidates in the $3 million range for annual sales. He points out that the larger-sized companies have long since been bought out by the consolidators. Thus, Willie has been closely monitoring those that fit his acquisition profile, and he’s hoping to close another deal, perhaps by the end of the year. A couple of other prospects could be snapped up in the coming years.
“If there’s anyone out there [who might sell], I watch them,” he said. “I know who the few are, and I’m offering to buy them on a regular basis. I will buy any dealer that’s in my market. We can’t grow anymore. We need to buy dealers that have employees we can bring aboard. But it can’t be just anyone; we won’t buy a company whose business has gone to hell and pick up their base because that causes more issues.”
Of all the criteria Willie uses, being located in Texas is a must-have—a dealer based in any other state is a non-starter. “I’ve had opportunities to buy outside my area, but I’m staying in my market,” he said. “We’re not going to expand land-wise. We have too much land now and not enough people. So going outside the area wouldn’t make good sense.”
Pooch Pitch
CTWP has a fascinating approach when it comes to marketing. In some of the more rural markets, CTWP uses traditional television and radio advertising to reach the masses. The TV spots, which appear during the afternoon and evening news programs, feature LeRoy the Copier Dog. A little editing magic allows Willie’s dachshund/Yorkie-mix rescue pal to exclaim in one bit, “My paw David says we have too many copiers. Take your pick of the litter, and get me out of this doghouse!”
On the radio side, the dealer has a segment that airs on a regular basis. While this type of marketing still resonates with viewers outside the city, Willie notes the company’s marketing department—led by Christine Zirkle—is moving more and more toward social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) to spread its messaging along with optimizing the company’s website to get first-page search results on Google.
CTWP is one of the few copier dealers in its markets, if not the only one. Small-town businesses prefer to work with local vendors and don’t relish the thought of sending their payments to companies based in other states. Texas takes its “buy local” philosophy seriously, and clients feel firms such as CTWP have earned that honor.
“Little towns like to know that you’re local, you’re Texas and not from New York or New Jersey,” Willie said, flatly. “We push the local angle. We support the local communities, do food drives and donate to charities. I’ve donated more than $3 million to charities across the state. I don’t think any of our competitors have done anything to that extent.”
Willie has also dug deep to ensure his team members feel valued for their efforts, loyalty and longevity. Technicians and telemarketing folks alike receive a spiff for garnering client leads. Each office holds an end-of-month party during which the execs cook for them. And the anniversary gifts aren’t just token gestures. The five-year employee gift is a pendant or money clip. For 10 years, employees receive a gold tennis bracelet with diamonds or a ring. At 15 years, the employee gets a Rolex (Willie estimates he’s spent $200,000 on watches alone) and the 20-year veterans get an all-inclusive vacation for two in the Caribbean or Europe. Twenty such employees qualified for the trip this past June.
In terms of the president’s trip, qualifying salespeople had the opportunity to enjoy Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, this year. That’s in addition to quarterly bonus opportunities.
“I’ve got people who’ve been with me for 40 years,” Willie noted. “We grew up together, and their kids have already had kids. It’s definitely a family environment here.”
Ready for Battle
CTWP, like any dealership that seeks to be progressive, is a work in progress, and Willie notes that his company still has a ways to go. Zirkle continues to ensure the dealer’s marketing endeavors are hitting on the relevant outlets, and the company is still getting its feet wet with embracing artificial intelligence. It’s all part of the growth process, but it requires more people in addition to technology. And Willie is combing the landscape to source those personnel assets who can help carry the 45-year-old firm into the future.
Operating in a hotbed of dealer and direct operations doesn’t faze Willie. CTWP is a top-five Kyocera dealer, and boasts the long and successful relationship with Konica Minolta that predates the OEMs’ merger. Knocking heads with the competition brings out Willie’s fiery side.
“I love to beat them up,” he noted of fellow resellers. “They’re easy. If [our leadership] is personally involved in a deal, we’ll close eight out of ten of them. Most people who go up against us haven’t been in the business long enough and don’t know what they’re doing. These big dealers tend to focus on price, but that’s not the only thing that wins deals.”
Willie’s not concerned about the day he’ll visit that hole in the floor of his office. “I like the challenge, and I love winning. I love the business, the ranch and the farm. And I’m not ready to quit. It’s all good.”
