Keith Allison
You could say that Keith Allison’s introduction to the office technology industry was both indirect and eye-opening. Soon after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill he took a job with a CPA firm in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Looking for a roommate, one of his fraternity brothers matched him up with a friend who had also recently graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and who was also looking for a roommate in the Fayetteville area. Allison worked as a CPA and the roommate sold copiers.
“He worked maybe 25 hours a week and made three times what I did as a CPA,” recalls Allison. “His brother-in-law was in the business and although I left the CPA firm to manage car dealerships and operations of one of our clients at the firm, two years later the owners continued to call me to come to work for their copier company because they needed a ‘financial person.’ When I got there and got their books up to date I realized they couldn’t afford to pay me and their financial accounting systems were a disaster.”
Allison, together with his former roommate, Cary Butler, now the southern regional manager for Toshiba, and Don Braswell started Systel in 1981. It wasn’t without its challenges, however. Allison recalls that soon afterwards, Braswell and Butler were offered high salaries and travel allowances from the manufacturers, which he notes was common back in the early 80s.
“I understood that as a new company we could not afford those kinds of salaries or benefits so they went to work with the manufacturers and left me at Systel to try to make a go of it,” he says.
Clearly, Allison did more than just make a go out of it. Today with over 250 employees and annual revenue exceeding $50 million, the Fayetteville, NC-based Systel Business Equipment Co., Inc., is one of the largest dealerships in the country.
That success did not go unnoticed. Asked his thoughts on being named a Difference Maker by his peers, Allison notes dryly that he is coming to terms with it in a similar manner to how he’s coming to terms with the realization that he is getting older.
“Over the past 35 years I had always been ‘the kid’ with my peers and I have tried to observe and learn as much as I could from all the dealers across the country that I regularly came in contact with,” he says. “After 35 years of looking up to these other successful dealers across the country – these were usually the ones on the Dealer Council placed there by the manufacturers and were very successful – it seems strange now to be looked upon by younger dealers and even former Dealer Council colleagues as I have viewed them in the past as a difference maker.”
“Being that I copied as much as I could when I heard of a successful program that a dealer had I would have to credit my interaction with successful dealers in our industry as a combined group over the past 35 years as the brains behind the difference,” he adds.
Allison acknowledges that so many individuals have helped shape his personal and professional life that it would be difficult to name them all. He cites quite a few though, including some of his college professors who pushed him into accounting because they saw he had an aptitude for it.
“In my four years working in accounting, before getting into the copier industry, I was able to go into a variety of businesses and know how successful they were; interview and talk to the managers and principals of these businesses and learn firsthand how the business operates,” he says. “That experience was invaluable in starting Systel in 1981.”
In terms of the industry, he recalls the owner of the first copier company purchased by Alco back in the early 80s who explained the purchase was based on bottom line profitability.
“I believe when I was on the Panasonic dealer council with him in 1986 he was 70 and I was 32 years old,” he says. “He took the time to explain to me how the business worked and how they were able to take a substantial percentage of their topline sales to the bottom line.”
Other mentors he cites that were associated with the manufacturers included Alan Nielsen along with top executives in marketing. He also points to the many dealers who served with him on numerous dealer councils over the years.
“My long-term service on these boards, including currently serving on Konica Minolta’s National Dealer Advisory Board, has given me invaluable experience learning from successful dealers across the country [in terms of] what was working for them and what was not.”
“Individuals go way back such as John Malinsky at Duplicator Products; numerous manufacturer executives such as Alan Nielsen and Rick Taylor and many Japanese who provided me valuable insight from both a North American and Japanese perspective,” he adds.
As for the future, Allison hopes to continue leading Systel to the double digit growth rate it has sustained for the past five years. He says that the industry has changed dramatically since 1981 and it should not surprise anybody that it continues to do so today.
“The one constant in our industry is that it is always changing and changing rapidly and you either change and adapt or get left behind,” he cautions.
Ultimately, for Allision, the real payback seems to be the satisfaction he receives in helping his employees and the community at large.
“I like being in the position I am in now to help people,” he says. “Whether it’s offering our employees an opportunity and benefits or something as simple as a weekend away at our annual Christmas party in Pinehurst or just making sure they know that they have a secure job if they want it. I also enjoy philanthropy and seeing the results by making a difference in the communities that we serve whether it is with our schools, in politics, in business forms, or just as an executive member for our local police board. I like being able to help people and make a difference.”
