{"id":45863,"date":"2021-07-29T02:43:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T09:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=45863"},"modified":"2021-07-30T01:13:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T08:13:54","slug":"next-generation-leadership-employee-loyalty-position-kelly-office-solutions-to-thrive-post-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/dealer-spotlight\/2021\/07\/next-generation-leadership-employee-loyalty-position-kelly-office-solutions-to-thrive-post-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Next-Generation Leadership, Employee Loyalty Position Kelly Office Solutions to Thrive Post-COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It occurred to Tim Renegar that his company, Kelly Office Solutions, was on the brink of its 75th anniversary. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based firm had done the 70th anniversary celebration in style, and now the president will have to figure out what he can do for an encore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tim Renegar, Kelly Office Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As challenges go, it\u2019s a nice one to have these days. Considering that the business rode the coattails of the typewriter age all the way through to the computer revolution, a 75-year run is fairly impressive. Prior to Renegar buying into the firm in 2010, the company was topping out around $4.7 million. It survived the typewriter market vanishing\u2014though some folks actually still wander in looking to service their Smith Coronas\u2014and also withstood the Great Recession, when it lost its largest client (a local hospital) which represented a very large share of the pie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when owner Peter Kelly welcomed in Renegar, his longtime competitor, the firm enjoyed significant growth in the next 10 years. Kelly Office Solutions had 16 employees and $3 million in revenues in 2010; there are now 71 team members and sales in the $17.5 to $18 million range, a figure that stood at $19 million pre-COVID. In addition to the Winston-Salem headquarters, there are facilities in Greensboro and Charlotte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to grow pretty dramatically,\u201d Renegar noted. \u201cWe were a little over $19 million pre-pandemic, but we took a pretty significant hit from our service side after things shut down. Our hardware is starting to climb back up, but clicks are down, and obviously we\u2019re not getting any overages. We were recently authorized to sell in the Hickory area and go a little further west. That\u2019s our goal, to increase in the central and western\/southwestern part of North Carolina. Now is the perfect time to make acquisitions, and we\u2019re ready to get back up on that horse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A longtime Ricoh\/Savin dealer from its earliest days of the post-typewriter era, Kelly Office Solutions also counts Konica Minolta, Brother and Epson among its core hardware providers. Brother is helping the dealer satisfy the growing A4 needs of clients, and Epson is enabling Kelly to ride the inkjet revolution and answer the total cost of ownership siren song that’s become popular throughout the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family Affair<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly approaches the market using a three-pronged attack. The first is print\/copy, which includes production and wide-format devices, managed print and the beginnings of a label strategy. The second is managed IT, a relative newcomer to the portfolio over the past six years, led by Renegar\u2019s son, Blake. Kelly relied on Collabrance for the technology stack, but is slowly developing much of the competencies in-house. A third space\u2014coffee, pure water, ice and purified air\u2014falls under the guidance of son Brice Renegar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly does a significant amount of business in the legal, health care, manufacturing, nonprofit\/faith-based and architectural spaces, along with a small cadre of hospitality and transportation firms. Legal firms in Kelly\u2019s markets actually performed better than their metropolitan counterparts that suffered when the courts closed up shop. Health care clicks took a big hit, but with patient services still an area of need, Kelly was able to step in and help. Document management enabled Kelly to gain inroads, particularly with the legal sector. Those same clients have also been keen on maintaining adequate security measures in the face of ransomware threats, and Kelly capitalized on the opportunity to provide peace of mind there as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What enabled the dealer to resume its course of 12-15% annual revenue growth\u2014a staple throughout Renegar\u2019s 35 years in the dealer game, including stints with Triad Business Systems, Charlotte Copy Data and IKON Office Solutions\u2014is not so much what he did during the pandemic as what he didn\u2019t do, which was push the panic button and implement layoffs. Even when revenues collapsed 45% in March 2020\u2014clearly an unsustainable model\u2014Renegar knew it would take the work of all 71 team members to weather the storm and enable Kelly to make the eventual course correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Center for Exceptional Children is one of the charities supported by Kelly Office Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the leader of an organization, you have to ask yourself how we get through this with the least amount of disruption to our people, because nothing\u2019s permanent,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you drop a bunch of people, you\u2019re going to have a hard time getting them back. That\u2019s what happened with the restaurant\/hospitality space; people lost their jobs and figured out another path in life. Those businesses are struggling to find employees. I didn\u2019t want that to happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, Renegar didn\u2019t close the offices. Everyone chipped in to help where needed, which meant picking up a broom or running a vacuum to handle the janitorial services that were once outsourced (\u201cWe did a lot of the things we\u2019d been outsourcing,\u201d he noted). Extra cubicles were added to allow employees to bring in their children, thus providing them with space to do remote learning. And Renegar was quick to pounce on the available Paycheck Protection Program funds, which was critical in enabling the dealer to remain fully staffed. In all, only two employees left Kelly, and those were people who retired as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roller Coaster Ride<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strong April was sandwiched by dismal results in March and May, but June rebounded nicely and set the tone for a solid 2021. Service revenue is still down by about 15% from pre-pandemic, but 20% above 2020. Renegar notes the company will need to expand its base of machines in field to reach 2019 service levels, but in May of this year, nearly half of its placements were net-new. That means more MIF with existing clients and squirreling away business from the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Suffice to say, the rebound wouldn\u2019t have been possible without Renegar maintaining his staffing levels. \u201cI didn\u2019t cut anybody\u2019s pay, and we were able to come through it with a stronger balance sheet than we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said. \u201cThat tells you how, when you have the right people in place, they make things happen and you can survive just about anything. We kept our people and kept our enthusiasm, and I think we\u2019re going to come out of this far stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard stories about dealers laying people off, getting the PPP money and bringing them back, because they had to, then they would lay them off again. What does that do to your employees? They don\u2019t know what to think or who to trust, and they wonder what their future is going to be. We couldn\u2019t do that to them. We stayed steady, kept a cool head and made it through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is those qualified, competent and happy employees who Renegar believes helps to set the dealer apart from its competitors and sets the tone for Kelly\u2019s corporate culture. Having them in lock step with the dealership\u2019s goals and initiatives creates a team that\u2019s eager to explore and take on new projects, as opposed to dreading them. They\u2019ve also been critical when branching out into unchartered waters with managed IT and coffee\/ice\/water\/air products. That has also played well with clients.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Red Nose Day proved to be a hit for Kelly Office Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCustomers want you to handle the works,\u201d he remarked. \u201cThe ancillary revenue stream from pure water, pure air, pure ice and coffee are nontraditional offerings for the average office BTA channel partner. It\u2019s not a typical office offering, but it\u2019s typical that every office needs it. That makes perfect sense to me, and I have the infrastructure to carry it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renegar\u2019s background is a diverse one. In addition to the aforementioned dealers, he spent three years with Sharp as president of Sharp North Carolina after it acquired Charlotte Copy Data. A veteran of numerous boards and dealer councils, he was able to complete a couple deals in the Charlotte market, including obtaining some MIF from Ricoh. He\u2019s eyeing acquisitions of companies in the $1.5 to $3.5 million range, primarily prospects in the Carolinas and Tennessee, or perhaps Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Toys For Tots is another organization near and dear to the hearts of Kelly Office Solutions employees<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of dealers who don\u2019t want to sell to the bigger companies because they\u2019re afraid they won\u2019t take care of their customers,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019d prefer to fit in with the culture and be a part of the company. There are opportunities out there that will bring additional clicks and revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aggressive Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the new fiscal year starting last month, Renegar is looking to take great strides in resuming that 12-15% growth pattern. He doesn\u2019t count acquisition growth as part of that figure and anticipates the two deals he has in the pipeline could bring an additional 10% boost. Investments in key personnel, which includes a new vice president of sales for the copy and print division and a branch sales manager, will make all the difference as Kelly seeks to exit the pandemic in a solid position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left, Brice, Tim and Blake Renegar
represent the present and future
leadership of Kelly Office Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Blake and Brice are poised to be the next generation of leadership at Kelly Office Solutions. They were exposed to the business at an early age, spending summer breaks from college working in the warehouse and driving trucks. While both have a firm grounding in all aspects of the business, Renegar wanted to give them the opportunity to flourish in different aspects of the operation. The move quickly paid dividends.
Blake spent a year working on the process to bring managed IT to Kelly and decide on the right strategic path\u2014build, buy or partner. With the help of Collabrance, the managed IT division has grown from zero to 10% of the company\u2019s overall revenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlake has done a tremendous job,\u201d Renegar noted. \u201cWhen you tell a client you want to manage their network, they ask for references. When you say \u2018us,\u2019 that\u2019s a tough sale. But we now have about 35 clients on board.\u201d
Brice initially was less than enthusiastic about taking the reins of the water division, as it lacked the cachet of the print\/copier world. But as he dug deeper, he found it to be more technical in nature, and from a health standpoint, the offerings make a difference in people\u2019s lives. During 2020, its revenues were up 175% over the previous year. The pure air component\u2014and its ability to kill 99.7% of surface germs via ionized product\u2014was popular during the height of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrice has really blossomed with it; he\u2019s turned it into a really nice operation with a staff, whereas it was just him and the installer when he started,\u201d Renegar added. \u201cIt\u2019s a neat ancillary, and it\u2019s opened a lot of doors for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth of the boys have gained a lot of respect because they started in their own divisions and have proven that they can do it. They just went out and sold, and our employees realize that they\u2019ve really made a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Renegar a Staunch Advocate of the Power and Value of BTA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Renegar has been with dealers both large and small, and he\u2019s seen the industry from the OEM vantage point. But regardless of the hat he\u2019s worn, one constant has remained: Renegar\u2019s love and respect for the Business Technology Association (BTA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the pandemic, Renegar agreed to serve a second term as president of the BTA. But he\u2019s been involved with the organization his entire career and believes that membership for an independent dealer is an absolute must.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBTA is the single best value and resource for an independent dealer, regardless of size, as long as you use and understand it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt offers unbelievable knowledge from a lot of experienced people. You can bring just about any situation to BTA, talk to (general counsel) Bob Goldberg or any of the leadership there, and they can point you in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal counsel in itself is a tremendous value proposition, according to Renegar. He feels access to documents and the ins and outs of contract negotiations makes it even more compelling, as does the opportunity to network with fellow dealers. Being able to pick up the phone and get the answers to any question makes BTA an indispensable tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe BTA has given to me way more than I\u2019ll ever give back,\u201d Renegar noted. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough good things about BTA.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It occurred to Tim Renegar that his company, Kelly Office Solutions, was on the brink of its 75th anniversary. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based firm had done the 70th anniversary celebration in style, and now the president will have to figure out what he can do for an encore. As challenges go, it\u2019s a nice one to have these days. Considering that the business rode the coattails of the typewriter age all the way through to the computer revolution, a 75-year run is fairly impressive. Prior to Renegar buying into the firm in 2010, the company was topping out around $4.7 million. It survived the typewriter market vanishing\u2014though some folks actually still wander in looking to service their Smith Coronas\u2014and also withstood the Great Recession, when it lost its largest client (a local hospital) which represented a very large share of the pie. But when owner Peter Kelly welcomed in Renegar, his longtime competitor, the firm enjoyed significant growth in the next 10 years. Kelly Office Solutions had 16 employees and $3 million in revenues in 2010; there are now 71 team members and sales in the $17.5 to $18 million range, a figure that stood at $19 million pre-COVID. In addition to the Winston-Salem headquarters, there are facilities in Greensboro and Charlotte. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to grow pretty dramatically,\u201d Renegar noted. \u201cWe were a little over $19 million pre-pandemic, but we took a pretty significant hit from our service side after things shut down. Our hardware is starting to climb back up, but clicks are down, and obviously we\u2019re not getting any overages. We were recently authorized to sell in the Hickory area and go a little further west. That\u2019s our goal, to increase in the central and western\/southwestern part of North Carolina. Now is the perfect time to make acquisitions, and we\u2019re ready to get back up on that horse.\u201d A longtime Ricoh\/Savin dealer from its earliest days of the post-typewriter era, Kelly Office Solutions also counts Konica Minolta, Brother and Epson among its core hardware providers. Brother is helping the dealer satisfy the growing A4 needs of clients, and Epson is enabling Kelly to ride the inkjet revolution and answer the total cost of ownership siren song that’s become popular throughout the industry. Family Affair Kelly approaches the market using a three-pronged attack. The first is print\/copy, which includes production and wide-format devices, managed print and the beginnings of a label strategy. The second is managed IT, a relative newcomer to the portfolio over the past six years, led by Renegar\u2019s son, Blake. Kelly relied on Collabrance for the technology stack, but is slowly developing much of the competencies in-house. A third space\u2014coffee, pure water, ice and purified air\u2014falls under the guidance of son Brice Renegar. Kelly does a significant amount of business in the legal, health care, manufacturing, nonprofit\/faith-based and architectural spaces, along with a small cadre of hospitality and transportation firms. Legal firms in Kelly\u2019s markets actually performed better than their metropolitan counterparts that suffered when the courts closed up shop. Health care clicks took a big hit, but with patient services still an area of need, Kelly was able to step in and help. Document management enabled Kelly to gain inroads, particularly with the legal sector. Those same clients have also been keen on maintaining adequate security measures in the face of ransomware threats, and Kelly capitalized on the opportunity to provide peace of mind there as well. What enabled the dealer to resume its course of 12-15% annual revenue growth\u2014a staple throughout Renegar\u2019s 35 years in the dealer game, including stints with Triad Business Systems, Charlotte Copy Data and IKON Office Solutions\u2014is not so much what he did during the pandemic as what he didn\u2019t do, which was push the panic button and implement layoffs. Even when revenues collapsed 45% in March 2020\u2014clearly an unsustainable model\u2014Renegar knew it would take the work of all 71 team members to weather the storm and enable Kelly to make the eventual course correction. \u201cAs the leader of an organization, you have to ask yourself how we get through this with the least amount of disruption to our people, because nothing\u2019s permanent,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you drop a bunch of people, you\u2019re going to have a hard time getting them back. That\u2019s what happened with the restaurant\/hospitality space; people lost their jobs and figured out another path in life. Those businesses are struggling to find employees. I didn\u2019t want that to happen here.\u201d For starters, Renegar didn\u2019t close the offices. Everyone chipped in to help where needed, which meant picking up a broom or running a vacuum to handle the janitorial services that were once outsourced (\u201cWe did a lot of the things we\u2019d been outsourcing,\u201d he noted). Extra cubicles were added to allow employees to bring in their children, thus providing them with space to do remote learning. And Renegar was quick to pounce on the available Paycheck Protection Program funds, which was critical in enabling the dealer to remain fully staffed. In all, only two employees left Kelly, and those were people who retired as planned. Roller Coaster Ride A strong April was sandwiched by dismal results in March and May, but June rebounded nicely and set the tone for a solid 2021. Service revenue is still down by about 15% from pre-pandemic, but 20% above 2020. Renegar notes the company will need to expand its base of machines in field to reach 2019 service levels, but in May of this year, nearly half of its placements were net-new. That means more MIF with existing clients and squirreling away business from the competition. Suffice to say, the rebound wouldn\u2019t have been possible without Renegar maintaining his staffing levels. \u201cI didn\u2019t cut anybody\u2019s pay, and we were able to come through it with a stronger balance sheet than we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said. \u201cThat tells you how, when you have the right people in place, they make things happen and you can survive just about anything. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1643],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45863"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46026,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863\/revisions\/46026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}