{"id":14754,"date":"2015-10-30T09:01:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T13:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=14754"},"modified":"2015-10-30T09:01:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T13:01:20","slug":"undaunted-a-conversation-with-repeat-business-systems-president-dawn-abbuhl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/dealer-spotlight\/2015\/10\/undaunted-a-conversation-with-repeat-business-systems-president-dawn-abbuhl\/","title":{"rendered":"Undaunted: A Conversation with Repeat Business Systems President Dawn Abbuhl"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dawn

Dawn Abbuhl<\/p><\/div>\n

If you\u2019re going to work an 80-hour work week like Dawn Abbuhl, president of Repeat Business Systems, the end result had better be a successful business. Based on its 28-year history and how it\u2019s doing this year, it\u2019s safe to say, Repeat Business Systems is indeed a successful business.<\/p>\n

The locally owned and operated dealership, founded by Dawn and her husband John, has been servicing the Albany, New York region since 1987. A Ricoh authorized dealer, Repeat Business Systems offers sales, service, and supplies for a wide variety of office technology as well as IT services, workflow analysis, and consultation. With a broad mix of products and an emphasis on services and software, Repeat is following the game plan for a successful 21st<\/sup> century office technology dealership.<\/p>\n

Dawn\u2019s introduction to the office technology industry dates back to the 1980\u2019s when she was dating John, who at the time was just out of college and working for a copier dealership. Dawn was a teacher working with children with special needs then and when she\u2019d finish work she\u2019d go to John\u2019s office and help him out. That\u2019s how she discovered one could make good money in this business just by working hard and doing the right thing.<\/p>\n

Even though John was doing well at the copier dealership his dream was to start his own business. After he and Dawn married, that\u2019s exactly what happened\u2026with Dawn\u2019s help. Soon after she began her summer break from teaching, she told John she\u2019d find a manufacturer and they\u2019d start a business together. She ended up calling just about everyone before finally convincing Sharp to take a chance through her sheer enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

There was just one little complication that had to be overcome before they could open their doors. Dawn and John were living in Connecticut at the time, but had been authorized to sell Sharp fax machines in Albany. That meant the fledgling company had no office and no address, along with no bank account, no business plan, and no training. It was the perfect recipe on how not to start a business. Undaunted, Dawn\u2019s enthusiasm helped her and John secure their first loan, quite an accomplishment since their only collateral was Dawn\u2019s aging Toyota Tercel.<\/p>\n

Nearly 28 years later Dawn is the president and face of Repeat, completely and solely responsible for the dealership\u2019s day-to-day operations while John focuses on strategic and long-term planning.<\/p>\n

Dawn also maintains a high profile in the document imaging industry where she\u2019s an active member of the dealer community and the incoming President of CDA (Copier Dealers Association). She sits on 15 boards and committees, including Ricoh\u2019s National Dealer Council and the Chamber of Commerce where she is the President of the Foundation Board. Through Repeat she has made donations to over 100 organizations last year alone. In addition, Repeat was awarded \u201cBest Places to Work\u201d four times in the last two years by two different regional publications, another example of how Dawn remains committed to doing the right thing. One thing she is most proud of is mentoring men and women in the community who have new businesses or business challenges.<\/p>\n

What do you like best about this business other than being rewarded for working hard?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>I see people get married, have kids, buy houses; I\u2019ve gone through the life cycle of so many of my staff. We have low turnover and I get to see people changing in their lives, and it\u2019s just been amazing. As I thought more about this question, I realized that business is all about relationships and I feel so lucky to have developed such close relationships with so many in the community.\u00a0 We have had many of the same customers for over 20 years!<\/p>\n

\"Dawn<\/p>\n

The other thing is we can always do the right thing. When John worked for this other company, he didn\u2019t have a lot of recourse. Here, if we make a mistake we can fix it on a dime. Here\u2019s a great example, this gentleman from a church called and needed help with some scanning\/IT issues, we gave him a quote that it would be X amount per hour and he said, \u201cWe don\u2019t have any money and we need to get our bulletin out.\u201d We just went over there and did it.<\/p>\n

My whole team knows they\u2019re authorized to do any nice thing even though sometimes we take it a little too far. I was on vacation a few years back and one of our competitors called up and wanted a copy machine because they couldn\u2019t get one because of credit issues or whatever and the customer was going to cancel the deal. My VP said, \u201cWhat would Dawn want me to do; I\u2019m sure she\u2019d want me to get him a copy machine.\u201d Truthfully, maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

But I always feel good every day about doing the right thing and nobody can tell me you can\u2019t do that because it costs too much money.<\/p>\n

What task associated with your job do you least like to do?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>I hate letting people go. Nobody likes it for sure. It\u2019s usually for an incredibly good reason, but no matter what it\u2019s tough. Other than that, I\u2019ll clean the toilets, go on calls, I\u2019ll do anything.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s business been this year?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>We\u2019ve had a fantastic year and are hitting our goals every single month. Usually you have a lot of great months and a couple that aren\u2019t so good. Our fiscal ends Sept. 30, so we\u2019re just about there and if we have two more great months we\u2019ll have hit our goals for [12 straight months].<\/p>\n

What product segments are doing well for you?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>We\u2019re selling a lot more production and a lot more solutions for document imaging and back-file conversion.<\/p>\n

What are you doing right with the solutions?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>We started early selling solutions, which is great and challenging at the same time. It was torture to not see the financials pay off in the solutions arena [at first], but like anything, you hang on and your expertise and credibility rises. It took a few years for us to get the solutions moving, but this year it finally clicked.<\/p>\n

I also have a great team. If you ever come to Albany, every single person you meet is someone I would hire again in a heartbeat. Every time somebody moves away we always try to find somebody that\u2019s one notch better, but I don\u2019t think I could do any better right now.<\/p>\n

How does your dealership narrow down the solutions it\u2019s going to focus on, considering there are so many to choose from?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>We rely on our own CTO (Chief Technology Officer). I also rely on this individual at Ricoh. I\u2019ll ask him, \u201cWhat do you think of it? What do other people think of it?\u201d Ricoh doesn\u2019t have a ton of turnover on that level and we\u2019ve had the same people supporting us and our solutions for 10 years. He knows my company, knows me, and I trust him. If my CTO likes it, he likes it, and I have customers that I\u2019ve had for 20+ years and I\u2019ll ask them to give me their opinion, and if it makes sense to me, then I jump in.<\/p>\n

Over the years you\u2019ve represented a number of different lines (Konica Minolta, Sharp, Ricoh, Samsung, Kyocera, Toshiba), sometimes as a result of acquisitions, now you just represent Ricoh. Why is that a good fit for Repeat?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>Ricoh has a full line, there\u2019s nothing that anybody else has that Ricoh doesn\u2019t. And they invest a lot of money into R&D so they\u2019re always one step ahead of everybody else.<\/p>\n

We just had a gentleman come from Ricoh Japan who was beta testing one of their new display panels with our customers. It\u2019s like a smart phone display. Everybody who saw it loved it. Nobody is doing anything like that I know of.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on the National Ricoh Dealer Council and I\u2019ve seen things that they\u2019re looking at for five or six years out and it\u2019s just stunning. That\u2019s what I like about Ricoh. And I love the top level team; Jim Coriddi is phenomenal and that makes a huge difference.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re doing well with IT Services and are deeply involved with Ricoh\u2019s CHAMPS program, how\u2019s that portion of your business doing?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>We\u2019ve had an IT department for nine years now and IT revenue is 24 percent of our company\u2019s budget. We\u2019re definitely expanding on that in 2016.<\/p>\n

I have to ask this, what\u2019s it like being one of the few women in a male-dominated industry running a dealership? Is that something you even think about?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>I used to notice it more. Ricoh will sometimes send things to John\u2019s attention, but he doesn\u2019t touch mail, open mail, anything. Whatever it is that they\u2019re sending should go to me. If they give me a pass code it\u2019s usually with his name. I just laugh about it.<\/p>\n

In general everybody\u2019s different; I know I manage a little differently and there\u2019s advantages and disadvantages to it. I try to be cognizant of my style and use it to get the best out of my team. For instance, I think women often read people better so I am in touch with people\u2019s moods.\u00a0 This allows me to address an issue brewing sometimes before a person realizes it has been bothering them. I don\u2019t really think about being female in business often except occasionally when I\u2019m at a meeting like the CDA group where 95 percent of the group is made up of men. Here\u2019s a great example, that organization has been around for 30 years and I\u2019m the first female president; it\u2019s kind of crazy but I guess with that percentage it also makes sense too.<\/p>\n

\"DAWN21(1)\"Any technology meeting I\u2019m usually one of two or three females, or it\u2019s just me alone. It\u2019s hard not to notice but I\u2019m also completely comfortable. A long time ago someone told me, \u201cYou don\u2019t know it\u2019s a problem because you don\u2019t know if people are doing things differently or acting differently [around you].\u201d As far as I can tell everybody treats me like everybody else. I guess ignorance is bliss.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the secret to successfully working with a spouse; I can\u2019t imagine it\u2019s easy being around someone 24\/7? <\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>John\u2019s a long-range planner, the financial planner, he sees the big picture; he works in the office half the time and remotely half the time. He isn\u2019t involved in the day to day operations. The only time we\u2019ve had glitches is when our roles get too close, so we have to make sure those roles are really defined. Now that they\u2019re defined, we don\u2019t get in each other\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a total genius business wise. He watches the benchmarks and can tell you how many light bulbs we should have in the office. He\u2019s great at that while I would kill myself if I had to look at it all day long. I\u2019m more comfortable with actionable work so our system works really well.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re on vacation together do you have to make a conscious effort not to talk about business?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>If something is important we\u2019re going to talk about it.<\/p>\n

What do you do for fun when not working?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>I love to body surf, and I take salsa and hip hop dance lessons, and I do all kinds of yoga. I work out a lot, but try to mix it up. I also have two boys, 21 and 24 and love to climb mountains and fly fish with them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also a child psychologist. I work about 80 hours a week and about 10 of those hours are working as a child psychologist. I love that too.<\/p>\n

A few fun questions, what\u2019s the last book you read that you really enjoyed?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>I read every night before going to sleep. My husband reads business books. I don\u2019t except when he gets really excited about one and encourages me to. Sometimes he reads a book that\u2019s relevant. The last book I read was Searching for Paradise<\/em> by Thurston Clarke about this man who went to 100 different islands all around the world and lived on each of them.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the one saying or expression that drives you crazy?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>We get contacted a lot by companies interested in acquisitions. In this industry if you\u2019re over $10 million and you make 10 percent or more operating income, you\u2019re a target for acquisitions. One of the things I hear a lot is, \u201cOpen up your kimono,\u201d meaning they want you to be transparent to them.<\/p>\n

If you had to give everything up and start over again, what career might you choose instead?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>Child psychology. I\u2019d put in more hours than I do now.<\/p>\n

What can we expect from Repeat Business Systems in 2016?<\/em><\/p>\n

Abbuhl: <\/strong>Growth. We have a bunch of new hires on the docket\u2014a new person just started in September and another shortly after that. Now that our systems are coordinated and as high tech as we could possibly imagine, it\u2019s a great opportunity to bring people in and scale for where we are expecting a lot of sales growth next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re going to work an 80-hour work week like Dawn Abbuhl, president of Repeat Business Systems, the end result had better be a successful business. Based on its 28-year history and how it\u2019s doing this year, it\u2019s safe to say, Repeat Business Systems is indeed a successful business. The locally owned and operated dealership, founded by Dawn and her husband John, has been servicing the Albany, New York region since 1987. A Ricoh authorized dealer, Repeat Business Systems offers sales, service, and supplies for a wide variety of office technology as well as IT services, workflow analysis, and consultation. With a broad mix of products and an emphasis on services and software, Repeat is following the game plan for a successful 21st century office technology dealership. Dawn\u2019s introduction to the office technology industry dates back to the 1980\u2019s when she was dating John, who at the time was just out of college and working for a copier dealership. Dawn was a teacher working with children with special needs then and when she\u2019d finish work she\u2019d go to John\u2019s office and help him out. That\u2019s how she discovered one could make good money in this business just by working hard and doing the right thing. Even though John was doing well at the copier dealership his dream was to start his own business. After he and Dawn married, that\u2019s exactly what happened\u2026with Dawn\u2019s help. Soon after she began her summer break from teaching, she told John she\u2019d find a manufacturer and they\u2019d start a business together. She ended up calling just about everyone before finally convincing Sharp to take a chance through her sheer enthusiasm. There was just one little complication that had to be overcome before they could open their doors. Dawn and John were living in Connecticut at the time, but had been authorized to sell Sharp fax machines in Albany. That meant the fledgling company had no office and no address, along with no bank account, no business plan, and no training. It was the perfect recipe on how not to start a business. Undaunted, Dawn\u2019s enthusiasm helped her and John secure their first loan, quite an accomplishment since their only collateral was Dawn\u2019s aging Toyota Tercel. Nearly 28 years later Dawn is the president and face of Repeat, completely and solely responsible for the dealership\u2019s day-to-day operations while John focuses on strategic and long-term planning. Dawn also maintains a high profile in the document imaging industry where she\u2019s an active member of the dealer community and the incoming President of CDA (Copier Dealers Association). She sits on 15 boards and committees, including Ricoh\u2019s National Dealer Council and the Chamber of Commerce where she is the President of the Foundation Board. Through Repeat she has made donations to over 100 organizations last year alone. In addition, Repeat was awarded \u201cBest Places to Work\u201d four times in the last two years by two different regional publications, another example of how Dawn remains committed to doing the right thing. One thing she is most proud of is mentoring men and women in the community who have new businesses or business challenges. What do you like best about this business other than being rewarded for working hard? Abbuhl: I see people get married, have kids, buy houses; I\u2019ve gone through the life cycle of so many of my staff. We have low turnover and I get to see people changing in their lives, and it\u2019s just been amazing. As I thought more about this question, I realized that business is all about relationships and I feel so lucky to have developed such close relationships with so many in the community.\u00a0 We have had many of the same customers for over 20 years! The other thing is we can always do the right thing. When John worked for this other company, he didn\u2019t have a lot of recourse. Here, if we make a mistake we can fix it on a dime. Here\u2019s a great example, this gentleman from a church called and needed help with some scanning\/IT issues, we gave him a quote that it would be X amount per hour and he said, \u201cWe don\u2019t have any money and we need to get our bulletin out.\u201d We just went over there and did it. My whole team knows they\u2019re authorized to do any nice thing even though sometimes we take it a little too far. I was on vacation a few years back and one of our competitors called up and wanted a copy machine because they couldn\u2019t get one because of credit issues or whatever and the customer was going to cancel the deal. My VP said, \u201cWhat would Dawn want me to do; I\u2019m sure she\u2019d want me to get him a copy machine.\u201d Truthfully, maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn\u2019t have. But I always feel good every day about doing the right thing and nobody can tell me you can\u2019t do that because it costs too much money. What task associated with your job do you least like to do? Abbuhl: I hate letting people go. Nobody likes it for sure. It\u2019s usually for an incredibly good reason, but no matter what it\u2019s tough. Other than that, I\u2019ll clean the toilets, go on calls, I\u2019ll do anything. How\u2019s business been this year? Abbuhl: We\u2019ve had a fantastic year and are hitting our goals every single month. Usually you have a lot of great months and a couple that aren\u2019t so good. Our fiscal ends Sept. 30, so we\u2019re just about there and if we have two more great months we\u2019ll have hit our goals for [12 straight months]. What product segments are doing well for you? Abbuhl: We\u2019re selling a lot more production and a lot more solutions for document imaging and back-file conversion. What are you doing right with the solutions? Abbuhl: We started early selling solutions, which is great and challenging at the same time. It was torture to not see the financials pay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1643],"tags":[2257,216,2258,312],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14754"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14970,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14754\/revisions\/14970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}