Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Ep. 55: From Family Business to 10 Time Inc. 5000 Company - Mike Vertolli (ComTec Systems)

Transcript

Ep. 55: From Family Business to 10 Time Inc. 5000 Company - Mike Vertolli (ComTec Systems) · Glovisor Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What does it take to build a business that thrives
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: for decades? Welcome to the Glowvisor podcast, where we explore
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: business growth, communication, and personal development through real conversations with
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: people that make an impact. Our guest went from working
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: on a family farm to building a national technology and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: consulting company. He spent more than 35 years helping businesses
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: embrace change and innovation. As CEO of ComTech Systems, In
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: a 10-time Inc., he shares lessons on entrepreneurship, leadership, resilience,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and building a business that stands the test of time.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Glowvisor welcomes Mike Fertoli.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Oh, you're welcome. Okay, Mike, so let's start off. Please
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: share a little bit more about what you do.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Well, the company we are today, so we're 35 plus
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: years in the making. As we said today, we are
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: a global consulting firm with a consulting arm and a
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: cloud communications arm. We focus heavily in the space of technology, tax,
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: and public utility auditing.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: You handle a lot of different industries at one time.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: The beginnings, we were a traditional telecommunications company. But what
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: we found is our expertise in the deregulated market really
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: served us well with our clients. So we ended up
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: getting into other avenues to help our clients grow and
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: find additional savings.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: And incrementally, we added divisions.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: So we started in the technology division, then we added
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: our energy division, and then we added our tax division.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: So as we look at ourselves today, really, it's a
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: three-pronged approach. where any one of those services is universally
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: used across most businesses in the world.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Before we get into all of those, let's find out
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: a little bit more. What inspired you to get into
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: this path?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: So I had a unique approach to business and life.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: So in graduating high school, my stepfather got cancer. He
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: did pass away, but he was in the middle of
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: starting a consulting company or a telecommunications company at the time.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Bell Atlantic was a deregulated market. I was installing cell
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: phones for him. And my mom and I, after he passed,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: really took the company over. We went from installations of
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: mobile phones into doing business communications. And it was a
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: very fortunate time because Microsoft was just coming out. Internet
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: was just being the buzzword. So we're going back to 1991, 1992.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: And we had the horsepower, the drive. We needed to survive.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: So survival instinct said, you better get a career. I
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: chose not to go the college route. And we gave
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: it the fail forward, apply approach in life. And we
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: built the company for the next 20 years together. And
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: just as different needs arose, we adapted. Obviously, the technology
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: in 1990 looks nothing like the technology in 2000. That
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: looks nothing like the technology today. So it's a big
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: part of our history and my personal experience. vision, which
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: is always looking ahead and adapting to where we believe
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: the world will be. So safely migrating communications and standards
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: to where we think is best applicable for where companies
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: will see themselves in a year or two or five.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Now, that must have been a huge learning curve for you.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: What would you say was your biggest obstacle that you
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: had to overcome?
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: I would love to tell you there's been one obstacle,
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: but I think my life has been filled with them.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: So I would say If I was coaching the younger
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: version of me, I would say, one, if you're betting
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: on yourself and you believe you're going to be successful,
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: prepare for success. And if you're going to prepare for success,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: you better have the money. And ironically, I think one
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: of my biggest challenges in life was being so successful
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: I couldn't capitalize, which almost took me out. So I
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: think making sure that you not only look at what
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: could go wrong, which is what a lot of people do,
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: I think looking at what could go right and what
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: could be wrong with that as well. So I think
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: that would be one of my biggest takeaways.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Going back to the three prongs that you have, what
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: would you say would be the biggest percentage of business
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: in the industry that you're serving?
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I think as we sit here today, these shift.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: As technology became big during COVID-19, you know, people migrating
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: to platforms or large Microsoft Teams and integration for webinars
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: and bringing in voice services. But in the market we
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: see today, you know, highly deregulated, volatile market, energy prices
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: are spiking. So one of the things we're doing, alternative energies,
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: you know, advice on procuring energy. I think in a
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: world where there's a lot of uncertainties, we have tools
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: and AI to help people actually change. They could never
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: get on themselves for themselves.
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  Speaker 2: That's been big.
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  Speaker 4: And I think the market's very confusing in the tax space,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: taking advantage of different regulations and government. You know, they're
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: always changing things year to year. And a lot of
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: times the public accounting firms just don't make, you know,
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: they're good at filing, but I think what, what our
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: teams do much more, much better and more efficiently is
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: advise based on a per client basis what's right for
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: them and help them find additional savings, whether through R
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: & D tax credits or energy tax credits. So finding
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: money where there is no money is big for organizations
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: in a very difficult economy.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Now, how would you describe your target clients?
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: So I grew up servicing the small market, right?
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  Speaker 4: So we grew up thousands of clients that had under
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: 100 users. And we're very good at that white glove approach.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: But as we've grown, we've also accrued, accumulated clients in
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: the multi-billion dollar space, the Fortune 500. They have different
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: levels of problems, complexities, challenges. I think companies that are growing, expanding, acquiring,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: or having significant change are are fits for us.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: And I wouldn't categorize them as a certain size.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: I have many large organizations, they do a lot of acquiring.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: We find they don't get the economies of scale that
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: they could have had, had they known somebody like Comtech.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: We have small companies where we just don't have all
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: the expertise in-house, but they could absolutely, the percentage of
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: savings could be dramatic for their bottom line. So I
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: would say organizations, when they think of themselves, if they're
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: really aspiring for finding the most profit, managing their EBITDA
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: a little tighter, finding money, savings, efficiencies, where they didn't
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: think there was something in the energy tax or technology space,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: we become a very good partner.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: Now, if one of our listeners wanted to work with
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: you today, what would that journey look like?
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: We make it very easy. So it's a phone call.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: So we immediately assign a consultant, go to contextsystems.net, So
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: immediately you would get a consultant. All they do is
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: walk you through it. What are your challenges? What are
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: your goals? Where do you guys see yourselves? A quick
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: look at people's profit and loss statements, what vendors they're
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: using today. We have a unique approach that we do
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: very differently than the big companies is that we don't
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: make money until the client achieves their savings. So that's
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: a big differentiator. So if we think there's savings, we
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: do it for free, essentially. We don't do our first
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: bill until the client has the savings in their pocket.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: So what that does, it builds trust that they would
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: otherwise not get. A lot of companies say, here's your
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: fee and hopefully you'll get it. We took the approach
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: because we work with very large organizations. We want to
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: be budget neutral. In order to be budget neutral, we
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: have to prove our success before we bill for our services.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: So that takes a lot of the tension away from
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: the relationship. So if we said there's 20% or 50%
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: or 80% savings, whatever's there, we benchmark it, we optimize it,
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: we implement it, we demonstrate it's there. And if everybody's aligned,
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: then we'll grow a percentage of savings based on what
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: the client already achieved.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it seems like a win-win.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: We try and make it win. You know, it's an
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: easy button, right? I think that's the biggest thing when
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: you're meeting so many new clients. You see reputation. They
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: see we've been around for 30 years, but also we
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: have very light contracts. We have very, very good billing
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  Speaker 4: terms that allow us to show what we can do
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: prior to really asking for clients to trust us.
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  Speaker 2: We prove it.
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  Speaker 4: And by doing that over and over again, we've built
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: really healthy client base.
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  Speaker 3: Can you share a client success story that truly illustrates
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: the transformation that your work creates?
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, well, you know, like I said, we
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: could really touch on a lot of different clients, but
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: the ones that touch me the most are the ones
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: that would otherwise not have survived without us so i
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: had a very large healthcare organization servicing the non-profit space
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: but they were doing a lot of good in the
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: world a lot of good in the community um and
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: i think they're not i don't know if they're faced
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: with bankruptcy or going out of business they were really
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  Speaker 4: struggling and what they did is allowed us to go
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: into their organization and said if you were us how
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: would you run us differently And I was like, wow,
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: so we can apply all of our tools to this organization.
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  Speaker 4: So the first thing we talked about is all their
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: providers that they spend technology on. We benchmarked everything. We
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: showed them what rates would be today. And over the
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: course of two years, we migrated them all to the
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: best plans. And it was like a 30% savings. Then
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: we centralized their call intake. What they told us two
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: years later is by centralizing everything and optimizing it, we
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: reduced staff, we created operational efficiency with inbound patients. And
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: it was a large number. It was like an 80%
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: achievement in additional new patients, which meant that's how many
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: they were losing without us. So teaching them how tools
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: can be implemented efficiently. So it's not the cost of
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: the tools, it's the cost of not having them. So
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: a lot of times they just don't know what they're
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: going to achieve. And they allowed us, they trusted us.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: We did the same thing for their energy. We had
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: a 30 or 40% reduction in energy spend. And then
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: we taught them about different types of credits that they're
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: eligible for in their space. So it was really the
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: total portfolio of things we put together. But it ends
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: up being, I think it was four or 5% of
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: their gross sales to their bottom line, which for them
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: was transformational. And, you know, they just said to this day,
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: you know, we're 15 years later working together.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: The board and I still talk.
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: They're like, you know, you helped us turn this organization
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: from a failing enterprise into a thriving community. And it
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: was a lot of it from just, you know, the
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: trust they put in ComTech over, you know, just the
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: number of years and just making sure that what we
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: said we could do and teaching them, you know, here's.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: What's possible in the world.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Not everybody has all this expertise in-house, but there are
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: companies that can walk you through it and You know,
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: if you have a trusted advisor like Comtech, it can
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: really be the difference between making it big or not
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: making it at all.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Now, Comtech has become a 10-time Inc.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: Again.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: So can you share a little bit more about those awards?
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So Inc.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Magazine, it's an Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies in the country.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: So it's a difficult award to.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Make once, twice. three times.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: So obviously you have to be in business a pretty
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: long time, but to do it in 10 years or
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: 10 times is a remarkable achievement. I think it's less
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: than a percent of companies in the country.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Have achieved it. It's very difficult.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: So what it ends up taking is just you have
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: to be a very steadfast company on growth. You're probably
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: in the upper 10 or 15% of companies in your industry.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: And you have to show a three-year growth record. So
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: it's just basically the pressure is always on. Once you
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: make it, you have to grow again. And once you
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: grow again, you have to achieve more. And our model
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: is something, I think we're on 15 straight years of
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: just 20% to 30% growth. And we just incrementally add clients.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Our formula is very simple.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Add clients. Do a great job. Try not to lose clients.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: You know, if you retain what you have and add new,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: life seems very easy. It's much more difficult than that.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: But we put a tremendous amount of work into our
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: client success team where their sole job is making sure
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: every existing client relationship has an unbelievable experience with the
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: company that we learn from them on the perceptions of
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: our company and our clients help us run a better organization.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: That's all done through the eyes and ears of our
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: client success team. So I attribute them a lot to
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: our success. And then we have a tremendous amount of
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: agents in the country, around the country that sell our
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: services to their downstream clients and prospects. And that community
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: is what helps build ComTech sales. You know, as long
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: as you keep doing a good job and you have
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: a great reputation, the sales and the opportunities keep coming.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: You're running the right recipe, which is make sure you
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: provide the best service to your current clients because acquiring
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: new clients costs a lot more. And every time that
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: we talk to different companies that we work with, we
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: tell them the same thing is just provide better service
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: and make your current clients happy. And you're going to
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: get more clients after that.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: So you have the right recipe. Now, where is ComTech headed?
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: Because you're learning on an ongoing basis and you have
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: much better macro view than we all do because you
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: get to work with all these organizations. So where is
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: ComTech headed and where do you see business in general
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: with all these electronics and all this technology coming into
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: the market?
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: I think it's daunting for business owners today, right? So
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: I think no matter what field, healthcare, manufacturing, If you
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: are not using the most efficient means of spending capital,
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: somebody else is in your space.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: And that's just factual.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: So you have to change the narrative that, like, let's
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: say people, you know, it's one of those things where
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: you don't want to talk about downsizing, but at the
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: same time, you can't turn on your computer or your
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: phone without hearing about AI. Make no mistake, AI is
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: there to make people and processes more efficient, therefore eliminating problems.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: And if you're eliminating manpower, you're spending it on technology.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: So I think what we're doing is just educating, like,
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: what are the possibilities? Where do you see your organizations
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: and how can you leverage these tools? Call center is
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: probably where I see a big part of our growth.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: So we are a large technology partner with teams and
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: talk desk. But what we're really doing is saying your
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: organization hires people to do a product or a task.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: How can we leverage these tools to help your team
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: be more efficient? So you're either going to have the
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: same number of people be twice as productive. Maybe you'll
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: have half as many people being twice as productive. But
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: the reality of it is you are going to lean
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: heavily on these technology tools to move your business initiatives ahead.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: And that's where ComTech comes in. We are going to
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: be the consultant to either find revenue that maybe otherwise
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: you would have spent and not realized that you could
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: have saved, or we're going to apply these technology solutions
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: to your existing portfolio or your existing platforms that you're
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: running within your organization. And we're just going to help
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: you identify areas you could be more efficient.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Now, if listeners remember only one thing from today's conversation,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: what do you hope that message is?
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: If it was newer business owners, I would say, People
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: running a business, I think there's a lot of doubt
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: in the world. And I think people are just wondering
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: what I should do. And I think if I was
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: to say one of the best traits that's helped me
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: run the company, it's not being afraid to fail and
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: trying to be better at the other side of it.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: It's just a model that we call failing forward. I
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: think that more people need to really recognize it's okay
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: to take risk, calculated risk, find out what worked. You know,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: what my model is, if it works, duplicate it. If
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: it doesn't, eliminate it. But don't be afraid to try.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Great messages.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: It's marketing. It's hiring people. You know, it can always
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: apply it to life. But I think when I look
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: at that, I think every bad situation or everything that
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: didn't work out is just a great lesson for me. And,
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: you know, then they're also paying attention to the things
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: that do and being God bless that those things took place,
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: but then making sure you can duplicate them again.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Don't take that for granted.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Where can our audience connect with you and continue this conversation?
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Love connecting with people on LinkedIn.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: So anybody can find Mike Fertoli, ComTech Systems, Vineland, New
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: Jersey on LinkedIn. Link in with me, send me a
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: quick note, call the office or our website, ComTechSystems.net.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Excellent.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: Now, Mike, thank you so much for joining us. We
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: really appreciate your time and the value you shared.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Joe. This was great.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Thanks, everyone, for listening. If this episode inspired you, share
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: follow the Globalizer podcast for more conversations that make an impact.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: Till the next time.