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