All of TI’s “P and L leaders” have autonomy in how they run their parts of the business, says Powers, who visits each office at least once every quarter. “If we’re responsible for anything, it’s putting the right people in position to perform,” he says.
Powers also makes sure customers aren’t shy about reaching out to him when there’s something they want TI to address. “The only way to differentiate yourselves in this market is with the service and experience you provide for your customers,” he says. “We all sell the same equipment.”
Big Company, Small Focus
Even as TI continues to expand its offerings and its size, Landrum is proud to hear PSNI executive director Chris Miller talk about how the company continues to operate like a small business, with a personal touch with all its customers.
“Clients are focused on doing business with organizations that are strong and this industry is continuing to grow at a nice, consistent 12 to 14 percent rate,” says Landrum. “We’ve been very blessed and been the beneficiaries of good economic markets and good opportunities we took when they were presented to us. Most importantly, we have such a strong team of business leaders.”
Miller credits TI’s “very conservative, methodical approach” and notes they aren’t overly protective of the secrets of their success. “They’re givers,” says Miller. “It’s in their nature.”
It might be part of the reason TI boasts a core group of employees with more than 20 years with the company, an impressive feat given some of the turmoil and management turnover during that time. Recently, TI saw Pat Matthews retire after more than 43 years with the company.
“When you buy the assets of a bankrupt company at an auction, it seems like a risky thing,” says Powers. “What made me comfortable doing it was the core of loyal customers and employees I knew we’d be getting.”
Miller sees Landrum and Powers as a good team too. “One’s very sales-driven and the other’s very financially driven,” he says.
The company is specifically designed to have multiple specialties, says Landrum, inc luding command and control; enterprise video that crafts a blend of premium and cloud-based technologies; broadcast, houses of worship; and federal government. Each segment has what Landrum calls “a large group of dedicated technical support personnel who are trained specifically for each technology vertical.”
That diversified approach may be part of why TI continued to grow its top and bottom lines throughout the recession that saw many of its competitors struggle and, in many cases, fail completely.
The federal government vertical market represents “a big initiative” that’s “challenging to get through” and command and control centers remain “a very complex space” that “takes a lot of nuance to understand,” says Landrum. But TI has succeeded in both because it’s dedicated the time, money and staff to learning about the markets and the key players within each.
“You can’t expect instant success,” says Landrum. “It certainly helps to have some level of confidence and a good, healthy backlog. We can’t let the competitive market move us from our approach. We don’t overtly overreact to competition.”
With that said, Landrum and Powers know there’s more business out there for TI to grab and they don’t plan to let someone else beat them to it. While Landrum is confident TI has the D.C. region locked down, the upcoming office in Houston will give them a new area to target and renew the push to dominate in each of the markets where it has offices, and even those around the world where it doesn’t.
“We don’t market internationally, but our customers take us there sometimes,” he says.
Powers expects to see TI “do things that are more aggressive to stimulate growth” in the somewhat-immediate future. TI hired Chris Johnson as chief technology officer in May 2013, filling a gap in a world that’s increasingly IT-centric. “It’s important to add that capability to what we do,” says Powers. He also expects TI “to bring IT-centric companies into the business” sometime soon because “training won’t move us quite fast enough.”
But, true to TI’s core philosophy, Landrum notes the company is all about winning the race at its own pace.
“If you focus on growth, you’re focused on the wrong thing,” he says. “Our focus is on consistency with our clients and our vendors every single day.
