Waltz Business Solutions celebrates 125 years in business.
Waltz’s current owners (left to right): John, Matt, Jeff, Jerry, and Josh Jehn
This June marks a truly amazing milestone in the history of Waltz Business Solutions””it’s 125th anniversary in business in the greater Cincinnati area/Northern Kentucky area.
Founded in 1892 as a typewriter sales and repair company, Waltz Business Solutions was acquired by Jim Jehn in 1961 from the remaining members of the Waltz family. By the late 1970s Waltz started selling Mita copiers, initiating a new direction for the company. It also sold 3M copiers as well as copiers from other vendors, including Océ’s liquid and dry press powder toner machines. Today, Waltz sells hardware and solutions from Kyocera, Xerox, and OKI.
With only 38 employees, Waltz has shown that bigger isn’t always better as it competes successfully day in and day out in a tough market against much larger dealerships.
But none of that explains how a typewriter repair company turned copier dealership has lasted 125 years. Maybe, after 45 years in the business, and on the eve of his retirement the end of June, Jim’s son Jeff, the company’s current president has some clues.
“We are a very conservative company so we don’t roll big dice, we don’t take big chances,” he observed. “The buying power we have with Kyocera is very good but probably can’t match what a $30-million a year company can do. I don’t know if I want to get that big, but we continuously try to grow our business and we grow very slowly, but we grow steadily.”
Jeff joined the company along with his older brother Joe (who retired from the company 11 years ago) in the turbulent early 1970s while in college. He originally had no intention of working for “the man”””his father””but instead had his sights set on a position in the architectural field.
That’s not how things turned out. Instead, he would find a home at Waltz and become one of the architects that helped a small dealership grow and thrive at a slow and steady clip.
Band of Brothers
Three more Jehn brothers (excluding Jeff) and Jeff’s son Matt are currently active in the business as managing partners. One brother, John, is a year younger than Jeff and working part-time as he, too, eases into retirement. The second brother, Jerry, is slated to take over as president on July 1. Jeff describes himself as the visionary of this company, while Jerry is the integrator and action man. Jeff’s younger brother, Josh, serves as CFO.
Even Jeff’s 89-year-old mother, Janet, is still loosely involved in the business. After her husband passed away 10 years ago, she was adamant the brothers remain close and made it a point to have lunch with them a few times a week. Eventually, they decided if she was going to come into the office, they should put her to work. You’ll now find her a few times a week scanning company documents. She loves it.
The four active brothers run the business by committee.
“We’re accountable to each other and we keep each other in check,” explained Jeff.
One of the lessons Jeff’s father taught him and his brothers was to recognize each other’s strengths.
If you believe the results of the Myers Briggs personality test, which Jeff and his three brothers””including Joe, the company’s former president who is now retired””took a few years back while Jeff was VP and president in training, all four brothers amazingly fit into four different quadrants after the results were tabulated.
“We all have strengths and we recognize those in each other and work on them,” noted Jeff. “Jerry is our resident Type A personality and will do very well [when he takes over.]. I don’t want this to sound wrong, but I’m a peace-maker. I make sure things work well and that balances well with Jerry and my younger brother Josh, who’s more analytical and quiet.”
What’s it like working so closely with family every day?
“People have asked me whether I’m in a family business or a business family. And I simply say, “˜yes,’ because I don’t know the answer to that question,” said Jeff.
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Owner Jim Jehn with his sons, Jeff and Joe circa 1980
Jeff cites involvement with BTA/NOMDA for helping the dealership grow and thrive.
“I’ve always been a big proponent of the BTA relationship,” observed Jeff. “I was an officer and President of BTA in 2004″“2005. I got involved in the organization when I was quite young.”
He attended his first NOMDA in the early “˜80s and quickly became enamored with the organization and has enjoyed the relationships he’s made as a member. He even became one of NOMDA’s traveling instructors, which provided him with a deeper understanding of the industry as well.
Jeff also feels that the company’s membership in Select Dealer Group (SDG) has been beneficial.
“Probably the best thing we’ve ever done for this company is joining SDG,” he said about the decision he made 10 years ago. “Being able to bounce ideas off 39 other companies and benchmark our best practices and financials against other [dealers] has just been astounding.”
Another smart move was implementing the Traction program, which was introduced to Jeff by a colleague in SDG.
“That’s probably the second-best thing we’ve ever done,” noted Jeff. “Traction has given us the ability to define a crisp and clear way in how we run our business. It’s an entrepreneurial method of management that helps management get a laser clear focus as far as running the business with communication, operation, and vision.”
The management team meets every Wednesday over lunch and rates how the company has performed over the previous week.
“It’s a good method of management and communication among management,” noted Jeff.
The program has also filtered down into the sales and service departments, which has improved communication and performance within those departments as well.
It may sound like a given that a family owned business would find family values important and strive to treat clients and employees as family, but sometimes that’s easier said than done. There’s even a banner at Waltz that reads, “We work together as family and treat our clients and employees as such.”
“Family is a big component for us,” said Jeff. “If you speak to our employees, they’ll say almost to a man and woman that we foster a family atmosphere. We’re all business and we all realize we have rocks to push up hill, but we’re family. We struggle together and celebrate together.”
Modest Growth Through Acquisition
There have been a few acquisitions over the years, and Jeff says those have worked out well while also providing valuable learning experiences.
Waltz started its own internal networking division in the mid-1990s after Mita introduced its first digital machines.
“We saw the opportunities there,” recalled Jeff. “We had a service manager with some computer background and he said I can get you into this business and to the promised land. He did a nice job of getting that framework set up and we were on our way.”
After that individual left the company, Jeff had trouble finding someone to run that part of the business. Because that talent didn’t exist on staff, the Jehns acquired a computer company to secure the appropriate talent.
“It was our first acquisition, and at the end of the day, we’ll say it was a good exercise in attempting to grow, but it never took off like we wanted it to,” acknowledged Jeff. “We sold the remnants of that managed services division about five years ago now. However, the experience we gained and the networking knowledge we obtained have been invaluable in the operation of our copier/print division because of the obvious relationship on the networking side.”
Waltz has made two other acquisitions, two small copier companies, which have added some talented techs and administrative personnel to the mix as well as additional clients.
Goal Setting
Jim Jehn, who acquired the company in 1961, in his office in 1985
Every year, the dealership has a two-day offsite planning meeting to set goals and strategies for the company, including revenue and a profit goal for the next 12 months. Two years ago, the Jehns set lofty 18% goals for revenue growth.
“In the past, we never really grew more than a couple of percentage points per year,” revealed Jeff. “While we didn’t hit 18%, we exceeded 10%, which is five times greater than anything we’ve done in the past.”
A similar goal was set the following year with similar results. Waltz’s profit/operating goals also quadrupled during that period. A new director of sales has been a tremendous asset and helped Waltz acquire some additional revenue. New hires have also been instrumental for increasing revenues.
“We have been fortunate we have not seen a decline in our MIF,” added Jeff. “Again, it’s a very competitive market and our goal is to keep pushing hard. We feel we’ve been underperforming for the last 15 years and we’re catching up right now. We anticipate that factor alone will help us grow.”
New opportunities are also being generated by a document management/document destruction division, as well as offering scanning as a service. The company also offers MPS, document storage, and shredding services.
“One of our new tag lines is we have our clients covered from document creation to destruction,” said Jeff.
The Next 125
With three brothers in the business, one wonders if there’s a third generation coming up behind the brothers Jehn. Maybe, maybe not. Jeff’s son, Matt, the only third generation Jehn in the company, has been there for 15 years and may one day carry on the Jehn legacy.
When asked if the Jehns have ever been tempted to sell their business, Jeff acknowledged that they have in the past, but then dismissed the thought. “Being in business this long makes it cumbersome for us to entertain somebody else coming in and acquiring our company,” said Jeff. “But never say never.”
As he counts down his days to retirement after 45 full-time years in the business, Jeff has become reflective.
“When I leave, the company will continue to run well because everyone knows what their job is. I’m not going to make a clean break and never walk in here again, but I’m retiring knowing I’ve put in 40-plus good years, and the company is in good shape.”
