John Gergel has ink in his
blood. So in 1985, when he
had the opportunity to purchase Watt Printers, he didn’t
hesitate to buy one of Cleveland’s
oldest printing firms.
The company was founded in
1893, and after three generations of family ownership, the
Watts family was looking to sell,
and Gergel and co-owner Craig
Kellem were ready to buy.
“The gentleman who owned
the company had all professional
children: doctors, lawyers,
bankers,” Gergel says. “They
had no ink in their veins.”
After a hefty initial investment
to replace much of the company’s
obsolete equipment, Watt Printers
has enjoyed steady growth. With
Gergel as president, it has grown
from a five-employee, $200,000
operation to an 85-employee,
$14 million industry leader.
Smart Business spoke with
Gergel about why you should
cross-train your employees and
how to build a positive reputation for your company.
Q. How did you develop a
plan for the company?
It wasn’t really a plan. We
bought a company that was
totally antiquated, and having
been in the business prior to
owning this business, we knew
what quality meant.
Basically, as we grew, we had
to improve our quality by investing in more capital equipment
obviously, and that’s how it
came about. As we grew, we
kept enhancing our capabilities,
or technological equipment, and
added more employees.
What helped us grow is a philosophy that we all have. As trite
as it may sound, if a person
spends a dollar with us, they get a dollar-plus in value back.
Q. How do you ensure that
your employees are living
your philosophy?
Our management team has set
up complete employee guidelines. Everyone basically knows
their job, and we do a lot of
cross-training.
So there are people out there
who not only know their jobs,
but they know other jobs within
the company. Everybody is kind
of looking after everyone else
on a constant basis.
It’s helped many times
during vacation periods
and during sick periods.
We’ve had people with
some major illnesses who
were gone for quite awhile.
If we had no one available
who could do that job,
we’d be in a real hurt. So
that’s two of the many,
many more reasons why
we’ve done that.
It also keeps the challenge. Challenge is a big
part of the company, from
the floor sweeper right up
through Mike [Nakonek,
vice president of operations] and me. If you’re
not challenged, you don’t
have the ambition to come
to work in the morning.
Q. How do you earn the
respect of your employees?
Having been in the business
all my life, and having been
through nearly every phase of
the business, we understand the
business. All of our people do
know that.
We highly value our employees
and let them know that. That
mutual respect we have for one
another has been quite sufficient
in leading this company.
Q. How do you show your
employees that you value them?
When we have a major client
or prospective client come into
the shop, I basically introduce
every one of them on an individual basis. That in and of itself
lets them know their importance.
I tell a story at each station. I
might tell them how long that
employee has been with us,
what kind of job he’s done, in
most cases.
I believe that we are nothing
without their expertise and technical knowledge. We even
let our clients know that. But
then again, we do have employees we can be proud of — by the work they do, by the way
they present themselves, even
by the way they communicate
with our clients when they’re in
the shop. Letting them know
what an integral part of the business they are has helped get
their full cooperation.
Q. How do you find employees
you can be proud of?
In our industry, there seems to
be a lot of people looking. Unfortunately, there are a lot of good
people out there that we just
cannot hire because of our size.
We have a reputation, and
people in the industry who are
wanting to make a move —
you wouldn’t believe how
many times we’re approached
and asked, ‘Can you find an
opening for us?’
There are a lot of good craftsmen out there who are qualified to work here, but we have
to limit ourselves. We can only
employ the people that we can
afford to keep.
Even that is difficult because
we do promote from within. We
have apprentices who are working with our journeymen, and
they know someday they’re
going to be in the top spot.
We’re more apt to promote
from within rather than go
from the outside.
Q. How does promoting from
within increase retention?
With the cross-training, the
constant challenge as well as
knowing they can be promoted,
they know that there’s no limit
to how far they can go in this
company. That’s our business
philosophy. If they want my job,
they can have it. We don’t limit
anyone.
HOW TO REACH: Watt Printers, (216) 398-2000 or www.wattprinters.com