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ExecutiveBiz: How did you become the president and CEO of DLT?
Rick Marcotte:
I was a board member prior to becoming the president and CEO. While I was serving on the board, I became increasingly familiar with the company's unique business model and the energy, enthusiasm and talent of the employees. When the board was in search of a new leader to take the company to the next level of success, they asked me to consider the position – and then ultimately asked me to take over the CEO role after much due diligence.
ExecutiveBiz: What are your day to day responsibilities?
Rick Marcotte:
They call me the president and CEO, but in reality I'm the chief cheerleader, chief motivator and chief drill sergeant. It's a rigorous business, and we have built some strong regimented sales and marketing processes. My role is to manage and ingrain those practices into the company DNA to ensure the success of our customers, our partners and the company.
ExecutiveBiz: How big is the company in terms of size and revenue?
Rick Marcotte:
We closed $337 million in 2005, up 6% from the prior year. That is particularly noteworthy since many of our major competitors were shrinking.
ExecutiveBiz: Who are your major customers?
Rick Marcotte:
We have two sets of clients – the government customers and our vendor partners. Our government customers account for 99% of our revenue, and we have about an 80/20 split between federal versus state and local. We typically sell at an enterprise level with all sectors of the government – DoD is the largest of those. We take our commitment to our vendor partners very seriously, treating them as clients as well.
ExecutiveBiz: How do you differentiate your value offer to the government?
Rick Marcotte:
We have a couple of competitive differentiators. For our government clients, we have become known for fast, flexible and responsive support as well as a broad contract portfolio and comprehensive solutions including services. For our vendor partner clients, we maintain exclusivity – not a grocery store approach. This allows us to develop deep subject matter expertise in their products and implement various business process integration methods (lead generation, marketing, pipeline management, systems automation and collaborative business development).
ExecutiveBiz: What's your biggest challenge with moving forward?
Rick Marcotte:
The first and biggest challenge is the competitive nature of the market. The U.S. government is the largest IT customer in the world – they're a Fortune #1 - but our competitive differentiators help mitigate that challenge. The second challenge is tracking the opportunities and funding over time. The sales cycle is long, and funding priority issues come up which can divert discretionary funds before a deal is finalized – for example, the war effort or Katrina relief. Our strong regimented sales and marketing processes help us overcome those issues. Third, I'd say is to maintain a strategy of "smart growth." You can grow the top line and not make any money. Or, you can do as we do – grow intelligently, avoid price wars and manage your business properly for the long term.
ExecutiveBiz: Are you looking to be acquired soon? Or acquire any companies?
Rick Marcotte:
There's no exit strategy on the horizon. We're building the company and creating value for the long term. To that end, we're always looking for potential acquisitions and opportunities to grow our solutions, services and value proposition. I'm not trying to change the company into a predominantly services business, but rather add on further solutions and engineering services capabilities to a very strong core reseller business.
ExecutiveBiz: What's your view of small contractors?
Rick Marcotte:
We work with many small, experienced contractors. We view them as a virtual extension of our company. Because of our success in the government marketplace, I get calls all the time from small businesses who want to partner with us, but we are very selective. Quality is important. We only work with contractors that demonstrate strong qualifications, past experience, and certifications that enhance our business.
ExecutiveBiz: How would you describe your leadership style?
Rick Marcotte:
I'm a collaborative leader. I like a collegial atmosphere with a strong team – offering praise in public and direct criticism in private. At the end of the day and after much debate and consensus building, I make the best informed decision I can, pull the trigger, and expect a united front from my managers.
ExecutiveBiz: How do expect the company to look in five years?
Rick Marcotte:
I would expect us to be at north of $500 million in revenue. A higher proportion of our revenue should be coming from our services and technical support business segments, and we will continue to have a strong core reseller business – it is our foundation.
ExecutiveBiz: Are you working on any acquisitions?
Rick Marcotte:
As I mentioned before, we're building the company and creating value for the long term. Our 5-year strategy is primarily organic but there is an acquisition element as well.
ExecutiveBiz: What have you learned over the past 20 years that you would pass on to others?
Rick Marcotte:
First, it's all about the people. Business theory is great, but at the end of the day it's about surrounding yourself with a good team and leading them effectively. Second, "smart" growth is better than "fast" growth. And third, acquiring is easy…integrating is difficult.
ExecutiveBiz: What is something most people don't know about you?
Rick Marcotte:
I was a drummer in a rock band during my later years of high school and during university. We played the Stones, The Clash, and Elvis Costello, stuff like that. Now I'm wearing a suit and selling IT products – strange how life works.
For more information about
DLT Solutions, Inc., visit
www.dlt.com.
Interview with Rick Marcotte conducted by JD Kathuria.
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