VACEOS Member Eric Sundberg, President Southern Electronics: Leader, Futurist.
(Trouble seeing video? Please refresh screen.)
Eric Sundberg is a self-proclaimed futurist with an astute “fix it gene” and a fondness for travel. He is tall, thin, and is as equally intense about his work as he is about his love for his giant german shepherd, King, who lounges causally in his office. His business is conducted primarily with others outside of the state, yet he is committed to the development of the Richmond area’s youth.
As a member of the VACEOS, he often shares his experience during confidential roundtable discussions with his peers. Today, we find out about his business vision, how he gives back to the community, and what one piece of advice he has for young entrepreneurs.
About Virginia CEO, Eric Sundberg
Eric proved at an early age to be a hard worker and a leader, not a follower. By 14 he was recruiting kids for his newspaper route and acting as the crew chief for a local swimming pool installation company.
He worked his way through college at a Richmond audio repair shop. By 25 he was ready to be the boss. In that year,1989, he started his own car radio repair business — Southern Autotronics. His company quickly morphed into a $9M, 8-store chain servicing warranties for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler until 2001.
Eric says, “I always had the fix it gene. I took things apart like most kids, but I could put things back together. As I matured I was drawn to the complexity and volume of the auto radio repair work.”
When the warranty work for the major auto manufacturers moved to Mexico, Eric shifted focus and saw a future in GPS systems. About his second business venture, Navtronix, he says, “I’ve always been a futurist, good at anticipating technology advances and opportunities. I am often though, 10 years ahead of my time. Like with navigation. I had to wait for market acceptance of the products, and the price dropped out — not so much with repair which has always been strong.”
Eric went back to his repair roots and started another company, Southern Electronics, Inc. Southern Auto Electronics focuses on dashboard and radio repairs. Its commercial clients include various government and school systems, garages and car dealerships around the world. He also has a solid base of end users who rely on his services.
He reports 80% of his business comes from the web; no doubt a testament to his foresight to start a domain business, and while he was at it, secure names like CarRadio.com, SpeedometerRemoval.com and InstrumentClusterRepair.com for himself.
Live and Die by the Web… and UPS
Eric reports, “One of the secrets to my success is that I found a high-priced, high-value electronics products with a long life for repair. My lifeblood is the web and UPS.”
He has a total of six websites that drive business to his doorstep, and while the complexity of a car’s electronic system has increased, it has also has become self-contained and modular.
Eric explains, “Over the years I often worried that the car radio would one day be a throw away item and the factory would try to replace it. Luckily I was wrong. One reason was the fact that the complexity of the radio has increased over time. What started as simply AM, became an AM/FM, then an 8-track, then a radio cassette, CD and now, a navigation system. The complexity of the content of the radio system has gone up. It justifies the expense of repairing it.”
These days, the car’s radio and navigation system is specifically fitted inside the center console and it’s modular, making it very shippable. As such, Eric’s business has evolved to complete dashboard and instrument cluster repair. He explains, “I also started repairing instrument clusters and speedometers because they are essential components to keep the car or truck on the road. They must be in working order.”
His work is not based on factory manuals or warranty guides, but on his will to fix it and his research skills. He says, “Everything we do here is reverse engineering. My job here is to locate repair parts or techniques to repair components that are failing in high value and/or high volume cars. Like for example, figuring out where to find parts for an unreadable displays on a Mercedes or Audi.” (Answer: Japan.)
Eric points out that his business is based on trust, and even without his strong web presence and business model, it’s his companies hands-on approach to customer service and his 100% satisfaction motto that are the real foundation of his success.
Giving Back
Eric Sundberg has a multi-million dollar electronics business, a thriving domain name business, six websites to manage and a strong desire to travel around the world. To keep up, he’s an early riser and a reader. (Up at 4am; over 30 science and technology publications.)
In his spare time he mentors young adults who show an interest in electronics as well as those who compete in the FIRST® Robotics Competitions. Of the national competition, he says, “Robots are a vehicle to teach kids about teamwork and how to work, experiment, use hand tools and solve problems and interact with adults — the type of skills they will need when they enter into the workforce.”
His next venture is not business-related, but focused toward the community. By this time next year he hopes to pilot an elementary school, after hours science discovery program for underprivileged, gifted students.
One Piece of Advice for Entrepreneurs
Eric has been involved in repairing automobile electronics for over 44 years. When asked what one piece of advice he would offer a startup, he doesn’t hesitate. “Locate a problem that needs solved. Find a niche business that others can’t do easily… [something] that is going to be ongoing and sustainable.”
Eric Sundberg has been an active member of the Virginia Council of CEOs since 2007. He is one of over 160 members who welcome the opportunity to share their business knowledge and concerns each month during member roundtable discussions. To learn more, visit the Virginia Council of CEOS YouTube page or VACEOS website today.
VACEOS Member David Bender: Inside the Passion (Part II)
In our first David Bender, Inside the Passion article, we learned that David’s drive for success came at a very early age. Today the Weeded! Lawn Care CEO is in the midst of transitioning to a new open management style.
He is clearly enthusiastic about his company’s future.
David says, “Three years ago I read the book ‘The Great Game of Business: Unlocking the Power and Profitability of Open-Book Management’ by Jack Stack. I also heard him speak a few years ago at the Virginia Council’s annual retreat.”
He continues, “The Great Game of Business is about sharing your business numbers with your people. The numbers are in effect, your companies’ ultimate scoreboard. Your employees are assigned to teams with bench marks or goals to make. Each team has their own scoreboard; their scores contribute to the overall company score. Everyone is given incentives and the tools they need to positively affect change and improve their team’s numbers.”
He adds, “I believe numbers should drive our systems, instead of guessing at systems and hoping they drive our numbers. What happens is you now move away from a ‘We have to do this because David said’ culture to a culture where employees want to do better by the company. They want to be more efficient. They are incentivized to be perfect for customers. The system is the key to our profitability. It gives me the ability to step back from my business, to crush my peers in the industry and excel at customer service.”
“Crush.” “Excel.” “Customer service.” And that’s the Bender Way.
About David Bender, CEO, Weeded! Lawn Care
David Bender has been an active member of the Virginia Council of CEOs since 2008. He is one of over 120 members who welcome the opportunity to share their business knowledge and concerns each month during member roundtable discussions. To learn more, visit VACEOS Membership.
VACEOS Member David Bender: Inside the Passion (Part 1)
(Trouble seeing video? Please refresh screen.)
It was a simple challenge, really. But it unleashed a competitive spirit in a youngster and ignited a flame that burns beyond bright to this day.
Weeded! Lawn Service CEO, David Bender explains, “Like a lot of kids, I mowed neighbor’s lawn here and there for some extra cash. It wasn’t long before I had several accounts. When I was 10 my mother challenged me to get enough lawn accounts to pay for a $2,500 mower truck.” So, he did. In a week.
David is a charismatic and quick-witted jokester (as demonstrated at the end of his VACEOS YouTube video at the top of this article).
He also happens to be a very competitive guy — just ask his roundtable team and Member Draft participants. David’s DNA is wired to “crush” the competition or the challenge, but look deeper. There’s something else that drives him besides the will to win.
This article is the first of two stories where we uncover a few of David’s business tactics and management techniques that stoke his passion to excel.
How to Thrive in a Difficult Industry and a Troubling Economy
David reveals working in the “homogenized” landscape service industry isn’t easy. Especially during 2007 and 2008. He says, “The landscape business has a very low barrier to entry. When the recession hit in 2007 and continued through 2008, it seemed like every guy with a truck and 12 foot trailer started a lawn business.” Now competition was nipping at his heels. The question became, how could he compete in this environment where industry pricing is nonelastic?
The answer is what drove the Cornell graduate to a general management position within a national restaurant chain and then later towards ownership of a lawn care company: customer service.
“We need to be as efficient as possible in everything we do. It begins with our communication system — that’s what sets us a part,” says David. His system, designed and programmed in-house, is customer service focused and starts as soon as you call.
Customers actually speak to a live person, an uncommon experience within the industry. After the first conversation, enough information is gathered from the call to create an automatic and systematic communication stream where direct mail and email communications are perfectly-timed and automatically sent. Post-service surveys soon follow.
Complementing David’s communication system is a web-based software system that gives his supervisors in the field the ability to automatically up sales and customer retention levels.
“I think in every industry I think most CEOs would agree, communication solves 99% of our problems,” explains Bender. “Our internal web-based program is a phenomenal customer service tool. As far as I know, we are the only one in industry who uses a system like it.”
David explains, “If a supervisor sees a potential landscape issue he simply enters the note in the application. The customer is automatically notified and quoted. Now, the application becomes a customer communication tool and efficient sales tool.”
Both systems leave the customer feeling attended to and valued and it’s an extremely efficient way to do business.
In our next article, David discusses his new management approach that gives him the ability to step back from his business, “crush” his peers in the industry and excel at customer service.
About David Bender, CEO, Weeded! Lawn Care
David Bender has been an active member of the Virginia Council of CEOs since 2008. He is one of over 120 members who welcome the opportunity to share their business knowledge and concerns each month during member roundtable discussions. To learn more, visit VACEOS Membership.
VACEOS Member Profile: Rob Jones, CEO Alliance Group Checks the Pulse of the Country. Are You Listening?
Stay two or three moves ahead and surround yourself with talented deep divers. That’s how Alliance Group CEO, Rob Jones explains his ability to keep his PR and consulting business thriving, so much so he has afforded himself and his staff new digs on West Main Street. The space is the perfect environment to harbor a specialized staff who manages six different verticals across an extremely diverse client base. Rob’s got his eyes and ears on the pulse of the country. Are you listening?
“I pride self on being a generalist. I try to know a lot about a variety of things, and I have the ability to connect dots. It’s imperative that I am able to see what the next move is on the chess board and know what the next two or three moves should be for my clients and my business.”
His firm, the Alliance Group, provides lobbying, public relations, grassroots, social media, fundraising and association management assistance to a diverse set of clientele, from various nonprofits and government agencies to companies like Pfizer and Walmart.
He continues, “My team dives deep into the subject matters we pursue, so I am able to look at the bigger picture while they are able to go into the strategic details with our clients. At the end day we build teams around each client. We find this approach works really well.”
Each of Alliance’s services sprung from specific opportunities to serve a particular niche. Some clients need a blend, or, says Rob, “We might have a government affairs client who only needs PR help, or an outside PR firm may come to us for our expertise in lobbying. We think there is plenty of opportunity in Virginia and other states to share business this way.”
Creative problem solvers deserve a creative space. But in this economic environment?
It’s hard to believe pre-civil war beds and mattresses once lined the walls of the current Alliance space. Now, it’s a modern, open space with high end lighting, attractive artwork and an unusual greeting party. (Expect a welcome wag from Rob’s two pups Lilly and Ella who are regular visitors.)
“We needed an open canvas and the opportunity to do something really unique.” Like create a room divider made of tin roof and plastic, and a versatile loft area for additional talent and storage space. It works. Well. But it wasn’t without the normal move in pains. When asked to offer up some office renovation advice, Rob says, “Expect a lot of red tape!”
So how does a PR firm stay successful enough to ride a lengthy and unsettled economic wave? “I have a great team here. They keep our existing clients happy and set the stage for new business. I also travel around the country searching for networking opportunities to bring in new business. I’m also happy to say we have been able to move existing clients to higher levels AND we are finding that as folks we’ve worked with move on to new opportunities, they take us with them, which I think speaks a lot to the quality of work our team does.” And, Rob adds, he hungers to learn something new every day.
Economic pulse check.
Alliance’s past and present client list includes the Virginia Wineries Association, Microsoft, US Chamber of Commerce and the Clear Channel, to name a few. The company has an ear to many industries. So what are they saying?
“The big thing right now is ‘We’ve got to get to election day.’ There seems to be a pause in decision making until we get there – whether it’s artificial or not, it seems to be ‘Let’s see what happens on November 6,” Rob reports.
He continues, “Once we get to that point there will be an explosion, no matter who wins. There is a pent-up demand for action. Major corporations have money on the sidelines that they need to do something with, but rather than take a gamble in the next 60 days they want an idea of what the rules they have to play under will be. I think there is a sense of optimism and people are ready to get going, we just need to get there.”
Q: If you could give one piece of PR advice to politicians everywhere, it would be…
“Folks really want to know who the candidate is. I would say be real. Don’t be packaged as someone you’re not. If you don’t believe in an issue, don’t make it part of your platform but rather be honest with folks of where you are on it. That’s difficult to do.”
And another key piece of advice for politicians and business owners alike? Have a crisis plan in place. “The worst thing is for corporations to have four different people saying four different things to the media.”
Does your company have a contingency plan in place should there be a crisis situation? What plans are you putting on hold until after the election? Please share your thoughts here.
CEO Profile: John Carrico
Twelve-year-old John Carrico started washing dishes in his father’s family restaurant in Martinsville, Virginia. This is where he learned the value of hard work and the importance of working with others to achieve a common goal. After graduating from UVA with a B.S. in Commerce, and later an MBA from the Darden School with an emphasis in marketing, he worked as a CPA and an audit supervisor for Coopers & Lybrand, and then for Signet Bank where he had achieved the title Vice-President of Installment Lending by 1997—the year he was recruited by Jim Ukrop.
Ukrop’s Dress Express was spun off from Ukrop’s Supermarket in 1998 to focus on designing, manufacturing, and marketing uniforms to supermarkets and other businesses. Among its clients today Ukrop’s Dress Express counts more than 50 food store chains—and more Top 75 supermarkets than any other uniform vendor—in addition to other major corporations, with over 1,000 uniform apparel and promotional product accounts across the country.
John is married to his high school sweetheart, Sheri, and they have two sports-minded teenage sons, Tyler and Drew. Tyler recently signed a scholarship offer to play baseball for UVA next year. John is an active spectator and coach for his son’s baseball teams, and is involved with his church and Noah’s Children, the area’s only palliative and hospice care program solely for children.
How do you define success?
Lifting others to achieve more—which, in turn, lifts the business to new levels.
In your opinion, what are the most important characteristics of a good leader?
A good leader leads by example, has passion and courage to act, has vision and sees around the corner, and is fair and consistent.
What is your biggest challenge as a CEO?
Tactically, the ability to manage the risk of world source production in an overseas climate that seems to be in constant turmoil and upheaval. Strategically, preventing complacency within your organization once you have achieved some levels of success.
Three words that describe me as a CEO are…
Driven, passionate, prepared.
Something surprising about my job is…
There’s a creative sense of style in what could be a “boring” uniform industry.
Best Virginia business dinner
Boar’s Head Inn
Recently read
The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
You’re hosting a dinner party for three famous people – current or historical. Who would they be and why?
Thomas Jefferson—he drafted the principles that laid the foundation of our country, and was an amazing statesman and visionary (and he designed a pretty awesome University in his hometown).
Walt Disney—he was the greatest creative genius ever, and it all started with a mouse.
Cal Ripken, Jr.—he is the total definition of persistence, drive, and hard work to achieve amazing success.
What is the best business advice you’ve received?
“The harder you work, the luckier you get,” from Jim Ukrop.
What motivates you?
Building teams to facilitate the achievement of sustainable success.
What makes your company unique?
We design and manufacture very good, custom uniform apparel products, and we provide great service to our customers—all by having a remarkable group of passionate associates driven to serve.
I can’t get through the day without…
My iPhone!
Guilty pleasure
Trips to DisneyWorld (more than I want to admit!)
Favorite websites
cnn.com, wsj.com, virginiasports.com, espn.com
Music to work by
Classic rock, like The Eagles
Volunteerism
Noah’s Children—Central Virginia’s only children’s hospice and palliative care program, Huguenot Little League (youth baseball coach),BonAirUnitedMethodistChurch
Recent Comments