Russell Cellular Inc. was a 2010 honoree at Springfield Business Journal's 2010 Dynamic Dozen awards. Information was accurate at the time of the honor. Click here for information about this year's event.The conversion of more than 100 stores to Verizon red from Alltel blue kept Russell Cellular Inc. owners Jeff and Kym Russell working harder than ever in 2009.
“We’re used to living on the edge of insanity, because that’s our comfort zone,” Vice President Kym Russell said of the hectic year. “For the most part, we were frustrated and overwhelmed, but it wasn’t because of (our) growth. It was because of the conversion.”
Russell Cellular posted 2009 revenues of $44.7 million, a 122 percent leap from 2007.
In 2009, the company became an agent of New Jersey-based Verizon after that company closed on its $28.1 billion purchase of Alltel in January.
With the conversion, Russell Cellular went from being the largest national Alltel agent in terms of locations to the fifth-largest Verizon agent in the country.
The Russells started their company 17 years ago after moving to Springfield from Harrison, Ark. Jeff Russell discovered his penchant for sales when he started selling cell phones out of the trunk of his car.
Alltel offered the couple the opportunity to open a store in Bolivar, and they seized the chance, borrowing $1,500 from Jeff’s mother. Sales exceeded expectations from the store’s opening weekend, and that $1,500 was paid back in 30 days.
Russell Cellular has 124 locations. Of those, 15 in Ohio and Illinois are still with Alltel.
Russell Cellular operates in nine states: Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Ohio and West Virginia.
The substantial bump in revenue last year was expected, said President Jeff Russell. Part of that was due to the acquisition of SRC Communications and its almost 20 stores in Ohio at the end of 2008.
“We knew that was a large acquisition that would drive revenue, and we knew 2009 would be a big year with the Verizon-Alltel acquisition, so we took advantage of that,” he said.
The acquisition allowed Russell Cellular to expand its Missouri presence into Joplin and Carthage, because Verizon owns licenses in most of the state, Russell said.
Converting to Verizon meant an overnight change in everything from signage and posters to coffee cups and pens. It also meant training employees on new handsets and rate plans, which was no small task. Savvy consumers want to know how to use their handsets, which have become minicomputers, he said.
“Our customers are coming to us to meet their needs and to teach them … how to use that computer,” Russell said. “We are more focused on our training this year.”
Russell Cellular increased staff to meet its growth, from the field – district sales managers doubled to 28 – to the corporate office, where employees have increased to 36 from 17 in the last 12 months.
“We’ve made sure we’ve also focused on the system that’s really the backbone (taking) care of the business,” he said.
Part of that backbone is a full-time inventory manager who studies the bells and whistles of each handset. Russell’s duties still include approval of each handset and selecting each Russell Cellular location, both of which he’s done from the onset.
Growing through acquisition is still part of Russell Cellular’s strategy, but the company is being more careful.
“Even though we’ve grown a lot, we’re still looking at how we can increase revenue and how can we run a little tighter,” Russell said.
The core emphasis remains retaining customers and driving same-store sales.
And with so much work put into converting stores, learning a new corporate culture and putting the infrastructure in place to take the company higher, the focus now is on becoming a successful Verizon agent after more than 15 years of proven results with Alltel, Kym Russell said.
“There’s no point in being bigger and doing more if you’re not going to make more money,” she said.[[In-content Ad]]
