Commercial Integrator August 2021 - 4

CI NEWS IN BRIEF RECENT STORIES PEOPLE AND PLACES WHAT'S NEW
CCS Presentation Systems Celebrates 30 Years
Godbout.
THIRTY YEARS AGO, John
Godbout cofounder of CCS
Presentation Systems left his career
at IBM and started his own
small business with wife, Beth.
What was originally envisioned
as a lifestyle company quickly
turned into an enterprise company
with over eleven partners,
28 offices covering 40 states
across the U.S.
The couple moved several
times with IBM and simply had
enough. Beth asked John to
come home on the weekends
to be with their two young
children at the time.
CCS wasn't sure how things
were going to go within the
first three months but ended up
making $59,000 in revenue in
its first year.
Today, the company is one
of the top AV integrators in the
nation topping $160M in revenue;
the key to its success is a
unique one-of-kind partnership
structure.
Making The First Quarter
" I was just excited that we
made the first quarter, " said
Godbout. " We started selling
software for IBM midrange
computer systems and I was using
an LCD panel to demo the
software and I didn't sell any
software, but I sold three different
LCD panels, so I figured
I was selling the wrong thing,
and that's how we literally got
started in the AV business. "
It was in the late '90s that
the couple decided to move
on from selling LCD box sets to
becoming an integrator, which
has led them to where the
company is now.
Godbout recalls opening the
door on the first day and thinking
to himself, " here we go. "
4
The couple let their business
partners run their business how
they would like to. Of course,
John and Beth are there to
help along the way, such as
with accounting, if the partner
chooses.
CCS is recovering fast from the pandemic. " Everybody is
really busy and we expect a real good 2021, " says John
Godbout.
From there, he went to straight
to work. Using his IBM training,
he made about 25 calls per day
and mailed 25 letters to customers
either thanking them for
taking his call or " you should
have taken my call. "
Godbout would come
home from the office and give
customer orders to Beth for invoicing.
" If somebody was late
on payment, she would load up
the kids in the car, and either
pick up a check or pick up the
equipment, " said Godbout.
Fortunately, Beth never had to
pick up any equipment.
Two Problems
After success within the first
four years, a sales representative
approached the duo and
indicated he wanted to do
what they were doing, but he
had two problems: he wanted
to operate in Houston, TX and
the second - he had no money.
The Godbout's worked
with their first partner on an
extensive licensing agreement,
which is still the same document
used today. Ever since
their first partner opened a CCS
office in Houston, the couple
have been replicating that
one-of-kind structure with new
Commercial Integrator AUGUST 2021
partners who come to them but
want to operate in different territories
like southern California,
Utah, or Boston.
Passing " The Beth Test "
Before a partner is chosen, they
must be vetted by passing " the
Beth test, " says Godbout. The
couple usually have dinner with
a prospective partner and their
spouse. " We need to know
that the spouse is on board
especially for the support part, "
said Beth Godbout. " Initially it's
tough to get started in a new
business even with our help. "
The couple laugh about it
today. " If I get a red flag, I listen
to it because I don't know what
it is, it's just instinct, but I can
have a feeling something's not
going to work out, " said Beth
Godbout.
That instinct has led them to
successful business relationships
with partners for the last
30 years.
Creating Successful
Partnerships
" CCS partners own 100% of
their business, there's no equity
flowing from one partner to
another, we're held together
by a license agreement, " said
The Future of CCS
CCS is recovering fast from
the pandemic. " Everybody is
really busy and we expect a real
good 2021, " said Godbout.
The company is looking
forward to continuing business
relationships with partners on
the west coast.
Simply put, " we've been
blessed, " said Godbout.
commercialintegrator.com
" I had enough trouble
running my own business, "
said Godbout. When their
first partner opened an office
in Houston, " the agreement
was that we were going to do
all the operations for him and
he was going to sell what we
had, but he had different ideas
on how to run that business.
I wasn't going to take away
from the time of doing that by
trying to run somebody else's
business, so we originally
started that way, and evolved
very quickly. "
In the businesses' earlier
years, Beth recalls talking to her
father about selling LCD panels
to schools and he asked what
they were going to do once the
schools didn't need LCD panels
anymore.
The couple didn't know at
the time what the next product
they were going to sell, but
one thing they've learned is " to
move on to where technology
takes you, " said Godbout.
" Right now, it's just keeping up
with the technology. "
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Commercial Integrator August 2021

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