Keith Ferrel - Lessons on Leadership

This article first appeared in the October Issue of Digital Image Magazine

Could you tell our readers about the challenges and your response to the pandemic?

Nigel: In 2020 when the first pandemic hit, it was a little bit of the unknown. Externally, there was no experience on this, we had to look internally at what we could leverage. I think a big part of our success in 2020 was that we’re a well-established company with a long staff tenure. There was an element of faith that everyone could pull together. 

What got us going last year and led to our success, and indeed into this year, was the man next to me. Keith’s ability to look at the cold hard facts and face it front on. That’s something we’ve learned not to shy away from, if it’s tough, we face the facts and get on with it. Business did slowdown in 2020 and there was real panic as to what was going to happen. But over a while, when we came out of that lock-down, we saw it come back with a vengeance. I don’t think we would be the only printer to say that the last quarter of 2020 was probably one of the best times with the volume of work coming through. 2021 has been a little different.

I think the big success at Cactus overall is that we are incredibly well diversified across the industry. While we’re known as a large format digital printer and printing billboards, we’re doing other products and elements that keep us well ahead of any slowdown.

Was the slow down due to COVID fatigue of other businesses?

Nigel: I think it’s a combination. When we see the numbers turn as far as vaccinations goes that’s a significant indicator of how people are feeling in the market. When we got to the 70% first dose, we started to see numbers pick up again in terms of volume coming through and people wanting to use our services. I think there’s a lot of planning going into now and into the future. So, it’s looking pretty good.

Keith: Correct, the result wasn’t bad. But, as Nigel said, at first there was the big unknown and we didn’t know where it would bottom out. But there’s a lot more confidence around in the market.

From a production perspective, it’s highly unusual to have production staff who have been around for a long time as it’s pretty labour intensive. We celebrated a couple of the team who have been here for over 20 years and another one at 23.

It’s a significant milestone, and sharing it with people who have been here for at least 75% to 80% of their journey, it’s going to be a damn good celebration.

During this time, how has the overseas work been? Maintaining relationships is vital, and without being able to travel, has that had an effect?

Keith: Our strength is our relationships. There are many people we continually work with; we try to learn as much from them as they do from us. It’s a matter of dedicating some of the time of your day to keeping up with these relationships, texting them and saying I hope you and your family are safe and well, and I look forward to catching up.

With staff, relationships and communication is vital. There are a lot of people who keep things secret. We don’t; we never have. We get our staff together every month and let them know how we’re tracking. It is important to them that they know that they’re in a good safe environment. They have families, mortgages, and kids at school, just like we’ve all been through. It is important to them to know that we’re talking to them and being honest and upfront. It’s no different for our clients. I think that’s key with your local clients, overseas clients, and your staff.

Do you believe the attributes of being successful is be based on relationship?

Keith: I think it’s a significant part of it, the other is being able to listen, it’s a two-way street. You’ve got to understand what people are talking about. Nigel is particularly good at dealing with personal relationships.

You speak passionately about relationships. Is that how you live your personal life as well as in business?

Keith: When you have spent 30 years in business, you know what works. I worked with Nigel’s dad, and I would follow him to hell and back if he said today, ‘Come on Keith, we’re going to go and start up another business’ I would back him and follow him that’s the amount of respect that I have for the man. He was the CEO of New Zealand newspapers, high paid responsible with over 1000 staff, and I was a sales and marketing manager.

Then one day, he mentioned that we should start up a printing business. We didn’t know much about printing. We worked out of our units for two years in Australia, then he returned to New Zealand after 12 months to look after the New Zealand side of the business, and I stayed here.  It got to the stage where we ended up selling more in Australia than New Zealand. We had to make the decision whether to continue - we had needed to set up a production plant - or call it quits. We had no money, to go spending millions of dollars on equipment, but that is what we chose to do - I suppose the rest is history.

We ended up maxing out every credit card. Sometimes we went three or four months with no money to pay our staff. You look back and you think you must have been mad to make those decisions.

You saw a gap in the market and decided to give it a go?

Keith: We saw the gap when we got here. We had two electrostatic machines, which were very new to the market. They were the first real digital machines. While we weren’t in the printing business, we were in the newspaper business, so we knew all the agencies we knew what they were going through. If they wanted to get 20 posters, they had to get 1000 because you can only screen print them on offset. So, there was an opportunity, but you had to re-educate the market. Probably for the first 12 months, that’s what we spent our time doing.

When we got to Australia, we saw the opportunity in the large format and the billboard side of things. Only one company produced billboards in Australia, and turnarounds were between six and ten weeks. Then we were introduced to Brendon Cook; we spent a lot of time with him got a lot of his advice. He was in the infancy of starting up a big outdoor media company. And we became very, very good friends.

Then Warwick went to America and met with Dan Griesemer and ended up doing a joint venture deal with him. They would print a billboard that would have a ten-day turnaround and print them in the United States. And we would sell them here. They wouldn’t take any production costs, and we wouldn’t take any selling costs, other than the cost price, the profit we put in the bank so we could afford to buy a new printer. Three months later, we needed a second machine, and three months later, we needed a third one, that’s how it took off - that was the gap in the market. We saw the opportunity.

Once the turnaround time decreased from six to 10 weeks to 10 days, it opened a new world for outdoor and media companies.  Instead of being solely a brand opportunity, it became more retail as well. The turnaround times were down to 12 and 24 hours. I remember the first billboard we printed, I’ll never forget, it was for Balmain Rugby League Club. I think the billboard was about six meters by 1.8 meters or something. It took three and a half hours to print.  We stood there, watching every pass of this printer. We thought, ‘how good is this? We’ve made it.’ By the time the billboard printed, we had drunk a dozen bottles of beer. Today you wouldn’t even get the top off.

As technologies change, it’s allowed us to diversify into other areas because of the quality and speed of the printers and their versatility.

It was a lot of fun and a lot of heartbreak. You look back with a lot of pride. People see your success but they have no idea about the trials and tribulations and the heartache and the sleepless nights. When you’ve exhausted everything, and there’s no money left. That’s one of the challenges, but it was also a lot of fun doing it. That’s for sure.

What does the next 10 years look like?

Keith: That’s Nigel’s problem (laughs). I can barely remember the last 20 odd years. So, I’m happy with where we’re sitting.

Nigel: We have a strong foundation with our team. They’re eager to learn, keen to drive forward. I know the reps who have been working from home have found it very frustrating. They all pride themselves on deep relationships with clients, so it has been challenging not being allowed to go out and physically visit and be part of their business. I’m looking forward to the next 12 to 18 months. I think this business is primed to do very well. We’re situated well, with the diversification that we have.

The challenge will be in the 12 months planning for the next couple of years. The market is changing, and technology is changing. One of the things that Cactus has always been proud of is being ahead of the technology curve. Keith and I spent a lot of time travelling overseas to see what’s happening in the markets and what we can bring back and adapt to the Australian market. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that for two years. And that’s been quite frustrating. But also understanding where we are in terms of the pandemic, we have had to concentrate on things here. We are itching to go and see what our fellow competitors overseas are up to and see what’s happened in the markets and what they’re developing.

What is your advice on leadership?

Keith: That’s a big question, but really, you need to share and learn from like-minded people because you don’t know everything. Listen and look after your relationships.

Research and development are important, and you need to be at the forefront of industry technology.

I will leave you with this: Empower through relationships and mentor. You know, we haven’t lost one client since the pandemic. That makes me proud.