Letting Go

There was a time not that long ago when Malcolm Stack, president of Bell Laboratories, was so frustrated with the challenges of managing his rapidly growing business that he considered giving it all up and retiring.

"I was too involved in the day-to-day responsibilities of running the business," he recalls. "I didn’t have any trouble delegating, but I wasn’t telling my staff where the resources were to achieve our goals or offering advice on the pitfalls they should avoid. When they’d crash and burn, I’d immediately take back the responsibility and the cycle would start all over again. I wasn’t very patient."

Sound familiar? Virtually every businessperson who has successfully made the transition from entrepreneur to CEO of a company on the fast track to success has a similar story. "Bell Laboratories stopped being entrepreneurial 10 years ago," Stack says. "It was during that time that I had to make a decision. I could step back and manage the big picture, allowing my staff to make mistakes but grow from the experience, or I could get out of the business."

Fortunately for the pest control industry, Stack chose the former. "I got beat up during the transition, but it was good for me," he says. "I learned a lot about myself."

Stack, 64, said the low point came when union representatives tried to unionize Bell Laboratories, which recently celebrated its 25th year in business. "Our employees didn’t feel we were paying enough attention to them," he recalls of those difficult days. "My initial reaction was to get mad and say, ‘I do care.’ But when I thought about it, I realized we were so busy growing we didn’t take the time to care. It was a rude awakening."

The company eventually defeated the union, securing 80% of the final vote, but the experience taught Stack a valuable lesson. "Since that time we pay a lot more attention to our people," he says. "We make the time to ensure that we’re meeting their needs. We’re not perfect, but I think our company is a good place to work."

A DIFFICULT TRANSITION. "Transitions are never easy, but I think that’s one of the things he’s most proud of in his career," says daughter Linda Hughes, who helped her father test bait formulations in the basement of their suburban home in the early days of the business. "In many companies the entrepreneur can only take the business so far, but he made a conscious effort to change his management style and he succeeded. That’s not easy."

John Schwerin, director of corporate sales and marketing, agrees. "Over the course of the time I’ve been with the company, Malcolm’s undergone a significant change. He used to have a totally hands-on approach, but the company got so big he couldn’t do that anymore. As a result, he’s given up a lot of his decision-making responsibilities and put greater trust in his managers."

The strategy has paid off handsomely for the Madison, Wis.-based firm that manufactures and sells a complete line of rodenticides, bait stations and other rodent control products in the U.S. and abroad. Bell Laboratories currently has a market presence in 62 countries around the world, with international sales managers in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Caracas, Venezuela. "Our international business is expanding rapidly," Stack says.
"It’s been a good market for us."

In fact, things are going so well that the company is in the process of constructing a new 50,000-square-foot warehouse to complement an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse facility that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new facility will feature three high-speed packaging machines and allow the company to centralize all shipping and receiving operations.

The expanded facility is needed to streamline the time required to bring product to market and to ensure that the company "ships the freshest bait in the industry," according to Rick Leyerle, director of operations for Bell.

If necessary, he says, "we’ll adjust production to get orders out the next day. It’s more costly, but it’s part of our core philosophy. We ship 98% of our orders in 24 hours."

The company also takes pride in the fact that it synthesizes all of its active ingredients on site, something it has done since the early 1980s. "Every batch of active is tested both chemically and biologically to ensure effectiveness and acceptance," Leyerle says.

WHAT’S NEW? In addition to quality control, Bell Laboratories is also committed to new product development, according to Stack. "We never stop innovating," he says.

The company introduced three new products at Pest Management ’99 in Atlanta earlier this year, including the Protecta MC Bait Station, Trapper Snap Trap and Fastrac Rodenticide.

Protecta MC is a multiple-catch mousetrap constructed of durable plastic for long life and dependability. A special glueboard fits into the capture compartment, enabling PCOs to clean the trap quickly and easily. Other features include a clear lid for reducing inspection time and a smaller, more streamlined design for use in tight spaces.

Trapper Snap Trap is a reusable spring-loaded trap that can be set using just one hand. The easy-to-clean trap is made of heavy-duty plastic that doesn’t retain odors or stains.

Fastrac, the company’s latest product, is a fast-acting acute rodenticide featuring the active ingredient bromethalin. Effective against both rats and mice, Fastrac kills in one or two days, even hours in some instances. Because rodents stop feeding after consuming a lethal dose, more rodents can be controlled with less bait, according to Hughes. The product is available in an all-weather bait called Blox, as well as a pellet formulation and a soon-to-be-released seed formulation.

With the introduction of the new products, Bell hopes for another year of double-digit growth in 2000. "We see the market growing as the population continues to grow," Stack says.

Domestic sales remain strong and international sales now account for approximately 20% of the company’s total sales. "Our most dramatic growth is in the domestic market, but international sales are increasing every year," Stack says.

CONCLUSION. Despite the company’s solid sales performance in recent years, Stack says it’s the "people side of the business" that has proven most gratifying to him. "I enjoy facilitating people’s growth," he says. "That’s what gives me the greatest satisfaction."

So, if you’re an entrepreneur overwhelmed by the frustrations of running your business on a day-to-day basis, take heart. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always going to be that way.

"In less than a decade, running Bell Laboratories has grown from a job I didn’t like very much to a job I thoroughly enjoy," Stack says. "I just had to step back, take a look at the big picture, and make a conscious decision to change my role with the company. And as long as I’m healthy, I’m going to stick with it."