The Great Unknown
Allied Handling & Equipment of Indianapolis builds success with honesty and trust
Mike Willham was 24 when he was discharged from the Navy and returned to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to reunite with his wife’s family. He had served his country at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during the Vietnam War for two years, and while he was delighted to be home, he was unsure of what to do next.
The year was 1972, and the tech company IBM was booming, having released a series of revolutionary computers over the past decade. Mike had worked part time as a typewriter installer for IBM when he was in college, and his wife, Lorrie, recognized the opportunity of working for such a major company. She encouraged Mike to apply with the company again, and as luck would have it, the same manager who had hired him in college was now the branch manager in Fort Wayne. He hired Mike for a sales position. For three years, Mike sold typewriters before selling material handling equipment until 1974. It was in these years that Mike honed his sales skills.
“IBM trained me in sales, and with those skills, the product that you’re selling is irrelevant,” he says. “You can go out there and sell anything and be successful, as long as you’re honest and trustworthy.”
Risky Decision in Unknown Field
As a young, ambitious man, Mike enjoyed his work at IBM but felt like a small cog in a massive machine. So in 1979, when his father-in-law, Ken Schultz, came to him with a business proposition, it piqued his interest. Ken and his business partner, Terry Bosserman, had recently started Allied Handling & Equipment, Inc. in Fort Wayne, selling a specialized product line of material handling equipment. Ken’s business represented a major manufacturer with territory opening up in the Indianapolis area, and Ken wanted Mike to head up those territories.
Mike loved the idea of working for a startup company, even though the potential brought with it a great deal of risk. Allied Handling & Equipment sold loading docks, incorporated truck dock levelers, dock seals, and a series of other specialty items related to load docking equipment, a product area that Mike knew nothing about. Mike and Lorrie were raising two young sons and a daughter. And although Mike had never run a business before, he stipulated that he would take his father-in-law’s offer only if he had a partnership in the company. Ken and his business partner agreed, and Mike started Allied Handling & Equipment of Indianapolis, Inc. April 1, 1979.
“I always joked with my father-in-law, if this didn’t work out, you might just get your daughter back,” says Mike, “and of course I couldn’t let that happen.”
Ken provided Mike with some early financial backing, but otherwise the success or failure of the business depended on Mike’s efforts alone to see it through. He had a huge learning curve to overcome, but his confidence in the sales training he’d acquired at IBM, plus his youthful exuberance, propelled him to take the leap.
“Ken had some very high standards when it came to his professional life in sales, which I respected and followed through with myself,” Mike says.
He also adopted a philosophy early on that helped him grow his business despite lacking the relationships and networks that make or break sales professionals. As soon as he acquired a customer, he would work to hang on to that customer as long as possible, focusing on gaining repeat clients through exceptional customer service.
Growing an Enterprise Over Decades
The risk paid off. Starting off small, with just himself, one other salesman and a serviceman, Mike built his branch of the business into a thriving specialty contractor. Over the next 40 years of selling, servicing and installing loading dock equipment to industrial and commercial customers, Allied Handling & Equipment of Indianapolis found a steady and growing flow of business. In 1985, Mike brought on a business partner, Vice President Jeff Etter, who took over management of the service installation division of the company, while Mike commandeered the sales and administration management.
Never one to resist the opportunity to innovate, the company eventually expanded into selling overhead sectional doors, representing the first manufacturer in the United States that introduced high-speed, fabric roll-up doors to the industrial marketplace. Selling that product propelled the company into further expansion, picking up other door lines and adding them to the products available to their industrial customers.
Over the years, Mike built up a trusted and loyal team, which has been fundamental to the growth and success of Allied Handling & Equipment of Indianapolis. Stephanie Holaday, the Office Administrator, has been with the company for 20 years. Salesmen Mike Coleman and Dean Schauldroff have been with the company for 15 years and 10 years, respectively. Theresa Coleman, the Service Order Processer and Receptionist, has been with the team for nine years.
Together with the rest of the team, these employees share a common dedication to honest service to their customer base, a point of pride for Mike and one that adheres to his early business philosophy of holding on to customers.
“No white lies about this or that. Either we can do it or we can’t,” Mike explains. “It’s always been our principle, and sometimes it’s cost us sales, but we like to sleep well at night.” The company policy is that when customers call, they have someone to speak to who can be responsible and accountable to their needs and problems. “The thing that holds us together is our honesty, and that’s also the thing that connects us with our customers,” Mike says.
The Millennial Salesman
Allied Handling & Equipment of Indianapolis launched before fax machines were in regular use, long before the days of iPhones, laptops and apps became the norm, and Mike would handle his sales pipeline the “old school” way—with a pen and notepad.
Two years ago, Mike hired Hayden Cleveland, whom Mike refers to as his “millennial salesman.” “Hayden is a true, fully wired person,” Mike says. “He’s got so many apps on his phone, he almost needs two phones.” Armed with an iPad, a laptop, an Apple Watch and phone, Hayden is Mike’s go-to man for all electronic and technical issues. These days, the business operations have evolved dramatically and rely heavily on digital information and processing. Mike, never one to stay in his comfort zone, relishes these technological changes and the advice of his millennial salesman for helping him future-proof his business practices for the decades ahead.
Youthful Spirit and Drive
Mike, now 71, hasn’t lost the youthful spirit and drive that led him down his entrepreneurial path. The benefit of working in an industry he loves, solving problems for customers—some with whom he’s had relationships over decades—remains a stimulating and fulfilling daily enterprise.
When his beloved wife, Lorrie, died two years ago, his relationship with his team and clients and his passion for his work at Allied Handling & Equipment of Indianapolis helped to provide some small relief from his feeling of loss.
Mike, grandfather to 11 children, remains as busy as ever with family and work, still enjoying the challenge of his principle-led business and the excitement of not knowing exactly what may happen next.