Today we’d like to introduce you to John Hallahan.
John, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My first semester at Columbia, I met whom would become a lifelong friend, that was a retail merchandiser and display installer for our local area. He was heading to Australia to study abroad the following semester and told me I had to take over his route. That was my introduction into the world of 3rd part merchandising and installs.
Six months later (19yrs old), I was promoted to Project Manager for Spar Inc, traveling around the country managing medium-sized installs for Hallmark. As most crews were struggling to finish in one day (12hr), we were in and out in 3.5. It was all about strategy and team understanding; I didn’t know it at the time.
Things quickly progressed with the trust, respect and follow-through. A few months later, I was back in school for sophomore yr., fall semester. At this point, I hired all my basketball team mates and a few close friends to help me spread out and cover as much ground as possible. Flash forward, things quickly progressed.
A few years later, National Rollout was on paper and employing nearly 400 full-time installers east of the Mississippi. This is where we started to screw up… a lot. Growing pains would be putting it lightly. We “grew too fast” is my preferred cop-out. Haha. It took a year or two to overcome all the failures (missing deadlines, expanding with unqualified installers, having unqualified trainers spreading out too fast, lack of quality and focus on production – double recipe for disaster).
By 2013, National Rollout Co. had a solid foot in reality, and finally figured out how to set REALISTIC expectations. I was flying around the country giving speeches and presentations to Apple, Microsoft, Xbox, Nike, Nintendo, to name a few. My highlighting moment was a presentation for Xbox… I came in with my iPhone, Mac laptop, pictures of all the thousands of Apple/iPhone displays we had done, and even worse, I was a 20-something kid in a suit talking to executives and shareholders; asking for their business installing 15,000 displays in all their retailer’s several times a year.
I will never forget walking on to the stage and seeing all the attention almost instantly fade as they saw a “kid” whom they only knew by name and title; President – Founder of National Rollout Co. A woman in the front row, I won’t name her, but will say she was the program director for Xbox, and one of my “must wins.” As soon as I noticed her in the front row, she leaned over to pick up her phone and start texting. Moments later, she was on her laptop, completely uninvolved in the presentation.
The story doesn’t end here. Once the slides started playing, and I got the chance to show my knowledge and extreme attention to this idea, all the heads started to perk up. It was supposed to be a 15-minute presentation, a lot of time to talk about one company, suddenly turned into 2 hours of none stop questions, interaction, laughter, fun and excitement. Needless to say, I walked out a king of my little world that day. And for the next several years until the program was purchased, we had thousands of installers out every day, in every city and state, nationwide.
Xbox and Microsoft are one of many fun memories of how National Rollout Co. came into the forefront so fast. It all started with the simplest idea… If you have to install displays in 1,950 Home Depots in the country, why are they spending so much time and money with people traveling, staying in hotels, per diem, fuel, rental cars, etc.
Why don’t you just have local installers? You could complete the 1,950 installs without all those expenses, have a competitive/untouchable rate, all while completing the project in a few weeks instead of 6 months. Big dream. Great idea. Many, many mistakes. However, here we are, one of the most successful stories in a great idea, unbelievable pursuit, and too dumb to stop.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Millions. Learning on your own. Finding employees that are involved, caring, understanding, reliable, with attention to detail and naturally inspired to resolve all parts of any given project.
Cash flow. Steady work flow without massive peaks and valleys.
The list goes on and on.
Contact Info:
- Website: nationalrollout.com
- Phone: 888-260-8250
- Email: jhallahan@nationalrollout.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nationalrollout
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
