Local values on a global scale

People are at the heart of our newly acquired Mexican-headquartered family business, Risoul. Gerardo Ayala Guarneri , previously CEO of Risoul and now Vice President for RS in Latin America, shares why joining forces makes for the perfect partnership.?

Risoul y Cia S.A. DE C.V. is a company that originates in Mexico with 50 years of expertise in the industrial electrical market. Starting out selling industrial lighting fixtures, the scope has expanded massively in the past half century. Now, bolstered by its membership of the?Rockwell Partner Network, it has a diverse catalogue of products – from automation, control and high-tech measurement equipment to power distribution, projects and services.??

“When I saw RS’s culture of developing people I said, yes, this is the perfect fit for us!"

But it’s become a market leader through Gerardo’s simple idea: what if engineers could talk the sales talk? When they already know the products, it’s the natural next step.??

“The idea is to have sales engineers that can speak the specific language of customers so you can bring solutions to them. How do we help solve a problem or make something better? We need to understand all that so we can add value. That’s how Risoul became unique.”?

Product manager Alejandro G. Gálvez, who has been at Risoul for nine years, explains that the key to supporting salespeople comes through one of the product team’s pillars: knowledge transfer.

“Often engineers join us with plenty of technical and theoretical knowledge, which is great, but it just doesn’t translate to customers. We teach them how to apply that to customers’ problems, to understand their objectives first before offering a technical solution. The best way to learn is through doing. When people get it right and find those solutions, it’s rewarding.”

After training with their ‘consultative sales approach’, the engineers then work their magic; not just setting up equipment but also teaching customers how to use it. It was exactly this kind of continual innovation and development that caught our acquisitional eye.

Gifts from the corner store?

And yet Risoul’s success came from humble beginnings, starting as a family business. Gerardo was initially hired as a manufacturing consultant and over the course of 19 years worked his way up to CEO, testing out almost every job along the way. Despite the role change, what he loves about Risoul has stayed the same.

“That ‘family feel’ is important to me, as I want the people working at Risoul to be happy. If you spend half your life working, then you need to enjoy it as much as possible.”

Looking back to his early days in the warehouse, he remembers: “My mother-in-law who owned the business would go to the corner store on special occasions and buy gifts for every employee as a thank you for their hard work. I loved that personal touch and, as we continue to grow, I want to keep that attitude.”

Having established itself in Mexico with nearly 600 employees across 22 different sites, it was time for Risoul to think globally. In the past six months it’s set itself up in three countries: Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Spain, and that growth is a confirmation that its strategy works.

“The partnership with RS will accelerate that growth – their global network is a key resource to us. RS is also helping us increase our portfolio of products, for example, into the low tech and non-industrial categories. People are buying them; so we should be selling them!”

Keeping the ‘family feel’?

But with all that growth Gerardo doesn’t want to lose the culture he loves: “I’m glad that RS shares our values; it’s a huge company that’s still very people orientated. It feels like a family business.

“That ‘family feel’ is important to me, as I want the people working at Risoul to be happy. If you spend half your life working, then you need to enjoy it as much as possible.”

Beyond enjoying work, Gerardo makes sure that ethics are at the heart of everything Risoul does. “Mexico doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to compliance; but we are changing that.

“Compliance starts with our culture. Our teammates follow ethical frameworks and this trickles down the chain to customers and the wider community. It isn’t something we can solve on our own, but we need to play our part. And customers can see we’re making a difference.”

Risoul is going places. With the global marketplace in its sights, we’re excited to see where Gerardo and the team will go next. Gerardo adds: “The most satisfying part is if our people succeed our business will be strong. With RS we can move faster and that means more opportunities for people to develop professionally. It’s mutually beneficial.”

Find out more about Risoul at: https://www.risoul.com.mx/