Whether considering retirement or not, wireless shop owners increasingly have pressure to adapt to technological changes in wireless communications and the growing costs of doing business, so their best antidote is an exit strategy that can include keeping the business in the family tree, consolidation or selling their business, said Mike Fordinal, DFW Communications president and speaker during last week’s Wireless Leadership Summit in Atlanta.

“In the world we live in, it’s not necessarily the big guys or the strongest guys or gals that will survive,” Fordinal said during the “Growing Your Business Through Acquisition and Collaboration” session.  “It will be those that were most adaptive to the change, so we need to agree as an industry that we’re going to be willing to do that.”

DSC Communications President Jeff Manion and Louisiana Radio Communications (LRC) President Perry Vincent joined Fordinal in offering perspective on the changing landscape for wireless dealers with the emphasis on Internet Protocol-ready radios and non-traditional competition for wireless communication solutions during the summit, which was sponsored by the Enterprise Wireless Alliance and TRN International.

“Our competition honestly is not the people in this room,” Fordinal said. “It is service providers that are servicing technology outside of this room, outside of our industry, so that’s who we’re going to compete with. The more we talk about what’s coming, the better off we’re going to be.”

Reinvesting in other branches of wireless—such as towers and information technology—has helped Vincent grow LRC, and he suggests dealers that intend to continue their business or hand the business down to family members to consider those same options. Vincent’s father was one of the founding owners of Louisiana Radio in 1950. In 1987, Vincent became president, and the company now owns towers and provides other wireless servicing in Lake Charles, La., and Lafayette, La. Vincent has consolidated with other smaller shops to ensure his company continues to grow. His sons are now the third generation of family members to work at LRC.

“You buy them [other shops] for strength and technology growth, to own a market share,” he said. “Your business is either going to grow, or it’s going to die. You’re going to have go forward with technology and make the investments.”

Fordinal has also used acquisition as a way to grow his company, including the purchase of Crosspoint Communications less than a year ago. With wireless dealers sharing similar rising costs—human resources, accounting, legal and insurance—the benefit of consolidation becomes trimming operational costs to allow for greater investment in technology, he said.