As the new CEO of Retail Success, Kent Galley aims to reap more growth for the Overland Park company, which added 39 employees this year.
He joined the retail-focused software company in 2019 as COO and was promoted to CEO in October. The market opportunity lured him in as well as the two co-founders’ vision for growth.
“Growing aggressive and swallowing up the world — that’s attractive to me. I just like people who dream big and think big. … They frequently both say, ‘I don’t care if I’m wrong or right. In fact, I’ll be wrong as often as I’ll be right. But we just want to win.’ And I think that’s refreshing.”
Co-founders and brothers Scott and Shannon Maher have embraced a fail-fast culture that’s contributed to the company’s success. They’re open to testing new ideas.
“It’s way more than I ever imagined it would be, which I know sounds crazy, and I know sounds hyperbolic, but it’s not,” Galley said of leading Retail Success. “They’re allowing me this creative latitude to go out and make changes, which really has been awesome.”
The company has routinely relied on gut instincts — but Galley now is pushing Retail Success to be more data-driven. It’s a mindset he’s learned from a career in software at companies such as VeriShip, Saepio Technologies and Bangert Inc. where he held executive roles. He also co-founded Overland Park tech company EmergeBI.
“Let’s go out and solve the real problem, and the real problem is tough to know sometimes unless you’re listening to the stories that the data’s telling,” he said.
Galley has implemented employee score cards, so employees know what’s expected and where they stand. He also armed the company’s leaders with dashboards comprised of department metrics, and meeting reports now are data-driven. Leaders can measure whether a new initiative is cultivating positive results. All of this is helping Retail Success move closer to Galley’s goal of hitting 33% year-over-year revenue growth next year. So far, it’s on track to do so. He also expects to grow the employee base from 121 to 170 people next year.
Retail Success’ breadth of services is a differentiator, he said. Its software offerings are geared toward the retail and gig economy industry and include point-of-sale inventory management, payment processing, digital marketing and social selling. It also has software tailored for the direct selling market, which includes multilevel marketing companies. It’s currently working on an app, Wayroo, that will allow gig economy and direct sales workers to operate their business through their phone. The app’s features include calculating the correct sales tax, tracking retail receipts to remain compliant with the Federal Trade Commission and comment selling, which allows customers to purchase directly from retailers by posting comments on social media.
Author: Leslie Collins – Staff Writer, Kansas City Business Journal
