Dakil Auctioneers has been involved in the Oklahoma City community for over 30 years. We’ve helped companies across multiple business sectors in times of transition, and Dakil auctions are a significant part of the history of many Oklahoma businesses today. We chatted with Michael Morrison, Founder and CEO of Comtech, a design, print, and mail company located in the heart of Oklahoma City, about his business’s auction experience, a misconception about the auction industry, and why he’d work with Dakil again.
“We were approached by the owner of a business in our same industry as they were closing their doors. He reached out to us to see if we would be interested in partnering through that transition, and he decided to auction off things instead of doing a buyout. An auction was a better fit because Comtech didn’t really need to take on all of the equipment ourselves. We bought some machinery and some equipment, but we didn’t need the whole package. It was an easier transition to release it through an auction.”
“Louis Dakil is a big part of the community and very respected. I had known of him through my family, so when the company we partnered with decided that the situation wasn’t right for a buyout, Dakil was the first choice; they were just top-of-mind.”
“Everything but the personal stuff – mostly office equipment – tables, desks, chairs, phones, servers. And then of course the rest was industry-related, proprietary towards the direct mail, printing, and binding industries. Folding machines, air compressors, forklifts, addressing machines, inserters: anything that had to do with the production of direct mail. Through the auction, Comtech bought equipment like a large inkjet address machine, warehousing items like pallet racks, and a phone system.”
“We worked directly with Louis Dakil and would absolutely work with him again. He’s someone I look up to. He’s a mentor to me and to other business professionals. He runs a very solid organization; he’s respectful, ethical, moral – I’ve been to many of his auctions and have yet to leave disappointed or feeling like something wasn’t handled correctly. I think we’ve all seen enough of those auction reality shows on TV- none of that really happens at Dakil auctions, at all. It’s very organized. Every time there is a Dakil auction we get the notice, we get to go online and look at the equipment, we know exactly when the equipment can be viewed; there isn’t a step left out in the communication. We’re always very well informed and educated. There’s a lot of trust, and never any surprises.”
“I had managed a smaller ma-and-pa shop here in town prior to starting Comtech in 1999. Going the Dakil auction route allowed Comtech to tap into the resources and assets of a third-generation business that was quite a few steps up from where we were at the time. We weren’t established enough to purchase an entire company of that size, but we were able to upgrade a lot of our equipment through that acquisition at auction. Once we established that relationship with Dakil and saw how their business worked internally, from the top down, we learned a lot. It was really a game-changer for us.”
Enjoy the Client Spotlight Series? Check out our interview with the co-owners of Oklahoma City’s own sandwich shop, The Mule, and see how Dakil Auctioneers Inc. helped them kick start their restaurant.
