We recently connected with Jerry and Kelly Sinclair and have shared our conversation below.
Jerry and Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
Our business philosophy has always been to hire good people who continually exceed the expectations of our customers. In our 32 years we have always had a staff that wants to be successful and cares about their fellow teammates. With this strategy we have always been successful and profitable and have been able to grow the business. Even throughout the recessions we have been part of we never had to reduce staff, This has not always been easy but we tried to find other ways to decrease expenses. We had to find creative ways to get through these tough times and do a lot of pivoting. We purchased another office furniture company in 2015 and kept the entire staff. Again we wanted to maintain continuity and we saw no need to reduce personnel, exactly the opposite of what most companies do when they absorb a company doing the same thing. This strategy also worked well as we continued to give exceptional customer service with a full staff. We have so many employees who have worked with our organization for over 20 years and everyone contributes to our success. During COVID we were deemed an essential business and we were only closed for two days in March of 2020, Obviously business slowed down but again we made the decision to keep our organization fully staffed with zero layoffs or shorter work weeks. Everyone was back in the office and warehouse and for us it was business as usual. Keeping our staff intact allowed us to keep our service levels very high. We never let fear of our surrounding world influence the decisions we made. As a result we had very good years in both 2020 and 2021. We had a record sales year in 2021. We added more staff and made adjustments to ensure success going forward. In 2022 we are up 38% from 2021 and are looking to expand our sales team.
Jerry and Kelly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
In 1990 Business Office Outfitters was a company that was not doing well in sales or profitability. We decided to move to San Diego from the mid-west to take over the company and turn it around. Back then BOO was both office furniture and office supplies and Office depot and Staples were entering the market. It was evident that changes would need to be made to compete at a high level. Our philosophy of remaining “recession proof” and keeping our expenses always in check, taking care of our employees like family and going above and beyond for our customers expectations is what sets us apart from other companies. What we are most proud of is that we don’t do these things for our employees to make money or just to go after success but because it is what makes us “tick”. Providing for our employees and their families and serving a need for our customers brings value and joy to our life. Our greatest joy is helping others. People spend so much time at their office that we feel it is important to make it functional, efficient and comfortable for them. I think our success comes from our relationships with our customers and the trust they put in us to refer others to us.
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
Twenty-fives years after owning Business Office Outfitters (BOO) we purchased a retail office furniture company, Office Furniture Outlet, as the owners were retiring. BOO is all contract office furniture sales and we felt adding a retail location would be a good marriage to have both contract and retail together. The growing pains of buying a new company and merging company cultures was a big challenge. We kept all staff members from both companies and tried to merge expenses in other areas where possible. Although both companies were office furniture and had similarities, contract sales are very different from retail sales. One is team selling and a longer process while the other is competitive commission based and more fast paced. The company culture was also very different. Gradually we came together as one team, one set of books and one company culture. The process was not easy and took longer than we expected but today we are one cohesive team with growing sales and increased profitability.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
There are many lessons that a husband and wife have to learn and unlearn while working together in a business for thirty-two years. We came to understand that it is not how hard you work but how smart and efficient you work. Bigger than that though is that it’s not all about you and how hard you work. It is truly about the great staff that we have that works together as a team to lift each other up, support one anther to be a strong family unit and team while working for the same common. goals. Biggest of all though what we had to unlearn is that our success is not even about us or our staff but ultimately about the abundant blessings and challenges that we get to grow from that God provides for us. He is ultimately in control!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://boofurniture.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOfficeFurnitureOutlet/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-office-outfitters/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCrP-bX2oFwd0iUgBz_rtJg
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/office-furniture-outlet-san-diego-5
- Other: other Linkedin account: https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-furniture-outlet-inc-