Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Local office products provider going strong after 27 years

In 1976, the Dolive brothers Jim and Earl started a small locally owned family business, selling office products and office furniture. Little did they know that 27 years later, Total Office Products Service would develop into a thriving five-store office products dealership.

In 1991, Phil Scott joined the company as vice president and general manager. After serving in Viet Nam, the 18-year Fayette County resident worked for a Fortune 500 company as director of purchasing for several years before starting at Total Office Products in 1991, concentrating on major accounts and business development by enhancing the customer service relations department. His wife LaDonna is the store manager and her background includes several years as director of human resources and office manager in the automobile industry.

The Scotts are partners in ownership of Fayette County’s Total Office Products Service location at Magnolia Park in Fayetteville. They have two children: Ryan, who just finished college at Georgia Southern, and Tyler, who is a fourth-grader at Kedron Elementary in Peachtree City.

The business is more of a wholesale distributor of office products and furniture, rather than a retail store, saving money on overhead to offer wholesale pricing to customers, while providing great customer service.

“As the largest locally owned independent office products dealership in Fayette County, our has prospered by stressing the importance of service flexibility, which we describe as going the extra mile for our customers,” said Phil Scott.

“Flexibility often means different things to different customers, but to us it means having the ability to provide customers with specialized services that saves them time and effort in ordering their office products and furniture services,” Scott added.

These services include talking to a human being when you call the office, same-day rush orders on in stock items, free delivery and installation of furniture, locating hard to find items no one else will take the time to find, and never requiring minimum orders. Customers are also provided with current catalogs and sales flyers, and can place their orders via phone, fax or the Internet, allowing them to purchase what they need without ever having to leave their office.

According to Scott, there are about 20,000 office products out there, and his store promises to match any price, should a customer happen to find the item cheaper somewhere else, allowing people to stay local with no risk involved.

“We will even send chairs out to a customer’s office for them to try out, so they can make sure that they get the right one,” Scott said. “We try to keep good old fashioned customer service alive and well at Total Office Products Service, and we thank all our customers who support us and appreciate it.”

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