Anyone with a home office, computer or kids in need of school supplies is most likely familiar with a store called OfficeMax. The company was founded in April 1988 and the first OfficeMax store opened in Cleveland, Ohio in July of that same year. The superstore chain now has over 900 locations in the United States and Mexico with just about every kind of office supply item you’d ever need from electronics, furniture and software to post-its and pencils.
Over the years, OfficeMax has taken on business ventures with several well-established companies such as Hewlett-Packard. Their goal is to provide consumers with the highest rated state-of-the-art services and products.
In addition to their partnership with Hewlett-Packard, another undertaking OfficeMax took on was a business venture with the Earthlink internet provider service in 2001. The two companies decided to hook up and market a wide variety of internet services to focus on the small business customer. As a result of this enterprise, Earthlink became the preferred provider of internet services to OfficeMax’s customers. Web hosting, dial-up and broadband connectivity are some of the Internet services the two companies offer by what OfficeMax refers to as ‘an interactive store-within-a-store’. They have made it available at all of the OfficeMax locations and online through the Business Services area of OfficeMax.com.
OfficeMax's chairman and chief executive officer, Michael Feuer said basically, that they chose EarthLink because of it strong customer focus. OfficeMax was further impressed by Earthlink’s operation because they stand behind their customer service commitment and constantly offer new technology to help small business customers become more efficient and effective. Additionally, EarthLink agreed to and continues providing training to OfficeMax employees on concepts that are designed to provide both of their customer bases with awareness and accessibility to the latest internet services.
OfficeMax and Earthlink view their combined business venture a win/win opportunity for both the companies and their customers. Earthlink feels that through their agreement with OfficeMax, they will be achieving a solid, retail-level method for reaching millions of small business customers. Both corporations also have the opportunity to provide their customers with new services they can use for accessing the internet which will increase productivity for their businesses.
Whether you are a small business owner, home-based professional or regular, all-American family with office and computer supply needs in addition to internet services, you can depend on OfficeMax for quality products and services. Check them out at www.officemax.com.
American Success Story: Office Max Part 2
10 Things To Keep In Mind While Picking Office Furniture
Office furniture – the term usually conjures up images desks, cubicles and chairs. We rarely think beyond it. But these days, there is more to it than a single functional unit. Today, your office furniture has to do more for you; it has to multi-task just like you do. Moreover, it has to accommodate your stationary, your rolodex as well as your technology infrastructure!
Yes, now think of office furniture. Do you see something different? Thought you would! Now you have cubicles, chairs etc. and a desk with your laptop or PC, a printer, fax machine, headphones, phone(s), files, CDs, pictures, maybe even a coffee machine. And it has to do this in style. So whether you are planning to buy office furniture for you home office, or a relatively bigger office where you are in charge of the décor, there are a few basic rules which are well kept in mind.
Identify the needs
The first thing to do when thinking of buying office furniture, is to keep work related requirements in mind. Do you use too many gadgets? Do you need a lot of space to store things? Do you doodle as you talk over the phone? These and many such questions will give you a good idea about how ‘functional’ your furniture needs to be.
All about logistics
Ask yourself logistical questions - How many employees do you have? Do you work from a home office or do you have a separate office space? How many hours do you plan to spend at work? Are you spending too much time sitting down? This will help you decide exactly what you need to spend on and what you can hold back on.
Create a list
Before buying furniture, make a list of what all you plan to buy and compare it with your needs. Further divide the list into “must have†and “nice to have†categories. This will save you a lot of trouble when you are picking things up and will let you stick to your core needs.
Stick to your budget
Identify a ceiling budget for your furniture shopping spree right at the onset. Else you may end up overshooting just because you had to have that overpriced and classy desk chair.
Functionality or style?
It is usually wise to purchase furniture which is more functional rather than just stylish. But this would largely depend on the reason for the purchase, and for what type of business you are purchasing it. If you need chairs for the reception area of your employer, you might want to invest in stylish furniture. However, if it is for your home business, you might reconsider doing that. But if you get both style and function, which is not so rare these days, go for it!
Purchasing the work desk
The work desk is by far the most important piece of furniture you shall purchase. And because you are going to be using it so often, it is well worth investing a little extra so as to purchase a nice, sturdy functional and comfortable work desk. Make sure the surfaces of the work desk are non-staining thought.
Storage areas and wall units
Every office needs storage space. Make sure you purchase storage cabinets and units can be installed nearby the desk and well within reach. Also, make sure that they are sturdy and strong. Storage spaces are usually the first to fall apart from wear and tear caused by frequent opening and closing of the units.
Renting office furniture
Many big and small businesses consider renting furniture for their office space. This may not be the best option if you are planning to stay at the same place for the long haul. However, it is a great option for businesses which need to be mobile as it saves you heavy investments.
Health and safety
Whether you are purchasing furniture for yourself or your employees think about the ergonomics of your investments. Investing in good furniture is always profitable in the long run. You do not want to purchase a bad chair and have your employees stay at home because they developed a backache, do you? And nor do want to expose yourself to fatigue, eye strain, headaches etc. Buy furniture that is people friendly and made especially for work areas.
Furniture too has personality
All said and done, the most important thing to remember is to invest in furniture that goes with your personality. Yes, you want something functional, and comfortable, and within budget. But who says you cannot find the perfect style too? The style of the furniture you choose should compliment your personality. This is the furniture you will use day and in day out, 5 days a week more than 8-9 hours a day. You do not want to be stuck with something that is functional but will simply not inspire you to work!
20 Tips On Presenting Corporate & Office Areas
1. If you operate an office that receives visiting clients you probably have a reception area. Such an area can be used to great advantage. While your client is waiting to see you why not give them the opportunity to learn about you and the company? Large photographs of the factory or the products / services you provide help to make it clear what your company does or stands for. It also gives an insight into areas your visitor may not be able to access under normal circumstances. You may be surprised at how interested people are in you and what you do behind the scenes.
2. Alternatively you could take the opportunity to feature pictures of the key workers in your team. A head and shoulders photo and a name plate will enable first time visitors to recognise the person they are to meet and to determine their position within the management team. This is considerably comforting when you are about to meet someone for the first time. It also helps to make the staff feel valued and a real part of the organisation.
3. If you think that you need to be a little more creative why not feature your staff in poses that display their favourite pastime. If the M.D. is a keen angler, or the Sales Manager takes part in amateur dramatics, feature them in suitable attire. This makes the person appear “human” and not an office automaton thus making them easier to relate to.
4. If customers are to be required to wait a while, or even if waiting to make a complaint, consider carefully how you can entertain them while they are waiting. You need the area to be calming and friendly so avoid aggressive colours such as bright reds or solid blacks and consider featuring pastel colours in abstract designs of a gentle nature. You may even consider some humorous cartoons or caricatures of the senior management as a way to present yourselves as people of a good humour and friendly nature. Try to be general in subject so as to appeal to everyone. For example, avoid pictures of football clubs etc even if the M.D. is a big fan. If customers are entertained and relaxed by your choice of images and you come out to meet them with a big helpful smile on your face, they will find it harder to be angry with you when you first meet.
5. Similar rules apply when decorating the general admin areas of the office. It is likely that the work is constant and repetitive so make the staff comfortable by displaying bright and positive images they can enjoy. But avoid scenes of Far Eastern Beaches and Palm Trees, you might just find them drifting off on a mental holiday.
6. In your Marketing or Sales Area try and avoid the cliché pictures of Lions stating “The Customer is King” etc. While true, such messages are tired and lack impact these days. Instead, why not feature nicely framed letters from happy customers, certificates of achievement, employee of the month awards, pictures of staff outings that were earned as rewards against results. These will make it quite clear why everyone is there and reminders of the rewards they get for effort will spur them on to win future acknowledgements.
7. Make sure your art is modern, popular and right up to date. Framed calendar prints of Monet’s Water Lillie’s in tired frames against decrepit wall paper or wood wall panelling just will not do. They give out signals of being slow, old fashioned and behind the times. If you happen to like the classics it okay to hang them, just make sure you do so in a celebratory way. Big positive prints and good frames will make much more of a statement than something old and tired.
8. As with flowers and fish tanks it may be possible to hire art for your workplace. This has the advantage of regular refreshment as the supplier visits at allocated times to change the displays. It may also just give you the chance to see what you want to keep on a more permanent basis once you have a had a chance to live with them for a while.
9. If you would rather put your money to a good cause why not sponsor a local School or Hospital to provide paintings by pupils or patients. These are fun and different and show a caring side to your business. Framed well, even the poorest of efforts can look very interesting considering the source.
10. Whatever you choose, make an effort to frame it well. Cheap tatty frames do nothing for your image or your perceived attitude to quality. A tatty attitude to your décor could suggest to a client that you have a sloppy attitude to your business or the service you will give them. The presentation you make in your place of work says a great deal about you and what you stand for.
11. Try to discourage staff from littering the walls of their work area with personal effects such as pictures of Pop Stars, bawdy calendars, humorous verses about working here being made easier by being crazy etc. If these areas are encountered by your clients they will give the impression of a loosely run ship. By all means allow staff to personalise their area to an extent, pictures of the family can remind clients that after 5pm this person returns to being human again. If possible, keep the other trends exclusively for the staff room.
12. Try not to make the work environment too sterile. Make good use of plants, preferably synthetic as these do not take the oxygen out of the air, maybe a fish tank, theses done well can look very impressive and encourage tranquillity. Good use of lighting can make an enormous difference to the atmosphere of the place as can a TV screen permanently tuned to a news channel. Again, announcing to all who visit that you are in touch with the World beyond your own doors.
13. Strongly discourage staff from holding personal conversations within earshot of waiting clients. Not only is this immensely embarrassing for the person waiting, it suggests lack of discipline and attention to the job at hand. What Molly did with her boyfriend last night should remain the exclusive interest of – Molly and her boyfriend.
14. Make sure reception staff speak well and convey elegance. Make sure they know your clients name and use it each time they address them to offer coffee or update on your availability. Only select individuals with a good spoken voice to greet clients in person or by phone or make announcements on the P.A. system. This is very important when aiming to establish the quality of your company to clients and staff alike.
15. The smart appearance of staff is essential to maintain standards. Clean shaven, well tied ties, smart haircut etc go a long way to making a great impression. In these days of increased casual attitudes it is not difficult to stand above the competition. You don’t have to go over the top but rolled up shirt sleeves still look much better than a Tee Shirt.
16. Washrooms for use by you and your clients are often over looked when it comes to setting standards. Simple things like making sure soap, tissue, toilet seats (believe it or not) are all there, along with a working extractor fan, hot water and hand dryers are the simple things that can be allowed to let slip. Cleanliness is paramount too of course. Why not go and check your facilities right now and see how much you can improve them.
17. If welcoming foreign visitors make the effort to ensure you are familiar with their customs when greeting. For example if greeting a guest from Malaysia it is customary not to shake hands (although they will as they are also aware of your culture) but to greet them by placing the palm of your right hand against your own left shoulder as you make a subtle bow towards them. It is also good manners for the majority of far eastern countries to intently study their business card for a few seconds when it is offered to you and to avoid pointing with your finger, instead gesturing direction with a gentle upturned hand.
18. When clients are leaving you after a meeting, make the effort to at least see them to the door of your building or, if appropriate, walk them to their vehicle. So many times I have been given excellent treatment by my host only to feel hurriedly ejected at the end of the meeting. Though this was never intentional, it is often the last few minutes of your meeting that you remember after leaving.
19. Go the extra mile to impress. Always send a short note or Email to thank your guest for coming and to suggest the next steps of your trading relationship. Any deal you are after is not in the bag until the contracts are concluded.
20. Constantly appraise your working environment and create a check list of points to maintain at all times. It’s easy to forget these important details but they can make all the difference to your image both within and outside the office walls.
American Success Story: Office Max
A very popular resource for purchasing office supplies such as computers, furniture, hardware and software in addition to copy and print services and much, much more is a store you’ve undoubtedly heard of called OfficeMax. OfficeMax came onto the retail scene in 1988 and has since grown from a single outlet to one largest office products superstore chains in the country.
OfficeMax actually materialized into the largest American office products superstore in operation in terms of the number of stores they opened and their vast geographical coverage. In January 1997, OfficeMax set a national record by exceeding $3 billion in sales making them the fourth company in United States history ever to achieve that amount of success in less than nine years.
It all began on April 1, 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio when OfficeMax was founded by Michael Feuer, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, along with seven other of the company’s associates. The first store opened its doors to the public in Cleveland on July 5th of the same year and by the end of that year, there were a total of three stores in the suburban Cleveland area.
The year 2000 was huge for OfficeMax because during that time, the company implemented their Enterprise Resource Planning software which is the largest program of this type. The software was designed for use in American retailing to provide real-time, integrated information throughout their organization. Also during 2000, OfficeMax combined eCommerce business, catalog operations and its commercial sales groups into what they now call their OfficeMax.com / Direct Business Unit.
OfficeMax also gives back to the communities that helped them achieve their success. In 2000, The OfficeMax Charitable Foundation was established to donate more than $300,000 for worthwhile causes. One foundation the company sponsored was a National Kids N Need Resource Center Cleveland, Ohio which was the first of its kind.
Through its partnerships with companies like Hewlett Packard and introductions of its FurnitureMax, CopyMax and TechMax ventures, OfficeMax provides the public with complete, state-of-the-art services through all of its associations with a supply chain network and high-tech computer system. Presently, you can find an OfficeMax store just about anywhere you travel in the United States. They have over 900 convenient locations throughout America which include operations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In 1996, they opened their first international store in Mexico and by the year 2000, a total of 27 OfficeMax (OfficeMax de Mexico) stores were open for business there.
Go to www.officemax.com to find out more about the history of this company and also the extensive products and services they have to offer.
The Airplane as Your Office
Business travel very often involves long hours in flight to the city where your work will be done. For most business people, this is lost productivity time that can be torture if you cannot get work done in flight. How often have you said to yourself or to a coworker, “That’s all right, I will just work on that on the airplane.” That is a noble intent but circumstances inside an airplane cabin, especially in coach, can make the fulfillment of that commitment hard to accomplish.
Like anything else, if you are going to redeem the time while you are in the air, you should come prepared with an agenda of work you can get done in that setting and with your expectations well in check before you even check in. Let’s face it, the cabin of a domestic airplane is not designed for business productivity. You may have a myriad of distractions from crying babies to a talkative neighbor. The airline personnel have quite an agenda of items to interrupt your time with and then there is the turbulence and the narrow seats that dictate that whatever you are going to get done is going have to be done in a place of very little space availability.
To expect that you will have the seat next to you to spread out your work or that this will be the flight of perfect peace and quiet is to set yourself up for frustration and disappointment. So to be prepared to achieve some level of productivity on an airplane, be aware of these limitations and design your work so you can use that time within those constraints, not in spite of them.
A basic necessity to use to realize some level of concentration in flight is a good set of ear plugs or an earphone and an ipod. You can use that device to pipe music to your mind that can be conducive to concentration and thought. Now earphones sufficient to block out the kind of distractions you will encounter on an airplane will have to be pretty sophisticated. So don’t cut corners on this purchase. It will pay you back over and over as you use them to block out surface noise in airplane cabin.
The best way to walk off of that airplane with a sense of accomplishment is to set your goals before you board and make them goals you can attain. You cannot expect to be able to open up your laptop and work peacefully in coach. It is very possible you will be able to do that but you may find turbulence, an active population around you or other factors may make such work very difficult to do. So to be sure, prepare a project to work on using your laptop but don’t be disappointed if it turns out to be too difficult to attempt. And above all avoid having a deadline you have to hit using the time during your flight to make up for lost time on your deadlines. That will only make the flight frustrating and result in an angry and worn out business traveler.
The best form of work you can assign to yourself is analysis or reading. If you have a document or some documents to review, the confines of an airplane seat accommodate that work just fine. Business reading is easily the best form of work to do in flight. Using those head phones to block out the world, you can lay back with a book, a business magazine or a report and take your time to study it or read lengthy blocks of that material during a long flight. In a two to three hour flight, you can read entire chapters of a business book and come off the flight with a tremendous amount of food for thought to take into your businesses meetings at your destination.
It is possible to redeem the time in the air by accomplishing some solid work. But the key to getting success at that goal is to be realistic about what can be done in an airplane seat and tailoring your expectations and goals accordingly. If you do that, you will be happy with how you used the time and the flight will go by much more quickly as well.