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In business as in sports, there’s no resting on your laurels. One good year, whether it’s measured in revenue or championships, doesn’t necessarily guarantee another.
That’s why Gulf Coast Office Products is laser focused on continuous improvement. It’s a mindset that has kept them at the top of their game for nearly 50 years now. “Everyone has a voice here,” says President Trey Beall. “If you’ve got a better way to skin a cat, just let me know … nothing is off the table. Many companies, including ours, have been doing things a certain way for so long that the process might be broken, and you don’t even know it.”
AT A GLANCE
Top executives: Trey Beall, President
Phone: 225.756.2644
Address: 700 Laurel St., Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Website:www.gcopnet.com
Year founded: 1977
Gulf Coast’s employees are empowered to do their jobs in the most effective and efficient manner, with customer satisfaction as their goal. As such, they have many tenured employees on staff. “A few years ago, I started giving gifts to those employees who had been with the company longer than five years,” Beall says. “That first year, there were 16 of them. Today, there are 36 of them in our Baton Rouge office and an equal number in New Orleans. I think that’s significant. Companies sometimes overlook the tenure of their employees and the consistency in service that comes with it.”
Some, in fact, have been around for decades—Michael Lacour, vice president of operations, has been with the company for 44 years; followed by Stephen Gammon, vice president, for 25 years; Tenoki Scott, supply manager, for 24 years; Jason Carl, IT manager, for 22 years; and Robin Hatcher, office manager, for 21 years.
A FIVE-STAR EXPERIENCE
The overriding goal of all Gulf Coast Office Products employees is to provide a “five-star experience” for the customer. Every step of the process is conducted in a professional manner, right down to the receptionist answering the phone. Their calls are never screened or prioritized, and they don’t have voicemail; that way, every customer speaks to a person when they call.
Being a single-line dealer of Ricoh printers and copiers makes it possible to continue that professionalism and efficiency during the service experience. “Our guys are going out and looking at the same manufactured product on every call,” Beall says. “And we have all the parts here on the shelf.”
”Gulf Coast Office Products has been an official partner of LSU Athletics for about 20 years now, and have similar partnerships with the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans Pelicans and ULL Athletics. They’re also huge supporters of local education.”
These days, they’re more integrated into a client’s workflow, enabling them to print, copy, email and manage documents from the cloud. They can be fully connected to any network, with pre-trained technicians on staff offering local expert service. While the main artery of the business continues to be traditional black and white and color copiers that print, scan and fax, the company is much more than that. They offer software and other services to enable them to store documents in the cloud for document retrieval. They also supply equipment such as interactive whiteboards.
An integral part of the community in which they serve, Gulf Coast Office Products has been an official partner of LSU Athletics for about 20 years now, and have similar partnerships with the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans Pelicans and ULL Athletics. They’re also huge supporters of local education.
A WINNING FORMULA
Beall has full confidence in his employees, at every level, to do their jobs and do them well, with customer service as the central goal. “We are in the customer service business,” he adds. “Metaphorically speaking, if somebody wants their steak medium we give it to them medium, and if they want it rare we give it to them rare. There’s no reason we can’t tweak things, if it makes sense, and do it their way.”
It has been an undeniably successful formula as they’ll soon need to hire additional workers to support their steady growth. Still, Beall says, “We’re not so much focused on the end number. If we take care of the customer, they come back, they’re loyal and everybody wins. The rest takes care of itself.
