Officewise celebrates 115 years

You must be doing something right if you are an independent office product dealer in business for 115 years. In the case of Officewise Commercial Interiors, Amarillo, Texas, that something involves several key factors.

Officewise opened in Amarillo under the name Russell Cockrell in 1908. Over the years, the company made multiple acquisitions, including Russell Stationery in Amarillo and Hester’s Office Center and Baker Office Products in Lubbock, Texas. In 2012, after calling on the company as a sales rep for nearly 30 years, Tommy Sansom and his partner John Navarrete bought the company. At the time, it had 35 employees. Today the number of employees has doubled and Tommy credits them with much of the company’s success.

“We have 70 dedicated employees who make it possible for our business to continue to grow and develop into one of the leading independent dealers in the country,” he says.

Another factor in the company’s growth and success is the attention it pays to its customer base. “About 12 years ago, we really focused on who we wanted our customers to be,” Tommy explains. “Today, our strength is in the sectors we identified, which include education, government and healthcare entities throughout West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. When we became focused on these areas is when we started to grow. We went from $10 million in sales in 2008 to more than $30 million today.”

Tommy suggests that nurturing young talent is another key to the company’s success: “We realized a need to bring in some younger people to gain experience. Today, we are very fortunate to have experienced team leaders in their 30s and 40s; and we are working on a training program to bring in more young people. This is also important for us to have a succession plan. We have great young people, and if John and I were gone tomorrow, we have no doubt the company’s success would continue.”

In recent years, Officewise has seen a change in sales that has required a strategy shift. “Companies aren’t as open to salespeople walking in,” Tommy elaborates. “This was true during COVID-19, but it still is—people don’t want to talk face-to-face as much. Today, you have to be better at marketing. Before, we would invest our resources in sales and hire more people. We still invest in our salespeople, but more is digital now, so