FACILITYCalgary

March 10, 2015

I meet a lot of people – some of whom are very successful and haven’t hit too many bumps in the road, they’ve always done well. That’s nice. Interesting. But what about the people who’ve hit bumps, been down, struggled – overcome adversity and not lost their humility. Case in point , Jeff Hallock, President of Office Concepts Incorporated.

Born in Winnipeg, Jeff is eldest of three (he has two younger sisters) – to parents who met in Regina. Mom worked in banking, dad was an electrician who worked in facility maintenance. Jeff was a good student. He graduated from Oak Park High in Winnipeg and wanted to get into the workforce. He wanted money (to live on his own, dating, cars, and beer were priorities). He entered (and then left) the University of Manitoba Certificate in Management Program (he later returned to finish). Key learnings for him were business law and writing skills.

Jeff’s first job was at Jim Gauchier Chevrolet in Winnipeg – washing cars. In 18 months working hard, working his way up, but was denied his wish to move into sales. He quit. He sold Sharp photocopiers for a year – got fired because he wasn’t making his sales quota. A headhunter he met suggested he might be good at office furniture sales. He knew nothing about it, but went to the interview – got the job in 1991 at a Steelcase dealer. He said, “Mr. Brown, if you hire me you won’t be disappointed”.  In his first year, he was 21, he sold $800K worth of furniture – lots of small orders. “I was never afraid to make cold-calls. I’d found my niche”. Jeff adds, “You need a mechanical aptitude – we are dealing with very complicated Leggo”.

He started Office Concepts in 2003 from his apartment's spare bedroom (now a large showroom, 25,000 sq. ft. warehouse and a fleet of trucks) – after several job moves. To Calgary as sales rep for Knoll (2 yrs.), Oggo Furniture (2 yrs.) – Jeff told me how much his dad helped him at the start, as a cheerleader, helping him not be a knee-jerk guy.

“Furniture is about 80% of our business, walls make up about 20% - and across that spectrum 75% is sale of goods, 25% is installation and services. We started with service, because that was all we had … ”

What has contributed most to your success?  “Hard work, determination. When you start a business you have to put 100% into the business – and we all did. You have to be unprepared to fail.”

What has held you back? “Not having a major manufacturer for our first eight years – that limited our chances for large projects – which has changed. We are now in our 3^rd year as a Haworth dealer”. 

Jeff and Sandra met when they worked together at Oggo furniture. Sandra is office manager at Office Concepts. No kids.

Last words?  “Everybody has nice products. We aren’t all things – we don’t focus on education, hospitality or government – our business is corporate and technology. A roster of clients and lots of competition, which is often a bidding contest. We are like a fire hall – a team attached to hose, especially when doing large installs. Furniture doesn’t install itself.”