Name: Virgie Dillard Company: Missouri Office Systems & Supplies Inc. Phone: (816) 761-5152 E-mail: Web Site: www.8asupplier.com Type of Business: Office Systems and Supplies No. of Employees: 5
Virgie Dillard started Missouri Office Systems & Supplies Inc. (MOSS) for much the same reason many small business owners abandon the corporate world: She had reached the limit for advancement in her corporate position.
Dillard spent 10 years at Missouri Typewriter & Computer Company, where she established and managed the equipment supplies department and set record sales. Confident in her knowledge, experience and ability to sell, and with support from family, friends and customers, Dillard borrowed money from her husband and a credit card and established her own computer sales and supply business in 1993. Since then, Missouri Office Systems has been providing computers, printers, office supplies and furniture with a side of good old-fashioned personalized service.
After starting the business, Dillard immediately went through the certification process and is 8(a) certified through the Small Business Administration. She also is certified as a Minority Business Enterprise/Women’s Business Enterprise through Kansas City, Mo., Jackson County, the Minority Supplier Council and the states of Missouri and Kansas. She said the paperwork bogged her down, but the result was worth it.
Dillard advises other small businesses to start marketing as soon as they are certified, and start developing relationships with various government agencies and large corporations early on. She said it’s also important to learn how customers do business. For example, the government fiscal year ends in September, and agencies have to spend their money or lose it from the following year’s budget.
“The whole key is marketing your company, because business doesn’t just automatically come to you,” Dillard said. “Some government buyers don’t even know there are mandates for working with MBE- and WBE-certified companies, so you end up educating buyers as well.”
She said she finds her best contracting opportunities in the private sector during networking functions and trade shows hosted by organizations such as the Minority Supplier Council and area chambers of commerce. In the beginning, her company experienced growing pains. Corporations would place large orders but not remit payment within the 30-day term, which caused cash flow problems.
Dillard resolved this by hiring a bookkeeper/collection agent who was able to get the business on track. Later, she struggled with personnel issues.
“I had to learn to manage the business with my head and not my heart,” she said.
Dillard also has had to deal with the fallout from mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, the stock market and the Internet.
“Large companies are merging or buying up small companies and giving the equipment and supplies away,” Dillard said. “Also, major corporations make products available on the Internet at dealer cost and eliminate their sales reps.”
So, she has had to be resourceful. She created a niche by marketing to point-of-sale businesses and concentrating on items that usually are not purchased over the Web. She has joined a national buying group to be competitive against larger companies, and she is using strategic alliances with major corporations such as Softchoice, Rangel Distributing and Allied Copy Solutions.
Currently, Dillard is working with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Truman Medical Center, Family Health Partners and Ameristar Casino. The results of a previous alliance with Corporate Express produced two of her largest office supply contracts: the city of Kansas City, Mo., and the Kansas City, Mo., school district.
Dillard contributes both time and money to a variety of charitable organizations, but one of the most fulfilling was her work with the Kauffman EntrePrep program, in which she served as a mentor to a high school student each semester. MOSS also hires students from Grandview High School’s work program.
For the new millennium, Dillard decided to expand her horizons into the e-commerce world. Her main goal is to create a database of 8(a) certified, MBE and WBE companies where the government and private industry can locate products and services easily via links to each business’s Web sites. She also has expanded operations to Nashville and Memphis, Tenn.
In the beginning, Dillard worked because she had to.
“Now, with my terrific crew, I work because I want to.”
Ellen Jensen is the managing editor of Kansas City Small Business Monthly magazine.
